This article is part of Football FanCast’s Pundit View series, which provides opinion and analysis on recent quotes from journalists, pundits, players and managers…
Laurie Whitwell of The Athletic has indicated that Fred could be Paul Pogba’s replacement when speaking after Manchester United’s 3-1 win over Brighton & Hove Albion.
What did he say?
Fred put in an impressive performance during the victory over Brighton on Sunday, with many fans feeling he was robbed of being named Man of the Match.
This is another encouraging sign for the Brazilian, who has now gone on to start five Premier League games in a row for the Red Devils.
Following the victory, one fan asked Whitwell whether Fred could push Pogba out of the team, to which he replied: “It’s certainly an interesting question, with Pogba seeming on course for the exit next summer. I think United have to plan without him. Fred is finally beginning to show why United paid that money. Maybe not £52m, but he clearly has all the tools.”
Big shoes to fill
Pogba’s performances are often intensely critiqued, as indicated by Darren Fletcher’s comments on Sky Sports in October: “His performances get scrutinised to the level where it is a little bit unfair. If you look at the stats over a season – goals, assists, chances created, passes – he is Manchester United’s most dominant and influential player.”
Therefore, whoever is recognised as the World Cup winner’s successor in a United shirt, whenever he leaves Old Trafford, could also come under huge pressure.
Fred endured a tough start to life at Man United, as he only managed 13 Premier League starts during his maiden campaign, partaking in no more than four games in a row.
Things have already improved for him this campaign due to the aforementioned run of the games, but it is perhaps a bit much to suggest he could fill the void of somebody of Pogba’s quality – especially with his return of 27 goal contributions last season.
Even without this added pressure, there are still those with reservations about Fred, as Charlie Nicholas said last month while speaking on Sky Sports, via The Metro: “Their [United’s] midfield cannot keep the ball. Scott McTominay and Fred are grafting but they cannot pass the ball.”
So while it is encouraging to see Fred improving, he should be allowed to get himself up to his own top level for now, rather than being considered for bigger roles in the team.
This article forms part of our Profit Players feature series, which is where Football Transfer Tavern takes a look at how well a player has fared since being signed or sold, using statistical figures and statements from pundits to prove how good of a deal the club managed to achieve.
Since first joining Sheffield United for a reported fee of £504,000 in 2017 (Transfermarkt), John Lundstram has had mixed fortunes at the club.
The former Everton trainee was signed by Chris Wilder as competition for John Fleck and Paul Coutts as the Blades entered their first season back in the Championship.
Initially he struggled for minutes in the 2017/18 campaign and he made just three starts in the first 17 fixtures of the season (Transfermarkt).
However, Coutts picked up a nasty injury against Burton Albion and that opened the door for Lundstram to tie down a place in Wilder’s starting 11.
He went on to start Sheffield United’s next 10 league matches in a row and did ok, providing two assists and scoring once (Transfermarkt).
But it wasn’t enough for him to remain a regular starter. Once the January transfer window rolled around the Blades signed another midfielder, Lee Evans, who replaced Lundstram in the starting line-up and the former Oxford man was then restricted to just eight of the remaining league games (Transfermarkt).
The midfielder then began the following season by starting the first two matches (Transfermarkt), but after back-to-back defeats against Swansea and Middlesbrough, he was dropped, with new signing Oliver Norwood taking his place.
For the remainder of the campaign, Lundstram was a peripheral figure at Bramall Lane and in total featured just 10 times in the Championship (Transfermarkt), watching his teammates earn automatic promotion to the Premier League.
Most thought that was it for the former England under-20 international in terms of his career at Sheffield United, but how wrong they were.
Instead, the midfielder has benefitted from a tactical tweak from Wilder, which has seen him change from having a central attacking midfielder to a flat three in the middle of the park (Transfermarkt).
As a result, Lundstram has forced his way back into the team and astonishingly has started all of their Premier League matches to date (Transfermarkt).
