Archie Gray said Ange Postecogolou was a "massive factor" in his Tottenham transfer as the £30m teenager explained why he left Leeds United.
Article continues below
Article continues below
Article continues below
Last weekend, Nottingham Forest picked up an impressive 2-0 home victory over West Ham United.
Taiwo Awoniyi and Callum Hudson-Odoi were the heroes, both netting moments before halftime and fulltime, respectively.
That was Nuno Espirito Santo's first win in 2024, and the Trick Trees will look to build on that triumph tomorrow as they travel to face Aston Villa. Forest defeated Unai Emery's side 2-0 earlier in the season, and they will look to repeat that result once again.
With that in mind, let's take a look at the starting lineup that will be tasked with doing the double over the Villans tomorrow afternoon…
GK – Matz Sels
Matz Sels earned his first Forest clean sheet at the weekend, and he has started every game since joining in the January transfer window.
RB – Neco Williams
Neco Williams has impressed since returning to the starting XI, and against the Hammers, he was exceptional.
The defender made three tackles, completed two dribbles, and had 83% pass accuracy.
CB – Moussa Niakhate
Moussa Niakhate sat on the bench against David Moyes' side, but he should return to the starting XI to stop Ollie Watkins.
Felipe will drop out of the side for the Senegal star.
CB – Murillo
Brazilian rock Murillo will continue to start at the heart of the defence, and he is set to make his 20th Premier League start.
LB – Nuno Tavares
Nuno Tavares has started the last four Premier League matches, and he has firmly become the first choice left back over Harry Toffolo.
DM – Ibrahim Sangare
The Tricky Trees' AFCON champion could return to the starting XI after being away for over a month.
Ibrahim Sangare started in the midfield that beat Villa at the City Ground, winning four of his five ground duels and making two tackles.
Danilo will be the player to make way for the "fantastic" engine, as dubbed by journalist Zach Lowy.
DM – Nicolas Dominguez
One of Forest's most consistent players will continue in the midfield this weekend.
Nicolas Dominguez picked up an assist and made six tackles last Saturday, and he will start once again.
RW – Anthony Elanga
Giovanni Reyna will have to wait for his first start, with Anthony Elanga starting once again.
The 21-year-old picked up his seventh assist of the season at the weekend.
AM – Morgan Gibbs-White
Morgan Gibbs-White is one of the first names on the team sheet, and he will start once again in the number ten role.
This season, the England star has scored twice and picked up four assists, and he will be desperate to add to his tally later tomorrow.
LW – Callum Hudson-Odoi
Hudson-Odoi has made the left wing role his own in the last few weeks, netting in all of Forest's last three Premier League games.
Against West Ham, the former Chelsea star made four key passes, and he will hope to bring that creativity to the fore this weekend.
Alan Shearer is so desperate to see England win Euro 2024 that he'd accept seeing Newcastle's biggest rivals win the Premier League.
Article continues below
Article continues below
Article continues below
Chelsea are reportedly in touch with Fiorentina to strike a transfer deal for Cesare Casadei – who has played just 71 minutes for the Blues.
Article continues below
Article continues below
Article continues below
Danny Rohl has witnessed various Sheffield Wednesday faces go from putting in dismal displays to heroic ones under his tenure so far, the German boss allowing the Owls to believe they can break out of the Championship relegation zone by instilling belief back into the once written off group.
The West Yorkshire outfit have been helped by electric new additions in the form of Ike Ugbo and Ian Poveda starring at Hillsborough since joining on loan, but experienced parts of the furniture such as Will Vaulks have also stepped up alongside the sparkling new signings.
Putting in imposing displays against the likes of Rotherham United and Plymouth recently – with both of those contests seeing the 30-year-old defensive midfielder win 100% of his aerial duels – Wednesday will be feeling a little uneasy about the fact Vaulks' contract is up this summer now.
If the seasoned Owls figure does end up walking away, there could well be an opportunity for this forgotten midfielder to come back into the first-team fold and shine.
Tyreeq Bakinson has never really been given a drawn-out spell in the Owls XI to truly star since joining from Bristol City in 2022, making 26 appearances last season in League One.
The majority of those appearances would come from off the bench, but he still played his part in Wednesday achieving promotion glory.
