All posts by rastrear-estafeta.com

Manchester United suffered one of the most humiliating defeats in their history over the weekend after fierce rivals Liverpool handed out a 5-0 thrashing at Old Trafford.

A clinical Mohamed Salah hat-trick, plus goals from Naby Keita and Diogo Jota piled even more pressure on under-fire manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, as the gulf in class between the two sides was ruthlessly exposed.

It was a humiliating afternoon for everyone associated with United, but one that had been coming since the second game of the season.

Performances have been hugely underwhelming following the opening-day victory over Leeds United and now Solskjaer must find the answers to the Red Devils’ struggles or face an unbearable onslaught for his departure from all angles.

However, the Norwegian manager wasn’t solely to blame for one of the darkest days in the 20-time Engling champions’ history.

No United player left the Theatre of Dreams with any pride on Sunday afternoon after they were all left hopelessly chasing shadows for the entire 90 minutes, yet left-back Luke Shaw arguably endured the biggest nightmare of them all.

The England international was left exposed for Liverpool’s first goal, clumsily collided with Harry Maguire in the build-up to their second, was far too slow to react to a rebounded ball for the third, got dragged across the pitch for the fourth, and was nowhere near Salah for the fifth and final nail in the coffin.

Shaw has looked a shadow of the player that lit up 2020/21 in recent weeks, but his performance against the Reds was shocking, to say the least.

As per SofaScore, the left-back was awarded a match rating of just 6.1 out of 10 after he made just one tackle, two clearances and no interceptions throughout the 90 minutes.

Although goalkeeper David de Gea conceded five goals, it’s clear he got no protection from his porous backline, and it’s the men in front of the Spanish shot-stopper who are really to blame for the chastising defeat.

Shaw was not only underwhelming in his defensive duties, though. The 26-year-old lost possession a whopping 13 times, was unable to find a teammate with four of his six crosses and achieved a passing accuracy of just 78%.

It was a day to forget for the stocky defender, and with fixtures against Atalanta, Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester City to come, there could be some desperate weeks ahead for Shaw and his United colleagues.

And, in other news…0 duels won: Man Utd lightweight who always gets “bullied” let Ole down v Atalanta

The start of Ralf Ragnicks reign as Manchester United boss has been a pretty poor one. United looked poor despite positive results against Norwich and Newcastle, but their inability to threaten against Wolves showed the team needs improvements despite the quality of the squad.

The major hole in the starting team is the same as it was under Ole, in the centre of midfield. It seems like some combination of Scott Mctominay, Fred, Nemanja Matic and Donny Van de Beek cannot be the midfield pairing for a Ragnick 4-2-2-2 system. So United should look in the market for another midfield option. While they may not be able to get players like Declan Rice or Frenkie De Jong in January, there are some excellent options that are realistic signings in January.

Denis Zakaria- Borussia Monchengladbach

Swiss midfielder Denis Zakaria has been linked to both sides of Manchester for a couple of years now and seems like the perfect option for United and Ragnick. Zakaria started to bring rumours of a big move in 2019 when his defensive numbers began to explode. Zakaria emerged as one of the best destroyers in midfield, getting close to 6 tackles and interceptions a game, similar numbers to Wilfred Ndidi. Since then, Zakaria has also developed his passing massively.

Zakaria’s contract expires in the summer and so United could get him at a cut price. He is gettable in January and would suit the Ragnick system. It might suit you to check out some of the excellent betting options you have, which could be any of these online gambling sites.

Amadou Haidara- RB Leipzig

Haidara was heavily linked to United when Ragnick joined, due to Ragnicks history with the Red Bull group. But Haidara is an exceptional player who would be very useful for Manchester United’s midfield. Haidara is much more of a progressive player than Zakaria, creating 2.8 shots per game and being in the top 8% for progressive passes in his position.

