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Leeds must make a ruthless call on Helder Costa in this summer’s transfer window.

What’s the story?

The 27-year-old has really struggled to make an impact at Premier League level this season, playing fewer than 1,000 minutes of top-flight football and only managing two goals in the division.

Football Insider have now claimed that Marcelo Bielsa’s side are willing to listen to offers for the winger this summer, and that the club’s hierarchy view him as someone who could be sold to raise funds for new signings.

The report added that the Whites do not expect to recoup the £15m they paid to sign him.

Orta must get rid

Responding to a question in The Athletic’s post-match Q&A after the Premier League clash against West Ham earlier this month, Phil Hay said: “You get the feeling that if changes are coming in the summer, those two (Costa and Tyler Roberts) will be at risk. The consistent impact isn’t there.”

Costa has come under intense criticism for his below-par performances, not least from former Leeds man Noel Whelan, who ripped into his display against Aston Villa.

Whelan said: “Costa was given his opportunity and once again he did not take it. We are talking about a £16m player here who did not effect the game in any way shape or form. He needs to show consistency. You need to make that position your own when your manager puts his trust in you from the start.

“I saw absolutely nothing from him against Aston Villa. Nothing suggested to me that he has given Marcelo Bielsa a headache with that performance.”

While “absolutely nothing” may seem like a strong stance to take, it’s a fairly accurate statement to make. As well as only scoring two league goals in 19 games, Costa actually ranks as the worst player in the entire Leeds squad to have started at least ten games this season.

Victor Orta must simply get rid of the £70,000-a-week earning Costa this summer, even if it means not getting their money back on the winger.

Meanwhile, this Leeds man stole the show vs Fulham; it wasn’t Bamford…

Former Leeds United goalkeeper Paul Robinson believes that youngster Joe Gelhardt can prove his worth in the next few months.

The Whites have enjoyed a successful first season back in the Premier League, sitting 11th in the table with nine matches remaining. There is no threat of relegation for Marcelo Bielsa’s side, who have been a breath of fresh air in the top flight, with very few of their games proving to be dull.

In Gelhardt, Leeds having a hugely promising young talent who is pushing to make his first team debut for the club, having joined from Wigan Athletic last August.

Robinson tips Gelhardt to feature

Someone who thinks this is now a great chance for the 18-year-old to shine is Robinson, with the ex-England ‘keeper telling MOT Leeds News that this is Gelhardt’s opportunity to show Bielsa he can be trusted moving forward:

“It just shows how far he’s come in the last 12 months and what the manager thinks of him.

“I don’t think he’s going to start games if Patrick Bamford is fit but this is his big opportunity for the manager to take a look at him in the Premier League.

“He might influence Bielsa’s transfer activity in the summer. This is his opportunity to prove that he doesn’t need to sign another striker in the summer.

“Bielsa has hinted that he’ll get minutes so he obviously thinks very highly of him.

“This is his opportunity to show what he can do. Leeds are definitely safe already, they’ve got more than enough points and it gives Bielsa the opportunity to take a look at his talented youngsters.”

Transfer tavern take

Bielsa will no doubt be eyeing up reinforcements this summer, but if Gelhardt impresses in the remaining games of the season, it may turn his manager’s head.

The teenager is an attacking player with seemingly huge potential and, having frequently been on the bench for the first team in recent weeks, it will be exciting to see him handed an opportunity between now and May if he gets his opportunity.

In other news, a former Leeds star believes the club should sign a Premier League defender this summer – find out who it is here.

With Aston Villa just beginning to stumble in the final few weeks of the Premier League campaign, Dean Smith may consider embracing some of the club’s rising young talents.

The Villans still find themselves in the mix for a European spot for next season but have hit a bit of a roadblock in terms of their form, winning just twice in their last nine top-flight games.

If Smith wants to look more long-term towards Villa’s future, then he could do a lot worse than handing an opportunity to someone like Carney Chukwuemeka.

According to Goal’s Tom Maston, “despite his age, the 6 foot 1 youngster has developed into one of the most imposing midfielders in English youth football, and though he will likely need to fill out more when he is promoted to the senior game, his footballing intelligence combined with his physical attributes mark him out as being supremely gifted.”