The 26-year-old midfielder has made only 16 more appearances for Wednesday away from offering Darren Moore another player to rely on in a holding role last campaign, but he could be offered a career lifeline at Hillsborough when you cast an eye over the number of players nearing towards the end of their current deals at the club.
|
Wednesday contracts expiring at the end of the 2023/24 season |
|
|---|---|
|
Player |
Contract end |
|
Di'Shon Bernard |
June 2024 |
|
Will Vaulks |
June 2024 |
|
Cameron Dawson |
June 2024 |
|
Josh Windass |
June 2024 |
|
Dominic Iorfa |
June 2024 |
|
Barry Bannan |
June 2024 |
|
Liam Palmer |
June 2024 |
|
Lee Gregory |
June 2024 |
|
Ciaran Brennan |
June 2024 |
|
Sourced by Transfermarkt |
|
With Barry Bannan's contract also nearly up, who occupies a similar holding role to Bakinson, the former Bristol City man – who was once described as being "superb" by football journalist Dom Howson – could still well have a future with the Owls despite being chucked out on loan to Charlton Athletic this January.
The current Addicks loanee has shown glimpses of the player who bagged five goals for the Robins during an impactful two-season stay in his new surroundings, with the 26-year-old succeeding under new Charlton boss Nathan Jones so far.
Despite only being on the pitch for 11 minutes last time out against Cheltenham in League One action, Bakinson left a lasting impact.
The Charlton number 30 would get in on the goalscoring act in the 3-1 away day win even from such a brief cameo with a composed finish under pressure, alongside winning three ground duels to protect his side's three points.
Bakinson will hope his positive displays down a division – that has seen him average 4.9 ball recoveries per game from ten matches played so far for the Addicks – can mean he isn't moved on from Hillsborough permanently in the summer.
The 26-year-old could well be walking somewhat of a contract tight-rope himself, with reports revealing that a one-year extension can be triggered for Bakinson soon only if the club want to, but Rohl and Co would be silly to offload the fringe midfielder if they need bodies in the building in the wake of various players potentially moving on.
With so many of the personnel at Wednesday suffering from anxiety regarding their futures being up in the air, it will be fascinating to see what the Owls squad looks like next season.
Bakinson will be hoping he's kept around, becoming an ideal replacement for Vaulks in the process if the Welshman exits.
Bayer Leverkusen star Florian Wirtz has responded to the jokes made about his love for plain potatoes.
Article continues below
Article continues below
Article continues below
Manchester United have become known to overpay for talent over the years, with plenty of those signings failing to perform.
This has been evident right up until this season, with the likes of £82m Antony and £73m Jadon Sancho being recent examples of that.
However, it hasn’t been just the incomings that have been an issue at the club, with the Red Devils often failing to recoup their money via sales.
That said, there have been scenarios where United have even profited on players, with one former Red being sold for £30m in 2021 and now actually worth less than marmite figure Harry Maguire.
In 2019, Maguire moved to Man United from Leicester City for a world-record fee for a defender, costing the club £80m.
|
Most expensive centre-backs of all time |
||
|---|---|---|
|
Player |
Signed for |
Transfer fee |
|
#1 Harry Maguire |
Man Utd |
£80m |
|
#2 Josko Gvardiol |
Man City |
£77m |
|
#3 Virgil van Dijk |
Liverpool |
£75m |
|
#4 Wesley Fofana |
Chelsea |
£75m |
|
#5 Matthijs de Ligt |
Juventus |
£68m |
In his first season, the England international was a constant figure in the starting lineup, starting every game and commanding the defence to 13 clean sheets in the Premier League.
However, the number five has endured a difficult spell over the past few seasons, starting just eight league matches in Erik ten Hag’s debut campaign.
That said, Maguire has seemingly revived his United career to an extent this term, starting 13 games and winning the Premier League Player of the Month award for December.
Despite this upturn in form, according to Transfermarkt, Maguire is now worth just £17m, which is a significant loss on United’s end.
That's unlike one former United player who the club played a blinder on.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer began his reign as Man United manager by making Daniel James his first signing, which cost £15m in the same summer that Maguire joined the club.