In terms of getting him in January, it may be tough. Haidara has a contract with Leipzig that runs until 2025. There are some rumours about a release clause but it is difficult to tell exactly how much it would cost to get him out of Germany. Haidara would be a great progressive option for Manchester United, who have struggled to progress the ball at the start of the season.

Sergej Milinkovic Savic- Lazio

Another midfielder who has been linked to English clubs for years, Milinkovcic Savic seems to be one of United’s preferred options. The 26 year old Serbian midfielder is another midfielder who does not offer much defensively, with about three tackles an interceptions per game this season. But his attacking numbers are outstanding.

Milinkovic Savic is in the top three percent for non-penalty goals, assists, shots, touches in the oppositions box and progressive passes. Milinkovic Savic has 14 goals and assists in just 1600 league minutes this season. While he would cost a lot to United in January, he would be a great addition to this team.

Image from: unsplash.com

Robbie Keane and Joleon Lescott are perhaps the most notorious players to emerge from the Wolves Academy, with recent graduate Morgan Gibbs-White aiming to develop into a player of that esteem.

Though, the Old Gold have a new kid on the block, who has been compared to Manchester City and England star Phil Foden, by Wolverhampton Wanderers U23’s coach Jamie Collins.

Cundle’s recent performance for Wolves in their U23 match against Newcastle United left the head coach full of admiration for the 19-year-old:

“We took a little risk with the change of shape and the ‘false nine’ with no centre-forward.

“We played Luke (Cundle) up there, ‘Phil Foden-esque’, and I thought he played really well.”

The praise will be welcomed by Cundle, though he will surely be used to the plaudits after becoming one of Wolves’ most highly rated academy prospects of late.

The number 39 is a regular for Wolves’ Premier League 2 side but has made six appearances for the Old Gold first team with two of these appearances being Premier League starts against Spurs and Newcastle United respectively.

The Old Gold starlet had Bruno Lage waxing lyrical over his performance in the Premier League against Spurs in mid-February.

On Cundle, Lage said: “Maybe Luke [Cundle] can be a key man because it allows us to play with four midfielders.

“It was the way we play here and with the kid from the academy. He is just 19 and I am very happy with him. The most important thing is the confidence he gives to us. He was there against top players playing like he is in the playground.”

You cannot get much higher praise than that, which is why Wolves fans are eager to see more of their starlet, in what could turn out to be the West Midlands side’s greatest ever academy prospect.

In other news: Adama 2.0: Lage must now finally unleash Wolves 22 y/o “ridiculous talent”

A number of Liverpool supporters have reacted negatively to a claim that Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain will need a scan on an injury picked up against Brentford.

The Reds returned to winning ways in the Premier League on Sunday afternoon, picking up a much-needed 3-0 victory against the Bees.

Fabinho opened the scoring for Jurgen Klopp’s side just before half-time and Oxlade-Chamberlain headed home in front of the Kop to double the advantage midway through the second half. Takumi Minamino put the game to bed late on.

[freshpress-quiz id=“375258″]

While it was a good day at the office for Liverpool, Oxlade-Chamberlain limped off late in proceedings, in what looks like another injury concern for the Reds.

According to The Daily Mail’s Dominic King [via Anfield Watch on Twitter], the 28-year-old will undergo a scan to reveal the extent of the problem, in what is a worrying update given the ex-Arsenal midfielder’s dreadful record on the injury front since coming to Anfield in 2017.

[web_stories_embed url=”https://www.footballtransfertavern.com/web-stories/latest-liverpool-transfer-news-17/” title=”Latest Liverpool transfer news!” poster=”” width=”360″ height=”600″ align=“none”]

Liverpool fans react to Oxlade-Chamberlain update

These Liverpool fans provided their thoughts on the news on Twitter, with some Kopites’ patience wearing thin.

