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This article is part of Football FanCast’s Opinion series, which provides analysis, insight and opinion on any issue within the beautiful game, from Paul Pogba’s haircuts to League Two relegation battles…

The last 18 months at Villa Park have been nothing short of a whirlwind with the club now looking firmly like they will be a part of the Premier League for the foreseeable future.

But that sort of statement would have been merely a dream – a long-shot – in the minds of some Aston Villa supporters as the club was staring down the brink of financial obscurity just over a year ago.

Villa were in an absolute mess – at first, there was a missed tax bill followed by takeover rumours, a worrying threat of administration, and then the loss of key players.

Aston Villa’s summer signings’ performances so far this season are rated in the video below…

It was so severe that the club were £30m short on their payments for players such as Ross McCormack and Scott Hogan, and that those high up in the chain of command refused to splash out on playoff final suits.

Funny how quickly things change.

The west Midlands club are now sitting pretty in 12th after nine Premier League matches having won promotion via the playoffs last season – the bulk of the current squad cost in excess of £140m after manager Dean Smith splashed the cash in the summer.

Appointing the 48-year-old back in October 2018 was clearly one of the most important decisions the club has made in recent times, but none are as history-defining as the takeover, which ultimately saved the club and has springboard them into stardom.

Watch Aston Villa Live Streams With StreamFootball.tv Below

At the time, star performer Jack Grealish was on the verge of joining Tottenham Hotspur as the club quite clearly needed to recuperate funds to aid their precarious financial situation.

But as the club were taken over by wealthy business duo Nassef Sawiris and Wes Edens, that deal fell through, as the Villa skipper describes below in an interview with the Telegraph:

Keeping hold of Grealish has potentially, actually no, has 100% been paramount to where they are today. The 24-year-old encapsulates everything about the club being the only academy graduate amongst the first-team; their leader.

His euphoric 2019 has only increased tenfold as he becomes a regular in the top-flight, shown by his performances so far this campaign, which includes matches against European finalists Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal.

Per WhoScored, the midfielder ranks third in the league for total key passes this term with 25 – only bettered by Kevin de Bruyne and Trent Alexander-Arnold.

That’s quite some company.

He’s also been able to thrive since moving further forward in an advanced free role, going on to score two goals and providing three assists.

Had that takeover in July 2018 not occurred, then Grealish would have been playing in the all-white Spurs strip for over a year now, Christian Purslow may have never been appointed as CEO, and as a result, the club would never have clinched boyhood fan Dean Smith, who ‘just gets the club,’ as their manager.

Everything from that one moment has led to where Villa are today, and Grealish has been the spearhead of it all.

Next on the list, an England call-up.

Even though the transfer window is now firmly behind us, the titans of European football are always on the lookout for possible deals. And according to The Daily Mail, Barcelona might cast their gaze upon Manchester City’s Raheem Sterling in the future. If true, this could spell trouble for a certain 22-year-old winger already within Blaugrana’s midst.

What’s the word then?

Ousmane Dembele’s career at Barcelona has definitely been a strange one so far.

He is still Blaugrana’s second-highest transfer in the history of the club, only behind another failed project, Philippe Coutinho. But even though that meant he was supposed to be their next big thing, the Catalans are very much still waiting for his full arrival at the scene.

Watch Spanish Football Live Streams With StreamFootball.tv Below

This was, of course, highly affected by the constant injury woes that kept him from showing his true colours. Last season, the Frenchman missed out on a total of 13 games due to three different fitness issues.

But if those injuries won’t end his Blaugrana tale, Sterling just might as The Daily Mail state that Barcelona could up their interest for the 24-year-old winger once Xavi Hernandez takes over the team in the not so distant future.

The beginning of the end

Sterling wasn’t always this prolific forward that’s now tearing up the Premier League.

Earlier in his career, the 24-year-old Englishman was known for his troubles in converting the chances and slotting in the goals. Pep Guardiola himself addressed that issue back in November 2018 when he said:

“The first season, he was scared [in front of goal], he was looking [and thinking], ‘Who is the guy I am going to pass the ball to?’. “He was not looking [to score even though] the keeper was there. We spoke about that and said, ‘Try to score goals’.”

