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Tottenham Hotspur are reportedly keen to bring PSV Eindhoven winger Noni Madueke back to north London this summer.

What’s the story?

According to Sky Sports, Spurs are one of three Premier League clubs interested in securing the highly-rated 19-year-old’s services, with Leicester City and Wolves also credited with an interest.

The report states that PSV are set to demand between £30m and £34m for their prized asset, a valuation which could prove too costly for the English trio with less than two weeks remaining of the current transfer window.

Tottenham fans will be buzzing

Madueke, who was born in Barnet, came up through the youth ranks with Tottenham until he was released at the age of 16 and then moved to Netherlands back in 2018 when PSV came calling.

Since then, the England under-21 international has gone from strength to strength. After making his debut for the Eredivisie giants in 2019/20, Madueke enjoyed his breakout season last term.

In 32 appearances for Roger Schmidt’s side in all competitions, the skillful winger bagged nine goals and provided a further eight assists for his teammates, establishing himself as one of Europe’s most exciting young talents.

Sky Sports claimed that his impressive performances caught the eye of some of the continent’s top clubs, stating: “Last season, Paris Saint-Germain, Real Madrid and Manchester City were among the top clubs tracking his development, as he scored seven goals and created six more in the Eredivisie.

“And a string of scouts from Europe’s elite clubs – including Juventus – were said to have been watching him against Benfica on Wednesday night.”

The youngster has started the new campaign in scintillating form as well, contributing to six goals in just seven outings as PSV attempt to qualify for the group stage of the Champions League.

However, prising him away from the Philips Stadion may be a tricky task for Spurs chairman Daniel Levy, after Schmidt claimed that the talented teenager would be staying put this summer in a recent interview.

Speaking to ESPN (via Football.London), he said: “I’m not afraid [of Madueke leaving], why should I be? He will one day leave PSV if he continues to develop like he is now.

“I’m not afraid it will happen now. We can’t sell key players anymore. We’ve already done that with Donyell Malen, Denzel Dumfries and Pablo Rosario, so we can’t lose any more.

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“And PSV is also a fantastic club for Noni to develop. He is very young, he can play a lot here, score goals and cheer with the team. I think he feels very good here.”

Potentially bringing Madueke back to north London could go down as some of the best business Levy has managed to pull off in years, and given the teenager’s obvious talents, it’s a coup which could have Spurs fans buzzing if the club chief gets it over the line.

In other news…Pundit cannot see £40.5m-rated ace leaving his club for Spurs 

Serie A expert Conor Clancy has stuck the boot into Fabio Paratici ahead of his appointment at Tottenham Hotspur.

BBC Sport have reported that Spurs have agreed a deal to bring the Italian into the club following his spell at Juventus.

Paratici will become the club’s new Sporting Director, as Spurs return to a two-tier management structure, giving the Italian the chance to recruit new players and also a say in appointing the club’s next manager.

Spurs have not yet found a new manager despite sacking Jose Mourinho in mid-April, although Paulo Fonseca is a frontrunner, and ended the season under the management of Ryan Mason, who was placed in caretaker charge.

However, it remains to be seen if Paratici will turn out to be the appointment he appears to be, with Clancy sticking the boot in over his record at the Italian club.

The editor of Forza Italian Football Clancy believes that Paratici oversaw an awful run of recruitment in Italy, as the midfield of Paul Pogba, Arturo Vidal, and Andrea Pirlo was dismantled and replaced poorly.

Juventus lined up with a midfield of Danilo – normally a full-back – and Adrien Rabiot in their final game of the season against Bologna.

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Speaking exclusively to Football FanCast, Clancy said: “They’re such a top-heavy side now. This midfield that used to be one of the best in Europe, with Vidal, Pirlo and Pogba, Marchisio as well to an extent, and now you look at that midfield and there is nothing there.

“Not even bad players, just players who don’t contribute anything in a positive or a negative sense and that is 100% on Paratici because that was literally his job, to make sure this thing didn’t happen.”

Speaking to Football Insider, pundit and BBC regular Noel Whelan has claimed there will be a ‘lot of worried fans’ ahead of a ‘strange old summer’ for Tottenham Hotspur – going on to claim that the Lilywhites ‘will see the back’ of Harry Kane as well as three other players.

Hugo Lloris, Serge Aurier and Gareth Bale are the other men Whelan believes will depart Spurs after reports emerged recently.

Football Insider reported back in March that Spurs are eager to offload the ‘uncoachable’ Aurier, meanwhile they also believe that Daniel Levy and co will be preparing for the possible departure of Hugo Lloris.

Whelan touts Kane among four Tottenham exits

Bale admitted he is more than likely to return to Real Madrid at the end of his loan spell (The Guardian), and increased speculation has resulted from Kane telling Sky Sports he will consider his future after this summer’s European Championships.

