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Re: Monday news (includes West Ham)

Posted: 19 Aug 2024, 13:52
by Texas Iron
Cheers…

Re: Monday news (includes West Ham)

Posted: 19 Aug 2024, 12:26
by Thanks Alan
Thanks Alan

Monday news (includes West Ham)

Posted: 19 Aug 2024, 11:27
by Alan
"BBC Representatives of Brentford and England forward Ivan Toney are in talks with Saudi Pro League club Al-Ahli to sign the 28-year-old. (Teamtalk) Manchester United are not interested in pursuing a deal for Toney. (Sky Germany) Manchester City want manager Pep Guardiola, 53, to decide on whether he will sign a new contract with the club by Christmas. The Spaniard's current deal runs until 2025. (Sky Sports) Nottingham Forest, Villarreal, Sevilla, and Valencia have registered interest in Aston Villa and Spanish defender Alex Moreno, 31. (Football Insider) Panathinaikos are in talks with Manchester United over a deal for 22-year-old Uruguay midfielder Facundo Pellistri. (Athletic - subscription required) Atletico Madrid have not ruled out a move for Valencia's 21-year-old Spanish midfielder Javi Guerra as their deal for Chelsea's England midfielder Conor Gallagher, 24, stalls. (Athletic - subscription required) Liverpool will wait until the January transfer window to sign a star midfielder after the club's move for Spain's Martin Zubimendi, 25, from Real Sociedad fell through. (Football Insider) Fulham have reopened talks with Manchester United over the signing of 27-year-old Scotland midfielder Scott McTominay. (Sky Sports) Napoli sporting director Giovanni Manna refused to rule out a move for McTominay. (Manchester Evening News) The Serie A club have also agreed a deal to sign 27-year-old Brazilian winger David Neres from Benfica. (Fabrizio Romano) Las Palmas have made a bid for Fulham's 29-year-old Brazilian forward Carlos Vinicius, who is also wanted by Corinthians. (Sky Sports) Crystal Palace have made a breakthrough in their pursuit of French defender Maxence Lacroix, 24, from Wolfsburg. (Sky Germany) Palace are leading the race to sign Chelsea and England U20 midfielder Carney Chukwuemeka, 20. (Sun) Sky Paper Talk THE SUN Manchester City and Tottenham have been dealt a blow in their pursuit of Eberechi Eze. Eze's release clause has now expired, which means Crystal Palace can demand whatever fee they wish for the former QPR man. Scott McTominay is desperate to remain in the Premier League - with three clubs now tracking him. Chelsea's clash against Manchester City made history after becoming the first £1bn match. Carney Chukwuemeka's chances of moving on from Chelsea for first-team football are being hit by his huge wages. The midfielder, 20, could leave Stamford Bridge in this window with Crystal Palace leading the queue for his capture. Manchester United are being linked with a surprise move for Valencia goalkeeper Giorgi Mamardashvili. DAILY MAIL Chelsea are discussing a £40m fee plus add-ons for Atletico Madrid forward Joao Felix. New England interim manager Lee Carsley was in attendance as Chelsea faced Manchester City at Stamford Bridge. Fulham have revived talks with Manchester United over Scott McTominay. DAILY TELEGRAPH Brentford dropped Ivan Toney from their matchday squad after they rejected an offer from Saudi Arabian club Al Ahli at the end of last week. Chelsea head coach Maresca offered no assurances that Sterling will remain part of the club's squad beyond this transfer window. DAILY MIRROR Manchester United have agreed a deal to sell winger Facundo Pellistri to Panathinaikos. Pellistri joined United from Penarol back in 2020, but has made just 25 appearances for the club across all competitions. New Juventus boss Thiago Motta has reiterated that winger Federico Chiesa is no longer in the club's plans and available for a transfer. Chiesa, 26, has been linked with various Premier League clubs including Liverpool, Chelsea and Newcastle. Atletico Madrid boss Diego Simeone has suggested Joao Felix still has a future at the club amid interest from Chelsea. THE GUARDIAN Tottenham midfielder Oliver Skipp was undergoing a medical at Leicester City on Sunday for a move worth more than £20m. EVENING STANDARD Toney wanted to play against Crystal Palace but was told within 24 hours of the game that he would not be involved. THE ATHLETIC Barcelona head coach Hansi Flick believes Ilkay Gundogan will remain at Barcelona this summer amid doubts about his future. DAILY RECORD Daniel Kelly is set to secure his exit from Celtic in the coming hours after the Hoops accepted an offer from Millwall worth close to £400,000 plus add-ons for his early release. Kilmarnock are reportedly set to request that next weekend's Premiership clash with Aberdeen is postponed in order to improve their chances of reaching the group phase in the Conference League. The Athletic What Wan-Bissaka offers West Ham: Coufal competition and Premier League experience By Caoimhe O'Neill After five seasons as a Manchester United player, Aaron Wan-Bissaka has returned home to London. The right-back, who cost £50million ($64.5m at current rates) when he moved to Old Trafford from Crystal Palace in the summer of 2019, has joined West Ham for £15m and signed a seven-year contract. Today (Saturday) as they host Aston Villa in their first game of the new Premier League season, he could be lining up for his debut. “Let’s see,” West Ham’s new head coach Julen Lopetegui said on Thursday. “He has played enough minutes in pre-season with Manchester United. We are happy with him. He will add a lot of things. He’s very happy to be here. He is a very good player, with experience.” Wan-Bissaka is only 26 but his Premier League experience makes him a ready-made fit for West Ham. He has played in English football’s top flight since making his debut with Palace in February 2018, against Tottenham Hotspur, and has been involved in 172 matches in the division, starting all but six of them. Wan-Bissaka’s career began in the south London district of New Addington, a 20-minute drive from Palace’s Selhurst Park stadium, when he joined local club Junior Elite at the age of six, after his father Ambrose recommended him for a trial. Their under-eights coach, Winston Kelly, envisioned Wan-Bissaka as a striker rather than a defender and, by the end of his first season, while playing in the age group above