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West Ham United have been dealt a huge setback in their bid to secure a deal to bring Mohamed Bayo to the London Stadium in the January transfer window.

What’s the talk?

That’s according to a claim made by Alan Nixon, with The Sun journalist revealing on Twitter that Clermont Foot will not be sanctioning the sale of the centre-forward this month, as the French club require the 23-year-old’s services in their battle to avoid relegation from Ligue 1.

Previous reports had claimed that Clermont were demanding a figure in the region of €20m (£17m) in order to part with the Guinea international this month, with a number of English clubs – including West Ham – believed to have made contact with the French outfit regarding a deal for the striker.

However, according to Nixon’s latest update, a move for the player now appears to be off the table in January, with the journalist stating: “West Ham. Brighton. Southampton. Won’t get striker Bayo from Clermont this season. Now needed to avoid relegation.”

Moyes will be fuming

Considering just how impressive Bayo has been in France this season, and with West Ham desperately lacking any real strength in depth at centre-forward, the news that Clermont are no longer considering cashing in on the 23-year-old this month is sure to have left David Moyes fuming.

Indeed, over his 17 Ligue 1 appearances so far this season, the £9m-rated forward has been in remarkable form, having already scored nine goals, registered two assists and created three big chances for his team-mates, as well as taking 2.3 shots and making 1.1 key passes per game.

These returns have seen the £5.2k-per-week hitman average a superb SofaScore match rating of 7.00, ranking him as his club’s second-best performer in the French top flight, while his nine goals rank him as the joint-seventh highest scorer in the division overall.

As such, when taking into account that Moyes only has the injury-prone Michail Antonio as an option at centre-forward, Bayo would very much have seemed to be a welcome addition to the 58-year-old’s attacking arsenal at the London Stadium.

However, following Nixon’s latest update, it would now look as if the Scot will need to turn his attention elsewhere in the transfer market in his bid to secure attacking reinforcements, something which will undoubtedly come as a gutting blow to the West Ham manager.

In other news: Transfer insider reveals West Ham have “looked at” signing £25m beast, fans surely buzzing

Prior to their Premier League clash against Aston Villa tonight, Southampton have only managed to score nine goals in their opening 10 league games of the season, leaving just Norwich City (three) having found the back of the net on fewer occasions in this top-flight campaign.

With this in mind, it seems as though the Saints have their eye on fixing this issue by potentially adding a new attacking talent to their squad.

What’s the news?

It has recently been reported by the Daily Mail that Southampton are among the clubs monitoring RB Salzburg striker Chukwubuike Adamu. The report added that French side AS Monaco and a number of Bundesliga clubs are also tracking the player.

Since joining the Austrian club in the 2020 summer transfer window, Adamu – who is currently valued at £2.7m by Transfermarkt – has made 20 appearances for Salzburg across all competitions, in which he has managed to score four goals and provide one assist.

For his previous club FC Liefering, the 20-year-old sensation netted 26 goals and provided 11 assists in 49 appearances.

So far this season, Adamu has racked up three goals and one assist in 11 league appearances for Salzburg as well as averaging 1.8 shots per game in the Austrian Bundesliga. He has shown that he is a dangerous attacking threat and could well provide a big boost to Southampton’s squad going forward, potentially helping them to score more regularly throughout the season if they manage to sign him in the upcoming January transfer window.

Also, given Adamu’s age and the fact that current Saints striker Armando Broja, who has two goals under his belt so far this season in the Premier League, is only at the club on loan and will be going back to his parent club Chelsea at the end of the season, we feel that the Austrian could be a suitable long-term replacement for the Albania international at St Mary’s.

Overall, if Southampton go into the January transfer window with a plan to add a new attacker to their squad, we feel that the club should definitely see if they can work out a deal with Salzburg which would see Adamu move to St Mary’s to help fix the Saints’ goalscoring issues

In other news: Gao must avoid Saints disaster on “brilliant” £48k-p/w machine, he’s crucial to Ralph

With Liverpool wingers Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah scoring 16 out of the 31 Premier League goals that the Reds have managed to score so far this season – more than any other side in the division – it’s safe to say the duo are two of Jurgen Klopp’s most important attacking players.

Although, it seems as though the Merseyside club have their eye on adding another winger to their squad that could well provide some competition to the deadly duo and their place in the team.

What’s the news?

It has recently been reported by El Nacional that the Reds are willing to tempt Barcelona winger Ousmane Dembele to join the Merseyside club in the summer, when his current contract expires, on a free transfer with a €20m (£18m) signing bonus and an increase to his current wages.

