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In an exclusive interview with Football FanCast, former Premier League striker Dean Windass has urged Tottenham to keep Serge Aurier.

The Ivory Coast international has largely established himself as Jose Mourinho’s first-choice right-back this season, despite the summer signing of Matt Doherty from Wolves.

However, a story from Football Insider hinted that Spurs are looking to offload the former PSG defender – with Mourinho describing Aurier as “uncoachable”, a big problem.

But despite missing Tottenham’s previous two Premier League matches through injury, Aurier has featured heavily for Spurs this season, although he has entered the final 18 months of his current deal.

Windass, though, spoke highly of the full-back when speaking to Football FanCast, and said that Spurs must resolve his contract situation in order to ensure he remains at the club past the summer.

“I just don’t understand the situation. Why would you want to get rid of Aurier? He’s an athlete. He gets up and down, but we don’t know what goes on at the training ground.

“Is he unhappy? Does he want a new contract? But if Daniel Levy can stamp him down or to get him down to a new contract, I wouldn’t get rid of him. Defensively he is solid and when he gets forward he can create chances for the front-three.”

Following a difficult first two seasons since his move from France, Aurier is starting to come into his own at Tottenham – epitomised by the fact he’s largely continuing to keep Doherty out of the XI.

There’s been so much talk about his future, no more so than when he was heavily linked with both Bayer Leverkusen and AC Milan last summer, but he’s on current form, Tottenham should really be looking to tie him down.

Leeds United are reportedly interested in signing Sheffield Wednesday defender Osaze Urhoghide this summer.

The next transfer window could potentially be a busy one at Elland Road, as Marcelo Bielsa looks to further fine-tune his squad ahead of next season.

Leeds have enjoyed a more-than-adequate return to the Premier League, currently sitting 11th in the table, but the aim is to repeat that feat next year, or preferably better it.

The Whites could make additions all over the pitch, but one transfer rumour that has emerged claims they are eyeing up a versatile defender.

[freshpress-quiz id=“336849″]

Leeds keen on Urhoghide move

According to the Sheffield Star, Wednesday youngster Urhoghide is considered an option for Leeds, as they look to snatch away an exciting player from their local rivals.

The 20-year-old is out of contract at Hillsborough at the end of the season, so the Whites could snap him up on a free transfer.

Urhoghide is capable of playing at centre-back or in either of the full-back spots, making nine Championship starts for the struggling Owls this season.

Transfer Tavern take

It is always good to see Leeds linked with talented young English players and Urhoghide fits into that category, having made a name for himself with Wednesday.

His versatility could also come in handy, allowing him to fill in across several positions and hopefully mature as a player under Bielsa’s tutelage.

That versatility, youth and the fact he is available for free makes him a low risk high reward signing from Director of Football Victor Orta, if it goes through.

In other news, a key Leeds player is believed to be attracting interest from other clubs. Find out who it is here.

Whatever you think of Jorge Mendes and his methods, you can’t help but laud the things he’s done for Wolves.

Since Fosun became involved with the Midlands outfit, they have established a friendly relationship with one of the most powerful football agents in the game.

The club’s manager, Nuno Santo is a client of Mendes’ Gestifute agency while several of their playing staff are also on his books. To name a few, he leads negotiations for the likes of Pedro Neto, Nelson Semedo, Ruben Neves and Fabio Silva.

Ties to Mendes have even led to incredible links regarding a certain Cristiano Ronaldo. His arrival at Molineux is far-fetched but one that shouldn’t have been a few years ago was Bruno Fernandes.

The Manchester United star is one of the super agent’s biggest clients and managed to pave the way for one of the most game-changing transfers the Premier League has seen in recent years.

He was signed for a considerable £47m from Sporting Lisbon but if Mendes had noticed his talent quicker, a move to Wolves could have occurred.

That’s the word of club legend Steve Bull anyway. Speaking exclusively to FFC’s sister site, Transfer Tavern, he said: “I think he went under the radar for [Jorge] Mendes otherwise, I think he would have definitely been on our scale and we definitely would have had him all day long.”

He would have been enthralling capture for Wolves, and Fosun must be cursing Mendes after missing out.

Fernandes is now valued at £81m by Transfermarkt and has become one of the most impressive attacking midfielders in world football.

[snack-amp-story url= “https://www.footballfancast.com/web-stories/latest-wolves-transfer-news-and-views-ocampos-ronaldo-trincao-fabio-silva” title=”Latest Wolves transfer news and views!”]