Whelan, reacting to these developments, has touted all four men, including Kane, to leave north London.

“Lloris will be leaving, Aurier will be leaving. We’ll see the back of Harry Kane, Bale too,” he explained to Football Insider.

“There are quite a few other players that will want to leave. It’s going to be a strange old summer for Tottenham. There will be a lot of worried fans out there.

“Harry Kane wanted to see some ambition this year. That’s the only reason he stayed. But that hasn’t come to fruition at all. They’ve made zero progress.”

Transfer Tavern take

Whether or not he is correct in his verdict remains to be seen, but it could certainly be an uncertain window in terms of departures. If all of those players do leave, Levy will have an almost unachievable job to do in replacing them with adequate quality, Kane in particular of course.

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Tottenham may need to adopt a sell-to-buy policy following financial problems caused by COVID-19 and it will certainly be interesting to see who could exit this summer.

In other news: Tottenham turn to this unseen Spurs youngster, find out more here.

Crystal Palace’s woes continued as they suffered a second consecutive defeat in the Premier League to ten-man Aston Villa at Villa Park on Boxing Day.

Former Chelsea forward Bertrand Traore broke the deadlock before he suffered the ignominy of being substituted shortly before the break after Tyrone Mings was sent off for a challenge on Wilfried Zaha.

Kortney Hause doubled their advantage before Anwar El Ghazi added the final touch to put the game beyond Palace.

You could pick many holes in Roy Hodgson’s side, as Wilfried Zaha was far from his very best after he blazed a shot over the bar in the dying seconds of the game, but Jeffrey Schlupp badly let the Palace boss down with yet another lacklustre display against the Lions on Saturday afternoon.

The ex-Leicester City winger started the action out wide as Hodgson sought to stop the rot from seeping after the humiliating defeat to Liverpool at home last time out, yet was forced to make room for Andros Townsend in the 82nd minute as he struggled to get a foothold in the game.

SofaScore graded the 28-year-old as the worst player on the pitch with an abysmal 5.6 rating out of ten – he lost possession 18 times, won just seven duels from 22 attempts overall, was dribbled past twice and failed to complete a single dribble successfully from six attempts.

Schlupp also failed to register a single shot all game, let alone a shot on target, and failed to record even one key pass, as per SofaScore.

It’s fair to say that the Ghana international, who earns around £56,000-per-week at SE25, may have felt under threat after the arrival of Eze at Selhurst Park in the summer although he will have done very little to stake his claim in the starting line-up after such a dismal showing.

Quite why he wasn’t hauled off at half-time we’ll probably never understand, especially when you consider the fact Palace were essentially chasing the game against ten men.

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Schlupp’s tenth start in the top flight so far this season could be his last for quite some time after such a poor performance – with a crucial clash with Leicester City on Monday, followed by a game against Premier League strugglers Sheffield United, Hodgson will surely have to consider other options on the right wing.

AND in other news, Steve Parish must look to cash in on Crystal Palace defender James Tomkins in January…

The proposed takeover of Newcastle United has been majorly boosted as a report from Bloomberg stated that the sports cafes in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) have gone back to broadcasting the Qatari channel beIN Sports following the findings from the recent report from the World Trade Organisation (WTO).

Following accusations from Qatar, the pirate satellite TV channel beoutQ, which was responsible for the illegal broadcast and streaming of games from the Premier League, was ruled to be operated in Saudi Arabia by the WTO body.

As per Bloomberg, beoutQ boxes are no longer widely available to be purchased, and some people from the Kingdom said that they no longer worked as some may have tried to stream the matches between Aston Villa and Sheffield United and Manchester City versus Arsenal upon the return of the English top flight.

This news could have provided a major boost to the prospective takeover of the Tyneside club because of KSA’s involvements in the £300 million deal with Mike Ashley.

Saudi Arabian crown prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) and his Public Investment Fund (PIF) are part of the buying side to try ans steer through the bid, and any potential involvement between them and beoutQ may have just been eradicated if the television station is no longer available.

There were possible fears that if they were found to be associated or supportive of the channel, then it could seriously jeopardise any hopes of the Premier League approving of the takeover, but whilst it does not clear everything up, the news could well help the case of the buying side.

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Geordies, will the takeover go through? Comment below!

It seemed like there was nowhere left to go but down following Real Madrid’s three Champion League crowns in a row under the stern but just hand of Zinedine Zidane. Once a legend on the pitch for Los Blancos, the French manager took major steps towards becoming the very same thing on the sidelines, rewarding Florentino Perez’s faith with unprecedented glory. Even for their incredibly high standards.