Before he made the move to Barcelona, the 24-year-old, who is currently valued at £45m according to Transfermarkt scored 10 goals and provided 22 assists across 50 appearances for Klopp’s former side, Borussia Dortmund before securing his move to the La Liga giants in the summer of 2017 for a fee of £135.5m.

During his time at Barcelona, the French international has managed to score 30 goals and provide 21 assists in 119 appearances across all competitions.

Regarding a potential move to Liverpool in the summer, this could be a dream transfer move for Klopp, who is reportedly a big fan of Dembele, given the winger’s relatively young age and the experience he has under his belt playing in the Bundesliga, La Liga and the Champions League.

Also, with former Barcelona manager Ronald Koeman previously saying that Dembele offers “something different” to some of his former attacking options at the club, the winger could well have the same sort of effect at Anfield alongside the likes of Salah and Mane.

However, with Dembele having a very unfortunate injury record and the fact that he is currently earning a weekly wage of £287k-per-week, as per Salary Sport, which Liverpool are reportedly willing to increase according to this latest report, these are factors that should definitely be taken into consideration over a potential move for the winger in the summer.

In other news: FSG could seal perfect Salah heir at Liverpool with “unpredictable” £63m-rated machine – opinion

He’s long been one of the first names on the team sheet, but Douglas Luiz has a new role in the Aston Villa midfield and he’s absolutely thriving under new boss Steven Gerrard.

Traditionally playing as the holding midfielder, Luiz made a name for himself under Dean Smith as one of the best in the division. A strong tackler, with good positional awareness and excellent physical qualities, Luiz joined from Manchester City in a £15m deal after he was unable to secure a work permit for the then-champions.

He walked straight into the newly promoted midfield and featured in 36 Premier League fixtures, level with Jack Grealish for the most of anyone in the squad. After avoiding relegation by the skin of their teeth, he continued to be a mainstay the following season and made 33 appearances as Villa made a push for Europe.

His form during that season saw him linked with potential transfers back to Man City and abroad, with his ball-playing qualities becoming more apparent. He even earned more regular call-ups to the senior Brazil national team, winning four caps in both 2020 and 2021 to take his total tally to nine.

The start of this season saw his form drop off, as the Midlands side claimed just ten points from the first 11 games and Smith was sacked, replaced by Liverpool legend Gerrard. Since then, Villa fans have seen Luiz play in a slightly different role but they have seen the 23-year-old recapture his old form but with an added twist of creativity.

Luiz has managed to register three assists already this season, with the most recent coming in the 2-1 defeat to Man City where he started the game in a more advanced, box-to-box role. With Marvelous Nakamba holding the fort behind him, Luiz has been able to use his excellent passing range and dribbling in a more attacking way to help Villa build their play from the back. He was excellent against Leicester in the 2-1 win at the weekend, winning 80% of his duels including a team-high four aerial duels.

The three assists he’s registered in 11 appearances so far trump or equal the tally of the previous two full seasons in that department, while his ability to win the ball back higher up the pitch is a positive and a big part of why Gerrard’s side have been successful since he took over this season.

The £31.5m-rated bulldozer is currently averaging 1.6 key passes per game this season compared to 0.6 last season, while he’s also averaging 1.1 successful dribbles compared to 0.7 last season.

With the Villa squad taking on a new lease of life under the new boss, Luiz is a big part of that and deserves the plaudits for taking to his new role so well.

AND in other news, Matty Cash stole the show against Leicester City

Liverpool will be able to park their Premier League woes in midweek as they take on RB Leipzig in the second-leg of their UEFA Champions League last-16 tie.

The Reds head into the clash on Wednesday evening, holding a 2-0 aggregate advantage after goals from Mo Salah and Sadio Mane in Budapest, where they will return to play this defacto ‘home’ tie.

Jurgen Klopp’s men have to be wary though, having lost seven out of their last 15 matches in all competitions since the turn of the year, including the 1-0 defeat to Fulham last time out, a match where the German elected to make sweeping changes.

What could his starting XI look like against Leipzig then?

There could be as many as six alterations to the Liverpool side on Wednesday.

Alisson and Andrew Robertson will be a few of those selected against Fulham to be retained. They will be joined in the back-line by Fabinho, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Ozan Kabak, who was injured last time out.

The centre of midfield should have a totally different complexion to it as Thiago and Curtis Jones earn recalls to be deployed alongside Georginio Wijnaldum. One of the duo will replace £36m-rated midfielder Naby Keita, the other comes in for James Milner.

The final alteration will occur in the frontline. It has already been confirmed that forward Roberto Firmino is a doubt for the game so Diogo Jota will lead the line, with the returning Sadio Mane coming in to replace Xherdan Shaqiri.

