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An update has emerged regarding Newcastle’s interest in Watford winger Ismaila Sarr.

What’s the talk?

According to the Daily Mail, the Magpies are eyeing the forward as a potential January signing as they look to bolster their squad following the club’s takeover earlier this month.

The report claims that Watford will fight hard to keep hold of their star player as they believe he can be as good as Manchester City winger Jack Grealish.

Saint-Maximin 2.0

PIF must secure a deal to sign Sarr in the January transfer window as they could unearth Allan Saint-Maximin 2.0 for the club. The Hornets forward is similar to the Frenchman in his playing style and could operate on the opposite wing, which is why the Toon Army faithful could love him.

Both players excel at dribbling with the ball and creating chances for their teammates, whilst also possessing the ability to score themselves. Sarr has averaged 3.4 dribbles and key passes per game in the Premier League this season, compared to Saint-Maximin’s 6.3.

This suggests that the Watford maestro is on his way to reaching the former Nice man’s standards, whilst he has already shown he may be a step above when it comes to goalscoring. He has found the back of the net nine times in 31 top-flight starts for Watford, whilst the Magpies wizard has scored eight goals in 51 starts. This is why Newcastle fans would love Sarr at St James’ Park, as he has the end product to match his exciting play.

Former Manchester United defender and current Sky Sports pundit Gary Neville once lauded the winger’s talents and praised his movement in behind. He said: “He’s a big, big talent, honestly he really is. I always think, particularly as a wide player, what would I have not wanted to have played against? The first thing is pace.

“And then you’ve got to think about, can he use his pace? Well, yes, he can, because he makes really good quality runs: the spin in behind, straight, but also the run inside in between full-back and centre-back – which I always think is the most difficult to mark.”

Neville’s comments suggest that Sarr also has the pace that Saint-Maximin possesses, with both players able to run with the ball at speed and take players on. Along with their similarity in playing style, this is why PIF could find their next wing wizard in the 23-year-old and must work hard to strike a deal for his services in the January window. The fans would surely love to see another talented winger in the ranks to get them off their seats during games and the Watford man’s statistics suggest that he could do just that.

AND in other news, PIF must ruthlessly sell shocking £75k-p/w liability, he’s holding Newcastle back…

Leeds United must finally sell Tyler Roberts amid his latest disaster-class against Arsenal in the Carabao Cup on Tuesday night.

What’s the story?

The Wales international has endured a nightmare start to the campaign thus far, scoring no goals and providing no assists, and following his performance in mid-week, Leeds Live’s Beren Cross revealed what he saw from that night.

He said: “Roberts remains a divisive figure among fans, but Bielsa evidently likes him and plays him because he sees a lot of potential in the Wales international. The only way Roberts improves is by playing more and developing as a player on the pitch. That’s the way Bielsa will see it.

“It was interesting to see the flashpoint which convinced Bielsa to go for Gelhardt last night, though. Roberts received the ball in a promising position last night with Arsenal out of shape and rather than look to turn Maitland-Niles, as he had the time to do, he waited and looked for contact from behind to go down. The referee waved played on and the hosts took the ball away. Bielsa was furious and barked immediately for Gelhardt to come on.”

Time for Roberts to go

Here on FFC, Roberts’ performance on Tuesday against Arsenal in the Carabao Cup was heavily scrutinised, and with the January transfer window looming, it’s perhaps high time that the Wales international finally heads for the exit door.

Former Leeds striker Noel Whelan insisted that the £12.6m-rated forward hasn’t shown enough in the Premier League to “convince” Bielsa – he managed just one goal in 27 top-flight appearances all of last season, and even that came in the penultimate game against Southampton.

The 46-year-old said: “With Leeds this season, he’s been given a long spell of games to convince Bielsa he’s worth keeping. In my opinion, I’m still undecided. I don’t think he affected the game during his time on the field.”

Whelan added: “Is he good enough? In my opinion he isn’t. I would love him to go out there and prove me wrong because I want everyone to succeed. I need him to show me more. He needs to show more fight and desire. I just do not see that.”

The quite shambolic goal-scoring record that Roberts has at Elland Road, even for someone who’s relatively young at 22, should surely be the end of the straw for him under Bielsa.

The Whites desperately need greater end product from someone occupying that attacking midfield role just behind the striker, and Roberts simply hasn’t cut it.

Meanwhile, this Leeds United star is now attracting big interest…

Southampton forward Mo Elyounoussi produced a worrying display for Norway as his country beat Gilbraltar 5-1 in a World Cup qualifier on Tuesday night.

The Norweigan attacker has made a promising return to England after a two-year spell in Scotland with Celtic, scoring in his only Premier League appearance of the season to date. He also scored a hat-trick in a League Cup thrashing of League Two outfit Newport County, potentially leaving fans to wonder whether or not he will finally come good on the south coast.

