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Liverpool are closing in on a move for RB Leipzig centre-back Ibrahima Konate, according to The Athletic’s David Ornstein.

Jurgen Klopp is likely to be eyeing up a new defender this summer, having experienced all sort of problems in that area throughout the season.

Liverpool are without injured trio Virgil van Dijk, Joe Gomez and Joel Matip for the remainder of the season, with Nathaniel Phillips forced to become a regular and Ozan Kabak joining on loan from Schalke.

Konate is a player with whom the Reds have been linked numerous times in the past and it now looks as though he will be heading to Anfield in the summer.

Liverpool look set to sign Konate

According to Ornstein, significant progress has been made with regards to a deal for the 21-year-old , with talks now at an advanced stage.

Konate has been limited to just four Bundesliga starts this season, due to injuries of his own, but he is considered a player of big potential. His former coach Ralf Rangnick has said of the Frenchman: “He’s so good that he could play for Real Madrid or Barcelona one day.”

Transfer Tavern take

It is apparent that Klopp sees the importance of bringing in a centre-back this summer, with Matip particularly unreliable when it comes to staying fit consistently.

Konate is a player who could not only come in and do a job straight away, boasting ample Bundesliga and Champions League experience, but could also represent the long-term future at Anfield.

In other news, one Liverpool star has been tipped to stay put this summer – find out who it is here.

Everton are at risk of losing Moise Kean permanently in the summer transfer window as Le10sport have reported that Juventus are interested in signing him back.

As per the news outlet, the Italy international, currently on loan at Paris Saint Germain for the 2020/21 term, would be considered as a natural replacement for Paulo Dybala, who has not yet signed a new deal at the Serie A giants.

Everton should sell Kean for the right price

The Goodison Park outfit should look to sell Kean if the right kind of offer comes in for him. The 21-year-old has excelled so far in the French capital this season, scoring no fewer than 15 goals in just 27 games in total over all competitions (Transfermarkt).

PSG hero Pauleta was full of praise for him in February, describing the striker as a ‘very talented’ player, and there is no doubt that he has showcased his talents for the 2019/20 UEFA Champions League finalists.

Despite his many plaudits so far in this campaign, Kean could not perform for the Merseyside club, scoring a mere four times in 37 matches in total across all competitions (Transfermarkt).

The forward struggled to adapt to the English game, and maybe he is simply better suited elsewhere.

Transfer guru Fabrizio Romano has quoted the potential price tag from Carlo Ancelotti’s team as no less than €45m (£38.8m), which would be a good chunk of money for the Toffees to earn which could then be reinvested into other parts of the squad.

In other news, find out whose display versus West Brom was blasted here!

Say the name Almen Abdi around Hillsborough Stadium and you’ll likely get back a prickly response from the Sheffield Wednesday faithful – but that is quite understandable.

The Swiss midfielder cost the Yorkshire giants a whopping £4m from Watford in 2016 and, in three seasons, racked up an abysmal 23 appearances. A shocking waste of money, to say the least.

It was such poor a signing that YorkshireLive dubbed him their ‘undisputed captain’ of the Owls’ worst 25-man squad of the last decade.

He never lived up to expectations, and now there’s another name heading down the same treacherous path – Massimo Luongo.

According to reports in his home country Australia at the time (summer 2019), the former QPR midfielder cost around £3.3m, which isn’t too much cheaper than the price paid for Abdi.

Now valued at just £1.44m by Transfermarkt, the 28-year-old has struggled to make much of an impact in the near two seasons that he’s been in south Yorkshire.

In total, Luongo has made 43 appearances for the Owls but hasn’t started a game since a 2-0 defeat to Huddersfield at the start of December and has missed 22 league outings through injury, per Transfermarkt.

He comes back and then gets injured almost instantly – even when appearing from the bench for the odd ten to 20 minutes.

This is very much the same story to that of Abdi and that should have Owls chairman Dejphon Chansiri hugely concerned as it’ll be another disastrous cross on his transfer record.

Frustratingly, when the injury-prone maestro is fit, he’s among the club’s best-performing players, but those matches come few and far between.

In 2015, the Aussie was named alongside the likes of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo on a 59-player list for the Ballon d’Or world footballer of the year award.