Speaking about him recently, Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel commented: “The impact he has since he arrived in Man United is indescribable. Unbelievable.”

The Portugal international has scored a mighty 23 goals this term, providing a further 14 assists in 46 outings. That adds to his tally of eight goals and seven assists in 14 Premier League matches last season after moving in January 2020.

Evidently, he could have been a real star in this Wolves team. That’s not just because of his antics in terms of creativity and goals, but because of his mentality and leadership.

“Bruno Fernandes is not really a tackler, but he leads by example because he works really hard and he’s brilliant on the ball,” Bryan Robson admitted this week.

“But I always see him talking and shouting to players and he is always either trying to encourage or having a bit of a go at players if they are not in the right position,” the Man United legend added.

Fernandes has very quickly become a star of European football and besides Ronaldo, he is Mendes’ diamond.

AND in other news, Shi will regret awful call on “intelligent” £75k-p/w ace, Wolves could have signed him…

In a recent interview, former Tottenham Hotspur goalkeeper Paul Robinson discussed Eric Dier’s future at Spurs, as well as tipping the club to land a new centre-back this summer.

Having been an integral part of Jose Mourinho’s defence for the best part of the season, over recent weeks Dier has found his game-time becoming more limited under the manager, who himself claimed that the centre-back was going through something of a crisis of confidence.

However, the £22.5m-rated 27-year-old hit back at the criticism he has faced, suggesting that he is happy with his level of performance for Spurs so far this season.

In a recent interview with Football Insider, Robinson stated his belief that Mourinho is still a big fan of Dier, but went on to suggest that the 58-year-old will look to add depth to the centre-back position this summer.

He said: “I still think Jose is a big fan of Dier. I think he will be a part of the plans moving forward even though I think they will sign another centre-half in the summer. Yes, he has looked susceptible of late but so has Davinson Sanchez. I think another centre-half would help, and competition for places is always a good thing.”

Transfer Tavern Take

Dier has been in unremarkable form over his 21 Premier League appearances for Tottenham so far this season, averaging 0.8 tackles, 0.9 interceptions 4.8 clearances and 1.1 blocks per game, culminating in an average WhoScored match rating of 6.71 – ranking him as the club’s 12th-best performer in the top flight, and their third-best centre-back.

With Mourinho reportedly informing Daniel Levy of his desire to add a top-class centre-back to the Spurs defence last summer, and subsequently failing to do so, it would not be surprising to see Tottenham target a new addition to the position this summer, be that at the expense of or alongside Dier.

In other news: Tottenham are also monitoring this attacker, find out more here.

Speaking exclusively to The Transfer Tavern, Carlton Palmer has said that Christian Benteke could be a fantastic signing for West Bromwich Albion.

Benteke could be useful

The Baggies have been linked with a move for the Belgium international (The Express and Star), who has scored three times in 11 matches for Crystal Palace in the Premier League so far this campaign (Transfermarkt).

Palmer believes that Sam Allardyce is right to target the 30-year-old. He said:

“Benteke is one of those strikers, he’s only scored three goals this season but he brings a lot more to the table and maybe in West Brom’s situation, where they’re battling, he can put in a shift up front, he is good at holding the ball up and he’s good at heading the ball at both ends of the pitch. Benteke might be a player who could be useful to West Brom, to help them stay in the league.”

Interesting option

While Benteke has not had the best time of it in recent years – he has just ten Premier League goals since the 2016/2017 campaign – he is still a striker with a fantastic pedigree. He has 75 goals in the top flight to his name despite that disappointing run, and his record this term has shown flashes of the ability that once saw him earn a £32.5m to Liverpool (BBC).

Currently valued at £8.1m (Transfermarkt), Allardyce has confirmed that Benteke is on his radar (Sky Sports). He actually managed the striker during his time at Selhurst Park, so he is someone he is at least familiar with. As West Brom look to stay among the elite, Benteke could provide a boost to the side’s attacking options.

In other news, West Brom fans were delighted by this Champions League giants’ struggles.

When it rains, it pours.

That’s what Spurs midfielder Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg quickly found out on Wednesday evening after the north London outfit were dumped out of the FA Cup by Everton in extra time.

And uncharacteristically, the Danish powerhouse was way off it at Goodison Park.

As Football FanCast outlined last month, the 25-year-old dubbed a ‘captain without the armband’ has arguably been Tottenham’s signing of the season so far but last night he was shocking in every sense.

Only Hugo Lloris (6.0) received a worse rating than Hojbjerg (6.1) as per SofaScore ratings, and it’s easy to see why.