He has been one of the Blades’ best players so far this term, and is their joint-leading goal scorer with three (BBC Sport).
Two of those goals came in a recent victory against Burnley, a game which perfectly highlights just how good he has been this season. Indeed as well as netting twice against the Clarets he also managed to play one key pass, make three successful tackles and one clearance whilst also finishing with a passing accuracy of 86.8% – the highest of any Sheffield United player on the day (WhoScored).
Wilder has hinted that he will open up contract talks with the ex-Scunthorpe loanee soon (Sheffield Star), and it is fair to say that it has been some turnaround for him at Bramall Lane.
Should he agree a new deal with the club it will add to his value to the club, which is certainly now way more than the £504,000 they paid for him a couple of years ago.
Sheffield United fans, how good has John Lundstram been this season? And how much would you want before considering selling him in today’s market? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below…
This article is part of Football FanCast’s Injury News series, which considers the impact of the latest updates on players’ fitness.
Lukasz Fabianski will be ready for his return to first-team action for West Ham United in three to four weeks, as reported by Football Insider.
What’s the story?
When Fabianski crumpled to the floor in pain against AFC Bournemouth, it was pretty clear that he was going to be missed during his absence, seeing as he was last season’s Hammer of the Year.
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However, it won’t have been expected that things would be quite this bad, as just one point has been taken from the six games following his injury.
Having continued his recovery from surgery, the Poland international is now said to be three to four weeks away from getting back onto the pitch for West Ham.
An end to the nightmare
The period following Fabianski’s injury has been a nightmare for West Ham, due to the aforementioned record, and Roberto has been a big part of that.
Looking at the 3-2 loss against Tottenham Hotspur, he was beaten far too easily by Heung-min Son for the opener and allowed Harry Kane’s header to go through his hands for Spurs’ final goal of the game.
There are various other examples of his calamity during this period, with the matches against Burnley and Newcastle United offering some of the most obvious examples.
Having Lukasz Fabianski available could put an end to this nightmare and hopefully help West Ham push forward to start getting some more points on the board and get their season going again.
In other news, West Ham fans weren’t happy with Roberto after his latest performance.
This article is part of Football FanCast’s Transfer Focus series, which provides opinion and analysis on recent transfer news…
According to Fotospor, Crystal Palace attempted to use Christian Benteke as bait in order to get Alexander Sorloth back to Selhurst Park early, rather than wait for his two-year loan spell to end.
What’s the word, then?
Well, the 22-cap Norway international joined Turkish outfit Trabzonspor on a two-year loan deal back in the summer, and has been in excellent form since arriving at the Super Lig side.
Sorloth has netted nine goals while also grabbing four assists in 20 outings for Trabzonspor, who also have former Liverpool striker Daniel Sturridge in their ranks.
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The report from Fotospor states that Trabzonspor have a €6m (£5.1m) option to buy Sorloth permanently, although the south Londoners wanted him back home safely in SE25 and were willing to offer Benteke in order to make that happen – Trabzonspor officials did not accept this proposal.
Would’ve been lunacy
The mere fact that Palace even thought of this deal, let alone putting it to Trabzonspor chiefs, is downright crazy.
Yes, Sorloth is doing well in Turkey, but former Newcastle striker Papiss Cisse is currently the Super Lig top scorer while the likes of Emmanuel Adebayor, Sofiane Feghouli, Cameron Jerome and Stephane Sessegnon are all still knocking around in the division – it’s safe to say that the Super Lig really isn’t a top-quality league.
Benteke may have struggled in recent years, but even in his toughest times he has looked more likely to produce something than Sorloth has in a red and blue shirt – the Norwegian failed to score or assist in 16 Premier League outings for the Eagles.
The Belgian is a proven Premier League option with 70 goals to his name across his top-flight career in England, and proved with his cameo performance against Liverpool last time out that he can still be of some use – Benteke was instrumental in Wilfried Zaha’s goal.
