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An update has emerged on Newcastle transfer target James Tarkowski, regarding his contractual situation at his current club.

What’s the talk?

According to The Athletic, the Burnley centre-back has decided that he will not be signing an extension at Turf Moor.

The report claims that he is willing to see out the rest of the campaign with the Clarets and give his all for the side, before leaving on a free transfer to fulfil his ambitions moving forward.

Howe’s new Cook

The Magpies are reportedly interested in signing the English defender and could now land him at the end of the season without paying a penny in transfer fees. Eddie Howe was recently named as Newcastle’s latest head coach and he could find his new Steve Cook by signing Tarkowski.

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Howe kept Bournemouth up in the Premier League for four of his five top-flight seasons at the club and Cook was a staple of his side at centre-back. The experienced defender made 168 appearances in the top division under the 43-year-old’s management, proving himself to be a vital part of the Cherries’ team over the years.

Cook averaged an impressive WhoScored rating of 6.89 or higher in Bournemouth’s four seasons of survival in the Premier League and Tarkowski could come in and prove to be a similarly influential figure at the back for Howe. The Burnley defender, who Sean Dyche previously called “outstanding”, has averaged a WhoScored rating of 7.02 or higher in his full Premier League seasons since becoming a regular in the 2017/18 campaign.

The 28-year-old has proven himself to be a reliable, impressive, Premier League defender and could be an excellent signing for Howe next summer. In those four full seasons at Turf Moor, he averaged at least 4.6 aerial battles won and 4.4 clearances made per game, highlighting his strong defensive skills to keep the ball away from the net.

This shows that, like Cook did with Howe, Tarkowski has earned the right to call himself a solid top-flight centre-back having performed to a high standard for a number of years. Therefore, he could arrive at Newcastle and be Howe’s next Cook and be a mainstay in the side at centre-back to help the Magpies push on as a club.

AND in other news, Was worth £14.4m, now £8.1m: NUFC endure howler over gem compared to “Philippe Albert”…

Manchester City could be set for a busy summer transfer window as reports linking them with a move for Erling Haaland have ramped up in recent weeks.

However, it seems as though the reigning Premier League champions could be also looking to complete another big-money move this summer for a player much closer to home.

What’s the news?

According to a recent report from the Daily Mail, City have made contact with West Ham United to let them know that they are interested in signing midfielder Declan Rice this summer.

After working his way through West Ham’s youth ranks after leaving Chelsea in 2013, the 23-year-old made his senior debut for the Hammers back in May 2017 in a Premier League win over Burnley.

Since then, the midfielder has gone on to make himself a crucial player for the east London club, racking up a total of 189 appearances across all competitions.

In those appearances, the Englishman has scored ten goals and provided nine assists along the way.

To highlight what a vital figure the midfielder is for David Moyes’ side, no other player in his squad has managed to equal the number of tackles (67), blocks (53) or interceptions (87) that Rice has in the league this season.

Pep would love him

With the England international racking up more passes (1687) than any of his current teammates, this shows how capable he is of moving the ball around the pitch and how he could fit into Pep Guardiola’s side.

With City having made more passes in the league than any other top-flight side, it’s easy to see why Guardiola would love to have a player like Rice, who he has praised in the past, in his squad.

Speaking about him in November, the Spanish boss said: “Declan Rice is an exceptional player.”

Also labelled as “sensational” by The Athletic journalist Adam Crafton, Moyes claimed that it would take a minimum transfer fee of £150m for the club to consider selling their midfield star this summer.

However, with the player reportedly turning down a third contract offer from the Hammers recently, it seems as though he could be available on a free transfer in the summer of 2023.

Although, given how impressive he’s been, it could be worth City diving in to secure his signature this summer, even if it could cost them a club-record fee to do so.

