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David Sullivan must block all approaches for Declan Rice and Tomas Soucek this summer, after Keith Gillespie claimed the West Ham duo are perfect for Manchester United.

The Red Devils product has been speaking with This Is Futbol, and suggested the Irons duo would “walk into” Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s squad.

Reports by 90min have linked the Old Trafford natives with a move for Rice this off-season, but the England international is a player of interest for a host of top Premier League sides.

Manchester United have allegedly revived their interest in Rive over recent months, as club chiefs believe the 22-year-old can fill a hole in midfield and provide cover at centre-back.

Liverpool, Manchester City and Chelsea – who were quoted £80m last year – are also said to be tracking Rice, but Gillespie agrees with talkSPORT pundit Jamie O’Hara in that he can see the West Ham product wearing the red of his former side in the future.

“I’m really impressed. I probably agree, they probably would walk into Man United’s team,” Gillespie said. “That probably shows how badly they need midfielders.

“You’ve got [Nemanja] Matic, who’s coming towards the end. You’ve got Fred, who – for all his hard work and endeavour – gives the ball away too much. You’ve got [Scott] McTominay, who at times looks the part and at times doesn’t.”

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Any side wishing to sign Rice this summer faces having to pay £100m, while Soucek is expected to have a list of suitors after proving to be a crucial part of West Ham’s surprise push for a European qualifying berth.

But even at £100m for Rice and however much the Irons demand for Soucek – who has a TransferMarkt valuation of £36m – Sullivan should be blocking all approaches, as the pair are too key to what David Moyes is building at the London Stadium.

The reports of Manchester United’s interest in Rice also claimed that players like Nemanja Matic and Phil Jones had come up in discussions of a part-exchange potentially involving Jesse Lingard, but West Ham would be taking a step back by accepting those terms.

“When you look at say, Liverpool, and you had Fabinho that would play that role for Liverpool and do that really well – sit and let other people go forward. I’d put N’Golo Kante in that bracket, that’s what Declan Rice does for West Ham,” Tony Cascarino told talkSPORT following news he had sustained a lateral knee ligament injury.

“He sits, he picks things, he can see things, the players trust him around him and he does the A,B,C’s of football – the simplistic things that affect a team – really well. He keeps the ball, so it is a huge blow; it is that N’Golo Kante, it’s that Fabinho role that he does brilliantly well. Fine lines, small margins make massive differences.”

Meanwhile Soucek has helped to transform the engine room at the London Stadium by adding a box-to-box machine, capable of offering defensive support and the final touch with a team-high nine goals in 30 Premier League games this term.

“He has been awesome. He has transformed West Ham, he really has. What a player he’s been for them,” O’Hara told talkSPORT last month. “A great signing that went under the radar, but his performances have been absolutely exceptional.

“If you’re Soucek and you’re having the season you are and say Man United come along, because Man United need a player like him, he’d walk into their team with his energy, his runs and scores goals.”

But no matter how much Manchester United need players like Soucek and Rice, Sullivan should put an endless stream of hurdles between them as cashing-in would no doubt break Moyes and the plans he has developed.

AND in other news, West Ham land major boost in race to sign “complete” £11m-rated target for free…

Rangers will be looking to challenge for the Scottish Cup this season. Their next fixture sees them take on League One side Cove Rangers at Ibrox on Sunday evening and it seems likely that Steven Gerrard will make plenty of changes to his line-up.

Although the international break means that plenty of Rangers’ first team have had a welcome break before the final few fixtures of the season, there were also several regulars such as Glen Kamara, Filip Helander and Borna Barisic who have featured heavily for their national teams over the past two weeks.

Therefore, it seems likely that Gerrard will rotate his team heavily for game at Ibrox on Sunday, although he will have to be wary of the threat of Paul Hartley’s side, who have already knocked out Championship opposition in Alloa Athletic en route to the third round.

Here’s how we think Gerrard will line his side up on Sunday, with six changes from the team which started in the Old Firm derby last time out…

Jon McLaughlin makes a rare start in between the sticks as he comes in for Allan McGregor, who is handed a deserved rest.

