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Making a £4.5m move to Celtic back in the summer of 2020, expectations at Parkhead were high for Vasilis Barkas, with the Bhoys handing the goalkeeper a four-year deal believed to be worth around £20k-per-week.

However, after making just 23 appearances in all competitions, only one of which has come under the management of Ange Postecoglou this season, reports have claimed that the club are ready to cut their losses on the Greece international this January.

It is not difficult to see why, as, over his 15 Premiership appearances last time out, Barkas made an average of just one save and conceded 0.7 goals per game, returns that saw the £2.52m-rated 27-year-old earn a seasonal SofaScore rating of just 6.79 – ranking him as the club’s joint ninth-worst performer in the league.

However, rather than splashing the cash on a new backup to Joe Hart this winter, it would appear wise for Postecoglou to take a closer look at one of the club’s up and coming prospects between the sticks – in the shape of Tobi Oluwayemi.

Postecoglou can axe Barkas by unleashing Oluwayemi

Having already been called up to first-team training by Postecoglou, as well as being selected to feature on the bench – ahead of Barkas – in Celtic’s Europa League campaign this season, it is clear that the 18-year-old shot-stopper is a player the Greek-Australian coach has high hopes for.

Indeed, speaking prior to the Bhoys’ 3-2 victory over Real Betis earlier this month, the 56-year-old manager said of Oluwayemi: “Stevie Woods, our goalkeeping coach, rates him very highly. We’ve had him up in training with the team and he’s shown some good qualities.

“With all of these guys, we try and include them as much as we can and give them that experience. Toby was on the [Europa League] list so it gives him a chance to travel with the team and get the experience.”

As such, while the England U19 international is yet to make a single appearance in senior football, it would very much appear as if he is a player who has the potential to one day go on to become Celtic’s number one, an objective that would only seem to be helped by him being included in the Hoops first-team squad on a much more regular basis.

So, should Celtic indeed move the 27-year-old Barkas who Tam McManus dubbed a “horrendous” player on this winter, it would seem a very intelligent move for Postecoglou to unleash the 18-year-old Oluwayemi in the Greek’s place.

In other news: Ange can finally axe “pathetic” £7.9k-p/w Celtic flop with swoop for £270k-rated beast

Newcastle United are reportedly now moving to sign Issa Diop before the January transfer window shuts.

The Lowdown: Centre-back still needed

Despite the good business that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) consortium have done so far this window, a central defender has still not been signed.

They have been strongly linked with moves for Brighton and Hove Albion duo Adam Webster and Dan Burn, and with just a few more days left in the month, expect the new owners to be very busy on their phones as the clock ticks down.

And now, according to reports from the player’s homeland, it is another Premier League club that the Magpies are plotting to raid.

The Latest: Diop move

As per L’Equipe (via Sport Witness), the North East club are now ‘making moves’ to sign Diop, and there have been ‘discussions in recent hours’ with the player’s camp over a potential switch.

They ‘considered’ signing the West Ham United centre-back at the start of the window before moving on to other targets, but now it looks as if they have gone back in for him.

The Verdict: Get it done

With the clock ticking by, the Tyneside outfit just need to get this deal done as soon as possible.

Diop would be an upgrade on what Eddie Howe currently has at his disposal, as he is currently averaging more tackles and passes at a higher success than Ciaran Clark, Fabian Schar and Jamaal Lascelles in the Premier League so far this season (WhoScored), and is at a good age at 25.

With his six-foot-four frame, the Frenchman is a bit of a beast, and Jose Mourinho even went as far as to dub him a ‘monster‘ back in 2018, after dominating duels against his Manchester United team.

Nonetheless, with his added experience of playing in the top flight, Diop would be a very smart signing.

In other news, find out what exciting transfer update Keith Downie has dropped here!

Dominic Calvert-Lewin has reportedly now told his friends that he would like to leave Everton in the summer, with Arsenal being his preferred destination.

The Lowdown: Big interest

It has been reported that both the Gunners and Newcastle United have now made enquiries over the possibility of signing Calvert-Lewin this summer, who is almost certain to leave Goodison Park if they are relegated from the Premier League.

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His season has been plagued by injuries, but the striker has shown his credentials in previous campaigns on Merseyside (one of the best‘ in his position.

The Latest: Arsenal preferred

As per Football Insider, a recruitment source has revealed that Calvert-Lewin is now ‘likely’ to leave the Toffees in the summer, whether they end up getting relegated or not.