Mo Salah struggled hugely against Fulham at the weekend so he too could be dropped with Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain recalled into the starting XI alongside Mane and Jota. We explained earlier today why we’d have played Oxlade-Chamberlain in midfield instead of Thiago, but we think Klopp will not go down that route, instead, we think he’ll use the former Arsenal man on the wing.

AND in more news, take a closer look at why the Reds must make a move for PSV Eindhoven’s Donyell Malen…

Ibrox giants Rangers are reportedly closing in on their first signing of the upcoming transfer window as Giovanni van Bronckhorst already gets to work…

What’s the talk?

According to DH Les Sports, the Gers are in ‘notable’ talks to sign Zulte Waregem defensive midfielder Abdoulaye Sissako this summer.

The report claims that the Belgian outfit want to extend his contract by another year but the player is keen to leave and is now engaging in discussions with the Scottish giants as he looks to make the switch to Glasgow.

Gio will surely be buzzing

Gio van Bronckhorst will surely be buzzing with this news for multiple reasons.

Firstly, it shows that Ross Wilson is already hard at work at trying to improve the Dutchman’s squad heading into next season. Despite there being plenty still to play for this term, the Gers chief is making calls and planning ahead to ensure that business is done as quickly as possible once the window opens.

This will, hopefully, give Rangers the best chance of having a successful summer as it will prevent them from rushing around at the end of August and panic-buying players. Van Bronckhorst will, therefore, be delighted with the proactive approach from his sporting director.

He will also be buzzing with the prospect of a promising addition to the team. Sissako has made 2.5 tackles and interceptions and won 4.4 duels per game for Waregem, whilst also completing 81% of his passes. This suggests that he is reliable in possession and is a battler in the middle of the park as he attempts to win the ball back on a regular basis.

The gem has been capped 14 times by France at U19 level and racked up 58 matches in the top-flight of Belgian football, after playing 36 matches in Ligue 2 for Auxerre. This shows that he has a wealth of experience at a decent standard of football.

At the age of 23, he also has the potential to improve as a player. Van Bronckhorst can get excited by the prospect of working with the Frenchman to develop his game over the course of the season, and future campaigns, whilst having him compete with the likes of James Sands, Ryan Jack and John Lundstram for a spot in the starting XI.

He appears on course to be the club’s first signing of the summer window and van Bronckhorst will surely be delighted if that is the case…

AND in other news, Body blow: Van Bronckhorst now set for huge Rangers disaster over £27k-p/w “rock”…

Steven Bergwijn has been quite the enigma at Tottenham Hotspur since his arrival nearly a year ago.

The 23-year-old arrived from PSV Eindhoven last January for around €30m (£26.5m) as one of Jose Mourinho’s first signings at the club. He has since seen his value rocket to a whopping €70m (£62m) as per the CIES Football Observatory.

But why?

Supporters on social media have gotten on his back at times, and on the face of it, it appears quite reasonable as he’s not scored since a 1-1 draw with Manchester City, which was Spurs’ first game back after the temporary break in June.

The general consensus

The north Londoners romped to a 3-0 victory over Leeds United on Saturday afternoon, a victory which moved them to third place in the Premier League.

Bergwijn was one of the few disappointments as he missed a sitter at 1-0. He also successfully pulled off just one of his three dribble attempts, fired three shots without scoring, won just 25% of his duels, and was dribbled past twice, via SofaScore.

It led to the following reactions on Twitter…

Unjust?

Indeed, the Dutch international has struggled in terms of goal contributions having provided only four assists in 19 appearances this term, but many in N17 need to realise the greater impact he is having under Mourinho.

In some ways, he has become his sacrificial lamb on that right-flank.

Per FBref, only three other players are pressing more than Bergwijn in the final third of the pitch and those three are managing more minutes, so it’s not completely reflective of his true potential.

This much is backed up by his heat map for the season, via SofaScore:

Clearly, he is involved way more than what is perceived – the map above shows he is contributing defensively just as much as he is up the field.

Without his presence against Leicester, Mourinho’s side were utterly dominated as the Foxes ran away with a 2-0 victory, so it can’t be a coincidence that Spurs pick up their first win in five games with Bergwijn back in the starting XI.

There’s a reason why journalists (The Extra Inch via This is Futbol) have lauded him a “really special” talent and “more effective than [Lucas] Moura” in the past.

Get off his back, Spurs fans.

AND in other news, Pathetic Spurs star who lost possession 19 TIMES badly betrayed Mourinho…

Many Liverpool fans blasted BBC Sport pundit Chris Sutton after he slated manager Jurgen Klopp and his personality change during the 2020/21 campaign.