The numbers also don’t lie either – in 2015/16, Sterling only managed to net 11 goals to his name, and the season after that, in 2016/17, he tallied only ten.

While those are not bad numbers by any means, they do seem silly when we compare them to 25 just last campaign and his current tally of seven in a total of eight games across all competitions in 2019/20. His transformation from a goal-shy forward to a goal-machine has been extraordinary.

With all of that being said, it’s easy to see why Barcelona are interested in him, and how his potential arrival could push Dembele completely out of the picture.

After all, it was Xavi himself who once dubbed Sterling as one of the players who “can be the world’s best” in the future. For that reason, Daily Mail’s claim that the Spaniard might push for his transfer once he’s in charge of Blaugrana suddenly doesn’t seem like another generic transfer fairytale.

Can Dembele really compete with that when he’s already struggling for regular football at the Catalan capital?

Only time will tell.

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

Arsenal goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez has admitted that he is open to a move away from the Emirates as he looks for more first-team football.

What’s the word?

Having been at the club for nine years, the Argentine stopper has found his opportunities limited.

He has made a total of 17 appearances for the club, with six coming in the Premier League.

And Martinez has now told Clarin that he may leave unless he is not offered more first-team chances, and insists he was told by Arsene Wenger that he would be first-choice, prior to the Frenchman’s departure.

“He [Wenger] always trusted me,” the goalkeeper said.

“Beyond his departure, people stayed in the club that already knew me. When I renewed with Wenger, he told me that I was going to be the number one at Arsenal.

“Unai Emery, the current coach, wanted to see me and was very surprised with me. In fact, I stayed because I knew I had real chances; otherwise, I would have gone to play somewhere else.

“London is very nice, I’m comfortable, but I’m not staying in comfort. And if I had to go somewhere else to play, I would do it.”

End of the road

Martinez has not found himself as Arsenal’s first-choice goalkeeper at any stage during his time at the club.

Since joining from Club Atlético Independiente in 2010, the 27-year-old has only played Premier League football during two out of the nine seasons he’s spent at the Emirates and has had six respective loan spells in that time with various Championship and European clubs.

The Argentine has never played more than four Premier League games in a season, during the 2014/15 campaign.

Despite a good performance during Arsenal’s 3-0 victory over Eintracht Frankfurt in September, it appears that Martinez has been led down the garden path due to the change of management in 2018.

As a result, it would be best for both parties to part ways.

With the quality at Martinez possesses, he is more than capable of playing in one of the top European leagues.

Real Madrid beat Levante 3-2 at the Bernabeu on Saturday.

Everything started off in a rather straightforward manner as the Galacticos took a 3-0 lead into half-time.

However, they almost threw the game away, with Levante netting twice in the second-half as they threatened a miraculous comeback.

Some of that might’ve been due to Casemiro being substituted on the hour, with the scores at 3-1.

Watch Spanish Football Live Streams With StreamFootball.tv Below

But if the reports coming from AS are true, Zidane wanted to play it safe with the Brazilian since he’s the only defensive midfielder in the squad.

Of course, Real sold Marcos Llorente in the summer and a number of fans have expressed their disbelief and anger at the report, with many left gobsmacked that they did not invest in the position during the transfer window.

One fan has even demanded a new defensive midfielder is bought in January.

You can see some of their reactions in the tweets down below.

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Usually a 0-0 draw against a team flirting with the relegation zone isn’t something to be happy about, but Ogbonna managed to find some positives in the result.

Watch West Ham United Live Streams With StreamFootball.tv Below

The Italian was pleased that his side managed to get another point on the board while keeping another clean sheet.

It wasn’t an easy task for United to keep a clean sheet either. Arthur Masuaku was sent off in the second-half, yet Manuel Pellegrini’s side were able to hold on to get a point.

