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This article is part of Football FanCast’s The Chalkboard series, which provides a tactical insight into teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…

Aston Villa’s main area of recruitment this summer have seemingly been in defence with no fewer than four new bodies arriving in that position of the pitch.

However, from a midfield perspective, there is no one as of yet to walk through the doors.

Villa have been pursuing Kalvin Phillips this summer whilst a deal reportedly looks close for Manchester City’s Douglas Luiz.

If a deal isn’t completed for Phillips, though, it appears they could go after Ryan Woods as an alternative.

The Stoke man played under Dean Smith at Brentford, but the Villans could be better off handing a chance to someone already at the club, rather than signing the £4.5m-rated midfielder.

On the chalkboard

Aston Villa’s midfield is currently extremely settled and with Conor Hourihane signing a new contract, that just goes to show how much they value him alongside the more star performers in Jack Grealish and John McGinn.

Yet, waiting in the shadows has been the idle figure of Henri Lansbury.

The former Arsenal man has endured an injury nightmare since making the switch from Nottingham Forest, making just seven starts in the last two seasons after joining for £2.75m three years ago.

It’s fair to say that his time in the Midlands has been hugely frustrating but now could be his shot at redemption after a couple of campaigns in the wilderness.

The fact is, that when Lansbury has had a sustained run in the team, his stats are actually better than Woods in some key areas, something that suggests the latter wouldn’t offer anything they don’t already have.

During his first season at Villa, a campaign in which he featured 18 times according to WhoScored, he made 1.9 tackles per game, 1.2 interceptions whilst managing a solitary shot per match too.

£1.2m per week for a player who only scored 8 goals last season? Check out why fans believe football has officially gone mad in the video below…

The midfielder was an influence at both ends of the pitch but in comparison, Woods would fail to offer much in any third. For the Potters, he made 1.2 tackles, 0.6 interceptions and had just 0.1 shots at goal.

Of course, the Stoke man is a more defensive-minded player, but Lansbury has already shown himself capable in terms of breaking up the play.

With that in mind, Smith may as well save money and place faith in a player who finally returned to fitness at the back end of 2018/19.

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This article is part of Football FanCast’s The Chalkboard series, which provides a tactical insight into teams, players, managers, potential signings and more… 

Reports from The Sun have stated that Sheffield Wednesday manager Steve Bruce will be approached for the Newcastle United job after Rafa Benitez left the club.

The former Manchester United player is currently in charge of the Owls, and his departure could ruin their hopes for the upcoming campaign.

Bruce’s start

To understand how Bruce’s departure could derail the Steel City outfit’s season, you must first look at the impact the 58-year-old had when he arrived at Hillsborough.

The former Villa boss took charge of his first game with Owls in February and the results Wednesday picked up from his appointment to the end of the season had them in sixth place in the form table.

Ultimately, the Yorkshire club fell 10 points short of a play-off spot, but there were signs that they were ready to challenge for promotion under him.

Watch Sheffield Wednesday Live Streams With StreamFootball.tv Below

If he goes

It’s a very real possibility that Wednesday will be managerless in the coming days as Bruce looks increasingly likely to become the next Newcastle manager, with Sky Sports’ Keith Downie suggesting on Twitter that he is the Toon’s number one target.

Of course, the club’s first task if they lose their boss would be to replace him. Ideally, they would be able to get somebody better, but at this level, there may be no such manager.

Nobody has overseen more promotions to the Premier League than the 58-year-old, and he would be incredibly hard to replace.

Find out which stadiums fans have nominated for the worst atmosphere in football in the video below…

Wednesday’s squad isn’t good enough to flourish without the right man in charge as shown by their unremarkable league performances under Jos Luhukay previously.

Indeed, their squad is full of experienced Championship players such as Steven Fletcher and Barry Bannan and they are probably too good to go down, but if Bruce leaves they will more than likely be in for another season of mid-table mediocrity rather than a top six challenge.