But it was not all sunshine and rainbows for the biggest team in Spain since then. Zidane left the team at their very peak – both physically and mentally – and what followed was a collapse not many could’ve predicted. Coaches came and went as Julen Lopetegui and Santiago Solari both experienced what it’s like to fail the Kings.

Both managers were sacked in less than a season and Perez didn’t hesitate to pick up the phone and dial the only number he knew would somehow get him out of the gutters he quickly found himself in. Zidane obliged, saying he couldn’t say no to the team he loves. His damsel was in distress and that was the only thing that mattered so he rushed head-on into the chaos his predecessors left for him.

Premier League experts will get full marks: The ultimate quiz on top flight transfer flops…

The start was not pretty at all – Real Madrid powered through the rest of 2018/19 scrapping like a wounded beast that had to retreat and lick its wounds. The agony continued into the pre-season of 2019/20 and culminated with a devastating blow from their city rivals as Diego Simeone’s Atletico Madrid seemingly put the finishing touches on the sinking ship, knocking them down into the abyss with a 7-3 hammering across the pond in the International Champions Cup.

“Atletico enter seventh heaven against Real Madrid” read the title from Marca following that humbling defeat, “a result that sent global shockwaves” claimed AS. Needless to say, the panic button was well and truly struck and questions over Zidane’s future and his ability to get them back on tracks quickly arose.

But fast forward a couple of months into the future and you’re looking at a completely different team and symbolically enough, it was the clash against Atletico Madrid that might’ve proved it in the end. Real hosted their city rivals at the Santiago Bernabeu and after a rather lacklustre first 45 minutes of the clash where the Rojiblancos looked the better team, Los Blancos shifted into second gear and took home all three points following a narrow 1-0 victory.

It was Zidane’s stroke of brilliance that saw him sub off Toni Kroos and Isco at half-time, shifting his formation that included five midfielders and adding some width to it with Vinicius Junior storming down the flanks. It was the young Brazilian that added vigour and pace into their steps and it was he who started the action that led to the only goal of the night.

A 1-0 victory doesn’t seem as impressive but it was a statement and a clear sign of progress from that 7-3 fiasco that ensued during the summer. Now, the Whites sit top of the table in La Liga while Atletico are languishing down in sixth, struggling to break into the top spots and emulate that pre-season mentality.

Zidane has always been a slow starter in his coaching career and then he would suddenly go headfirst into his opponents, taking them down with force – no pun intended.

If we look at his past seasons, he could never muster more than 21 points in the first nine games played in the campaign – 21 in 2016/17, 20 in 2018/19 and 18 in 2019/20. Now, more than ever, this Real Madrid feel like a process and as the campaign unfolds, so do their strengths. Zidane showed that he’s also learning on the job as well.

The game against Atletico proved as much – he’s evolving as a manager together with his squad, tactically, mentally and emotionally. Basically the same thing was seen at the Camp Nou in the first Clasico of the season – not a goal-fest or even close to that as the teams shared the spoils in a goalless draw, but with the Galacticos dominating their opposition in their own backyard. That’s progress if you’ve ever seen one.

What seemed a rather big but largely unbalanced squad now looks like a well-oiled machine that’s playing well but is not at the peak of its powers just yet. And that’s the thing with Zidane’s prophetic return to the managerial role at Madrid.

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The messiah has landed from the pantheon and is ready to prove all the doubters wrong. Of course, they are still nowhere near where they want to be. The Copa del Rey elimination at the hands of Real Sociedad and orchestrated by their loanee Martin Odegaard proved as much. This Real Madrid needs a lot of work.

But this Real Madrid is also miles better than the one from the early season, and galaxies away from the one we saw early in the summer of 2019. All thanks to the coach who was always perceived as a great motivator but was never held in high regard for his tactical and pure coaching prowess. But you don’t get where Zidane was and is right now without being a great coach.

It was easy to laugh at Perez’s desperate move to call in the saviour but that’s exactly what happened and it seems to be working so far. Even though we all thought his job in the Spanish capital was done and dusted, the ‘Zidane signal’ is still on and is shining brightly into the night.

And just like a real hero, he’s going to swoop in and save the day. Because that’s what heroes do.

It has been somewhat of a frustrating season for Rhian Brewster.

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So far this campaign, the 19-year-old has been reduced to just two senior appearances, both of which have come in the League Cup. Those are the only professional matches he has played in during his career so far, and he will be turning 20 next April. This all comes after Jurgen Klopp refused to let him leave on loan at the start of the season, instead choosing to keep with the first-team squad.

Considering his considerable lack of experience, it is surely time the £3.6m-valued England U21 international – as per Transfermarkt – got some regular action. And according to The Mirror, he may be handed a lifeline in January. They are reporting that Aston Villa, Swansea City, Crystal Palace and Leeds United are all interested in signing Brewster on a short-term basis until the end of the season.