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There is one change in the defence as Jack Simpson makes his first Rangers start in place of Filip Helander, who is rested, whilst Leon Balogun and Borna Barisic continue at full-back due to both Nathan Patterson and Calvin Bassey being suspended.

There’s one change in midfield as Scott Arfield replaces Steven Davis, who should probably sit this one out after playing 90 minutes in both of Northern Ireland’s games against Italy and Bulgaria recently.

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Finally, it’s all change in attack as Kemar Roofe starts on the right in place of Ianis Hagi, whilst the “constant threat” of Ryan Kent will hopefully be replaced by Scott Wright, who also makes his first start in Rangers colours, with Cedric Itten starting ahead of Alfredo Morelos in Gerrard’s final change.

In other news… Gerrard handed huge boost with “world-class” beast who was vital to number 55

According to a report by West Ham United insiders Claret & Hugh, GSB and the club are ‘ready to go all the way’ to seal Jesse Lingard on a permanent deal this summer – with the English remaining ‘desperately keen’ to become a Hammer according to those close to him.

West Ham ‘ready to go all the way’ for Lingard

The 28-year-old has burst on to the Irons scene in superb style since signing on loan from Manchester United in January, scoring five goals and assisting two of his West Ham teammates in the Premier League so far (WhoScored).

As a result, manager David Moyes has reportedly prioritised a permanent deal for Lingard ahead of the summer transfer window – with C&H providing the latest update that GSB are ‘ready to go all the way’ to make it happen.

In another possible boost for Moyes, the attacker remains desperately keen to join this summer – and sources inside the club have apparently seen Lingard become a permanent West Ham man in ‘all but name’.

Transfer Tavern take

Described as a player who looks set to be a ‘magnificent signing’ for Moyes by pundit Alan Shearer in February (Premier League), Hammers supporters will be hoping their club get it over the line this summer judging by his recent performances.

The Irons boss also wants a striker, but Lingard looks set to take precedence according to C&H.

In other news: West Ham fans flocked to this ‘excellent news’, find out more here.

The search for a new manager at Celtic seemingly has a new face in the frame every single day. If only the Bhoys hierarchy could actually find the right man.

Roy Keane emerged as the frontrunner last week but Thierry Henry and Lucien Favre have now both stated their availability.

What’s the word?

Fresh claims from reliable transfer guru Alan Nixon state that there is now a serious contender in the mix to take over at Celtic.

Taking to Twitter this week, The Sun journalist revealed the following information when asked if Eddie Howe to Celtic was a viable option: “He’s a candidate. A serious candidate.”

The former Bournemouth boss has been in the hunt for several months now with rumours first surfacing all the way back in November.

At that point, it was thought Howe had a chance of becoming Neil Lennon’s successor but his name had gone under the radar in the last few weeks.

However, with Keane now less likely to become the new manager at Parkhead, it appears the hierarchy are turning their attentions to Howe once more.

Great news for supporters

If fans could choose between Keane and Howe, there would surely only be one option; the latter.

The news that the Manchester United legend could take charge of Celtic went down like a led balloon with fans according to Hoops podcaster Paul John Dykes and it was recently theorised the news was leaked in order to seek supporter opinion.

Dermot Desmond now has his answer; the masses don’t want him.

[snack-amp-story url=”https://www.footballfancast.com/web-stories/latest-celtic-manager-and-transfer-news-roy-keane-nicky-butt-jesse-marsch-scott-brown” title=”Latest Celtic manager and transfer news!”]

Therefore, the news that Howe is now a major candidate to take over should be great news. After all, the Englishman has a number of known qualities that could revive the Bhoys.

Howe has achieved plenty in his managerial career to date, taking Bournemouth from League Two to the Premier League in two separate spells as boss.

He is also known as a meticulous thinker on the training ground, someone who takes charge of sessions and demands the very best from his players.

One of Howe’s ex-players, Simon Francis, once noted: “He is meticulous. He does not leave any stone unturned. And he instils that work ethic into the players. Because you know that he is buying into it. Not turning up late, not strolling out onto the training pitch late, he is always the first. You can never question anything he does.”