كشفت تقارير تركية صحفية، موعد وصول مُهاجم منتخب مصر، والمُعار من نادي الزمالك، مصطفى محمد، لـ تركيا، من أجل إتمام انتقاله لـ جالطة سراي.

وكان جالطة سراي قد أعلن أمس حصوله على خدمات المهاجم المصري بمقتضى صفقة إعارة لمدة موسم ونصف مع وجود خيار الشراء الدائم.

اقرأ أيضًا.. مدرب جالطة سراي: تابعنا مصطفى محمد لمدة عامين قبل التعاقد معه

تقرير بطولات | بعد رحيله عن الزمالك.. ماذا ينتظر مصطفى محمد مع جالطة سراي؟ https://t.co/QyGCJ0oMiI pic.twitter.com/UnRlFjgsoD — Btolat.com (@Btolat) January 28, 2021

وبحسب شبكة “جالطة سراي.نت” التركية، فإنه من المتوقع أنّ يصل مصطفى محمد، مساء اليوم السبت إلى إسطنبول.

وأوضحت الشبكة أنّ طائرة مصطفى محمد سوف تهبط في تركيا في تمام الساعة الثانية عشر ظهرًا بتوقيت القاهرة.

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This article is part of Football FanCast’s In Numbers series, which takes a statistical look at performances, season-long form and reported transfer targets…

As some of you may have heard, Liverpool’s first-team stars have been hard at work on international duty whilst others in the squad take a well deserved holiday.

After a gruelling 97-point Premier League campaign and a successful Champions League expedition last term, the likes of Joel Matip and Fabinho got to jet off and chill out.

Whilst they and others were letting their hair down, Sadio Mane, Mohamed Salah, Roberto Firmino and Alisson Becker embarked on international tournaments – the latter pair went away and won the Copa America, whilst Salah and Mane took part in the Africa Cup of Nations.

“It reminds me of a bus seat!” – Watch a damning verdict on Chelsea’s new kit in the video below…

Out of all of them, it was Mane who finished latest after making the AFCON final with Senegal, which they unfortunately lost to Algeria.

Due to his exploits, the former Southampton man will miss the Community Shield game against Manchester City, and will return to the club just four days before the opening game against Norwich.

Embarking on a season without the Premier League Golden Boot winner may worry some Liverpool fans, and quite understandably – however, they don’t need to worry thanks to Rhian Brewster’s excellent pre-season form.

The teenager has had an enormous amount of trust placed in him by Jurgen Klopp, and has begun to repay that trust with four goals and an assist in pre-season so far.

Brewster’s goals were all impressive, and showed his wide array of striking skills ranging from instinctive follow-ups, confidently struck penalties and sharp aerial instincts.

If he had just been signed for £30m and was performing like this, you can only imagine the hype surrounding his form, so it is only fair that we praise Brewster for his efforts substantially.

It may only be pre-season, but the 19-year-old is in a purple patch and has the wind in his sails after Klopp breathed life into them.

From what we’ve seen, he can capably stand in for Mane for a few early season games at least, and potentially be a key figure alongside the Senegalese forward later on once he regains his fitness.

Liverpool needn’t worry about being without their 22-goal attacker with Brewster around.

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West Ham United Director of Football Mario Husillos is involved in protracted negotiations with Celta Vigo over the transfer of Maxi Gomez and is likely to remain as such until the final days of the transfer window, sources have told Football FanCast.

The Hammers are attempting to restructure their squad this summer and Manuel Pellegrini is keen to secure at least one striker in this transfer window.

Pablo Fornals has already been signed from Villarreal to add depth to the attacking midfield positions but the Irons currently have just Marko Arnautovic and Javier Hernandez as their senior forwards.

Chicharito, however, has been made available for transfer and if he departs, the club will be left with just Arnautovic and utility man Michail Antonio as their striking options.

As such, Pellegrini has instructed the club to once again pursue a deal for Gomez, who has a €50m (£44.7m) release clause in his contract.