Just two years later, former Rs boss Ian Holloway lauded him as the best player in the Championship, via Goal.com, whilst ex-Owls boss Garry Monk – who signed Luongo in 2019 – waxed lyrical about him last season. He said:

“I think he has been one of our best performing players in terms of consistency across all the games that he has played so far. He is a great lad. He is a quiet leader,” before adding: “I think his performances have been excellent.”

Darren Moore knows all too well about the £18k-per-week dynamo, too. Echoing the aforementioned sentiments, he told reporters in his unveiling press conference: “Mass is an excellent player, we know that. He’ll be a wonderful addition with the squad.”

However, there is a long way to go before Luongo can back up just glowing praise. He must first focus on staying fit – if he can’t, then the Owls could certainly have another Abdi on their hands.

The 34-year-old has not played for another club since his exit from Hillsborough at the end of the 2018/19 season. Luongo best hope he does not follow the same path.

AND in other news, Exclusive: Palmer adamant Liam Shaw shouldn’t be playing for Sheffield Wednesday…

Tottenham Hotspur boss Jose Mourinho has been linked with a move for one of his former stars this week…

What’s the word?

According to L’Equipe, Spurs have made contact with Paris Saint-Germain attacker Angel Di Maria over a potential switch to north London as he’s out of contract at the end of the season.

It’s claimed that the Ligue 1 champions, now managed by ex-Tottenham favourite Mauricio Pochettino, remain hopeful of securing him to an extension, but Mourinho would like to reunite with his former Real Madrid star if possible.

Di Maria is thought to have rejected PSG’s latest contract offer at the end of 2020 as it reduced his current £220k-per-week terms.

Forget Bale

Spurs chairman Daniel Levy will have a major call to make in the summer as there’s a possibility that he could keep hold of Gareth Bale for the foreseeable future as there’s seemingly no way back for him in Spain.

His agent, Jonathan Barrett, didn’t rule out staying beyond the season-long loan, he told talkSPORT (via Sky Sports):

“Yeah, there are lots of opportunities; it’s up to him. The most important thing is for him to enjoy his football and that he’s playing well. As long as that’s happening, it’ll all be fine.”

Whilst football.london claim there is an option to keep him longer.

Well, things have hardly gone to plan so far this campaign as the Welshman has featured for 713 minutes, which includes only one start in the Premier League, per Transfermarkt.

Considering Spurs are paying 40% of his £600k-per-week wages (around £240k-per-week), and would have to either do the same again next season or at least force his contract to end a year early, it could be a financial nightmare.

If Di Maria is available for free in the summer, and on similar, if not reduced wages – as mentioned above – then it’s a no-brainer to bring the Argentinian in instead.

He’s a player that Mourinho knows greatly having managed him for two seasons at the Bernabeu.

Indeed the 32-year-old winger has lauded the Portguese’s impact in the past, he told Dario Ole (via Goal): “Mourinho made me a better player. He showed me many things and made me grow as a footballer.”

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Whilst he has also spoken to Marca (via Goal), where the 104-cap international dubbed Mourinho “very special,” adding: “With him, I have improved each year.”

Unlike Bale, the PSG star has featured regularly despite his advancing years.

This term, he’s bagged four goals and provided eight assists having featured for a total of 1551 minutes, via WhoScored – over double the time we’ve seen the 31-year-old Bale in a Spurs shirt.

Even over the past two campaigns, Di Maria has shown he can still cut it at an elite level, averaging at least 2.7 key passes per game in back-to-back league campaigns as well as at least 2.4 shots and 1.6 dribbles per game, vis WhoScored.

This merely emphasises his creative nature and the ability to still get past the opposition’s defence to either create chances or provide for himself.

Marco Verratti also believes he’s an “extraordinary player” who’s similar to Arjen Robben. “They’re very important players in modern football because one-on-one they’re incredible, very generous on the pitch, who provide you with 15 or 20 assists every year, very altruistic and give everything for the team,” added the Italian.

Whilst Di Maria was helping PSG qualify for the Champions League final, Bale was largely sat on the bench at Madrid and as he’s yet to prove his worth back in a Spurs shirt, Levy absolutely must consider a move for Di Maria instead if he has a choice between the two.

Landing the £25.2m-rated veteran on a free transfer could be an absolute bargain move.