Maston also claimed that there is a “hint of Dele Alli about his game”, while the club’s academy manager Mark Harrison, was also unequivocal in his praise of the teenage midfielder. He said: “We’ve talked to him about scoring more goals, being more positive with his runs, both with and without the ball, and getting himself in that final third to rack up some assists and more goals.

“He’s a confident lad; will receive the ball anywhere on the pitch, under pressure and not under pressure. That’s what the manager likes; he comes into an environment and settles in quickly. We’ve got high hopes for him, like a lot of our players.”

Meanwhile, one scout told The Athletic: “He’s the best player Villa have got coming through. He can do everything in the midfield area and there are a lot of clubs monitoring his situation at Villa.”

[snack-amp-story url=”https://www.footballfancast.com/web-stories/latest-aston-villa-transfer-rumours-and-news-copy-copy” title=”Latest Aston Villa transfer rumours and news”]

Recently on the 1874 podcast, Gregg Evans spoke about how highly-rated Chukwuemeka is behind the scenes, revealing that “he’s the one everybody’s talking about” – the journalist even described him as “the real deal”.

Having a midfield player who can break the lines and time his runs into the box to pick up vital goals and assists would add an extra dimension to Villa’s game, something Alli did so successfully at Spurs when Mauricio Pochettino was in charge – the England international still has an impressive record of 65 goals and 59 assists in just 244 games for the Lilywhites.

In Chukwuemeka, Villa could unearth their own Alli, and he might be their next real breakout star after Jack Grealish.

Meanwhile, Villa’s summer transfer plans have been revealed…

A claim involving the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s (KSA) Public Investment Fund (PIF) has been dropped after the failed takeover of Newcastle United.

As per The Sun, the group have reportedly switched their attentions over from the St. James’ Park faithful to Inter Milan.

The news outlet understands that PIF are currently in talks with the Serie A club, who are valued at roughly £850m.

Inter have been desperate to sell since the end of last year and the publication report a source as claiming that PIF ‘look to have given up’ on the North East club.

Huge blow for Newcastle

If the claims that PIF are looking elsewhere are true, then it could potentially be a big blow to the hopes of a takeover on Tyneside.

For the original deal between Mike Ashley and the KSA consortium to be revived, they would need to put themselves back onto the table, but it looks as if they may be starting to lose interest in that.

Inter are currently a club who ‘tick all the boxes’ given that they are currently top of their domestic league at the moment, six points clear of their local rivals AC Milan after 26 games, with just 12 more left to play.

That puts Antonio Conte’s team in pole position to qualify for the UEFA Champions League for the start of the 2021/22 term, which may well be seen as a more attractive proposition than taking over at the Magpies.

In other news, find out what PIF claim has been dropped by a finance guru on the potential takeover here!

Liverpool have been linked with Ajax centre-back Perr Schuurs in recent months and after a superb display for the Eredivisie side at the weekend, you could definitely argue he would be a strong addition to Jurgen Klopp’s side.

It was suggested last month that the Reds were readying a £27 million bid for the 21-year-old but he seemingly ruled out the chances of him making the move to Anfield but he later responded to those rumours, suggesting that he wanted to stay with Ajax to win trophies before even considering a move away.

The young defender joined Ajax from Fortuna Sittard in January 2018 and in the three years since he has gone on to make 46 appearances for the senior side, contributing two goals and one assist.

Schuurs showed his class at the weekend against his former side, helping Ajax to a 2-1 win away from home with an excellent all-round display, which perhaps suggests that he is destined for a great future.

As per SofaScore, the centre-back would earn a solid 6.9 rating for his performance on Sunday, which was the joint-fourth highest of any Ajax player.

The 21-year-old would make two clearances, three tackles and two interceptions in the 90 minutes, significantly more than his experienced centre-back partner Daley Blind.

He would also play double the amount of passes than the former Manchester United man, with 62/66 of his efforts finding an Ajax shirt, resulting in an impressive 94% accuracy rate.

The six foot three centre-back would also complete 5/7 of his long balls, which suggests that he would fit well into Liverpool’s style of play, as Van Dijk’s long passes have been a feature of the Reds’ play in recent seasons.

The three tackles Schuurs made against Fortuna Sittard was impressive considering he normally averages 1.2 tackles per game in the Eredivisie.