Elyounoussi’s debut campaign with the Saints was disastrous. He failed to register a single goal or assist in 16 Premier League appearances and averaged a dismal WhoScored rating of 6.51, as he failed to show that he could score or assist goals on a regular basis in the top-flight of English football.

His performance for Norway against Gilbraltar was a throwback to those early displays for Southampton as he struggled with his end product. He had more touches of the ball than Kristian Thorstvedt, Erling Haaland and Alexander Sorloth, who were all directly involved in at least two goals whilst Elyounoussi managed neither a goal nor an assist.

Elyounoussi attempted four shots during the match, getting just one on target, the other three blocked by defenders. This suggests that the quality of his efforts in front of goal were well below the standard required to find the back of the net, or even reach the goal as the majority of them were cut out at source.

One of his shots went down as a ‘big chance missed’ on SofaScore. This means that he spurned an excellent opportunity to find the back of the net, which is worrying for Ralph Hasenhuttl heading into the rest of the campaign as he will want consistency from his forwards.

Elyounoussi also lost possession of the ball 11 times during his 81 minutes on the pitch. This included three of his four crossing attempts going straight back to the opposition rather than finding a teammate. His finishing was sub-par and these statistics suggest that his all-around play also left plenty to be desired.

Southampton fans, along with Hasenhuttl, could be concerned by this performance as it was a throwback to his early showings in red and white. They will be hoping that it is a blip and that he is able to return to Premier League action for the Saints at the weekend ready to put in a top-class performance in order to nail down his spot in the starting XI.

AND in other news, Saints missed out on potential £9m windfall, now they look set to lose dud for free…

According to reports by Voetbal24 (via SportWitness), West Ham are a ‘serious candidate’ for Club Brugge star Hans Vanaken, who is expected to make a Premier League move if he wins the Belgian Golden Shoe.

The Lowdown: Vanaken having a fantastic season

Attacking-midfielder Vanaken signed for Brugge in 2015, having already spent five seasons playing in Belgium – first at Lommel United, then at KSC Lokeren.

The Belgium international is currently having a fantastic campaign in the Jupiler Pro League, having scored five goals and producing two assists.

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He has also performed on the European stage, scoring three times and assisting once in six Champions League games this season – drawing international attention.

The Latest: Vanaken linked with the Hammers

The Hammers have long been linked with the midfielder, having previously been rejected by the player following a £15 million bid. Vanaken cited that if he were to move to the Premier League, he would want only want to do so to win trophies.

However, according to a report by Voetbal24 (via SportWitness), if Vanaken is able to bring home the Belgian Golden Shoe, it is expected that he will move to the Premier League, with West Ham now once again considered a serious candidate.

This arises after a previous report Voetbal24 (via SportWitness) claimed that the move was no longer out of the question despite the previous rejection.

The Verdict: A fine addition for David Moyes

The attacking-midfielder could prove to be a fantastic addition to David Moyes’ side, who have struggled for goals recently, with Michail Antonio failing to score in his last seven Premier League games.

Former teammate Onur Kaya has said that Vanaken has the technique of a much smaller player – he is 6 foot 5 – and believes that his friend ‘has his place at 16 of the 20 Premier League clubs’.

Current teammate and former Liverpool goalkeeper Simon Mignolet has even claimed that Vanaken is a better finisher ‘than Roberto Firmino’ and that he is of a ‘comparable level to Mo [Salah]’.

It seems that the Belgian beast could be the perfect fit for West Ham as an alternative goalscoring option playing off Antonio, so fans will surely hope to see this deal cross the line.

Former Manchester City man Paul Stewart reckons both Riyad Mahrez and Raheem Sterling’s places will be under threat following the arrival of Jack Grealish.

Grealish became City’s first major signing of the window when he broke the British record for the most expensive player last Thursday.

His £100m move from Aston Villa means Guardiola now has nine attacking players at his disposal, which could become 10 if Harry Kane follows his England colleague through the door at the Etihad Stadium.

But his arrival means someone’s place in the side could become under threat, with Grealish’s price-tag surely meaning he’ll be a regular starter under Guardiola.

Guardiola has already confirmed that some of his squad want to leave, one of which being Bernardo Silva, but when asked who he expects to miss out on being a starter next season, Stewart gave a perhaps surprise answer given his form.

He exclusively told Football FanCast:

“He did himself proud at the EUROs, Sterling. But I can see him or Mahrez being the ones that are at most risk of not playing because Grealish can drift in from either side and as you said, he will play.”

Many Southampton fans are far from happy after it was revealed that Kevin Friend will be the referee for their Premier League opener on Saturday against Everton at Goodison Park.