In other news: Fernandinho heir apparent: Pep could save Man City millions with “aggressive” 17 y/o – opinion

Celtic rounded off 2021 on a winning note with a 3-1 victory over St Johnstone on Sunday lunchtime in their final match before the rescheduled Premiership winning break.

The Hoops were two goals to the good by the midway point of the first half thanks to a brace from Liel Abada, and although Chris Kane halved the deficit on 69 minutes, a late strike from Nir Bitton made sure of the points for Ange Postecoglou’s side.

Unsurprisingly given the final score, there were plenty of strong performers for the Hoops this afternoon. We’ve pored through the figures from statistical experts SofaScore to pick out the three men who were the most impressive in a green and white shirt.

Liel Abada (8.7)

No surprise that Abada leads the way after netting twice in the opening 22 minutes at McDiarmid Park, although there was more to his performance than just those two telling contributions.

The 20-year-old completed 16 of his 20 passes against the Saints and had 10 shots in total today, six of which were on target, while he also recorded two key passes. The Israeli youngster won three duels as well, rounding off a tremendous Boxing Day for him.

Nir Bitton (8.4)

Abada’s compatriot could also bask in an overall strong performance supplemented by finding the net.

The 30-year-old led the way for Celtic in terms of duels won, coming out on top in nine of the 13 that he contested. He also made two successful tackles and one clearance in an industrious display against St Johnstone.

The Israel international was effective on the ball, too. In addition his goal, he had five other shots and played three key passes, making plenty of impact in the final third, while recording no fewer than 61 successful passes overall.

Josip Juranovic (8.1)

He may have been playing in an unfamiliar midfield role, but the Croatian had little trouble in adapting to the position judging by the performance he gave today.

His tally of four successful tackles was the joint-highest in Postecoglou’s side, while he also won five of his seven duels and made one clearance.

The 26-year-old had some joy in possession, too, posting five key passes and delivering six crosses to a team-mate, illustrating that he may be well-suited to a midfield position.

In other news: Celtic set sights on move for ‘quality’ Scot who has the same agent as David Turnbull

Club-record signing Daniel James delivered his worst performance in a Leeds United shirt as the Yorkshire giants were beaten by a struggling Newcastle United side at Elland Road on Saturday afternoon.

Having cost a whopping £30m from Manchester United in the summer, the Wales international – who had long been a target of manager Marcelo Bielsa, having gone close to signing him for a third of the price in January 2019 – has struggled to make his mark at Elland Road.

And Saturday’s disaster was another reminder that he’s just not been good enough.

Jonjo Shelvey fired in a 20-yard freekick to seal a 1-0 victory for the Magpies after Javier Manquillo was brought down on the edge of the box in the 75th minute.

Perhaps goalkeeper Illan Meslier could have done better with it seeing as it flew in on his side of the goal but by no means was he at fault for their overall display.

Toothless in the final third yet again, Leeds have been pulled back into the relegation mire and now sit just seven points above the bottom three, with a couple of sides below them holding games in hand.

Bielsa was once again without his star striker Patrick Bamford, leaving James to play upfront on his own.

In 71 minutes of action, the 5 foot 7 dynamo registered only 15 touches of the ball, comfortably the fewest of any starter on the pitch for either side. For further context, Meslier managed 39 touches, whilst visiting striker Chris Wood had 50 touches, as per SofaScore.

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It shows how the former United man was more involved in the game than James, despite playing the same role.

With those few touches, the Welshman managed only four accurate passes from nine attempts (44%), which would have done last weekend’s hat-trick hero Jack Harrison, top goalscorer Raphinha and others no favours whatsoever in the attack.

Whilst he also won just one of his six duels (16.6%), lost possession with nearly 50% of his touches (seven times) and to make matters worse, he fluffed two big chances – so despite barely being involved, he could’ve been the man to win it for Leeds.

LeedsLive reporter Beren Cross graded the £16.2m-rated star amongst the worst performers in his post-match ratings column and highlighted how ineffective he was at leading the line for Bielsa.