The Welsh winger signed for the Red Devils from Swansea City, and life in Manchester couldn’t have started any better, scoring in three of his first four matches.
The rapid attacker would only spend two seasons at Old Trafford after starting just 11 Premier League games in his second campaign, moving to huge rival Leeds United in a deal worth £30m.
During the 2021/22 season, James made 34 appearances in the top flight for Leeds, scoring four goals and providing five assists, but he spent last season on loan at Fulham.
The former Red Devil is now enjoying his football in the Championship, where he is helping Leeds charge towards promotion with 11 goals and seven assists so far, but he’s still valued less than Maguire, with Transfermarkt estimating his worth to be £12m.
|
Man Utd's Lowest Valued First-Team Players |
|
|---|---|
|
Player |
Value |
|
Tom Heaton |
£213k |
|
Jonny Evans |
£1.7m |
|
Shola Shoretire |
£3.4m |
|
Willy Kambwala |
£4.2m |
|
Christian Eriksen |
£8.5m |
|
Anthony Martial |
£8.5m |
|
Via Transfermarkt |
|
As you can see, this would put him among the least valued players in Ten Hag’s side if he were still at the club, while also being £5m less than Maguire.
While the signing of Maguire has been a complete disaster for the club, the business behind James' has been somewhat of a success.
Selling the 26-year-old to Leeds in 2021 looks to have been a masterclass by United, especially considering they doubled their money on the attacker, and today's estimated value of James just further supports that the Red Devils made the correct decision three years ago.
Chelsea have been one of the most entertaining teams to watch in the country this season, although that mainly stems from the unpredictability of their results and performances.
Mauricio Pochettino's side provided the entertainment once again on Sunday afternoon, squeaking past a stubborn Leicester City side in a thrilling FA Cup quarter-final that ended 4-2 in their favour.
However, while the Blues were generally the better side throughout and deserved the win, there were a couple of starters who might have played themselves out of the lineup for the next game, with one of them being Raheem Sterling.
The former Liverpool prospect has been struggling of late in West London, and yesterday's encounter was no different, although he certainly wasn't the only one.
It was another tough day at the office for the Englishman on Sunday afternoon as, despite providing the assist for Cole Palmer's goal in the first half, he left the pitch to a chorus of boos from his own supporters.
The former Manchester City ace struggled throughout the match, missing a penalty that would have seen the team go two goals up within the first 30 minutes, taking maybe the worst free-kick of the season, and generally looking ineffective in attack.
It may sound harsh, but it's an opinion shared by the Standard's Nizaar Kinsella, who awarded the 29-year-old a 4/10 match rating on the day and heavily criticised him for both the penalty miss and abysmal free kick.
While those are the moments that'll stick out to most fans, the Kingston-born ace's underlying numbers from the game were also poor. In his 86 minutes of action, he completed just 13 passes, missed two big chances, was successful in just one of his four attempted dribbles, won just four of his ten duels, lost possession 14 times and misplaced his one long ball.
|
Raheem Sterling's game vs Leicester |
|
|---|---|
|
Minutes |
86' |
|
Assists |
1 |
|
Big Chances missed |
2 |
|
Penalties missed |
1 |
|
Accurate Passes |
13/21 (62%) |
|
Attempted Dribbles (Successful) |
4 (1) |
|
Duels (Won) |
10 (4) |
|
Lost Possession |
14 |
|
Long Balls (Accurate) |
1 (0) |
|
All Stats via Sofascore |
|
In all, it was a shocking performance from a player who should be stepping up and showing his younger teammates how it's done, and with how well Noni Madueke played when he replaced him – scoring from the bench – it's time Pochettino took Sterling out of the starting lineup.
That said, there was another starter for Chelsea who should be dropped for the next game, a player who very nearly cost the Blues the tie.
Yes, the other starter who should be taken out of the side for the clash against Burnley in just under a fortnight is French centre-back Axel Disasi.
The former AS Monaco man had an odd game, as his first-half display was rather indifferent, but his 30-yard own goal in the 51st minute turned the game on its head and allowed the Foxes back in, an opportunity they happily took, scoring the equaliser just 11 minutes later.
Unsurprisingly, this lapse in concentration – to put it kindly – is what stood out from the 26-year-old's game, with the Standard's Kinsella awarding him a 4/10 on the day and claiming that 'his game will be remembered for a moment of madness.'