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It seemed bad when Tottenham lost Harry Kane to injury just before Hueng-Min Son left for international duty. Then came the cherry on top of a disastrous month for the North London side: in the closing minutes of a dramatic victory at Fulham, Dele Alli joined the list of injured Spurs stars when he suffered a hamstring strain that’s to set keep the England international out until March.

But Tottenham are still competing in three major competitions this season following Thursday’s Carabao Cup defeat to Chelsea. Sitting third in the Premier League, Spurs also remain in the FA Cup and will meet Crystal Place on Sunday, and next month are set for a two-leg Champions League Round of 16 clash with Borussia Dortmund.

A packed schedule now faces Mauricio Pochettino and his heavily depleted squad, with some difficult decisions to make. As injuries cut into Tottenham’s star power and depth, their ability to remain contenders across several competitions has diminished and the club should look to prioritise various fronts for the rest of their season.

Sitting nine points back from Liverpool in the Premier League, the title is out of reach for Spurs. A friendly league schedule up through to a meeting with Chelsea at Stamford Bridge will allow Tottenham to remain in the top four as Manchester United and Arsenal continue to apply pressure from behind, but a lukewarm performance at Craven Cottage showed this Tottenham squad are not potent enough to contend without Kane. From here on out, maintaining the pace and earning a Champions League spot should be the primary goal.

Given Kane’s history of speedy recoveries, Spurs could receive a boost in the Champions League ahead of their second leg in Germany on March 5th if the England captain pulls off another one. But with quick turnarounds before and after each leg, this diminished Tottenham side may find itself drained for their European commitments. The North Londoners put on a valiant effort away at Barcelona in December to get through to the Round of 16, but with a weakened attack they will struggle to blast past the Bundesliga side.

Pl>ymaker FC Exclusive: Jermaine Jenas reveals he often received racist abuse after North London Derbies – Check out the video below…

Spurs have not taken home a trophy since their League Cup title in 2008, and their best remaining shot to end the drought in 2019 now remains in domestic competition. Tottenham suffered defeat via penalty shootout in the Carabao Cup but their FA Cup hopes are still alive, with the Fourth Round trip to Selhurst Park up next.

Given the drawn out nature of the tournament, it’s possible that Tottenham could find themselves much healthier come the latter stages and able to field essentially their strongest starting XI. Just as easily though, Palace could pull off the kind of emphatic performance against high-quality opposition that has littered their season, especially against this weakened Spurs team.

But a domestic trophy would come as a validating mark of success for Tottenham and that should be the club’s priority. It’s been more than 10 years since that last trophy, and it’s time for Spurs and Pochettino to finally bring one home.

Lots of Celtic fans have been responding to a tweet from Odsonne Edouard, who appears to be desperate to get back into action for his club.

‘French Eddy’ is fast becoming the ultimate fan favourite at Parkhead. Not only has he racked up six goals and five assists this season in 11 games, he loves a goal against arch-rivals Rangers and his all-round game is improving too.

He has taken his good form into the international break, scoring twice for France’s under-21 side last week, but that isn’t stopping him for yearning for club action, joining in on a club tweet counting down the days until the Hoops are back.

After Celtic tweeted that it is just five days until they take on Hamilton in SPL action, the youngster responded with an emoji implying he too is staring at the clock waiting for the real football to start back up again.

International football can be tiresome for fans, especially Scotland fans, and loads of the Parkhead faithful have rushed to the replies to shower their striker with praise.

Take a look at some of the best Twitter reactions down below…

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Leeds United striker Patrick Bamford didn’t miss the Whites’ 3-2 win over West Ham through injury, according to journalist Phil Hay.

The Lowdown: Famous win for Leeds

Marcelo Bielsa’s side picked up an enormous three points on Sunday afternoon, battling their way to a fantastic victory at the London Stadium. Jack Harrison stole the show with a well-taken hat-trick but it was a superb team effort overall from Leeds, who dug deep in the absence of numerous key players.

One man who didn’t feature against the Hammers was Bamford, with the 28-year-old playing only once since the middle of September because of injury problems.