the one he ought to have been in, he was the top goalscorer. He made the switch to Palace, the biggest professional club in the area, at under-12s level. Luckily for Wan-Bissaka, the under-16s coach at Palace, Colin Omogbehin, was also the chairman at Junior Elite so was already familiar with his talent. He was enrolled in the Oasis Academy school in Shirley Park, Croydon, to balance football with his studies. By the age of 17, he was playing for the Premier League side’s under-23s team. In January 2018, Swindon Town — a League Two club then and now — wanted to take him on loan. But the move failed to materialise and a month later he became the first Palace academy graduate to make their senior debut for 2,148 days. An injury crisis had forced manager Roy Hodgson to turn to the untested 20-year-old, who had only been playing as a right-back for a year, yet his handling of Denmark international Christian Eriksen that Sunday afternoon against Spurs, despite Palace losing the match 1-0, made him an instant fan favourite at Selhurst Park. At West Ham, Wan-Bissaka will compete with long-time first-choice right-back Vladimir Coufal, who turns 32 on Thursday, for a place in Lopetegui’s team. “The competition is really important,” said Lopetegui. “He (Wan-Bissaka) is going to help us improve.” Right-back was a recruitment priority for West Ham this summer, with Coufal — whose contract expires next summer and includes no option to extend it — the only senior player in that position before Wan-Bissaka’s arrival. Academy graduate Ben Johnson had rejected a new deal and instead joined promoted Ipswich Town as a free agent last month. So how do the two players compare? Coufal started 36 of West Ham’s 38 Premier League matches last season, delivering seven assists, whereas, in the past two years, Wan-Bissaka played in only 41 of Manchester United’s 76 top-flight fixtures, starting 36 of them. While Coufal’s attacking output ranks among his strengths, it is an area of Wan-Bissaka’s game that has been criticised. In his 190 appearances for Manchester United across all competitions, he scored twice and registered 13 assists. Rather than attacking, it’s one-on-one defending that has always been boyhood striker Wan-Bissaka’s best asset as a player. His power of recovery against some of the league’s most prestigious attackers is already proven, and will be more than welcome at the London Stadium. Comparing smarterscout profiles, which give different aspects of players’ games a series of ratings from zero and 99, we can see how Wan-Bissaka operates. On the ball, he likes to keep things simple. He doesn’t often go on the front foot defensively — as you can see by the volume of his actions below — but he can when called upon. Coufal is more of a progressive and penetrating player, as shown by his scores for expected goals from ball progression and shot creation. Wan-Bissaka’s ‘true’ tackle win rate (all tackles, fouls committed and challenges lost) is 66 per cent, the sixth-best among all full-backs to play 900-plus minutes in the Premier League last season. Former West Ham and England playmaker Joe Cole thinks Wan-Bissaka’s style and ability will complement centre-back Maximilian Kilman — signed from fellow Premier League side Wolverhampton Wanderers last month for £40million — in particular. “I like him (Wan-Bissaka). I imagine he will play outside of a back three, which is the perfect position for him,” said Cole, speaking at an event for TNT Sports, one of the Premier League’s UK broadcast partners, to preview the season. “You want him to do what he is good at, which is one-on-one defending, playing a high line. “Kilman, you will be looking to play through him, because he is good on the ball and can drive into midfield. Aaron gives good balance and both of them have Premier League experience. When clubs sign players they underrate that. They will hit the ground running. I’m very happy with those signings.” When Wan-Bissaka joined Manchester United, there was talk about whether he could kick on from the promise he had shown at Palace and break into the England team after already featuring for the under-21s. He was named in the senior squad for their September 2019 internationals but had to withdraw because of a back injury and no further call from Gareth Southgate came for a player who is also eligible to represent DR Congo, the nation in central Africa where his parents were born, and did so once at under-20 level. At one point, it appeared he might be heading to Italy’s Serie A, with champions Inter Milan among his suitors, but West Ham pulled off the deal and brought Wan-Bissaka back to his hometown. ElGol Real Sociedad in shock over Carlos Soler's unexpected fate Carlos Soler shocks Real Sociedad by choosing West Ham over Basque club Real Sociedad are in a state of shock after learning of Carlos Soler's decision to join West Ham United, rejecting the Basque club's offer. The Spanish midfielder, who seemed convinced to sign for Real, has finally opted for the team managed by Julen Lopetegui. This news has come as a bucket of cold water in San Sebastian, where Soler was expected to become a key reinforcement for the next season. The interest of West Ham, who have been closely following Soler's situation at Paris Saint-Germain, has been decisive in their decision. The 27-year-old has struggled to secure a place in PSG's starting eleven, leading the Parisian club to consider selling him for around 20 million euros. Real Sociedad have seen their plans to strengthen their midfield fall apart with Carlos Soler's decision to sign for West Ham United. The Basque club were confident that the PSG midfielder would join their project, but Julen Lopetegui's interest and the English team's offer have changed the course of negotiations. Soler, who was looking for more prominence after an irregular spell in Paris, has preferred the Premier League over La Liga. PSG, willing to let Soler go for a figure close to 20 million euros, have found in West Ham a buyer willing to meet their financial demands. This unexpected turn of events has left Real Sociedad without one of its priority objectives, forcing the club to look for new alternatives in the market to strengthen its squad. The blow has been hard for the board, which had already advanced talks with the player and his entourage."