However, much like Sterling, the 6 foot 3 star's overall game was also shoddy. In his 98 minutes on the pitch, he won just two of his six duels, was dribbled past twice, lost possession 11 times, was accurate in just five of his 12 attempted longballs, and committed one foul.
|
Axel Disasi's game vs Leicester |
|
|---|---|
|
Minutes |
98' |
|
Own Goals |
1 |
|
Error Leading to a Goal |
1 |
|
Duels (Won) |
6 (2) |
|
Dribbled Past |
2 |
|
Lost Possession |
11 |
|
Long Balls (Accurate) |
12 (5) |
|
Fouls |
1 |
|
All Stats via Sofascore |
|
In all, even without the spectacular own goal, it was a performance to forget from Disasi, and with Thiago Silva fit enough for the bench, it might be time for Pochettino to drop him from the starting lineup against Burnley, alongside Sterling.
Liverpool have joined the race to sign England international defender Marc Guehi from Crystal Palace this summer.
Article continues below
Article continues below
Article continues below
Wolverhampton Wanderers have been fantastic this season, despite crashing out of the FA Cup to Championship side Coventry City last time out.
Their main improvement from last season has been their ability to find the back of the net more frequently, scoring 11 more goals than last campaign already.
The appointment of Gary O’Neil as manager has certainly played a huge role in getting the side firing again, while even showing the courage to utilise young talent.
However, away from the club, the Wanderers also have an extremely talented prospect thriving who has the potential to replace Nelson Semedo.
Since joining Wolves in 2020 from Barcelona in a huge £36.8m deal, Semedo has been the first-choice right back under every manager, making 136 appearances for the Wanderers.
This season under O’Neil, the speedy fullback has started 27 Premier League games, making 2.3 tackles per game and helping his side to four clean sheets.
However, despite playing as an attacking wingback who’s tasked with providing support in the final third, the Portuguese ace has failed to score all season and only registered one assist.
Unlike the 30-year-old, a current Wolves loanee who’s been on fire in Switzerland this season could just be an upgrade on Semedo, especially considering the former Porto man is the club’s second-highest earner at £80k-per-week.
Wolves academy grad could become Joao Gomes' dream partner
Wolves may have an ideal future partner for Gomes in 21-year-old who is out on loan
By
Ross Kilvington
Mar 25, 2024
In July 2021, Wolves signed 21-year-old right-back Bendeguz Bolla from Hungarian top-flight side Fehervar FC in a deal worth £800k.
The defender was instantly sent on loan to Swiss side Grasshoppers following his move to England, where he played 66 games, scoring six times and registering seven assists.
In the summer, Bolla was tipped to return to Wolves and play a role to some degree this season, with journalist Bence Bocsak labelling the 24-year-old a “top talent.”
Instead, the childhood friend of Dominik Szoboszlai was sent back to Switzerland, this time joining UEFA Europa League side Servette on a season-long loan with the option to buy, and based on his performances this season, Wolves are now in danger of losing a potential Semedo upgrade who has not played a single minute for Wolves since joining.
|
Bolla vs Stade Ls Ouchy |
|
|---|---|
|
Stats |
Bolla |
|
Goals |
1 |
|
Assists |
1 |
|
Key passes |
3 |
|
Pass accuracy |
82% |
|
Shots |
3 |
|
Fouls won |
3 |
|
Tackles |
2 |
|
Via Sofascore |
|
As you can see, Bolla’s recent performance against Stade Ls Ouchy in the Swiss Super League shows what he has the ability to produce, even beating Semedo’s Premier League goal contribution tally in one game.
The versatile defender can play on either flank as a full-back or a midfielder, but he is best suited to a wing-back role, which allows him to score goals, create, and help out defensively.
In 33 games across all competitions this season, the Hungary international has picked up ten goal contributions, five goals, and five assists, which is obviously far superior to O’Neil’s current first-choice wing-back.
Overall, if Bolla continues to perform between now and the end of the season, Wolves will most definitely want to hand him a chance in pre-season, but given he’s now found his feet at Servette – and with the loan club possessing that option to buy – he may want to continue his development away from the Wanderers.