To even think about offering a £27m striker in order to get a goalless forward back from his loan spell early is madness – Steve Parish should be thanking his lucky stars that Trabzonspor rejected the offer.
In other news, Crystal Palace fans have reacted to a transfer target’s goalscoring display from the weekend…
Hands up if you had forgotten about Timothy Fosu-Mensah.
The Dutchman has been on the books at Manchester United for a long time now but has failed to really establish himself as a key part of the first-team since making a real breakthrough when Louis van Gaal was still in charge.
Speaking after a clash against Everton back in 2016 in which Fosu-Mensah replaced Marcos Rojo and delivered the cross for Anthony Martial’s winner, Van Gaal lauded the defender for seizing his opportunity.
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He said: “I think Rojo has a problem with his jet-leg. I said also to Timothy that you have to take profit of it, and when a player is doing that then that is also a little bit of luck for the manager. But I think every credit is with the player, for Timothy, and not for the manager.”
Under the former United boss, Fosu-Mensah played ten times, and then when Jose Mourinho came into the Old Trafford dugout, he also featured sporadically too, getting onto the pitch on 11 occasions.
But the £6.3m-rated ace has seen his progress hindered by injuries, not least by the cruciate ligament problem he suffered whilst on loan at Fulham last season – according to Transfermarkt, after making his return to action only in January 2020, he had missed 271 days of action, or 60 total games to be precise.
Defence is arguably the one area in which the Red Devils are seemingly well-stocked, with centre-back seeing a whole host of options being available for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, the likes of Harry Maguire, Victor Lindelof, Eric Bailly, Axel Tuanzebe and Phil Jones, amongst others. And then, if you consider Fosu-Mensah’s ability to play at full-back too, he has Aaron Wan-Bissaka, Diogo Dalot, Brandon Williams and Luke Shaw all ahead of him in the pecking order.
The path simply isn’t there for the Dutchman to really genuinely stake his claim in the first-team, and it’s exactly why United should cut their losses on the versatile ace. He may have promised big things after bursting onto the scene a few years ago, but he hasn’t shown why he is worthy of a place in the squad for next season.
Meanwhile, Man Utd are set to battle their Premier League rivals over this star.
Tottenham Hotspur have certainly given us some Spursy moments over the years on the pitch but what about off it and in the transfer market?
Well, things have been just as comical at times with the Lilywhites there too. They may have recently enjoyed a pretty successful period in their history, their transfer strategy remains a little suspect to say the least. They even became the first Premier League team to go two transfer windows without making a single signing.
But when they have made signings, Spurs have often made many mistakes along the way.
Here’s their 20 worst signings of the Premier League era…
Gilberto
Of the two Gilberto da Silvas to have plied their trade in north London, Tottenham certainly had the lesser one in Gilberto da Silva Melo.
The left-back turned up at White Hart Lane initially in January 2008 with some pedigree in the form of 30 Brazil caps and four strong years in Germany with Hertha Berlin but could never adapt to the pace of the Premier League and left in July 2009 a complete flop.
Sergei Rebrov
The first of a fair few strikers to feature on this list, Ukraine legend Sergei Rebrov managed a mere 16 goals in a depressing four-year spell with the Lilywhites.
What makes it worse is that Glenn Hoddle threw away a gut-busting £11m, we are talking in 2000, to bring him in based on his form with Dynamo Kyiv – although it’s far from the last waste of money we’re going to be looking at today.
Paolo Tramezzani
Tottenham new signing 14/7/98 White Hart Lane
Pic : Andrew Budd / Action Images
Paolo Tramezzani with new team-mate Nicola Berti
Tottenham Hotspur
Speaking of foreign players who just couldn’t get to grips with English football, Paolo Tramezzani was a calamitous left-back if there ever was one.
Pictured above with fellow Italian Premier League failure Nicola Berti who’s bizarrely wearing a t-shirt from the Four Seasons hotel in New York to training, Tramezzani would make just six forgettable appearances in north London.