The Saints kick off their campaign in Merseyside as Ralph Hasenhuttl and co look to improve on their 15th-placed finish in the top flight last time out. After a slow start to the transfer window, the Saints have now brought in four new players – three from Chelsea in Danyl Simeu (chelseafc.com), Valentino Livramento (southamptonfc.com) and Armando Broja, as well as Romain Perraud from Brest – while they have had a bid accepted for Adam Armstrong (The Independent).

Friend will be the man in the middle against the Toffees on Saturday (premierleague.com), but he is not popular amongst Saints supporters, it seems – this is not the first time that some fans have been unhappy with his appointment (Read Southampton).

The south coast club have lost 11 of the 28 previous matches when the 50-year-old has been the man in the middle (Transfermarkt), including a 4-0 defeat to Everton’s neighbours Liverpool in February 2020 when, with the game at 0-0, he deemed contact from Fabinho on Danny Ings in the box to not be worthy of a penalty (BBC).

The news was shared on Twitter by @SaintsExtra, and it attracted plenty of attention from the supporters. They took to the social media platform to share their thoughts.

Let’s see what these fans had to say about Friend’s appointment

“Opening day + Everton away + Kevin Friend. Our season starts on the 22nd”

Credit: @Conor_SFC

“That’s blown any hope I had!”

Credit: @ChrisBushby1

“We move to week 2”

Credit: @RahilMajid

“oh joy”

Credit: @BIDDS83

“We weren’t getting to get anything anyway as we never do there but definitely not now”

Credit: @guitar_last

“Well that’s the excuse sorted”

Credit: @JoshSFC13578

In other news, many Saints fans want the club to re-sign this midfielder.

Many Tottenham Hotspur fans may be ‘scratching their heads’ after learning of the club’s contact with Ernesto Valverde, Noel Whelan has told Football Insider.

The lowdown

Spurs are still chasing a new manager, having dismissed Jose Mourinho prior to the Carabao Cup final in April.

Former Roma boss Paulo Fonseca was expecting to be appointed imminently, only for Spurs to pull the plug. The club then briefly pursued Gennaro Gattuso before ending their interest amid a backlash from numerous supporters.

Fabrizio Romano tweeted last Friday that ‘a new name’ had been approached in former Barcelona manager Valverde.

The Spaniard led the Catalan giants to consecutive La Liga titles and they were top of the table when he was sacked in January 2020. He won 97 of 145 matches during his tenure, a win rate of 67%.

However, his failures in the Champions League, most notably the dramatic 4-0 defeat to Liverpool in the 2019 semi-finals, contributed to the decision to sack him in January 2020.

The latest

Whelan says it doesn’t reflect well on Valverde that he is still out of the game since getting the chop from Barcelona and believes that while he represents a ‘big step up’ from candidates considered previously, his appointment would apparently fail to excite Spurs supporters.

“You question why he has been out of work for so long,” the former Leeds striker told Football Insider.

“Usually managers are not out work for longer than a few months. 18 months is a long time for a manager to be away from the game.

“But Valverde would be a big step up from what Spurs have been looking at recently, though, the likes of Fonseca and Gattuso.

“I’m not licking my lips at the thought though and that will likely be the case with a lot of Tottenham fans.

“I imagine a lot of them will be scratching their heads a bit and thinking, ‘What? Why?'”

The verdict

Although his Barcelona tenure was perhaps defined by the collapses at Roma and Liverpool, Valverde still left with four trophies under his belt. His impressive CV also boasts a run to the UEFA Cup final with Espanyol, a Supercopa with Athletic Bilbao and a La Liga Coach of the Year award.

He may not have been the most attractive candidate at the start of the managerial search, but a couple of months into this farcical process, you might think that Tottenham could do an awful lot worse despite Whelan’s misgivings.

In other news, Alasdair Gold names a candidate to replace Serge Aurier.

Watford continue their 2021/22 Carabao Cup campaign with a clash against Championship side Stoke City at Vicarage Road on Tuesday night.

The Hornets head into the game high on confidence after beating Norwich 3-1 away from home in the Premier League at the weekend.

Xisco Munoz’s side defeated Crystal Palace 1-0 in the second round of the competition last month, with Watford now hoping to overcome Michael O’Neill’s Potters side.

With it being a break from the Premier League, Munoz could decide to make some changes to his team to offer fringe players an opportunity to impress him. One player he must unleash against Stoke is centre-forward and summer signing Ashley Fletcher.

Josh King has started three of Watford’s five Premier League matches and is yet to score his first goal for the club, despite leading the line against the Canaries at the weekend. It could be time to hand him a rest and offer Fletcher a chance to show that the 25-year-old can do a better job as the number nine for the Hornets in the top flight.