A regular on BBC 5 Live, but writing in his Daily Mail column, the former Blackburn Rovers striker believed that the German tactician has lost his calm and collected character from recent years, describing him as going “from Mr Motivator to Mr Moaner.”

Klopp has been desperately unhappy with many aspects of this season, including VAR calls, injuries and scheduling of his squad’s games, which lead to an infamous row with BT Sport journalist Des Kelly.

Despite all of the problems he has encountered and with the severe setbacks to Virgil van Dijk and Joe Gomez, Liverpool still top the Premier League – albeit on goal difference to Manchester United who have a game in hand.

With this in mind, supporters were not impressed with the language that Sutton chose to use, making their feelings clear on social media.

Fans let rip at Sutton

“Couldn’t care less what Chris Sutton has to say”

Credit: @dylxnzi

“Don’t care for Chris Sutton’s opinion”

Credit: @mave2386

“Chris Sutton needs to try to be a manager.”

Credit: @elninoamir

“Funny that coming for the guy who still hasn’t shut up about Rodgers”

Credit: @ChrissyL_LFC

“Who’s Chris Sutton? Never heard of the guy in my life”

Credit: @matabulat96

“He’s up there with the worst of them in my opinion. Pundits that is.”

Credit: @Jonny15371296

In other news, Exclusive: Carlton Palmer discusses options available to Liverpool to replace Georginio Wijnaldum.

The current owner of Sheffield Wednesday, Dejphon Chansiri, is not planning to sell the club any time soon.

What’s the latest?

That’s according to a report by The Sun (via Football League World), who claim that despite the fact the Owls suffering relegation to the third tier of English football this season – something that could quite easily be pinned on Chansiri’s actions – the businessman has no intention of selling the club this summer.

It is also reported that one interested party enquired about the purchase of the club and were quoted a figure of a rather excessive £160 million to even begin discussions over any potential deal.

Bad news for fans

While the blame for the club’s relegation does also partially lie with the Wednesday players, as the Owls won just 50% of the fixtures in which they had taken the lead this term, Chansiri’s actions throughout the course of the campaign, as well as in the years leading up to this season, have undoubtedly played a major role in the club’s demise.

The club started the season with a 12 point deduction due to the owner’s breaching of spending rules, and, although this penalty was reduced to six points upon appeal, ultimately, if Chansiri had not been so careless with the finances of the club which led to the deduction of points, the Owls could have avoided the drop.

Furthermore, the businessman’s decision to sack Garry Monk and replace him with Tony Pulis, only to then sack the latter after just 10 fixtures in charge, will not have benefited the squad whatsoever, as the chopping and changing of management, with each coaches’ implementation of style naturally taking a while to be put into action by the players, will have had a negative impact on the level of performance of the team.

As such, the news that Chansiri, who has issued a statement personally accepting responsibility for the relegation, has no intention of selling up is likely to come as infuriating news for fans of the club, who must be sick to the back teeth of the owner’s reckless actions.

In other news: 67% passes completed: Sheff Wed passenger who lost possession 22x cost Moore dearly – opinion

Aston Villa captain Jack Grealish is ‘on a list’ of potential summer signings for Liverpool, according to Stan Collymore, who represented both clubs during his playing career.

The latest on Grealish

The attacking midfielder has been on Manchester United’s radar for some time, but they are not the only Premier League giants reportedly attracted to the 25-year-old.

Collymore told Birmingham Live: “LFC’s front three have won the lot and may fancy Madrid, Bayern Munich or Juventus for a new challenge. So don’t discount an overhaul being at least being whispered at LFC.

“Haaland, Grealish, Fati, Boadu (a couple of Dutch coaches I know love this kid) all on a list.”

Hopefully Villa can hold onto one of their own

The attacking midfielder has had a great campaign so far in the Premier League, scoring six goals and providing ten assists (WhoScored). He has also averaged 2.1 shots, 3.4 key passes and 2.8 successful dribbles per game.

Therefore it is not surprising to see him linked with the reigning champions, and it could be hard for Villa to keep him if Liverpool ramp up their interest.

However, there is a lot in the Midlanders’ favour. Grealish signed a new long-term contract at the start of the season, and despite him being valued at £45m by Transfermarkt, the club could place a higher price tag on him to mirror his full potential. Indeed, transfer reports from Sky Sports last summer claimed that Villa valued him in the region of £80m.

Also, the 25-year-old is a boyhood Villa fan and, with them only one position below Liverpool in the table, he may yet be dissuaded from jumping ship.

In other news, many Villa fans reacted to these comments from Dean Smith!