The £27m-rated midfielder endured an absolute horror show – he was sloppy in possession for the Toffees’ opener as he gave the ball away in a dangerous position only for Dominic Calvert-Lewin to slot home and then he committed the all too familiar sin of conceding a penalty by clumsily tripping up the talismanic striker.

Hojbjerg was also dribbled past a whopping five times, more than anyone else on the pitch. He’s usually a hard man to bypass in that engine room having averaged 2.7 tackles per game as well as only being dribbled past 1.8 times per match in the Premier League, via WhoScored.

He was even careless with the ball, losing possession 20 times, which was the second-most of any Spurs player on the night. Again, this is awfully unlike the Denmark international as that’s double his average (10.8) for the top-flight campaign so far.

It’s no wonder the Evening Standard’s Dan Kilpatrick graded his performance a 4/10 in his post-match ratings column, and he dubbed him ‘sloppy and uncharacteristic.’

Everything usually runs through Hojbjerg in the middle of the pitch – his match-high 135 touches would certainly reinforce that – but he was far too weak as he also won only 58% of his duels, often losing out to the Toffees’ playmaker Gylfi Sigurdsson and his supporting cast, Tom Davies and Abdoulaye Doucoure, whom all graded 6.8 or better as per SofaScore ratings.

As evident above, it was quite a nightmare for Hojbjerg – rare, but totally unneeded.

AND in other news, this £18m-rated liability badly let Mourinho down…

Football finance expert Kieran Maguire has given a positive verdict about Carlo Ancelotti’s recent comments regarding his Goodison Park future.

Ancelotti had spoken about his future recently, saying that he wants to stay at Everton for as long as possible, even though his contract expires at the end of the 2023/24 campaign.

Maguire believes Ancelotti and the new stadium could be great

Maguire was talking to Football Insider about Ancelotti’s comments and he reacted positively, saying that if the Toffees get European football at their proposed new stadium when it opens, paying for Ancelotti’s contract extension in the future could be ‘small fry’ for the Toffees.

The finance expert said: “Given the ambition of the owner, it would be a perfect storm for when Bramley Moore Dock opens, and they are hoping that could be 2024.

“That’s the year when the reformed, revamped Champions League takes place, and that’s going to be amazingly lucrative.

“If Everton, with a manager of the calibre of Ancelotti, could get their stars in alignment, new stadium, all of these additional matches taking place, hosting clubs like Barcelona and Bayern Munich in that season, it would make everything worthwhile. Carlo Ancelotti’s salary will be relatively small-fry compared.”

The Toffees are currently fifth in the Premier League and only eight points behind second-placed Manchester United. Ahead of their game against Chelsea on Monday evening, Ancelotti’s men are only a single point away from the last Champions League spot with a game in hand.

Everton last played European football in 2017, when they were in the Europa League.

Bright future could be waiting for Everton

Everton’s plans for a new stadium have already been given approval and it has been commented that Bramley-Moore Dock will be a ‘world-class addition’ to the city of Liverpool. It is reported to be a £500m scheme and it could also create a lot of jobs (BBC).

If Everton end up playing European football in the new stadium immediately, that might help them earn more finances and revenue, which could be used to bolster the squad and hand Ancelotti a new or improved contract.

The Italian has a lot of European experience and having him manage Everton at that level could be a blessing, should he and the Toffees remain on track for it.

In other news, Everton have been dealt a blow in their chase of a midfielder- read more here.

Some Everton fans were left hammering the display of Anthony Gordon despite their 1-0 win over Sheffield United in the Premier League.

Although it was a hard-fought victory for the Goodison Park faithful against a team desperate to record their first win in the top flight in the 2020/21 term, the left-sided midfield player never really took his chance to impress Carlo Ancelotti enough to make the Italian boss think about giving him an extended run in the first-team.

The 19 year-old only managed a measly 6.4 rating on Sofascore, which was the lowest out of any of his teammates on the pitch, as he failed to make any sort of real impact in the game, resulting in him being taken off for Bernard relatively early on in the second half.

He managed to record fewer touches than goalkeeper Jordan Pickford, and also failed to register a single shot on target, accurate cross or long ball in the clash, while also losing possession of the ball no fewer than 10 times in the match (Sofascore).

Everton fan reaction to Gordon display

These EFC supporters hammered the performance of Gordon on Twitter:

“Anyone who says Gordon didn’t get a chance tonight are wrong. He got a chance and blew it tonight. Just hasn’t been at it today #SHUEVE”

Credit: @Robertogaffer

“Don’t know about this Gordon kid. Average.”

