As reported by The Sunday Times, Cristiano Ronaldo could have been a Manchester United player this summer with Real Madrid open to starting negotiations for the forward.

What’s the story?

Ronaldo was, of course, a legend at Old Trafford and has only enhanced his reputation since leaving the club for Madrid, becoming unarguably one of the best players on the planet.

The Times reckon he could have made a sensational switch back to Manchester this summer with the player making it clear he would return to the club where he made his name as a footballer.

However, the deal was scuppered because Kylian Mbappe’s father did not want his son to move to Madrid and be burdened with the expectation of replacing the Portuguese legend, meaning the Spanish giants would not sanction his exit, say the paper.

While perhaps rather bizarre circumstances, the story demonstrates how fragile potential deals can be sometimes even at the top level.

What could he have achieved at Man United?

Manchester United look like a team on the up under Jose Mourinho and adding a returning Cristiano Ronaldo to the mix could have taken them to the next level. Could you imagine the fairytale story of Ronaldo coming back to Manchester and bringing them back to the trophy winning glory days? There’s a romance there that is undeniable.

His goalscoring prowess is second to none. He’s netted a ridiculous 407 goals in 396 Madrid appearances.

Adding that to the United team is unthinkable and Red Devils supporters must be cursing the potential deal falling through in the manner it did.

Kieran Trippier has faced criticism from a number of Tottenham Hotspur fans this season.

The full-back impressed towards the end of the 2016-17 campaign when he was challenging Kyle Walker for a first-team spot.

Now that Walker has departed for Manchester City, Trippier has been given the nod by manager Mauricio Pochettino.

However, seven games into the season and the England international is struggling to get all of the fans onside.

The 27-year-old now faces even more competition following the summer arrival of Serge Aurier from Paris Saint-Germain.

Trippier has played a full 90 minutes in four of Spurs’ five Premier League matches so far this season, and in that time has created one assist.

Some fans have expressed their frustration with the full-back over the last few weeks, but ahead of Saturday’s clash against West Ham United, some supporters have opted to back him.

The former Burnley player took to Twitter to post a picture of himself training for this Saturday’s showdown at the London Stadium.

Manchester United continued their impressive start to the season when they beat Crystal Palace 4-0 at Old Trafford on Saturday, but Red Devils fans weren’t impressed with Henrikh Mkhitaryan’s performance.

The attacking midfielder has scored two goals and provided a further six assists in 10 appearances in all competitions for Jose Mourinho’s men this season, but he struggled to make an impact against the bottom-of-the-table Eagles after picking up a goal and assist against CSKA Moscow in the Champions League during the week.

The 28-year-old started all three of United’s matches in the space of seven days though, and he was replaced by Jesse Lingard in the 66th minute against Roy Hodgson’s side.

Man United supporters were quick to have their say on his showing via social media, and while some said that he has “been so poor lately”, others feel that he “needs to be benched”.

Here is just a selection of the Twitter reaction…

According to reports in The Mirror, West Ham United boss Slaven Bilic is reportedly ready to sell forgotten defender Reece Oxford during the January transfer window.

What’s the word, then?

Well, The Mirror says that Bilic chose to take a public swipe at the 18-year-old defender by saying that he shouldn’t believe he is on a par with someone like Paris Saint-Germain striker Kylian Mbappe, after both players were nominated for the Golden Boy award.

Oxford is currently on a season-long loan deal with Borussia Monchengladbach having failed to build on the first team breakthrough he made with the Irons at the start of the 2015/16 campaign, but his manager’s latest comments may have thrown his long-term future at the London Stadium into doubt.

The Mirror adds that the teenager is still highly-regarded by the east London outfit, and Bilic’s remarks are unlikely to go down well considering the likes of Manchester United were sniffing around the centre-back before he signed a new five-year deal.

How has Oxford done during his loan spell?

While Monchengladbach took him on a temporary basis to aid his development, as they had done with Chelsea’s Andreas Christensen previously, the 18-year-old is yet to play a single minute of Bundesliga football this season after being an unused substitute in all of their seven fixtures so far.