AND in other news, “talismanic” £20m monster can be Spurs’ dream Harry Kane heir…

“I don’t feel comfortable speaking about that,” said Spurs boss Jose Mourinho after his side crashed out of the FA Cup on Wednesday evening.

You could be forgiven for thinking that was about the absence of Gareth Bale on the night or perhaps why Harry Kane didn’t start such a crucial encounter, but it was rather about his side’s calamitous defending in which they conceded five goals to Everton.

That, ultimately, was their downfall.

And there was nobody worse than veteran centre-back Toby Alderweireld, given the fact that his partner Davinson Sanchez, who is usually a liability, found himself on the scoresheet twice.

As pointed out by the Evening Standard’s Dan Kilpatrick, the 31-year-old Belgian international ‘did very little to suggest he is the answer to Spurs’ problems at the back’.

No other player received worse than Alderweireld’s 4/10 rating and that very much echoed the sentiments from a statistical standpoint as SofaScore graded his display a 6.1, second-worst only to Hugo Lloris between the sticks.

Considering the £85k-per-week star is one of the more vastly experienced members of Mourinho’s squad, he should not be getting caught out once or twice, let alone three times – and as such, he badly let his boss down.

Alderweireld was left for dead for Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s opener, was nutmegged by Richarlison for their second and was caught napping late on for a third mistake.

Indeed, the Belgian was among the game’s most influential players in terms of regular ball possession as he notched 90 touches, which was only bettered by three other Spurs players, as per SofaScore.

Up against Calvert-Lewin and Richarlison, he won just three of eight duels (37.5%) – the worst and lowest of any visiting defender, so clearly, he was the biggest liability across the backline.

Plenty of supporters took to Twitter to dish out flak to Harry Winks in a perplexing attack, considering he did not come on until the original 90 were up – for example, one fan asked the club to get rid as he’s a “Championship player” while another begged them to recall Oliver Skipp to play over him.

But as mentioned, he barely had any influence on the game whereas Alderweireld was a disaster throughout the entire 120 minutes and as such, blame must be pointed his way.

And just like Kilpatrick said, the £18m-rated colossus did very little to show why he should be starting and with league leaders Manchester City on the horizon, it would be a surprise to see him involved after that disasterclass.

Alderweireld badly let Mourinho and Spurs down as they exited the FA Cup in the fifth round.

IN other news, Levy must wave goodbye to 23 y/o ace this summer; he’s not good enough for Jose…

Tottenham Hotspur could be about to revisit Real Madrid in a bid to bolster Jose Mourinho’s playing squad this month, if latest reports are to be believed…

What’s the word?

According to Defensa Central, Zinedine Zidane isn’t opposed to letting outcast defender Eder Militao join Spurs on loan in the current window should the north London outfit pays his salary, which is thought to be around £110k-per-week.

It’s claimed that the Brazillian colossus is fourth-choice at the Bernabeu having played only 224 minutes from three appearances all season.

Spanish outlet AS reported just last week that Mourinho was keen to sign him in the summer and despite the addition of Joe Rodon, he still wants to make the 22-year-old a Spurs player.

Shades of Jan Vertonghen

As per Duncan Castles, Mourinho has been making a case to Daniel Levy that there’s a real possibility of winning a trophy this season and as a result, he’s been pressing him to sign a new centre-back with quick attributes.

Militao would certainly meet these requirements as The Coaches Voice once claimed that the Madrid ace “is relatively nimble and hasn’t been particularly exposed by fast, mobile wingers.”

Indeed, since his €50m (£45m) move from Porto, the 6 foot 1 beast has only been dribbled past nine times across 21 appearances, via WhoScored, and has averaged 3.1 clearances, 2.2 tackles and 1.9 interceptions per game throughout his career.

Now valued at €40m (£36m) by CIES, Militao also has the ability to play at right-back which could prove to be invaluable with Spurs still in all four competitions both domestically and in Europe.

Rotation will be key, and it is abundantly clear he does not trust Davinson Sanchez after snubbing him from nine Premier League squads, whilst Rodon is inexperienced at an elite level.

He could arrive in north London as their next Jan Vertonghen, someone who could play both left-back and through the middle.