This is the polar opposite of Lennon, a manager who was rather shockingly still doing elements of Brendan Rodgers’ training.

He’d not only be an upgrade on the Northern Irishman, but he’d also be a much better option than Keane.

AND in other news, Celtic have already sold their Scott Brown heir, Rodgers thought he had “good ability”…

MatériaMais Notícias

Gestão e futebol devem andar de mãos dadas. Esta foi a mensagem passada a quem estava presente no auditório do Museu do Futebol, em São Paulo, durante o evento de abertura do curso Gestão Técnica no Futebol, nesta última terça-feira.

Com o intuito de trocar conhecimentos e ajudar no desenvolvimento do esporte mais praticado pelos brasileiros, especialistas discutiram sobre temas relevantes como a formação de jogadores e a transição base-profissional, assim como os principais desafios da gestão esportiva no Brasil. Para eles, a profissionalização de todos os setores em um clube é essencial para desenvolver uma conduta diferenciada no futebol brasileiro:

– A mudança tem que vir de dentro dos próprios clubes, quando um presidente assumir que não tem capacidade técnica para administrar um clube. Não adianta contratar um CEO, porque isso é uma certa doença do Brasil. Enquanto um presidente não admitir que ele não entende de tudo, de marketing, de jurídico, de RH, de gestão, nada vai mudar – afirmou Amir Somoggi, especialista em marketing e gestão esportiva, complementando:

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– O Barcelona, por exemplo, gasta 27 milhões de euros com gestão e tem uma estrutura profissional em todas as áreas. Está certo que o Barcelona é uma referência, mas por que nós não podemos fazer o mesmo? A Espanha é um país latino e tem os mesmos defeitos que a gente. O poder que o executivo e o legislativo têm para fazer leis e criar uma mudança estrutural pode acontecer. Precisamos de mudanças – finalizou.

O professor João Paulo Medida, fundador da Universidade do Futebol, que ministra o curso, foi o responsável por conduzir a reunião. O encontro ainda contou com outros grandes profissionais como Augustín Peraita Serra, coordenador da Escola Barcelona em São Paulo, Rodrigo Leitão, coordenador das categorias de base da Ponte Preta e Marcelo Lima, gerente do Ituano.

André Mazzuco, diretor de futebol do Red Bull Brasil, José Francisco Manssur, vice-presidente de comunicação e marketing do São Paulo, e Cícero Souza, gente de futebol do Palmeiras, também estiveram presentes e deram suas visões sobre o cenário do futebol no Brasil e no mundo.

O curso terá duração de quatro meses e será conduzido através de uma plataforma online. O volante Elias, do Corinthians, e o goleiro Fernando Prass, do Palmeiras, estão entre os alunos matriculados.

Steven Gerrard has revealed Ryan Jack is an injury doubt for Glasgow Rangers’ Europa League round of 16 second leg tie with Slavia Prague next Thursday.

Gerrard reveals Jack blow

Jack was unavailable for the clash in Czechia this week, but he has been an important player for the Ibrox outfit throughout the campaign.

Speaking after the first match with Slavia, Gerrard revealed he could well be missing in Glasgow as well. He said (via The Glasgow Times):

“I’d still say Jack is a doubt at this stage. He’d have to have a real positive four or five days coming up to be available.”

Disappointing

Jack has struggled with injuries throughout the campaign, with both his knee and his calf causing him problems (Transfermarkt). However, he has still had an important role to play this term, appearing in 24 matches in all competitions. Having him available would give Gerrard another option, and a quality one at that.

Should he be ruled out, though, the Gers do at least have plenty of alternatives. Glen Kamara, Steven Davis and Scott Arfield, in particular, can continue to deputise for the £2.7m-valued 29-year-old (Transfermarkt). The 1-1 draw in Prague puts the 55-time Scottish champions in a strong position, and they will feel confident of reaching the quarter-finals even without the Scotland international.

In other news, Rangers fans react to this Sky Sports news.

Leeds United have been linked with central defender Nicolas N’Koulou as they head into the summer transfer window. The Whites are browsing for new defensive personnel to stack up their options after injury woes have left them short this season.

