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Former Newcastle United and England midfielder Rob Lee has told Football FanCast that Leeds would be taking a gamble by appointing Massimiliano Allegri to replace Marcelo Bielsa as manager.

The Argentinian has been with the club since 2018 and has overseen their rise from the Championship to the Premier League.

He has been exceptional this season, too, with Leeds currently 11th and looking up the table rather than down.

However, his contract expires at the end of the season and there have been reports of Leeds putting a contingency plan in place in case Bielsa does decide to move on.

Allegri has been mentioned as a potential recruit, with journalist Duncan Castles, via The Sun, naming the former Juventus boss as a potential replacement.

Lee hopes that Bielsa stays at the club but he has urged Leeds to tread carefully, with foreign managers being rather hit and miss in the Premier League.

He told FFC: “I think you always take a chance when you bring a foreign manager in.

“Bielsa’s done it at Leeds so it does work but I think it was slightly different because he was in the Championship. He’s brought the club up.

“When you bring a foreign manager in and chuck them straight into Leeds, as good as Allegri would be, you’re always taking a chance on whether he gets to grips with the Premier League, with where Leeds is, with whether the players like him. I hope Bielsa stays because I think he’s been brilliant.”

Lee believes Bielsa operates differently to most managers and has hailed the success he has found at Elland Road.

Indeed, he believes it will not be Leeds’ decision if he stays, rather Bielsa’s.

He added: “Bielsa’s done brilliantly, I love him. I think he’s a breath of fresh air. He’s different. He does things differently.

“And I presume it’ll be his decision whether he wants to stay in England. I don’t think he’ll manage anybody else in England but whether he wants to be around and do that (is up to him).”

Liverpool could be set to commit a huge transfer mistake with the club apparently not eyeing a striker in the summer window.

According to transfer guru Fabrizio Romano, the Reds are currently happy with their forward line and have no ambitions to swoop for a big-money forward having previously been linked with the likes of Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland.

Speaking exclusively to GiveMeSport, when asked if the Reds could be in the mix for Haaland this summer, Romano said: “I think Liverpool is complicated in this moment because they are happy with the team they have, so they’re not planning to do something like (sign) a central striker for this money.”

This could be a decision that comes back to bite the reigning Premier League champions.

The Reds have certainly not been at their prolific best throughout the 2020/21 league campaign. Jurgen Klopp’s troops have only scored 48 goals this season.

Whilst not the worst total, with only four sides in the entire top-flight having found the net with more regularity, it is a stark drop-off from the 66 that they had plundered at the same stage last season.

As a matter of fact, a huge reason behind the Reds’ dramatic poor form this season has been their inability to find the net. In their last 13 Premier League matches since the turn of the year, Liverpool have scored just 11 goals – failing to score in eight matches alone since mid-December.

That lack of goalscoring threat comes directly from their strikers.

Whilst the likes of Mo Salah and Diogo Jota have all found the net with ruthless efficiency, strikers Roberto Firmino and Divock Origi have only seven between them in all competitions.

For a side that harbours aspirations of challenging on all fronts under Jurgen Klopp, that is simply not good enough.

The arrival of a striker would go some way in rectifying those problems and it would be a huge mistake for Michael Edwards not to at least try to sign a clinical frontman in the summer despite Klopp being “happy” with his squad, according to Romano.

If you would like to see the full interview with Fabrizio Romano, click here.

AND in more news, take a look at which former Premier League midfielder the Reds should avoid signing in the summer…

Manchester City took another huge step towards the title with an impressive 2-0 win against Leicester City at the King Power Stadium on Saturday, here are our player ratings from the game.

Starting XI

Ederson: 7/10

Saved comfortably from Youri Tielemans early in the second half after being a spectator for the first 45. A late strike from James Maddison was fortunately straight at the Brazilian, who earns a 7/10 simply because his clean sheet earns me fantasy points.

Kyle Walker: 6/10

After a quiet first-half, Walker was key in City’s opening goal as his dangerous cross into the box caused chaos and allowed Mendy to find the net. Looked solid at the back and defended well when Castagne pushed forward for the home side.