Credit: @hehitthepost

“Bernard gets goals when he plays. No end product from Gordon.”

Credit: @Upper__Gwladys

“Facts Gordon has offered nothing as of now Bernard needs to come on he can at least put crosses in for Calvert-Lewin”

Credit: @PratikSatam4

“SURELY NOW THE BERNARD/GORDON DEBATE IS OVER. Bernard 1000 times the better player”

Credit: @MasonHolgoat

“Disappointing for Gordon but can have no complaints. Simply didn’t do enough when he got the ball. #efc”

Credit: @sicurrie

In other news, find out which Spurs ace the Toffees have been urged to sign here!

Alfie Mawson is currently impressing on loan at Bristol City in the Championship, to the extent where Scott Parker must consider him part of his first-team plans for next season.

The centre-back joined Dean Holden’s side on a season-long loan in the summer and has impressed with the Robins thus far, having averaged a superb 7.21 rating across his five appearances in the Championship (per WhoScored).

When he joined the club, Bristol City CEO Mark Ashton shared his delight with the signing, saying:

“Alfie will make an excellent addition to Dean’s squad and I am delighted to see this deal completed at the beginning of the new season. Alfie is a player we have been interested in for some time and I am pleased to say we have got our man.” (per Bristol City)

Since joining from Swansea City in 2018 in a deal that could be worth £20 million, the Englishman has struggled with fitness and injury issues, meaning he has managed to make just 44 appearances in all competitions for the Cottagers thus far (per Transfermarkt).

Unfortunately for the defender, he looks to have picked up another long-term knee injury whilst on loan with Bristol City. However, if he can get himself fit in time for the start of the 2021/22 season with Fulham then there’s no reason why he can’t be considered a part of Parker’s first-team squad, provided he can stay fit.

The Cottagers have managed just one clean sheet in the Premier League this season, which came in the 2-0 win against fellow relegation candidates West Brom, so it could definitely be argued that they will need defensive reinforcements for next season, should they manage to stave off relegation from the top-flight.

One man Fulham were linked to in the recent summer transfer window was Inter defender Milan Skriniar and perhaps if the West London club do stay up, they could reignite their reported interest in the Slovakian international next summer.

However, with the 25-year-old centre-back currently valued at £45 million by Transfermarkt, it would surely prove to be an extremely expensive outlay for Tony Khan and the rest of the Fulham board, so perhaps they would be better off keeping faith in Mawson’s ability.

After all, the defender earned an international call-up during his time at Swansea, so he clearly has the talent, it is just about ensuring that he stays fit.

Perhaps the time is really up for Dele Alli at Tottenham Hotspur…

What’s been said?

The 24-year-old continues to be snubbed by Jose Mourinho – for the ninth time in the Premier League this season, the two-time former PFA Young Player of the Year was completely omitted from their matchday squad as Spurs defeated arch-rivals Arsenal on Sunday.

Indeed, Alli has only played 66 minutes in the English top-flight this term, and just 333 minutes in all competitions. Even despite his two goals and one assist in the Europa League, it’s becoming increasingly obvious that he isn’t in their plans anymore.

Former England midfielder Carlton Palmer alluded to this during an exclusive interview with Football FanCast last week, he said:

“If [Mourinho] can’t get him to do what he wants him to do, he’ll let him go. He will let him go. He’s not afraid to do that.”

Time to go?

It’s strange to believe that even Tanguy Ndombele, who was frequently in and out of the side last season under the Portuguese, is actually ahead of Alli in the pecking order.

The £46.8m-rated dynamo, who earns around £150k-per-week in N17, has seen a meteoric drop in his career as he also finds himself out of Gareth Southgate’s England squad ahead of the summer’s European Championships.

Once lauded as a “freak of a talent” who could one day eclipse the likes of Steven Gerrard and Paul Scholes, it is really no surprise to see that Spurs chairman Daniel Levy wants to keep hold of him at all costs.

But if the tough negotiator wants to make any money on him in the near future, then the January transfer window may be the only good opportunity to cash in on him, so he ought to consider a U-turn this month.

As each game passes by, it’s just becoming clearer and clearer that there is no future for Alli under Mourinho; it would certainly be a waste to continue to let him burn a hole in Levy’s own pocket.

The funds generated could well help bolster their backline having missed out on Milan Skriniar during the summer.

AND in other news, Spurs swoop for “extraordinary” £45m beast like Dembele could complete Mourinho’s midfield…