Indeed, in the past, James has been lambasted as “headless” with his decision making in the final third, so it’s a really baffling decision to see him trusted as a centre-forward, especially over someone like Rodrigo, who has bundles of experience playing that very role over in Spain.

Not only did he badly fail Bielsa on Saturday afternoon but also the Yorkshire outfit as a whole. Once again, the £52k-per-week-earning 24-year-old was a sheer disappointment and he ought to have no place in the starting XI going forward.

AND in other news, Leeds suffer transfer blow over “playmaker” who “Bielsa really wants”, he’ll be livid…

Fulham youngster Fabio Carvalho could still join Liverpool in the summer transfer window, with the midfielder desperate to work alongside Jurgen Klopp.

The Lowdown: Liverpool miss out on January move for Carvalho

The 19-year-old looked set to move to the Reds in the dying hours of deadline day but the transfer failed to be completed in time. That was due to the Football League not having deal sheets for a loan-back agreement to be sorted, causing frustration at the 11th hour.

However, it appears as though all hope is not lost regarding the possibility of Carvalho heading to Anfield.

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The Latest: Pearce makes positive Carvalho claim

According to journalist James Pearce on Twitter, a summer move is still on the cards, with the player himself very eager to work with Klopp.

The journalist tweeted: “Not the end of the world. Wouldn’t have arrived at #LFC until the summer anyway. Still a good chance he moves to #LFC in July. Player very keen on the chance to work with Klopp.”

Pearce subsequently added: “The two clubs could agree that the fee they belatedly agreed today will now be the compensation this summer when Carvalho is out of contract. That would mean a tribunal isn’t required. Either way the player wants to join LFC.”

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The Verdict: Snap him up, Reds

While it may initially have seemed a killer blow when the deal collapsed on Monday night, there does seem to be a genuine chance that Carvalho still becomes a Liverpool player, which is a huge positive.

The teenager looks like a player of immense potential, not only scoring seven goals in 15 Championship starts for Fulham this season but also registering three assists.

Carvalho has been compared to both Philippe Coutinho and Jude Bellingham in terms of his playing style, which speaks volumes about the impact he could make at Liverpool if the Reds can grant him his wish of working under Klopp.

In other news, some Liverpool fans have reacted to a positive Reds update. Read more here.

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Chronicle Live wrote on Friday about the relationship between Newcastle ace Miguel Almiron and Atlanta United goal machine Josef Martinez, so should the Magpies move for Martinez?

What’s the story?

As reported by Chronicle Live, Atlanta United striker Martinez is well and truly missing his partner in crime.

Martinez and Almiron tore MLS apart last season as Atlanta won their first championship, but Almiron joined Newcastle in January for a club-record fee of about £20m.

Martinez then signed a new contract with the American club, but celebrated his first goal of the season this week with the iconic celebration that he and Almiron shared.

The aforementioned report speaks very highly of the relationship between the two South American players, so should Newcastle use it to their advantage and try to sign Martinez?

Goalscoring machine

While there’s no doubt Almiron was a shining star in Atlanta United’s side last season, his stats are child’s play compared to those of his teammate.

Martinez scored a frankly ridiculous 35 goals in 39 appearances last year, taking his total during his time in Atlanta to 57 goals in 63 showings.

He scored three hat-tricks last campaign, and his pace, agility, low centre of gravity and feisty nature would appear to make him a perfect fit for the Premier League.

Rafael Benitez clearly wants to keep Salomon Rondon on Tyneside, but outside of the Venezuelan international the gaffer has very little to choose from up front. Rondon and Martinez have also played together at international level, so there is yet another connection to Tyneside.

Valued at £9m by Transfermarkt and having just signed a new contract, a summer move would not be cheap, but it would add yet another weapon to Benitez’s attacking ranks, which are slowly but surely catching up with the quality on offer in defence.