Ruben Dias: 7/10

After a very comfortable first half, the centre-back burst into action with a superb block to deny Tielemans what looked to be a certain goal. Had very little else to do but that block proved vital considering it was 0-0 at the time.

Aymeric Laporte: 6/10

Defended a rare Leicester break brilliantly by running across Kelechi Iheanacho and earning a foul after the former City man pulled him back but had very little to do overall.

Benjamin Mendy: 7/10

Guilty of not getting forward enough in the first half but was in the right place at the right time to open the scoring, showing great composure to cut inside Timothy Castange and find the bottom corner with his weaker foot. Had very little to do from a defensive perspective.

Fernandinho: 7/10

Unfortunate to have a great early strike chalked off after an Aguero offside. Played with his usual quality and gave Leicester’s midfielders very little time on the ball. Regularly won back possession to kick start attacks. Picked up a late booking after unnecessarily kicking James Maddison.

Rodri: 6/10

Broke up play well as usual and largely went unnoticed as you would hope from a defensive midfielder but was arguably outperformed by Fernandinho in the middle. Picked up a late booking for a foul on Tielemans that was very much in the mould of Fernandinho.

Kevin De Bruyne: 8/10

The Belgian was inches away from opening the scoring after striking the crossbar from an excellent free-kick. Largely ran the show in the first half and created the second goal with an inch-perfect pass through to Gabriel Jesus. Played in Mahrez perfectly but the Algerian curled it wide when he should have scored. Withdrawn after getting frustrated after some late Leicester tackles but still a superb display from the world-class midfielder.

Riyad Mahrez: 5/10

Hit straight at Kasper Schmeichel in City’s best chance of the first half when he should’ve scored. The £37.8m-rated dynamo later missed another sitter when played through by De Bruyne before being replaced by Torres with around 15 minutes remaining.

Gabriel Jesus: 7/10

Was played in beautifully by Riyad Mahrez but couldn’t cut the ball back to his strike partner Aguero. Later repaid the favour by providing a delightful flick for his Algerian teammate. Hit narrowly over after De Bruyne found him in the box shortly before half time. Got the goal his performance deserved after sliding home from Sterling’s cut back.

Sergio Aguero: 6/10

You can’t blame the Argentinian too much for being offside for Fernandinho’s goal but a volley that was blazed over the bar by the striker highlighted his rustiness and was perhaps one that you would have expected him to take a few seasons ago. Replaced by Raheem Sterling just after the hour mark, hopefully, the run-out will do his fitness some good as he looked far from his best again here.

Subs

Raheem Sterling: 7/10

Perhaps guilty of not pulling the trigger quick enough when found in the box by Jesus but then regained his composure to give the ball back to the Brazilian for a tap in to make it 2-0.

Ferran Torres: 6/10

Barely touched the ball as City saw out the game late on.

Phil Foden: N/A

AND  in other news, Man City: Neto vs Grealish – who would be the better signing?…

Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp must surely be relieved with the news that Eden Hazard is not available for the Reds’ UEFA Champions League clash with Real Madrid on Wednesday.

The Merseysiders welcome Los Blancos to Anfield for the second-leg of their quarter-final meeting, which they will go into 3-1 behind on aggregate after the first-leg in Spain. However, Hazard will not be one of those to take to the pitch, with the Belgian not included in the Spaniards’ travelling squad with a reported ankle injury.

His absence will be a huge boost to the Reds’ chances of progression.

Before his move to the Santiago Bernabeu, Hazard proved to be a constant thorn in Liverpool’s side.

The Belgian has thus far made 18 career appearances against the Reds with both of his former clubs Chelsea and Lille OSC and scored on seven occasions, providing a further two assists.

As a matter of fact, the now £36m-rated midfielder has not scored more goals throughout his career past any other opponent.

Even more worryingly, in matches where Hazard had provided a goal or an assist, a total of eight games, the Reds have not managed to win a single one.