The Hammers initially identified the Uruguay striker as a target in January amid concerns that Arnautovic could leave for China.

Of course, he ended up signing a new contract and that development put paid to their plan of signing Gomez, with the money recouped from selling the Austria international set to be reinvested, wholesale, into the acquisition of the 22-year-old.

He scored 13 goals in La Liga as Celta avoided relegation – if they had gone down, his release clause would have halved – and Husillos is now attempting to negotiate a deal that could see Gomez link up with Arnautovic in east London.

However, sources have confirmed to Football FanCast that the Irons first face the issue of Gomez’s release clause, with his current club keen to see his asking price paid in full.

Secondly, the player would prefer to remain in Spain and there is a belief at the Hammers that Celta are merely holding out in the hope that a rival bidder will emerge. Valencia tabled an offer earlier this summer but it was not entertained, while West Ham had a £25m bid rejected.

Watch West Ham United Live Streams With StreamFootball.tv Below

Gomez, sources have said, would like to play for one of Spain’s “big three”: Barcelona, Real Madrid or Atletico Madrid.

However, West Ham do not believe that the trio will register any sort of interest in him, and are confident that negotiations can be drawn to a favourable conclusion, eventually.

Indeed, one source within the club told FFC that they expect the deal to drag into the final few weeks of the transfer window, with another even claiming that it may be done on deadline day.

It remains to be seen if a compromise can be reached over a fee but there is a belief that Husillos can strike an agreement for a lower figure than the £45m clause in Gomez’s deal.

Pellegrini has explicitly requested the signing of the forward and FFC has been told that “what Pellegrini wants, Pellegrini gets”.

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Daniel Sturridge is just days away from being officially released by Liverpool.

The Reds have already confirmed his release and the 29-year-old centre-forward will now be available on a free transfer.

But, despite a rather bleak and tepid conclusion to his time at Anfield, Sturridge is seemingly in good spirits and enjoying his holiday.

His latest

/BzL9buUgHBS/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link” data-lasso->Instagram snap shows him in the company of no other than Kylian Mbappe, who cost Paris Saint-Germain an eye watering £166m to sign him from Monaco.

Of course, when stars meet it catches the attention of the crowd, and this particular snap caught the attention of Manchester City star Raheem Sterling.

Sterling noted how the partnership between Mbappe and Sturridge would be insane. And that is definitely hard to argue against, even if the PFA Young Player of the Year award winner is not the most popular figure amongst Liverpool supporters.

The soon-to-be ex-Liverpool man played a total of 18 games in the 2018/19 season and managed to score twice and assist one goal.

Unfortunately, his time as a Red was very much hampered by injuries, but he will leave with plenty of fond memories from his time on Merseyside.

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While the majority of the footballing world is slowly but surely getting back into training and the everyday grind, Raheem Sterling is still modelling

/BzaExoaium1/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link” data-lasso->Instagram snaps, thanks to the extended break afforded to players taking part in international competitions.

Manchester City’s starlet has taken to social media to promote the newest issue of British GQ, the famous men’s magazine, which had him as the fancy front cover.

Of course, such a big thing could never go unnoticed, so many other footballing stars have quickly flooded to his comment section to either banter or applaud him for the achievement.

Kevin-Prince Boateng was among the first ones to the scene, and funnily enough, he only had one word for Sterling’s fashionable Instagram snap. He also followed it with a series of emojis just to put some extra emphasis on it.

Sterling has had a brilliant season with Manchester City. He played 34 league games for the Citizens, scoring 17 and assisting 12 in the process.

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Crystal Palace midfielder Max Meyer has suggested in a feature interview with the official club website that he struggled at the start of last season because of a lack of a pre-season, which hardly bodes well for the Eagles this year.

What did he say, then?

Well, speaking to cpfc.co.uk a year after moving to Selhurst Park, the German said: “The problem was that I came just one week before the first game – so I had no pre-season with the team. I needed to learn the other players, so the first six-eight games I didn’t play in the Premier League.