What happens next?

While Bilic’s comments probably were a little ill-advised, the Croatian boss is perhaps right in a way because Oxford has failed to make the progress that would have been expected of him following such an impressive debut against Arsenal on the opening day of the 2015/16 Premier League campaign.

The 18-year-old only made five appearances for Championship side Reading in the second half of last season after joining them on loan during the January transfer window, and his failure to make an impression in England’s second tier certainly suggests that either he isn’t good enough right now, or he has the wrong mentality.

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Prior to this evening, Fernando Llorente had made just one start for Tottenham Hotspur, and that was in a Carabao Cup match.

Tonight, the Spaniard finds himself in the starting XI for Spurs’ huge Champions League group match against Real Madrid at the Bernabeu.

Manager Mauricio Pochettino has made a surprise call by including Llorente in the lineup alongside Harry Kane up front.

The forward has made three Premier League appearances and two in Europe so far this season, but in none of those outings was he included in the first XI.

Meanwhile, Danny Rose, who has been out of action for the past nine months with a knee injury, has made it onto the substitutes bench, but there is no place for Moussa Dembele.

The main talking point from the fans, though, is Llorente’s inclusion, with many surprised that Pochettino has opted to start the striker in a game of this magnitude.

The 32-year-old does have experience playing against Madrid having had spells at Athletic Bilbao and Sevilla.

Leeds United’s priorities are clear this season, and that is to fight for promotion to the Premier League.

On Tuesday night, Thomas Christiansen’s side switched focus to the Carabao Cup, which nowadays is regarded as having a lesser importance than other competitions.

The Whites had overcome Port Vale, Newport County and took Burnley to penalties in order to get to the fourth round of the tournament, but they were unable to take out managerless Leicester City.

Leeds were underdogs at the King Power Stadium given that they were facing top flight opposition, but they had already proven that they were up to the task by ousting Sean Dyche’s side in the previous round.

Christiansen’s side went ahead in the 26th minute thanks to a goal from Pablo Hernandez, but the hosts responded as Kelechi Iheanacho, Islam Slimani and Riyad Mahrez got on the scoresheet.

With Friday’s Championship clash against Sheffield United on the horizon, it seems that the fans are more interested in league matters.

Danny Rose has pretty much been silent since his explosive interview with The Sun during the summer.

The Tottenham Hotspur left-back criticised the club’s wage structure and questioned their ambition.

Since then, the 27-year-old has been working on his return to fitness having spent a lengthy spell on the sidelines with a knee injury, which was suffered in January.

Rose made his return last month in Spurs’ 1-1 draw with Real Madrid at the Bernabeu in the Champions League.

The England international played 90 minutes at the weekend, helping the team to a 1-0 victory over Crystal Palace.

Rose has entered the limelight once again by holding interviews with the British press, telling BBC Sport that he sought help from a psychologist during his time on the treatment table.

According to ESPN, the left-back also praised manager Mauricio Pochettino, insisting that there are no problems in his relationship with the Argentine.

After Rose’s quotes were published, Tottenham fans took to Twitter to deliver their thoughts.

According to The Sun, West Ham United boss David Moyes will be handed £30m to spend on new players in the January transfer window.

What’s the story?

Moyes’ tenure at West Ham began with a 2-0 defeat at Watford on Sunday afternoon, and the performance was another indication that new players are needed to boost the Hammers.

It was always going to be a difficult job for Moyes, but it is doubtful that he would have taken the role without assurances of money to acquire fresh blood when the January transfer window opens for business.

According to The Sun, Moyes has been promised £30m to spend on new players, and the Scot could launch a move for Sporting Lisbon midfielder William Carvalho, who was strongly linked with the London Stadium during the summer.

Moyes is also said to be looking at Hajduk Split midfielder Hamza Barry as he looks to boost his options in the middle of the park.

What areas need strengthening?

Without sounding dramatic, there could be a case made that West Ham need four or five players in January to stand a chance of enjoying a good run in the second half of the season.