One wonderful contribution that comes to mind straight away when considering Hazard coming up against Liverpool is his wonderful goal in the 2-1 Carabao Cup victory for Chelsea at Anfield in 2018 – a strike that led current Reds’ boss Jurgen Klopp to label him as “special”.

So, whilst Hazard has not yet hit the heights expected of him in Madrid, having scored just four goals in all competitions – ironically fewer than he has netted against Liverpool in his entire career – that previous record would certainly have been a concern.

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Nevertheless, with Hazard now ruled out, Liverpool can relax in the sense that he will certainly not be having another starring role at Anfield as the Reds attempt to overturn their first-leg deficit, although Madrid showed in the first leg that they still have more than enough firepower to cause the Reds some big problems.

AND in more news, remind yourself of a dreadful sale completed by the Reds in 2016…

James Rodriguez stole the show against Tottenham Hotspur on Friday night as the Everton midfielder proved to his doubters that he can defend as well as attack.

The Toffees were forced to settle for a point at home to Jose Mourinho’s Spurs after crucial mistakes from Mason Holgate and Michael Keane gifted Harry Kane two opportunities to register a brace.

Kane’s goals came either side of a double from Gylfi Sigurdsson, the Icelandic maestro converting a first half penalty before beautifully placing a delicate weak-foot volley into the far corner of Hugo Lloris’ net.

Referee Michael Oliver wasted no time in pointing to the spot moments after Kane opened the scoring following apparent contact between Spurs left-back Sergio Reguilon and Rodriguez, who had arrived late into the area to meet Sigurdsson’s cutback.

Rodriguez proved to be a prickly thorn for the Tottenham defence to try and put a cap on throughout the match, and he started brightly by sending Richarlison in down the left-hand channel after creating a yard of space.

Lloris was later forced to prevent Rodriguez from putting Everton ahead minutes after Sigurdsson converted from the spot when the Colombian let rip from range, and the Frenchman again had to be well-placed to thwart the £27m-rated playmaker with what should have been his seventh goal of the season.

Chances flowed through Rodriguez throughout the first half with Richarlison again allowed to adventure forward and the pair continued to combine well after the break, while the late introduction of Joshua King added another target for the former Real Madrid star to find.

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Ultimately, his creativity would not return an assist or a goal to put Everton back ahead, but Rodriguez ended the night with a joint-game high four key passes with Sigurdsson, per WhoScored.

Rodriguez also matched Sigurdsson’s two successful tackles and made one interception while the former Spurs playmaker did not, and unlike his goalscoring colleague, he even contested a defensive aerial duel, per WhoScored.

The Colombian has averaged only 1.2 successful tackles and offered 0.7 interceptions per Premier League game in 2020/21, while contesting 0.7 aerial duels across both offensive and defensive situations.

Rodriguez is not generally a player known for his defensive contributions but rather his offensive exploits, which has previously raised suggestions that he could become a burden for Ancelotti if he cannot influence games at both ends of the field.

“Ancelotti will have to weigh up whether he’s doing enough offensively with his defensive contribution,” Darren Bent told Football Insider in January. “We know he’s not a defensive player, that’s not what his strength is.

“When you sign players like that, you don’t sign them for their defensive qualities. Defensively, we know he might leave them a little bit short, but they need to overcome that and move forward.

“These sorts of maverick players, they don’t really exist anymore because you can’t afford to be playing with ten men, especially with the energy and intensity of some teams, they’ll just keep on creating overloads all over the place.”

However, Rodriguez’s performance against Tottenham – which earned rave reviews from some Everton supporters – proved to doubters like Bent what he can do from a defensive point of view.

AND in other news, a rarely-seen Everton outcast is wanted in a £10.5m summer transfer…

Celtic have been strongly linked with Eddie Howe for a number of weeks now.

The Hoops reportedly reached a verbal agreement with the former Bournemouth boss to take over from Neil Lennon.

However, a deal is yet to be announced, with Howe has also speaking to Crystal Palace. Celtic fear Howe is now having second thoughts, with Brighton also showing a recent interest.