The Anfield outfit’s supporters have been reacting to the news on Twitter, and you can see some of the best comments from the social media platform below.

Meanwhile, Liverpool are said to be interested in this 26-year-old La Liga man.

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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… 

Liverpool made it five wins from five by seeing off Newcastle on Saturday, and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain may be more pleased than most with how the match panned out.

The former Arsenal man is still slowly reintegrating into the side after spending the majority of last season sidelined with an ACL injury and his progress has, so far, been steady.

But if the former Southampton man can rediscover his best physical side he should not only be able to return to his previous level of consistency for the Reds, but act as an important part of Jurgen Klopp’s midfield, perhaps challenging Jordan Henderson or Georginio Wijnaldum for their place in the side.

Watch Liverpool Live Streams With StreamFootball.tv Below

The Newcastle game showed there is still some way to go until he is at that point, but there are signs of progress which should cause optimism for the 26-year-old.

If Oxlade-Chamberlain is going to persuade Klopp he is deserving of a first-team place, though, he will have to show he is not careless in possession.

Each of the Reds’ regular three midfielders in Fabinho, Henderson and Wijnaldum look after the ball, boasting pass success rates of 87%, 80% and 92% respectively.

Against Newcastle Liverpool’s number 15 displayed similar, acting as a link between attack and defence. He frequently found Mo Salah and Trent Alexander-Arnold on the right-flank, allowing the right-back to make seven key passes through his own pass accuracy of 95%, as per whoscored.

If he is able to maintain his average pass success rate this season of 92% he will give Klopp something to think about, particularly as he can also add a unique dynamic style.

His excellent long-range goals against Manchester City in both the league and the Champions League are evidence of that, and that an area in which Liverpool’s midfield has been lacking – Wijnaldum, Henderson and Fabinho provided just five league goals between them in the last campaign.

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They are also unable to match the former Gunner’s ability at running with the ball. He is yet to get up to speed but still managed two successful dribbles against the Magpies – more than Fabinho and Wijnaldum combined.

Only the Brazilian can match Oxlade-Chamberlain in terms of key passes, too, though he did outperform the England international in terms of interceptions, and that is one area of his game which will require improvement.

Klopp may also be concerned with his wastefulness in the final third. The midfielder succeeded with only one cross from three attempts, and against teams like Newcastle, who could be tough to break down at times, Liverpool will need greater quality to find a way through, so Oxlade-Chamberlain must prove himself in that regard in order to break into the team as a regular.

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Manchester City are said to be in pursuit of Napoli star Kalidou Koulibaly as the club’s search for Vincent Kompany’s replacement begins, as per La Gazzetta dello Sport.

If there’s one man who’s dominated the headlines so far this summer, it’s Napoli’s £67.5million-rated defender Kalidou Koulibaly amid links with the likes of Manchester United and Liverpool.

So, with Vincent Kompany gone from the club after securing back-to-back titles and the domestic treble (as per Goal.com), and Nicolas Otamendi reportedly open to a move away, Guardiola is in need of another commanding centre back.

In step Koulibaly. It’s easy to see why he’s so highly rated as a player and how he has become one of the most sought after players in European football. While both mammoth in size (6 ft 5) and stature, the Senegal international is paradoxically elegant on the ball, and his style is starting to mirror that of his biggest idol, Lilian Thuram, the Rolls Royce of 90s football and a legend of the French international squad.

“He’s the player who inspired me,” Koulibaly said in 2014 (as per FourFourTwo). “He gave me a lot of joy, alongside other stars who won the World Cup in 1998. Thuram was an example on and off the pitch, and I hope to reach his level.”

Ironically, back when Koulibaly played for Belgium giants Genk, team-mate Julien Gorius claimed, “we haven’t had such a talented centre-back in our league since Vincent Kompany”. But how does the big man compare to the star he’s tipped to replace?

Well, according to WhoScored, while Kompany produced an average 0.9 tackles, 0.9 interceptions, 3.2 clearances and 0.5 blocks, Koulibaly managed 1.7 tackles, 1.1 interceptions, 3.9 clearances and 0.9 blocks. His distribution, which we all know to be essential in a Guardiola side, stands up pretty well too, with two assists to his name and an average of 71.9 passes made at a success rate of 88.7% (Kompany ranked at 72.2 average passes at 93%).

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This is a man who’s primed for a Guardiola tutoring masterclass; someone who can reach new levels of greatness under the Spaniard and become a model modern centre-back.

City fans, do you think you have a Kompany replacement in Koulibaly? Who would you like to sign this summer? Let us know in the comments below…