For a large chunk of the 2020/21 campaign, Marcelo Bielsa has been without summer recruits Robin Koch and Diego Llorente due to their respective fitness problems. This has forced the boss to deploy Luke Ayling at centre-back and whilst he has been reliable in an unfamiliar role, Bielsa cannot rely on him for the inevitable. It’s paramount that Leeds assert their dominance once again on the transfer market and make sure that they are fully prepared for another exciting season in the Premier League.

Calciomercato reports that N’Koulou is on Bielsa’s radar, having already worked with him in Marseille (via TEAMtalk). Currently at Torino, the defender is close to running down his current contract and will become a free agent in the summer, nulling his £6.3million valuation. Despite racking up a total of 128 appearances for his current club, he has somewhat struggled for game time this season, being demoted to the bench for 11 Serie A fixtures, as per Transfermarkt.

Should Leeds sign Nicolas N’Koulou?

With Bielsa already clued up on N’Koulou’s attitude and style of play, he is an ideal scoop for Leeds. With 72 caps for his native Cameroon as well, he is a typical veteran of the game both domestically and internationally.

Looking closer at his stats, WhoScored shows that the 30-year-old has averaged more interceptions and clearances than both Liam Cooper and Koch this season, as well as giving away the least amount of fouls per game. He averages the same amount of blocks as Koch and N’Koulou also boasts a higher passing accuracy out of the three.

For Andrea Radrizzani, it should be an easy decision when looking at a proven international who has already worked with Bielsa and won’t cost him a penny come the summer. The Whites need to add depth to their squad and it should be easy work to entice a free agent to the Premier League to play for a very exciting club that could push for Europa League football.

In other news, Leeds must prepare to sign replacement for exit-linked Struijk…

As far as Sunderland are concerned, this season has been all about Charlie Wyke.

The tall striker hasn’t had the easiest of stays at the Stadium of Light but he’s finally beginning to demonstrate why they brought him to the north East.

Before this term, Wyke had netted just nine times in League One for the Black Cats over two years, so his turnaround in 2020/21 has to be commended.

After scoring a brilliant hat-trick in Sunderland’s 3-0 win over Wimbledon on Saturday, he took his league tally for the current campaign to ten goals in 18 outings. This has been nothing short of an excellent few months for the forward.

Yet, despite his superb finishing this weekend, there was another man who deserved some very special praise – Jordan Willis.

The centre half hadn’t started a league game since the middle of November, and on his return, he was outstanding, laying a wonderful platform from which Sunderland were able to build on.

The 26-year-old kept a clean sheet and looked resolute throughout the entire encounter, earning the following review from Sunderland Echo reporter Phil Smith: “A commanding performance at the back, underlining how much he has been missed and how much better the balance of the defence is with him in. In a low-quality contest, he was by some distance the best performer aside from Wyke’s finishing.”

It’s easy to see why he stood out, too. Willis managed to win a colossal seven aerial duels throughout the contest, the second-highest of anyone on the pitch and he also managed three clearances – the second-highest number in the Sunderland side.

The defender’s display was so imperious that Wimbledon striker Joe Pigott was virtually anonymous. He completed just 40% of his passes and lost 11 of the aerial duels he competed. On top of that, the forward failed to win any of the eight ground duels he contested.

Willis ensured it was a rough and frustrating afternoon for Wimbledon’s attack, reigning supreme in all facets of play, even completing a dribble by bringing the ball out from the back.

The Mackems stalwart has only started eight league outings this season and this performance showed how much of a miss he’s been.

Wyke will rightfully steal the headlines, but Willis was undoubtedly another of Lee Johnson’s heroes. This was an imposing display, more of which will only benefit Sunderland’s promotion hopes.

AND in other news, Speakman can end Johnson’s big SAFC dilemma with swoop for “clever and skilful” 20 y/o…

MatériaMais Notícias

A atuação do Flamengo no clássico contra o Vasco bem pareceu um filme sobre o rendimento do Rubro-Negro no ano passado. Posse de bola inferior ao adversários, muitos erros de passe, inoperância ofensiva e, principalmente, gols sofridos de bola parada. Os quatro pontos que atormentaram a equipe em 2015 deram o tom na derrota em São Januário.