Nixon answers Celtic/Howe question

Reliable reporter Alan Nixon was quizzed on the latest regarding Howe and Celtic on Wednesday evening.

Nixon, who writes for The Sun, was asked if a deal for the 43-year-old was completely off, to which he replied, seemingly implying Howe may not make the move to Glasgow:

“Shocked Celtic have not started talking to someone else…”

Transfer Tavern take

In our view, you can take this update one of two ways. You could look at it as a positive, with the Hoops seemingly not sounding out any alternatives to Howe, who wants a summer return to management at the earliest.

They may well feel as if Howe is still keen on the job and don’t want to worry about contacting any other managers as a result, also showing they have 100 per cent faith in the vision of a rebuild with Howe at the helm.

However, you could also fear the worst. Should Howe snub a move to Glasgow and take over from Roy Hodgson at Palace, the Hoops could be back to square one with time ticking ahead of the 2021/22 season.

It’s an interesting view, but it doesn’t appear as if the Hoops have anyone else in mind as of now.

In other news: Celtic ace closing in on Parkhead exit, report claims medical is booked, find out more here. 

According to an update by Sky Sports journalist Kaveh Solhekol, giving the latest updates after the suspended European Super League breakaway which included Tottenham Hotspur, there is a lot of ‘anger’ and ‘recrimination’ behind the scenes at clubs involved.

Tottenham Hotspur announced they were joining the ESL as founding members alongside fellow Premier League sides in the ‘big six’ – including Arsenal, Man City, Chelsea, Liverpool and Man United.

Solhekol drops behind-scenes ESL claim involving Spurs

What followed was protests and intense backlash to the proposals, and one by one the involved parties started to announce they would be leaving the project.

The aftermath has left a bitter taste in the mouths of executives at these sides behind the scenes, including Spurs, with Solhekol providing the latest.

“I am being told there is a lot of anger, a lot of recrimination,” explained Solhekol to Sky.

“A lot of unhappy executives, a lot of unhappy people who work at these clubs, a lot of unhappy managers and a lot of unhappy players” explained Solhekol to Sky.

“Interestingly, I’ve also been told that there are still some breakaway owners who think that this [ESL] was and is a good idea.

“They still think it’s a good idea, but it was badly executed.”

Transfer Tavern take

Whether or not Daniel Levy and co are among the breakaway owners who still believe this is a good idea remains to be seen, but it’s absolutely no surprise the fall out has been so intense behind the scenes.

Tottenham supporters also protested Levy and the ENIC group yesterday before their clash with Southampton, with it being clear that Lilywhites do not want to be part of a closed Super League.

Whether more comes from this ‘anger’ in the boardrooms remains to be seen, but perhaps the ESL disaster could turn into a blessing in disguise for those Spurs fans if it results in new and improved ownership.

In other news: Tottenham make signing enquiry, find out more here.

Sunderland centre-forward Charlie Wyke is attracting the interest of a number of Championship clubs this summer, according to reports.

What’s been said?

Football League World claim that Cardiff City are leading the race to sign the striker on a free transfer this summer, with Middlesbrough also thought to be keeping tabs on the 28-year-old ahead of a potential move.

The Sky Sports journalist, Keith Downie, also recently reported that, as well as Boro and Cardiff, both Millwall and Nottingham Forest are also interested in a deal for the Sunderland star, whose contract at the Stadium of Light is set to expire at the end of the season.

Louis-Dreyfus must not repeat Donald’s mistake

Wyke has undeniably been the star of Sunderland’s season so far, with the former Bradford City hitman bagging 25 goals and providing three assists over his 42 League One appearances for the Black Cats, as well as averaging a highly impressive SofaScore match rating of 7.35 – ranking him as the club’s best performer in the third tier.

As such, it is hardly surprising to read that a number of Championship sides are keen ona move for the striker, particularly as, at present, the 28-year-old will be available on a free transfer, with Sunderland yet to agree terms on a new deal with the forward.

It is possible that Wyke is waiting to make a decision on his future until it becomes clear in which league Lee Johnson’s side will be playing their football next season, as the Black Cats – barring a catastrophic collapse – appear to be one of the four sides who will enter the League One play-offs at the end of the regular season.