Militao has even been lauded by arch-rival attacker Lionel Messi in the past. He dubbed him a “phenomenal talent and fierce competitor” to GiveMeSport.

That endorsement alone should be enough for Levy to sanction a deal, and in doing so, he could well land Spurs their next Vertonghen-like beast primed to help guide them to their next piece of silverware.

AND in other news, Mourinho can repeat Ibrahimovic masterstroke with swoop for 31 y/o beast…

Jose Mourinho needed a late flurry of goals to see his Tottenham Hotspur side into the next round of the FA Cup on Monday night.

Spurs went behind to Championship strugglers Wycombe Wanderers in the 25th minute when Fred Onyedinma slotted past Joe Hart before Gareth Bale levelled things right before the break.

The game then looked to be heading for extra time and potentially penalties until the Premier League giants finally turned it on with minutes to spare as Harry Winks and a Tanguy Ndombele brace in the final six minutes sealed the victory.

Indeed, Mourinho needed to turn to several of his key stars on the bench, namely Harry Kane, Heung-min Son and Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg to get the job done, so it wasn’t a good look for the fringe starters who struggled to break down a faltering second-tier outfit.

That was certainly the case for Carlos Vinicius as the back-up striker endured a nightmare evening. He lasted only 58 minutes before the Portuguese boss turned to his talismanic goalscorer, and it was hardly a surprise, either.

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The 25-year-old was barely involved in that hour, recording just 28 touches, which was the fewest of any Spurs starter, including the goalkeeper, Hart (30), per SofaScore.

To make his performance even worse, the Brazilian frontman only made eight passes at an appalling accuracy rate of 47%, again the worst of any of Mourinho’s starters. Even the substitutes managed more in less time, apart from Joe Rodon, who came on in injury time.

Vinicius was a mere bystander at times and when he did get the chance to do something, he was ineffective or wasteful as seen above. Indeed, he also lost possession 14 times, meaning he handed the ball back to the Chairboys, on average, once every two touches and once every four minutes he was on the pitch, per SofaScore.

Both Alasdair Gold at football.london and the Evening Standard’s Dan Kilpatrick graded him as Spurs’ worst player in their post-match rating columns, the latter added that he: “Offered limited goal threat and was hooked by Mourinho before the hour in another frustrating outing.”

It was only in the last round of this competition that he looked electric, bagging a 13-minute hat-trick against Marine. Well, his display on Monday was a stark contrast and one that ultimately let Mourinho down as he trusted him to start over Kane.

The fact that the Englishman was needed to come off the bench when Spurs have a tough game against defending champions Liverpool on Thursday night, won’t have pleased the boss one bit and the fact he had to bring Kane on shows that he was badly let down by Vinicius.

Valued at €30m (£27m) by CIES, Vinicius has a lot left to prove if Spurs are to pull the trigger on his €45m (£40m) buyout clause. Passenger-like performances like that will do him no favours whatsoever.

AND in other news, Spurs can finally find a long-term option in £20m “special player”…

According to recent reports, former Newcastle United loan signing Jetro Willems has rejected the offer of a new contract with Eintracht Frankfurt.

The report by the Chronicle Live states that the 26-year-old left-back, who spent a large part of last season on loan at Newcastle, has rejected the offer of a new deal from the Bundesliga side, meaning that he will be free to sign a pre-contract deal with any European club this January.

And, according to the report, the £4.05 million-rated defender would ‘welcome a move’ back to Steve Bruce’s side, with the player’s agent stating: “Jetro felt very comfortable at Newcastle and he said he felt like it was home, so of course he would be happy to go back if the chance came up.

“It is a great club and he had a great time in England. Newcastle were very good after the injury so it is something he would be happy with if the opportunity came up.”

In his time at Newcastle, the Netherlands international highly impressed, scoring two goals and providing three assists over his 20 appearances for the club.

However, the 26-year-old then ruptured his cruciate ligament, an injury which has resulted in the defender not playing a game since his last appearance for Newcastle back in January this year.

Transfer Tavern Take

While Willems did undeniably impress during his spell in Newcastle, the fact that the club spent £14.85 million on bringing Jamal Lewis in over the summer transfer window could mean that the Magpies are no longer in need of another player at left-back.