Bobby Zamora
Football – FA Cup – 3rd Round – Tottenham Hotspur v Crystal Palace – 3/1/04
Tottenham’s Bobby Zamora is challenged by Palace’s Danny Butterfield
Mandatory Credit : Action Images / David Jacobs
Bobby Zamora would go onto enjoy an accomplished Premier League career with the likes of West Ham United, Fulham and Queens Park Rangers, but not before his own sorry spell at the Lane.
The Lilywhites were the team to give the future England man his big break when they signed him for Brighton & Hove Albion for a lofty £1.5m in summer 2003, however, he would only contribute the one goal for Spurs before being shipped off as part of the deal that saw the legendary Jermain Defoe arrive in N17.
Mbulelo Mabizela
Football – Tottenham Hotspur Training – Spurs Lodge – 3/10/03
Mbulelo Mabizela – Tottenham Hotspur during training
Mandatory Credit:Action Images / Paul Childs
Remember him?
Prior to the 2003/2004 season, the Lilywhites decided to sign ill-disciplined centre-back Mbulelo Mabizela based on a performance he put in for Orlando Pirates against them in a friendly, it worked out just about as well as it sounded it would.
David Bentley
What did David Bentley ever really do in a Spurs shirt apart from score THAT goal against his former club in the North London derby?
Well, you could list any number of hilarious off-field pranks and incidents.
But it’s what happens on the pitch that really matters and the ex-Three Lions star never really lived up to his potential or his £15m price tag at White Hart Lane before bizarrely retiring at the age of 29.
Bongani Khumalo
Football – Kaizer Chiefs v Tottenham Hotspur 2011 Vodacom Challenge – Pre Season Friendly – Peter Mokaba Stadium, Polokwane, South Africa – 11/12 – 16/7/11
Bongani Khumalo – Tottenham Hotspur in action
Mandatory Credit: Action Images / Felix Dlangamandla
The picture above more or less sums up Bongani Khumalo’s Tottenham career, as the former South Africa captain looked so out of his depth on loan at the likes of Preston, Doncaster and Colchester and in matches for the reserves that he somehow managed to not make a single competitive first-team appearance for the entirety of his four-and-a-half-year spell.
Spurs haven’t had much luck with South Africans, have they?
Roberto Soldado
A striker who doesn’t play too badly and works hard for the team but is also hampered with an uncanny inability to score goals, sounds odd, though Roberto Soldado was that very thing for Tottenham.
It will still send shivers down the spine of Spurs fans that their club flushed £26m of their Gareth Bale money down the toilet on the Spaniard for him to score 16 times in 76 games for them.
Need we say anything more?
Calum Davenport
When the Lilywhites beat others in the race to sign England U21 international defender Calum Davenport from Coventry City in 2004, they would have thought they’d unearthed a real £1.3m gem.
However, the centre-half embarked on a bizarre career that would never see him get close to the level he was once thought to have the potential to reach – he appeared a mere 20 times for Spurs.
Paulinho
After an impressive 2012/2013 campaign for Corinthians in his native Brazil, Paulinho was noticed in Europe by Andre Villas-Boas and another chunk of the Bale money would be allocated to obtain his signature.
It would take the Lilywhites two seasons to work out the Brazil man just wasn’t up to Premier League standard after he was only able to register nine-goal involvements in 45 matches and he was disposed of by Mauricio Pochettino in one of the early lucrative Chinese Super League transfers.
Members of the Tottenham faithful will most recently remember him being oddly brought back to the continent in 2017 by Barcelona.
Leeds United fans have been discussing one of their former players on social media this week after one Twitter account posted an image of Samuel Saiz.
The Spaniard has torn the Elland Road faithful after a divisive season-and-a-half at the club. Saiz joined from Huesca in the summer of 2017 and bagged himself a hat-trick on debut against Port Vale in the EFL Cup.
He then went on to record 58 appearances, scoring ten goals as well as providing 12 assists, via Transfermarkt before returning to La Liga side Getafe on loan in December 2018.