“Time to get rid of all these injury-prone players”

Credit: @emrysp

“Ox scored. Ox injured. Can’t believe this”

Credit: @ImChamikara17

“Big fan of Ox but availability is best ability. It’s time to cut our losses in the summer with injury-prone, unreliable mids and sell both Ox & Keita”

Credit: @Homes19LFC

“He’s been injury-free for the most part of a year now and he got injured rolling his ankle. How unlucky is that, this isn’t even about injury proneness”

Credit: @passingmfer

“Can’t catch a break can we sigh”

Credit: @l_manuel_

“We are getting very thin”

Credit: @CWinENC

In other news, some Liverpool fans have also responded negatively to a new transfer claim. Read more here.

Tottenham Hotspur have offered academy prospect Tobi Omole a new contract after he was named in Antonio Conte’s squad for the Premier League…

What’s the word?

That’s according to allnigeriasoccer.com, who claim that the 22-year-old defender isn’t eligible to qualify as a U21 or youth player anymore but the Italian head coach has included him as a senior member of the team.

Omole is yet to make his senior bow for Spurs but did feature on the bench for their Premier League clash against Crystal Palace earlier in the season and has trained numerous times with the first team since Conte’s arrival in November.

The former Arsenal graduate has also been offered fresh terms ahead of next season, too.

Cesar Azpilicueta 2.0

Omole is capable of playing in pretty much any role across the backline, making him a very intriguing option for the Italian head coach and one that could earn some comparisons to one member of his title-winning squad at Chelsea, Cesar Azpilicueta.

Conte has very much tried to introduce a similar formation to one that once sealed the Premier League trophy, a 3-4-3, which saw the Spanish veteran partner a ball-player in David Luiz and an aggressive tackler in Gary Cahill.

Well, in Eric Dier and Cristian Romero, he has players to fit the mould of the latter duo. And for now, it’s Ben Davies taking up the other role. However, with plans to hand Omole a new deal, Conte may well see a future star fit to take the reins eventually.

As per Lilywhites insider John Wenham, the 22-year-old centre-back is considered to be a “top young talent” within the club and was even tipped to make a debut against Newcastle United back in October.

The young gem is also a left-footer, which will only bolster his claims of replacing Davies in the starting XI as the Welshman has largely been deployed at centre-back due to him being the only defensive-minded left-footer in the squad.

It may be a while before he truly comes to the fold but it’s clear that he has already impressed Conte enough for him to not only be handed fresh terms but also named in the official squad for the remainder of the season.

In Omole, the Italian head coach could well discover a new Azpilicueta.

AND in other news, Spurs “nightmare” who lost ball every 4 mins vs Brighton has given Conte a big dilemma…

[ad_pod ]

According to The Telegraph, Stoke are considering the possibility of cancelling Saido Berahino’s contract after the striker was, yet again, embroiled in a controversy external to the football pitch.

The number 9 was recently arrested on suspicion of drink driving and the Potters have not let him off the hook easy – he is now training on his own at Clayton Wood but it could be about to get a whole lot worse for the Englishman.

Having signed for the bet365 Stadium outfit for a whopping £12m in 2017, Berahino has been unable to focus on his football and has flopped pretty spectacularly. West Brom, meanwhile, have come out of the deal quite well and will be thanking their lucky stars that they offloaded him when they did.

Who do you want to see promoted this year? The Pl>ymaker FC squad have picked their 3 favoured teams in the video below…

The Baggies have Jay Rodriguez up front now and the former Southampton man has notched 17 goals in the Championship this season as Darren Moore looks to guide his side back into the Premier League.

Some of the Hawthorns faithful cannot help but sympathise with their former hitman with his career hanging in the balance, while others are crucifying him for wasting his talent – here’s how they reacted on Twitter…

Flocking to Twitter, it’s safe to say that many Manchester City supporters have been left excited after an update involving RB Leipzig sensation Christopher Nkunku.

The 23-year-old, currently in red-hot form for the Bundesliga club, is now apparently attracting serious attention from City and sporting director Txiki Begiristain by extension.

Sky Blues supporters may recognise Nkunku after watching Pep Guardiola’s side dismantle Leipzig 6-3 at the Etihad Stadium in their opening Champions League group stage match of the current campaign.