Having said this, the fact that Willems would be available on a free transfer could mean that a deal that is too good for Newcastle to refuse Fans of the club may now face an anxious wait to see whether or not their side do indeed make move for the 26-year-old in January.

In other Newcastle United related news, Steve Bruce has stated that he cannot influence the club’s potential takeover, find out more here! 

When Leeds travelled to Old Trafford on Sunday evening it was supposed to be a game that was full of crunching tackles and intense football.

This is a rivalry like none other, one between the white rose of Yorkshire and the red rose of Lancashire.

On this occasion, it was the red rose who came out on top in what was one of the biggest thrashings we’ve seen in the Premier League this season. In terms of a contest, it was all one-sided.

Scott McTominay set the tone with two goals in the first three minutes of the match and from that moment, United didn’t look back, eventually winning 6-2 courtesy of some truly abysmal defending from Leeds.

They allowed 26 shots on their goal, eight of which French stopper Illan Meslier was called into action for. However, he could do very little for the vast majority of the goals.

Without Diego Llorente or Robin Koch, we saw Luke Ayling fill in at centre-half again and their defensive woes have now grown larger after Liam Cooper came off with an injury.

What didn’t help either was the performance of left-back Gjanni Alioski.

The defender was in good form against Newcastle as he found the back of the net but he left a lot to be desired at Old Trafford last weekend.

In fact, he was pretty abysmal and his incompetent performance will have left Marcelo Bielsa fuming. Alioski’s defensive attributes have never been first class and he was given a horrendous afternoon by Dan James.

Alioski failed to win a single tackle and lost a massive 67% of his duels, prevailing in just two of the six he contested throughout the clash.

Clearly, the left side of Leeds was a huge weakness because Jack Harrison also lost possession a mammoth 24 times.

The North Macedonia international wasn’t great in that facet either, conceding the ball on 14 occasions and being dribbled past twice by the lightning-quick James.

Unfortunately, Alioski was also abject going forward, failing with both of the crosses he tried to deliver towards the Red Devils’ penalty area.

Overall this was a night to forget for the 28-year-old and he’ll have to improve quickly given the number of fitness concerns in Leeds’ backline.

AND in other news, woeful Leeds ace who lost possession 36x will also have Bielsa raging…

Rumours continue to circulate over the future of Slaven Bilic at West Brom, even during the international break when the Premier League has downed tools for the time being.

The Daily Mirror claim that the Baggies hierarchy is still mulling over the prospect of firing the Croatian with the Midlands side winless in their opening eight matches.

His contract is set to expire at the end of the season and the relationship between the board and Bilic has become strained throughout the summer.

The report also suggests that Charlton Athletic boss Lee Bowyer is among the front-runners to take over at the Hawthorns should they indeed relieve him of his duties.

But what changes would the former Leeds United midfielder make? How would Albion look under a fresh coach? Here’s one way the current West Brom side could line up if Bowyer swaps League One for the big time…

The 43-year-old Addicks boss isn’t afraid to change his system, using as many as five different formations this season alone but it is one utilising three-at-the-back which poses most interest.

You could soon see Sam Johnstone protected by five defenders during the defensive phase with veteran Premier League winner Branislav Ivanovic being deployed in the middle just like Jason Pearce for the Londoners.

Either side of him could be a pair of younger players who have a bit of pace about them in Semi Ajayi and Dara O’Shea whilst Darnell Furlong and Kieran Gibbs take up positions as attacking wing-backs.

In the middle, Baggies skipper Jake Livermore keeps his place but is joined by rarely-seen academy gem Rekeem Harper.

The 20-year-old is one of their most promising talents and Bowyer has shown he isn’t afraid to trust youngsters with Alfie Doughty and Akin Famewo establishing themselves as two regulars at The Valley.

It means that Bowyer’s former loan star Conor Gallagher, who provided six goals and two assists in half a season for Charlton, is pushed forward to partner Matheus Pereira behind another ex-star, Karlan Grant.

The 2019 promotion-winning manager believes Albion’s £15m summer signing is a man who can “cause problems” and there can’t be anyone better to get that out of him after Grant scored 14 goals in just 29 matches under his stewardship.

It still very much remains to be seen just how long Bilic has left to keep his job.

AND in other news, £9m-rated “dangerous” beast is bringing shades of Peter Odemwingie back to the Hawthorns…