“But after that I had several games when I started, in the league and in the cups too. I played a lot at the end – and it was ok.”

Watch Crystal Palace Live Streams With StreamFootball.tv Below

While the 23-year-old made 29 top flight outings in his debut campaign in England, 14 of those were still from the substitutes’ bench.

Repeating mistakes?

It isn’t surprising that a new signing will suffer without a full pre-season at the club they are going to represent, given it is the perfect chance to have some time to get to really know your manager’s ideas and how to work well on the pitch with their new teammates.

In the video below, find out which Chelsea academy prospect is reportedly being lined up to replace Aaron Wan-Bissaka at Crystal Palace…

The south London outfit have had plenty of time to bring new signings to the club this summer, but as of yet goalkeeper Stephen Henderson has been the only one to arrive, and he was on a free.

They should have money in the bank given they pocketed an initial £45m when they sold Aaron Wan-Bissaka to Manchester United, but there have been no major signings even if they have been linked with plenty of players.

Given the transfer window shuts in one month and that they suffered eight defeats in their opening 12 Premier League fixtures last season, they probably could have done with getting their business done early this summer to ensure they were ready to hit the ground running in 2019/20.

While they still have an opportunity to avoid another situation like the Meyer one, there is no doubt that they are still running out of time – especially if players who don’t know the Premier League join within a couple of weeks of the season getting underway.

That is something that could be on the cards considering the links to the likes of Allan Saint-Maximin, Timothy Castagne and Mbaye Diagne – none of whom have plied their trade in England before.

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This article is part of Football FanCast’s Transfer Focus series, which provides opinion and analysis on recent transfer news…

According to the Daily Star, Leeds United have a plan in mind which will help them keep hold of Kalvin Phillips this summer.

The midfielder has been targeted by numerous Premier League clubs, but Aston Villa seem to be the frontrunners for his signature at the moment.

The 23-year-old was key to the Whites’ promotion push last term, having played 44 games in the league, so it is clear to see why the Yorkshire outfit are so keen on keeping their homegrown star.

What’s the story?

The Daily Star state that Leeds have come up with a plan to keep Kalvin Phillips at the club by selling less important players.

There are a few players who you could safely say are going to be in danger if this policy is implemented. Returning loanees such as Vurnon Anita and Hadi Sacko have both reportedly been told they can go, but a man who was a bit-part player last term may also be set to leave.

Forshaw could go

The article states that Leeds could let some of their ‘less key’ players go, and the 5 ft 9 midfielder certainly fits into that bracket.

He was a decent squad player, but he completed a full 90 minutes just 19 times last campaign, so he is rather expendable in Bielsa’s side.

With the emergence of Jamie Shackleton, the former Middlesbrough man could find minutes on the pitch even harder to come by next term.

Watch Leeds United Live Streams With StreamFootball.tv Below

With Fulham reportedly interested, this transfer plan which Leeds are hoping will help them keep Phillips seems to point towards the departure of the 27-year-old.

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Everyone loves saying ‘I told you so’, and for Newcastle fans, it might be one of the only bits of satisfaction they take away from this summer.

The Magpies are yet to make a signing, although Joelinton was pictured at St. James’ Park on Tuesday, they have replaced a Champions League winning manager with Steve Bruce and are no closer to achieving their ultimate goal of getting Mike Ashley out of the club.

But there’s no question the Toon Army called this one right, as Lee Charnley is reportedly pressing ahead with a move for Allan Saint-Maximin, despite the protests of Bruce.

L’Equipe claim the manager is concerned about the winger’s behavioural issues, which is certainly a fair complaint given that OGC Nice have dropped their asking price due to the 22 year-old’s poor work ethic and selfishness.

Last week, The Chronicle reported that Bruce will have some control over transfers and was offended by ‘yes man’ comments, but a poll from fan site The Mag revealed that a whopping 96% of fans do not believe that claim.

Needless to say, the latest reports from France seem to have proven the fans right, and the Twitter reactions down below are lapping it up…