The striker netted a hat-trick against City that evening and seriously impressed with an 8.8 match rating on SofaScore, standing out as his team’s best player by a country mile.

In an interesting development, Begiristain and the Manchester club have apparently enquired about signing him for Guardiola as Sport Bild (via Sport Witness) share news.

It is believed that City have approached intermediaries over signing Nkunku, with requests across Europe ‘piling up’. However, Begiristain will have to negotiate a fee with Leipzig considering that he is one of their few players not to have a release clause in his contract.

The forward has been shining both domestically and in Europe, bagging five goals and three assists in just 11 Bundesliga starts so far this term, whilst also scoring a noteworthy five goals in four Champions League outings (WhoScored).

Flocking to this news, it’s little wonder that lots of City fans have absolutely raved about the prospect of signing him on social media given that he stands out as one of Europe’s most in-form talents. Indeed, one Citizen even called him a would-be ‘massive signing’.

Check out some of their verdicts on the development below.

Man City fans erupt over Nkunku claim…

“The PSG product can be a massive signing for us. He’s a complete player”

Credit: @nathanroznan

“He is an incredible player”

Credit: @KDBallondor

“Bring him home”

Credit: @MartinAsajile

“This guy is the perfect Pep player”

Credit: @mcfcvm

“I would take him in a heartbeat, that kid is special”

Credit: @Thatguy_Sammie

“Perfect Sterling replacement”

Credit: @Kofiayababako

“Make it happen, he’s wavy”

Credit: @sidmci

In other news: ‘Wow’, ‘No way’, ‘This cannot happen’…Man City fans also flocked to this ‘depressing’ managerial update, find out more here.

Many Glasgow Rangers fans were left fuming as some news emerged before their game at home to St. Mirren in the Scottish Premiership on Boxing Day.

As per the official website of the Teddy Bears, there will now be a reduced capacity at Ibrox following an announcement from First Minister Nicola Sturgeon.

The game will still go ahead despite concerns over rising Covid-19 cases, which has already seen two matches in the English Premier League in Liverpool versus Leeds United and Wolves versus Watford already being called off.

Nonetheless, there will now be a reduced amount of tickets available for the fixture against St. Mirren, much to the dismay of the Light Blues faithful, in what has put a damper on an otherwise celebrated football tradition.

Rangers fans on Ibrox restrictions

These Gers were left fuming as the news was shared on the club’s official Twitter page, with one RFC supporter even going as far as to claim that it was ‘disgraceful’:

“The bemusement surely must be sarcasm, the restrictions being imposed on everyone here has NO place in SCIENCE. Sturgeon has gone too far.”

Credit: @1rskl

“Is that it? Where is Stewart Robertson? As an @spfl board member he needs to explain to fans why the decision to move the winter break didn’t follow the 11/1 vote when curtailing the season 2 seasons ago did. From the outside it looks like corruption to benefit 1 club.”

Credit: @Northernger

“Limiting capacity to less than 1%, with absolutely NO DATA to support this action, DISGRACEFUL! And what happens if ALL of those with a ST or match ticket turn up??? The police will be forced to let the fans IN to avoid a public disturbance outside …. Just saying…”

Credit: @KenM_inCzechRep

“Not a word of anger about bringing the shutdown forward. Just new dates with times. This is detrimental and disadvantageous to Rangers going forward successfully this season.”

Credit: @ultrateque

“Is that it? Why are we not kicking up a fuss at the fact the break was brought forward so fans could have chance to see games yet now our fans won’t get that at all on Sunday! Absolute farce! We should be asking for compensation”

Credit: @crawford_hume

“Joke”

Credit: @JoshMcsorley72

In other news, find out what claim from this Rangers player’s father has fans talking here!

A big summer transfer claim has emerged that will impact Rangers’ plans for the upcoming window at Ibrox…

What’s the talk?