Leeds United manager Jesse Marsch will be working with Victor Orta in the hope of enjoying a successful first transfer window at Elland Road this summer.

The former RB Leipzig boss has not yet had the opportunity to bring in his own players since arriving to replace Marcelo Bielsa in February and will now be plotting possible moves ahead of the 2022/23 campaign.

Leeds Live recently published an article stating that bringing in a central midfielder will be the club’s main priority as they look to bolster their options in that area of the pitch, with Manchester United’s James Garner and Marseille’s Boubacar Kamara named as potential options.

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Long-lasting issue

The Whites have not signed a player on a permanent basis in that position in more than four years, with Adam Forshaw being the last one to come through the door, way back in January 2018.

This shows that the club have neglected that part of the squad in recent years. Mateusz Klich and Forshaw have averaged underwhelming SofaScore ratings of 6.69 and 6.73 respectively this term and have been unable to consistently deliver in the top-flight in the middle of the park.

Therefore, it is now time for Orta to solve that long-lasting issue by snapping up Garner from the Red Devils on a permanent deal.

The 21-year-old has been picking up acclaim throughout the season for his impressive form on loan at Nottingham Forest. He has been dubbed “different class” by teammate Jack Colback, while former Leeds goalkeeper Paul Robinson showered him with praise, saying: “Garner has been exceptional at Forest. He is an example of why players get sent out on loan.

“He can play at the top level and I think he has proven that at Forest. I don’t think he’s one that will go straight into the Man United side but I think there is a first-team role there for him and he will feature next season.”

In the Championship, Garner has averaged a sublime SofaScore rating of 7.23 across 34 appearances. He has chipped in with four goals and five assists from midfield, whilst making 3.2 tackles and interceptions per game as he has caught the eye in a box-to-box role.

This suggests that the 21-year-old has the potential to make the step up to the Premier League as he has been outstanding in the second tier, and he has the scope to develop even further at his young age.

He has time left ahead of him to improve and grow as a player to produce consistent performances in the top flight, in the same way that he has been able to do in the Championship, which is why Leeds simply must sign him this summer.

Orta must snap him up to make him a key part of Marsch’s Leeds midfield next season and for many years to come, in the process solving their long-standing issue in that position.

AND in other news, Huge boost: Adam Pope drops 6-word Leeds injury update, Jesse Marsch will be delighted…

Many Nottingham Forest fans have been left blasting the performance of Brennan Johnson in their 0-0 draw at home to Luton Town on Tuesday night.

It was a frustrating game for the home side summed up by the second yellow card given to Jack Colback just after the hour mark, as Forest had to settle for a point at the City Ground in the end.

None of the forward players particularly impressed for the hosts, but Johnson was one that struggled to make any kind of impact, being the only player on his team to have played the full 90 minutes and still record fewer touches than goalkeeper Brice Samba (SofaScore).

The Wales international also lost out on four of his duels, and failed to record a shot on goal, successful dribble or accurate cross from out wide, losing the ball 12 times in total (SofaScore).

Nottingham Forest fans on Johnson performance

These NFFC supporters blasted his display on Twitter, with one even going as far as to claim that he was ‘invisible’:

“Johnson was invisible tonight, especially when we have 10 men and need an outlet. Samba outstanding. Ojeda is Majewski reincarnated.”

Credit: @jtweets92

“Good effort with 10. Yet frustrating too. Samba imperious. Worrall, Garner, McK & Ojeda were brill. Johnson bullied by Mpanzu and went in his shell. Taylor the epitome of a donkey. Good to see them all fight though once the red. Need to stop the petulance though.”

Credit: @RedDogCam

“2nd game Johnson been missing”

Credit: @1BarryBazza

“Lolley fantastic! Taylor wild! Johnson….is he playing!? There for the taking this Reds Step it up and try and get them broken down!”

Credit: @FreebsTheTree

“Is Johnson playing? Not heard his name once.”