He has ‘told friends’ that he would prefer to move to Arsenal over Newcastle, implying that he would be happy to move on from the Blues.

The Verdict: Sell

Given that Calvert-Lewin is seemingly unhappy at EFC with his willingness to move, added on top of his injury problems, the summer may now be the best time for the board to cash in.

An England international at 25 years of age, the former Sheffield United ace should still command a big fee in today’s market, regardless of whether the club end up relegated.

Calvert-Lewin would not be easy to replace, but with the likes of Richarlison still in the squad, they could then use that money to strengthen in other areas of the pitch.

In other news, find out who has now been talked about as a potential Frank Lampard replacement here!

Liverpool are reportedly set to make Wolverhampton Wanderers’ Adama Traore their first signing ahead of the 2021/22 season.

According to reports in Spain, the Reds have agreed a deal with the Midlands outfit in a switch that would see the winger become the second player to switch Molineux for Anfield in as many years, following the transfer of Diogo Jota.

Whilst the Portuguese has been a success story with the reigning Premier League champions, signing Traore would be a huge mistake by Michael Edwards as Liverpool aim to re-establish themselves at the top.

The £31.5m-rated wideman is of course a talented player but his productivity is simply not enough to justify a big-money swoop.

In five seasons of Premier League action, Traore has only managed to accumulate five goals and 14 assists, with the vast majority of those contributions coming in his fantastic 2019/20 campaign.

The five-time Spanish international’s statistics have nose-dived since then though, having only supplied a solitary assist for Nuno Espirito Santo’s men throughout the current season.

When comparing Traore with his former teammate, Jota, during 2020/21, it is the Liverpool man who continues to come out on top.

According to WhoScored, the Portuguese ace produces more shots and passes, whilst getting dispossessed much less frequently.

Considering he would also have competition from the likes of first choices Sadio Mane and Mo Salah, as well as Jota, Xherdan Shaqiri, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and the returning Takumi Minamino for a starting berth out-wide, it is hard to envisage Traore making a significant impact on Merseyside.

Whilst Klopp might be keen to strengthen his options out wide with the “unplayable” Wolves man, Traore does not look like the correct solution.

Should they have agreed to a deal already, as reported, Edwards should do everything he can to back out as quickly as possible.

AND in more news, Liverpool should increase their bid for a Serie A starlet…

Some players at Newcastle United have reportedly been left to rage at Miguel Almiron in a behind-the-scenes claim by Football Insider.

The Paraguay international, who Alan Shearer claimed was ‘magnificent’ in a 3-2 home win over Southampton back in February, has recently made an admission at a local radio station that he would like to play in a team that ‘fights more’, which has reportedly caused a big stir among several players in the Magpies squad.

A source in the northeast has since said that a lot of players at the Tyneside club have been left to feel ‘extremely unhappy’ with the comments that he made, and believe that he is trying to distance himself from some recent bad displays in the hope of potentially engineering a move away in the upcoming summer transfer window.

Almiron’s comments suggest that the squad are not fighting enough to stay in the Premier League, to which there is ‘anger’ among the camp.

Not what Newcastle need right now

This behind-the-scenes claim of tension among the Newcastle players is certainly not what the Toon Army want to or need to hear right now as they look to try and avoid being relegated from the Premier League.

Whatever disagreements they may currently have at this moment in time, the players at St James’ Park must stick together in order to try and get themselves out of the mess in which Steve Bruce’s team find themselves.

In other news, find out what inside claim Mark Douglas has dropped on two potential managerial candidates at Newcastle!

Noel Whelan has given his reaction following the release of Newcastle United’s arbitration statement.

The Lowdown: Statement released

Earlier this week, the St. James’ Park faithful released a statement on their official website asking for the upcoming arbitration process to be made public.

This is only possible if the Premier League agree to it as well, otherwise the process will remain confidential.

The Tyneside club also claimed that they have ‘nothing to hide’ with regards to the process, and even suggested that the top flight should have ‘no reason to be afraid of the public spotlight’, providing that they have acted ‘lawfully and properly’, and thus should be wanting to make it public too.

The Latest: Whelan reacts

Whelan, who is now a pundit after playing as a striker for the likes of Leeds United and Coventry City, has since given his reaction to Football Insider after reading the statement, suggesting that the Premier League should have no reason not to accept the North East club’s request, but admitted that they do have a lot of power:

“You would only say things like that when you’ve got backup and you believe it.