Sky Sports journalist Rob Dorsett has confirmed that Gers’ transfer target Sam Johnstone is set to leave his current club at the end of the season.

Gio van Bronckhorst and Ross Wilson are reportedly interested in bringing the shot-stopper to Glasgow and they will now be able to snap him up for nothing if they can win the race for his signature, amid stiff competition from other teams.

Dorsett Tweeted: “#mufc and #thfc to battle it out for the signature of goalkeeper Sam Johnstone in the summer. Johnstone won’t sign a new #wba contract, when it expires at the end of the season, as he seeks a return to the Premier League. Bruce said on Saturday he expects him to leave.”

Good news for Rangers

This is good news for the club for multiple reasons.

Firstly, this claim means that the Gers will not have to pay a penny in transfer fees for Johnstone. His deal with West Brom runs out later this year and he will become a free agent, which means that no club will have to deal with the Baggies to agree a fee.

The only concern will be his wages, but the lack of a transfer fee will, hopefully, offset any issues with budgeting for his salary. This, therefore, is why the club will be buzzing with this update as it lowers the potential cost of a deal for the England international.

It is also great news for Rangers as they are in need of a new goalkeeper to replace Allan McGregor next season. The 40-year-old has made four errors, three directly leading to goals, in the Premiership this season – costing van Bronckhorst’s side vital points against the likes of Ross County and Motherwell, making two direct errors in the former and being beaten at his near post for the equaliser in the latter.

Meanwhile, in the Premier League last time out, Johnstone made zero errors directly leading to goals as he averaged a SofaScore rating of 7.03. He is also 11 years younger than the current Gers number one and this means that he could be the first choice between the sticks at Ibrox for many, many, years to come – if they are able to bring him through the door.

It is now down to Wilson to make sure he can capitalise on the Englishman’s availability to snap him up ahead of the other interested parties this summer…

AND in other news, From £4.5m to £25m: Wilson had huge Rangers howler over “remarkable” 12-goal gem…

Sunderland’s youth academy has produced a number of important players for the club over recent years, with the likes of Lynden Gooch, Elliot Embleton and Dan Neil all becoming key parts of the team.

The club also have homegrown duo Anthony Patterson and Benjamin Kimpioka part of the first-team squad, while the likes of Norwich City-owned Bali Mumba, Stoke City striker Josh Maja and Hull City star George Honeyman have all gone on to make excellent starts to their careers after leaving the Stadium of Light.

One man they will be having nightmares over letting go so early is 18-year-old Joe Hugill, who signed for Manchester United back in the summer of 2018 for a £297k fee.

Having scored 12 goals in 21 games this season across the Red Devils’ youth teams, he has slowly become one of the Premier League giants’ most exciting prospects.

“Joe Hugill’s progress has come as a pleasant surprise to the coaching staff at Manchester United who recognised his potential when they brought him in from Sunderland,” said Sky Sports News reporter James Cooper about Hugill’s development last year.

“But the speed of that progress has exceeded expectations, bearing in mind he’s only been at the club for three months.

“Hugill was part of a recruitment drive that has seen some of Europe’s best young talent arrive at Manchester United in recent weeks to not only bolster the club’s Academy but also provide Ole Gunnar Solskjaer with more options further down the line.”

With comparisons made between him and Harry Kane due to his ability to hold the ball up, link-up play and finish clinically, we may finally get to see more of the 6 foot2 forward over the next few seasons, either playing in the Premier League 2, or out-on-loan at a Football League side.

While Sunderland striker Ross Stewart has notched 22 goals already this season, the next highest goalscorer is Embleton with five, level with Nathan Broadhead – and despite goals not particular being the team’s biggest issue, if the North-East club kept Hugill for just a little longer, he would have thrived in League One, and the transfer fee they earned for him could have been far larger.

It’s safe to say this was somewhat of a howler from Stewart Donald to let him move away so easily and indeed cheaply.

In other news: Speakman masterclass: Major SAFC claim emerges that’ll leave supporters buzzing