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The Latest: Hay gives positive Bamford update

Taking to Twitter after the West Ham game, Hay confirmed that Bamford didn’t miss out with an injury, with Bielsa instead exercising caution on his use of the striker given how much of the season he has missed.

The journalist revealed: “Bamford isn’t injured but in the end, Bielsa thought it would have been ‘premature’ to use him.”

[web_stories_embed url=”https://www.footballtransfertavern.com/web-stories/latest-leeds-united-news-31/” title=”Latest Leeds United news!” poster=”” width=”360″ height=”600″ align=”none”]

The Verdict: Season-changing return?

If Bamford is not injured, as Hay claims, then he should soon be set to return to action for Leeds for the first time since the clash against Brentford in early December. That could be huge for the Whites, considering how influential he had been last season, scoring 17 times and registering seven assists in the Premier League.

His end product should certainly make the team more potent but it is his all-round game which has also been greatly missed, from his link-up play to his work ethic.

Getting Bamford back on the pitch will give Leeds a very different look, and his 2020/21 return suggests that he can be the man to ensure that they pull away from any potential relegation scrap in the coming months.

In other news, Leeds have been given hope in their quest to sign one midfielder this month. Find out who it is here.

Aston Villa and Leeds United are just two of the clubs who have contacted the agent of Marseille defensive midfielder Boubacar Kamara.

That’s according to The Daily Mail, and their update has had a number of fans talking on social media.

Both Villa and Leeds are looking to bolster their midfield ranks before the end of the month, with Villa also keen on Juventus’ Rodrigo Bentancur.

Kamara is also on Johan Lange’s list, though, and Villa, Leeds and Manchester United have all contacted the Frenchman’s agent ahead of a possible late swoop.

The Daily Mail believe that Marseille are willing to sell the 22-year-old for £10m before the end of the month due to the player being out of contract in the summer.

Kamara has made 146 appearances for the Ligue 1 side and is also capable of playing at centre-back when required.

Villa fans react

The AVFC Faithful shared the update regarding Kamara on Twitter. This is what these Villa supporters had to say in reply, with one labelling it as ‘interesting’.

“Who invited Leeds?”

Credit: @coutinho_szn

“£10m oh my god. When Gerrard comes calling we know what happens”

Credit: @MackenzieDeery

“Interesting…”

Credit: @CaptainScott87

“PAY I BEGGGGGGGGGGGGGG”

Credit: @Jamie_UTV

“Would be a massive bargain”

Credit: @ViIlaI_

“£10m is an absolute steal. Has been playing midfield this season but he could still quite easily cover CB. Get all over it please Villa.”

Credit: @TEB3190

In other news: ‘Wow’ – Lots of Villa fans erupt as Sky Sports reporter shares ‘quality’ news. 

Lots of Everton fans have been left raging at some transfer news that has emerged on Ross Barkley.

As per The Daily Telegraph, the Goodison Park faithful are now interested in signing their former player on loan until the end of the season.

This has not gone down well with a lot of Merseyside club supporters, given the way he left for Chelsea back in 2018, when he rejected a new deal and a £30m move to Stamford Bridge, only to move for just £15m a few months after (BBC).

Barkley was one of their own, coming through the Toffees Academy, and ended up playing 179 games for the senior side, scoring 27 goals and making a further 29 assists in total over all competitions (Transfermarkt).

However, his numbers at Chelsea have been far from impressive since, and added to the bitterness that surrounded the club when he left, it would surely be wise for the Blues to look elsewhere.

Everton fans on Barkley transfer news

These EFC supporters raged as the transfer news was shared on Twitter:

“No! Just No!!”

Credit: @SteveB84

“If true, this club is a doormat.”

Credit: @hehitthepost

“Nnnnnnnnnnnooooooooooooooo”

Credit: @joeyslittertray

“It’s going to be the worst swap loan deal in history…”

Credit: @BigWoodsey

“Just fold the club”

Credit: @therealAfB13

“I can’t do this anymore #SackTheBoard #RafaOut”

Credit: @GeorgeWoodEFC

In other news, find out what other transfer news has Evertonians fuming here!