“The club wouldn’t stand face to face with the Premier League. You wouldn’t out them and ask them to make it transparent otherwise.

“I’m sure they’ve got very good lawyers, Mike Ashley. They wouldn’t be calling them out if they weren’t brave enough and didn’t have the evidence to do that.

“They are the Premier League and they govern us.

“Whether Manchester United, Liverpool or Manchester City. They have the power. Huge power.

“I don’t see any way the Premier League cannot give somebody a reason or show them evidence on what they’re asking for.”

The Verdict: Premier League must compromise

The Premier League surely have to compromise and accept the Magpies’ request to make the process public if they have nothing to hide.

Both sides are clearly confident that they can gain a positive result from the arbitration case, and the top flight should show this by allowing it to be made public.

The hearing is set to be pivotal over the direction of where the takeover is heading, and if it goes in the favour of the Toon, then the takeover process can be accelerated, which would offer some light at the end of the tunnel.

The Premier League would have to give their full cooperation of course, and so NUFC will have to come to an agreement with them if results go their way.

In other news, find out what update Liam Kennedy has dropped on the CAT takeover case here!

If West Ham are to splash £30m on one player this summer, then there’s only one name that should sit atop their list…

What’s the word?

The Irons have been linked to many names ahead of the summer transfer window, including a few from the Championship.

One of which is Norwich City right-back Max Aarons, with the Independent suggesting that they have joined the race to sign the 21-year-old, who is valued at £30m.

Another name is Brentford talisman Ivan Toney, who is also thought to have a similar price tag slapped on him, according to TEAMtalk.

Finances will be at a premium at the end of the season, with many top-flight teams still dealing with the financial consequences of the pandemic and not having any supporters through the door, so if the Hammers are to fork out a fee as big as that, then Toney must be the man to spend it on, every day of the week.

Forget Aarons

It seems perplexing that West Ham would join the race for Aarons, who has been coveted by the likes of Spurs, Everton and Bundesliga giants Bayern Munich.

You wouldn’t say David Moyes is blessed with options on the right-hand side of defence but you would certainly believe he’s more than covered with impressive signing Vladimir Coufal, Ryan Fredericks and academy starlet Ben Johnson.

The same can’t be said for upfront.

After selling club-record flop Sebastien Haller after just 18 months in East London, David Sullivan and co failed to land Moyes a replacement striker, leaving Michail Antonio as his only senior option for the rest of the season.

And he’s now out injured – potentially for the remainder of the campaign, too.

That is now looking like a catastrophic miscalculation from the Irons’ hierarchy and is something that absolutely has to be corrected ahead of next season.

Even though Antonio is a valuable source of goals for Moyes, the 31-year-old has only ever played more than 22 league games in one season across the course of his career since 2013.

Toney’s record, on the other hand, speaks for itself.

The prolific 25-year-old marksman secured a move to Brentford in the summer following a 26-goal season for League One outfit Peterborough United and has since taken to the step-up in levels like a duck to water.

Posh chairman Barry Fry recently dubbed Toney a “sensation” to Football FanCast in an exclusive interview.

He’s provided a whopping 29 goals and ten assists in 43 appearances this term, as per Transfermarkt.

Toney has likened himself to Zlatan Ibrahimovic in the past – speaking to The Sun, he claimed: “I’ve always liked Zlatan. I just love his confidence.  Some people see it as arrogance but you must be like that to succeed. I’m similar to Zlatan in both my confidence and the way I play. When he wants to do something, he just does it. I have some of that in my game and personality. And I believe I’ll be a Premier League striker.”

Clearly, the striker exudes confidence and that can often be an underrated attribute of any player.

Bees boss Thomas Frank has even compared Toney to Spurs’ Harry Kane, due to his absurd goalscoring returns, and hailed him as a “special, special player.”

Whether he’s another Zlatan or another Kane, Sullivan and co absolutely must approve that £30m swoop this summer.

There’s no doubt about it.

AND in other news, Imagine him and Rice: West Ham eye ‘magnificent” £25m colossus…

Following their Europa League qualification, West Ham are going to need to bolster their squad next season in a bid to compete on two fronts, and that’s exactly what former Newcastle defender Steve Howey expects to happen.

Avoiding defeat in their final-day meeting with Southampton was enough for David Moyes’ team to secure sixth, a place above London rivals Tottenham and a spot in the group stages of the Europa League.

The Hammers failed to reach the groups in their only previous times in the competition, but on this occasion, sixth place proved enough to book their place.