Se em todos os jogos do Estadual o Flamengo teve amplo domínio na posse de bola e poucos erros de passe, contra o Vasco aconteceu o oposto. A posse foi de apenas 45% e os passes errados chegaram a 13% de um total de 273. Algo que deixou Muricy insatisfeito. Essa é uma das prioridades do trabalho.

– O que faltou foi realmente a posse de bola. Não foi nada boa. Não chegamos com a bola dominada no ataque, encostamos muito pouco – disse.

Além da pouca presença ofensiva, o Flamengo também mostrou péssima pontaria no clássico. Afinal, as sete finalizações sequer acertaram o gol. Por fim, a bola parada voltou a ser tormento. Algo, no entanto, que foi bem lembrado pelo volante Willian Arão: foi apenas o primeiro gol levado assim.

– Não tínhamos sofrido nenhum gol de bola parada no ano. Estávamos muito bem, inclusive. Foi um erro pontual. Foi o último lance do jogo, demoramos para nos posicionarmos e não fizemos a linha como deveríamos. Vimos o lance e onde erramos, agora vamos corrigir para os próximos jogos – disse.

O Flamengo volta a treinar na manhã desta terça, às 9h30, já com titulares em campo. Será a única atividade dos principais jogadores antes do jogo contra o América-MG, nesta quarta-feira, às 21h45, no Kleber Andrade, em Cariacica. Na estreia, o Rubro-Negro venceu o Atlético-MG por 2 a 0, no Mineirão. Portanto, lidera o grupo com três pontos, mesmo número do próprio América e também do Figueirense, que tem um jogo a mais.

NÚMEROS DO FLAMENGO EM 2016
ATLÉTICO-MG 0x1 FLAMENGO
Posse de bola: 47%
382 passes certos (90%)
30 passes errados (10%)
10 finalizações (5 no gol)

FLAMENGO 1×0 BOAVISTA
Posse de bola: 67%
560 passes certos (93%)
40 passes errados (7%)
14 finalizações (7 no gol)

MACAÉ 0x2 FLAMENGO
Posse de bola: 58%
458 passes certos (93%)
30 passes errados (7%)
9 finalizações (5 no gol)

PORTUGUESA 0x5FLAMENGO
Posse de bola: 68%
514 passes certos (93%)
35 passes errados (7%)
26 finalizações (9 no gol)

VASCO 1x0FLAMENGO
Posse de bola: 45%
240 passes certos (87%)
33 passes errados (13%)
7 finalizações (todas para fora)
*Os números são do Footstats

Leeds have a battle on their hands this afternoon as they take on Burnley in their next Premier League fixture. The fight will get underway at Elland Road at lunchtime and despite the Clarets being below them in the table, it will be no easy feat for the Championship winners.

Due to a major injury blow, the Whites will be without Robin Koch and captain Liam Cooper today, via premierinjuries.com. The crippling news of the skipper joining the two summer recruits on the sidelines could spell huge trouble for Marcelo Bielsa unless he comes up with a solid back-up plan.

Luke Ayling has been operating from the centre-back position in the absence of regular starter Koch, but without Cooper, Leeds look even more exposed.

Illan Meslier could be the man to pull his side out of a hole if he can put in a solid performance between the sticks this afternoon. With a weakened backline, the 20-year-old will need to be alert and at the top of his game in order to protect his goal from the threat of Burnley’s attack.

Whilst the French youngster has been a little off form in several games this season, he has also pulled off some superb performances. If he can keep a clean sheet or at the very least, help Leeds to a win today then it will be a huge confidence boost for the summer signing.

Meslier joined the Whites on a permanent £20,000 per week deal after enjoying a title-winning loan spell last campaign. He has been lauded as a “remarkable” bit of business by Graham Smyth, speaking on the Inside Elland Road podcast (via This is Futbol).

There’s just four points between Leeds and Burnley at the moment – another three for the Whites will put them on their way to comfortably surviving their first season back in England’s top flight.

In other news, Marcelo Bielsa could axe summer signing Helder Costa already…