He has played just one game for Watford since arriving on a free transfer in the summer and scored the winning goal as Munoz’s side beat Palace in the previous round of this competition. This shows that he has the quality to be a match-winner for the Hornets, just as he proved it against the Eagles last month.

He also previously scored 11 goals and provided seven assists in the 2019/20 Championship campaign for Middlesbrough, showing that he knows how to be involved in the action in the final third.

Fletcher’s former Sunderland boss Chris Coleman has hailed the forward’s demenaour, saying: “He has a super attitude. If you are playing as a striker for Sunderland and you’re struggling and his performances haven’t been great, you are going to come under scrutiny and pressure, which he has.”

This shows that the £13k-per-week beast will give his all on the pitch and put in a shift for Munoz, whilst also having the ability required to potentially win the game. Therefore, Fletcher must be unleashed against Stoke City to give him the chance to showcase his quality and prove that he can score goals consistently.If he can come in and produce a strong performance, it could boost his chances of being included in a Premier League match for Watford for the first time. However, it is up to him to win over his manager first.In other news: 14 duels won – Watford beast with 57 touches was an unsung hero for Xisco against Norwich

Celtic defender Kristoffer Ajer is being targeted by Bundesliga outfit Bayer Leverkusen, according to The Scottish Sun.

The Lowdown: Ajer was a rare ray of positivity for Celtic in 2020/21

In spite of a bleak 2020/21 season for the Hoops overall, Ajer excelled at the heart of their defence. Over the campaign, the Norwegian made 42 appearances for the Celts and recorded six goal contributions, with two goals and four assists [Transfermarkt].

Within that time period, he also helped the Glaswegian outfit to record 21 clean sheets [Transfermarkt]. However, things have taken a turn for the worse with regards to his Celtic future.

In a revealing recent interview, the Norway international stated: “Now we have come to the point that I will leave, and I really expect the club to keep its word” [Glasgow Live].

Now set to entice a bidding war for his services, the man once labelled as ‘dominant’ by his former boss Brendan Rodgers [Daily Record] will more than likely move on to pastures new.

The Latest: Bayer Leverkusen willing to pay £10m

As it stands, Bayer Leverkusen are quoted to be ready to pay £10m for the 6 foot 5 defender [The Scottish Sun].

Of course, this isn’t the first dealing the Celts have had with the Bundesliga outfit in recent times, as they received around £11.5m for right-back Jeremie Frimpong back in January [One Football].

Ajer only has 12 months left on his Parkhead deal, so the Hoops will likely cash in this summer to avoid losing him for free in 2022 [Celtic FC].

Set to do battle with Norwich and Newcastle for his services, Die Werkself are said to be admirers of his leadership qualities, whilst viewing him as someone who could develop significantly in the future [The Scottish Sun].

The Verdict: Celtic should drive a bidding war

Celtic should attempt to drive a bidding war for the 23-year-old defender. As they are almost certain to lose his endeavours after five years, the Hoops should be looking for an eight-figure sum at a minimum.

For Bayer Leverkusen, they would be getting a monumentally talented young stopper. Making 3.4 clearances per game on average, Ajer has repeatedly stamped his authority on the Premiership [WhoScored].

While Celtic look set to lose a key player, they should at least command a sizeable fee so that they can then recruit an adequate centre-back replacement.

In other news, Celtic have agreed a fee to sell this player. 

Glasgow Rangers have reportedly now told Josh McPake that he can leave in the summer.

The Lowdown: Loan after loan

McPake has been sent out on loan no fewer than five times by the Teddy Bears in his career so far, most recently to Tranmere Rovers back in the January transfer window.

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He has only managed to make one senior appearance for the club, and so his long-term future under Giovanni van Bronckhorst is uncertain after a nomadic stint in Glasgow.

The Latest: McPake update

Speaking to Football Insider, an Ibrox source has revealed that the Light Blues have now given the ‘green light’ for McPake to leave on a permanent deal, as he is ‘surplus to requirements’.

The Gers have personally ‘told’ McPake that he can go after his loan spell at Tranmere ends.

The Verdict: Shame

It is certainly a shame that McPake’s career at RFC has not quite worked out, especially coming through their youth ranks.

Described as ‘excellent’ and a ‘great talent’ by Harrogate Town manager Simon Weaver, another team that he has gone out on loan to, the 20-year-old signed a new deal at Rangers just last year, a testament to how highly-rated he is.

However, the summer seems the best time for both McPake and the club to part ways, as the Scottish winger looks to seek more regular first-team football and the Light Blues bank a potentially decent profit.

In other news, find out who has been ‘non-existent’ for Gers here!