The 29-year-old caused controversy during his spell in west Yorkshire after he was sent off during an FA Cup tie with Newport County for spitting on an opposition player, which is something that still doesn’t sit right with some supporters.
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Tottenham Hotspur could make amends for their big January blunder later this summer if fresh reports emerging this week are to be believed.
According to Sport Bild, Spurs are ‘closely monitoring’ Borussia Monchengladbach forward Alassane Plea ahead of a potential switch to the Premier League.
The 27-year-old scored after just 37 seconds on his team’s return to Bundesliga action at the weekend and has provided nine goals and eight assists this season, via Transfermarkt.
Jose Mourinho’s side have hugely rued not landing a striker in January after leading talisman Harry Kane picked up a season-ending injury on New Year’s Day – since then, Spurs have been knocked out of all competitions and have sunk to seven points adrift of the top four in the league.
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A fresh transfer report has left many Celtic fans fuming this week.
According to The Times Chile, Man City goalkeeper Claudio Bravo is a target for the Scottish Premiership champions with the veteran set to be out of contract at the end of the season.
It’s safe to say that his arrival wouldn’t go down well with the Hoops’ faithful, here are just a few reasons why…
The 37-year-old was brandished everything from a “calamity” to being “shocking” with the Citizens backup stopper playing just 16 times this season, mostly from domestic cup competitions, fans at Parkhead really don’t want to see him make the switch north.
As per the aforementioned source, Celtic are also looking at Burnley’s Joe Hart and Watford’s Ben Foster yet it’s only one man they really desire – current loan star Fraser Forster.
How’s your Celtic knowledge? Always been a loyal fan? Well can you spot Stilian Petrov from John Hartson? Give it a go if you’re brave enough …
The Saints loanee has been Neil Lennon’s regular glovesman this campaign, recording 17 clean sheets in 39 appearances in all competitions, via Transfermarkt.
Although it remains to be seen if they can land the 6 foot 7 giant permanently this summer.
Some members of the Hoops’ faithful are so adamant that they are better off without Bravo that they have suggested that backup goalie Scott Bain is even a better option.
The 28-year-old has been at Celtic since January 2018 and has made a total of 46 appearances.
Clearly, the overwhelming majority of the Bhoys fanbase would be against signing the veteran stopper. As per Spotrac, the 37-year-old is lavishing it up at City on £80k-per-week, something that Celtic could probably do without spending given Bravo’s age.
AND in other news, Celtic fans discuss Kristoffer Ajer amid fresh reports…
Chelsea managed to grind out a hard-fought win over Premier League rivals Leicester in their most recent FA Cup match.
The two locked horns in the battle for progression into the semi-finals and it looked like they could be heading for extra-time. After a goalless first half, Frank Lampard made three changes following the break, bringing on Cesar Azpilicueta, Mateo Kovacic and Ross Barkley.
His decision to swap out Mason Mount for the former Everton midfielder proved to be an extremely smart one. Just after the hour mark, Barkley latched onto an inch-perfect cross and netted the only goal of the game and ultimately, Chelsea’s ticket into the next round.
However, the man who pinged in the cross for the goal also deserves praise for his performance, especially looking further into his stats against the Foxes. As well as providing the match-winning assist, Willian put in a solid shift as both an attacker and seemingly a defender as well.
According to Fotmob, the Brazilian created the most chances out of anyone else in the game (3) and also completed the most tackles (4). He earned a rating of 8.2, which is a Man of the Match performance.
Willian also won 7/9 duels attempted and 2/3 successful crosses, one of which of course was the assist for Barkley (via Sofascore).
He now has five goal contributions in his last five games, including the winning penalty he netted to grab all three points from Manchester City on Thursday.
Although Willian’s departure from Stamford Bridge is all but confirmed, the 31-year-old is still giving everything for his current club.
How would you rate Willian’s performance against Leicester, Blues? Join the discussion in the comments below!