Diafra Sakho is seemingly set on leaving at the start of 2018, and with Andy Carroll struggling for performances, the Hammers are certainly light in the final third of the field.

Faith is expected to be placed in 20-year-old Toni Martinez, but Sakho’s exit would place big pressure on Javier Hernandez to continue finding the back of the net.

According to The Sun, Moyes believes that midfield is the main area in need of a boost, but Jose Fonte’s injury has also left the club light at centre-back.

Whilst £30m is a decent budget in January, it might not stretch too far when considering what West Ham need in order to be competitive in 2018.

There are certainly a number of top players that would be interested in moving to the London Stadium, but Moyes must first concentrate on getting his first three points on the board.

According to reports on Croatian website Sportske Novosti, Aston Villa are among the clubs targeting a January move for Viktoria Plzen striker Michael Krmencik, who would cost a minimum of €3m (approximately £2.7m).

Villa will be looking to sign a new attacker in the New Year following injury setbacks for Jonathan Kodjia and Scott Hogan, with Dinamo Zagreb and Championship rivals Wolverhampton Wanderers also linked with the prolific Czech Republic international according to Sportske Novosti.

Meanwhile, under pressure Southampton manager Mauricio Pellegrino may also be looking to strengthen his goal-shy attack in January with his team scoring just nine goals in their 12 Premier League matches so far this term, which has left them in 14th position in the Premier League table.

A centre-forward may well be top of the Argentine’s list with Charlie Austin seemingly out of favour and Shane Long enduring a long goal drought, and bringing Krmencik to St Mary’s could prove to be a shrewd move.

Here are three reasons Southampton should hijack Villa’s bid to sign the Czech striker…

Goals

Southampton need goals if they are to keep themselves out of and away from the relegation zone this season, and the signs are that Krmencik would bring those with him to St Mary’s if he joined the south coast outfit during the January transfer window.

The 24-year-old has enjoyed a successful 2017 for club and country and as well as scoring 14 goals and providing a further seven assists for Plzen so far this term – including three goals in the Europa League – he also has six in 11 caps for the Czech Republic.

Striker attributes

While Mauricio Pellegrino’s preferred formation is the 4-2-3-1 system, the Argentine doesn’t seem to have found the right striker to play the lone role up top.

Manolo Gabbiadini is better on the ground than in the air, Charlie Austin isn’t nimble and Shane Long’s record in front of goal is simply not good enough.

Saints enjoyed the majority of their success in the Premier League in recent years when they had Rickie Lambert and Graziano Pelle in the team, and Krmencik has all of the attributes to follow in their footsteps.

The 6ft 3in centre-forward is strong in the air from crosses and has a competitive edge – meaning he is perfectly suited to the English game – but he is also agile and has some speed and skill too.

Price tag

Krmencik’s Viktoria Plzen contract is due to expire next summer and with no sign that the 24-year-old will extend his stay with the Czech side, he could be available for a cut-price fee during the January transfer window.

Sportske Novosti has suggested that he could be bought for a minimum of £2.7m, and that is certainly an affordable price tag for Southampton in the New Year.

It can be difficult to get good value for money in the winter window, and Saints may prefer to pick up someone like Krmencik rather than paying over the odds for another striker.

Do you agree, Saints fans? Let us know below.

Everton fans have been down in the dumps lately following a torrid few months.

Prior to this weekend’s action the club were in danger of a relegation battle as they had recorded just four wins in 14 Premier League games.

Sam Allardyce took over from interim boss David Unsworth earlier this week as permanent manager on an 18-month deal.

The experienced coach’s first match in charge was against Huddersfield Town at Goodison Park on Saturday afternoon.

A slow start indicated that things may not go well for the Merseyside outfit, but in the second half, the team got the goals that they needed.

Gylfi Sigurdsson opened the scoring and Dominic Calvert-Lewin added to the tally as Everton picked up all three points.

As a result, the club moved up to 10th in the table and will now prepare for the Merseyside derby against Liverpool on December 10.

Following back-to-back wins, Everton fans are now feeling relatively optimistic ahead of the trip to Anfield.

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