Credit: @Neurotica0

“How many times has Johnson failed to hold his run and been offside now? Wonder if we will get a tweet from his old man tonight…”

Credit: @red_till_death

In other news, find out whose display against Luton was also slammed here!

A big update has emerged on Rangers and Gio van Bronckhorst’s transfer plans at Ibrox for the remainder of the January window…

What’s the talk?

A transfer has claimed that the Gers are working hard to source a new signing in attack before the end of the month.

Pete O’Rourke told GIVEMESPORT: “They’re actively looking for options on the right flank, and it just seems they’ve been linked with a lot of players right now. So, it’ll all depend on who Van Bronckhorst sees as the best fit for his side going forward.”

Excitement

This news will surely leave Rangers fans feeling excited for several reasons.

Firstly, it shows that the club are still putting the work in behind the scenes and actively looking to add to their squad despite already making two signings in the form of James Sands and John Souttar.

Ross Wilson is seemingly keen to give van Bronckhorst as many tools as possible to ensure that they are able to secure a second Premiership title in a row. The Gers are also still in the Europa League and could be eyeing further progression in that competition as they prepare to face Bundesliga giants Borussia Dortmund next month in the first knockout round.

Therefore, supporters will be buzzing to read that they are not resting on their laurels and willing to go with what they have for the rest of the campaign. Continual improvement appears to be the way they want to go about it and it will be interesting to see if they have any more targets beyond a right winger for the current window.

The position in which Rangers want to make a signing will also get fans excited as it means that they can look forward to an attacking player coming in.

Bringing in a right-winger suggests that they want someone who can come in to score and create goals from out wide, which would surely get fans off their seats in excitement as they watch a new wing wizard causing havoc down the flanks.

Of course, there is no guarantee that they will be able to sign an effective forward who is able to deliver in the final third but, for now, fans can be buzzing with the prospect of a new attacker coming in to bolster the squad before the deadline next week.

AND in other news, Rangers could finally axe “really poor” lightweight by landing £2.8m-rated playmaker…

Manchester United have been reportedly getting closer to sealing the deal with Erik ten Hag to become the next manager to take on the tough challenge at Old Trafford, and a source has revealed more details about the current progress at the club.

What’s the word?

Stretty News have claimed that a close senior source at Manchester United has revealed that the next meeting between the directors of the club and representatives of Ten Hag are due to take place later this week in London.

The report also claimed that they now understand that United’s search has been whittled down to just two candidates – Ten Hag and Paris Saint Germain manager Mauricio Pochettino.

Great news!

The manager situation at United has been an ongoing issue all season, so it will be a relief to fans, the squad and the owners that it appears close to being settled, with one of the ideal targets set to become the new manager at Old Trafford.

Everyone involved in the club will be hoping that this is the last phase of transition they will face after going through four permanent and three interim managers since Sir Alex Ferguson retired from management and left United in 2013, with a rollercoaster ride along the way and a lengthy trophy drought set to enter a sixth year.

Since Fergie’s departure, the Red Devils have won just three trophies in almost nine years, with their most recent success in the EFL Cup and Europa League with Jose Mourinho back in 2017. They have not lifted a trophy since then despite getting close to winning the Europa League again last year, falling at the last hurdle in a penalty shoot-out against Villareal in Gdansk.

Now in their longest trophy drought since 1989, United will be hoping that the appointment of Ten Hag or Pochettino will bring the winning ways back to Old Trafford, and that real progress will finally be made at the club following Fergie’s exit nine years ago.

For now, Ralf Rangnick must focus on catching up with Arsenal and Tottenham in the pursuit of a top four finish to secure Champions League football with their new manager next season. As they lie three points behind both London clubs, though, the interim coach will need the others to drop points for the Red Devils to get back into Europe’s premier club competition, and that’s without suffering any more setbacks of their own.

In other news: Man Utd now dealt huge new manager setback, supporters will be furious