However, regardless of whether or not Sunderland gain promotion, Kyril Louis-Dreyfus should learn from the mistake of his predecessor, Stewart Donald – who sold Josh Maja in a self-proclaimed “ridiculous” deal, shortly before the striker’s contract expired – regarding the situation of Wyke.

In short, Louis-Dreyfus should offer the £6,000-per-week star, who Lynden Gooch dubbed a “brilliant” player, a new deal that he simply cannot refuse prior to the transfer window opening, as, without his goals this season, Sunderland would not be anywhere near the play-off places. They’ll need him to either help them stay in the Championship next season or make another promotion push.

In other news: Lost possession 22 times: Johnson surely furious with shocking £5k-p/w Sunderland ace – opinion

Former Leeds United star Jon Newsome has told Football FanCast that the club can only focus on remaining in the Premier League next season, or risk following in Sheffield United’s footsteps.

Marcelo Bielsa’s side have enjoyed an excellent season this term, and are currently ninth in the Premier League table.

They are unlikely to qualify for Europe, as they are six points behind seventh-placed Tottenham Hotspur.

However, Newsome is wary of the club setting their sights too high next season, especially after the experience of the Blades.

Chris Wilder’s side finished ninth last season after a poor end to the season saw them lose three consecutive games, to Arsenal, Wolves, and Brighton & Hove Albion.

This season, they are rock-bottom, with 17 points from 33 games, having won just five of their 33 games.

And Newsome believes Leeds should simply focus on staying up next season, and reassess their goals if and when their safety is confirmed.

He told FFC: “But for me it’s got to be survival in the Premier League. Because, as we’ve seen, it’s a tough, tough gig. We’ll touch on Sheffield United down the road, they had an amazing season last season.

“Things didn’t work out this season. It’s been an awful season for them. So Leeds United supporters, Leeds United players, staff, they’ll all have that in the back of their mind as well, you know, everybody will know that they don’t want to do a Sheffield United next season.

“So yeah, the pressure is on so I think it’s achievable, realistic targets for me.”

Leeds United beat Tottenham Hotspur 3-1 at Saturday lunchtime to move up to ninth in the Premier League.

Stuart Dallas, Patrick Bamford and Rodrigo were all on target as they returned to winning ways following their disappointing defeat at Brighton last weekend.

And it was only Dallas (7.6) and Bamford (7.5) who earned higher SofaScore ratings than Robin Koch (7.4).

The numbers behind Koch’s Tottenham display

Koch was deployed in front of Leeds’ centre-backs Diego Llorente and Pascal Strujik, and the German won five of his seven ground duels and two of his four aerial battles, via Sofascore.

He also contributed two clearances, two blocks and three tackles and wasn’t dribbled past during the game.

Overall, Koch touched the ball 50 times and completed 29 of 35 attempted passes, an accuracy of 83%.

He had Leeds analyst Josh Hobbs backtracking – Hobbs tweeted that, in light of Koch’s ‘glorious’ performance, he may have to retract his argument that centre-backs shouldn’t play in the defensive midfield role.

Koch himself tweeted a celebratory message after the game, and here’s how supporters reacted to his six-word post which read: “Who you gonna call? Leeds United!”.

Leeds fans buzzing with Koch’s performance against Spurs

“Absolutely unbelievable performance from you today big man. Love having you back in this team. What a win”

Credit: @TonyLUFC28

“Can’t wait for that chant ringing out around Elland Road next season.”

Credit: @Anguini

“Love you big fella, class today”

Credit: @callumlufc

“You were Man of the match for me, had a great game in that role, long may it continue”

Credit: @CasperEngland

“You were absolutely immense today big man”

Credit: @Guysley

“Unbelievable in CDM mate”

Credit: @Olijhulme

“Top game Robin, looked a natural there”

Credit: @petewoodhead99

“Never leave”

Credit: @lufcliam_

In other news, fans were less than pleased with this player’s efforts.