Should West Ham progress in the knockout stages, they could face up to 15 matches, but only if they reach the final.

But with the Hammers facing more than 50 matches next season, the most since they fell at the third qualifying stage in 2015-2016, Moyes is going to need a be a busy man in the summer window.

And Howey believes that whilst West Ham need quality in their squad, quantity will be equally as important, and he has also tipped them to make £100,000-a-week man Jesse Lingard their main signing of the summer.

He exclusively told Football FanCast:

“They might get a marquee signing like Jesse Lingard then players that will be excellent for the squad, players that can anytime come in and do a solid job.

“It wouldn’t surprise me if they did quite a bit of work this summer.”

Football finance expert Kieran Maguire has praised the Glasgow Rangers board for their season ticket policy ahead of next season.

The Lowdown: Gers sell more than 44,000 season tickets

Earlier in May, the Gers confirmed they had sold more than 44,000 season tickets ahead of the 2021/22 campaign (rangers.co.uk), just weeks after they had revealed they would be freezing season ticket prices for the upcoming term (Glasgow Live).

The board said that the number of people to purchase the tickets was “beyond belief” considering that the Gers were unable to welcome a single fan to Ibrox during the 2020/21 season.

The Latest: Maguire praises board

Speaking to Football Insider, Maguire praised the Gers board for the number of season tickets they made available. He said:

“They would make more money by selling fewer season tickets.

“But what Rangers have done is reward the loyalty and passion of the fanbase by making as many season tickets as possible available.

“But if you compare them with, say, Liverpool, they have only 27,000 season tickets.

“I try to identify how much money a club is making per fan, per season and Liverpool are around £1500 to £1600 mark whereas Rangers make substantially less than that.

“If you have a huge fanbase as Rangers have, they could restrict season tickets to half the capacity of the ground and charge individual ticket prices for individual matches.

“So you’ve got to admire the board in a way because this is not the most lucrative approach.

“The advantage that it does bring is you get the money from season tickets a little bit early, so there are some benefits from a cash flow point of view.

“But from an overall perspective, they would actually be better off selling fewer season tickets.”

The Verdict: Treat fans well

As Maguire explains, the Gers could have made a lot more income with fewer season tickets. The price per match for such tickets will be a lot lower than selling seats individually for every single match, and with the demand for a spot, they could probably have driven up the price quite high.

The cheapest season ticket for the Gers is £372 (statista.com), meaning the 55-time Scottish champions have brought in a minimum £16.4m. That is still a considerable amount of money and should go a long way for the club, especially as they could be competing in the Champions League group stages next autumn. They have shown that they can still keep the books healthy while respecting the fans along the way.

In other news, Rangers lose out to Mike Ashley again.

There was a possibility Freddie Woodman could have left on loan on Deadline Day to facilitate an incoming, The Athletic’s Chris Waugh has revealed. 

The lowdown

Newcastle have taken the ‘unusual’ step of naming four goalkeepers in their 25-man Premier League squad, with Woodman joined by Martin Dubravka, Karl Darlow and Mark Gillespie.

Steve Bruce has had to call upon Woodman after Dubravka sustained a foot injury at the European Championships and Darlow was hospitalised with coronavirus (via The Athletic).

The Newcastle boss has been forced to make do with just one new addition – £25million man Joe Willock – partly because of finances, but also because they ‘would have had to make room’ in the squad.

The latest

Waugh reports that ‘privately, few at St James’ Park’ genuinely believed they would ever end up taking the ‘damaging’ step of naming four ‘keepers.

And the perceived necessity of doing so ‘affected transfer business’.

Bruce was weighing up the decision until the end of the transfer window, with the 60-year-old keen to sign Leicester City’s Hamza Choudhury on loan.

But allowing Woodman to leave and placing trust in Gillespie was ultimately deemed too risky.

The verdict

You do have some sympathy for Newcastle here. It’s bad enough having your first choice ‘keeper injured, but for your back-up to fall ill at the same time is woefully unlucky.

It might be said that Bruce should simply have backed Gillespie in the hope of bringing a much-needed reinforcement further up the pitch, but how many managers would truly trust a ‘keeper who is effectively the fourth best on the club’s books?

Bruce’s reign on Tyneside has been far from perfect, but it feels his hands were tied by almost impossible circumstances on this occasion.

In other news, Frank McAvennie has dropped a two-word verdict on Steve Bruce’s future.