However, that is double the number of tackles made on average by Van Dijk both this season and last season (0.6), which again suggests that he could be a good partner for the Dutch international in the future, at both club and international level.

After Schuurs impressed in the 1-0 defeat against Liverpool in the Netherlands earlier this season, Rio Ferdinand said:

“The young centre-back Schuurs was very, very good.”

With Liverpool looking weak at the back right now, Michael Edwards should definitely consider a swoop for the £10.8m-rated Schuurs in the future. His performance on Sunday was just one of many impressive displays this season, and he looks as if he has a huge amount of potential.

And, in other news… Liverpool should sign “technically outstanding” teenager; he’s better than Elliott

Carlo Ancelotti could discover Everton’s next box-to-box star in River Plate midfielder Nicolas de la Cruz, only a year after signing Abdoulaye Doucoure from Watford.

De la Cruz, while speaking with Sport 890 earlier this week, via ESPN, revealed he is open to leaving his Argentine side during the European summer transfer window, despite only just penning a new contract that runs through to December 2022.

The 23-year-old was due to be a free agent in a matter of months’ time but has put pen to paper on new terms to secure his immediate future, after seeing the coronavirus pandemic put any transfer hopes on hold last year.

De la Cruz expects to be inundated with offers in June regardless of his new contract, having been linked with a move to Europe earlier in the year with Marca citing Everton and Manchester City as potential destinations in England or Portugal’s Sporting Lisbon.

The Uruguay international is a fundamental piece of River Plate’s midfield, starting 30 of his 31 appearances throughout the 2019/2020 season outside of injuries. He has also opened four and scored three goals in Los Millonarios’ fixtures during the 2020/21 campaign so far.

He is untested outside of South America, having only played for his boyhood side Liverpool before joining River Plate in 2017, but has frequently demonstrated his potential in the Copa Libertadores.

During the 2020 edition of the competition, De la Cruz started all 11 of his appearances and was listed in the Team of the Week on four occasions, per SofaScore. He further contributed three goals from 2.5 shots per game and two assists from 2.8 key passes a game, while missing five big chances and creating five clear-cut chances to score.

The £16m-rated enforcer was a brute defending Los Millonarios’ goal, as well, offering 1.6 successful tackles, along with 1.1 interceptions and winning a mammoth 5.5 ground duels a game.

Only Allan (3.42) and Doucoure (1.78) have won as many successful tackles per game in the Premier League this season among Everton’s midfielders, while Tom Davies (1.5), Doucoure (1.26) and Allan (1.1) offer a similar or higher amount of interceptions.

Allan is further the only Toffees engine room member to win as many or more ground duels (6.58), with double the amount of second-ranked Davies (3.19). No Everton midfielder offers more than one shot per game, while Gylfi Sigurdsson (who is first for shots with 0.91) offers the most key passes (1).

If Everton were to put their interest into action and move to sign De la Cruz in the summer, Ancelotti’s coaching techniques could see the Italian turn the four-cap international into his next Doucoure.

The Blues landed Doucoure from Watford last summer for £20m and have seen the Frenchman quickly establish himself at Goodison Park, while earning rave reviews for his “remarkable fitness” and “non-stop” running.

Doucoure says he’s learning a lot from working under Ancelotti, too, as the ex-Chelsea and SSC Napoli head coach is a “great” manager to work with.

“I always dreamed to play under a great manager like Carlo Ancelotti,” Doucoure told EvertonTV. “He’s one of the nicest guys in the world of football. He’s given me a lot of confidence and a lot of advice and I’m very happy to play under him.

“I think it’s one of the best times to be an Everton player. I think a lot of players would want to be in that team and I’m very happy to be in that team.”

De la Cruz may be more of a rough diamond, but his exploits in South America suggest he could be a Doucoure 2.0 on Merseyside under Ancelotti’s tutelage.

AND in other news, Everton are likely to sell a £6.5m-rated dud this summer after pricing him out of a January move…

Daniel Levy must cash in on forgotten Tottenham Hotspur defender Juan Foyth this summer amid latest claims from his loan club, Villarreal…

What’s the word?

Speaking to Spanish outlet AS, Villarreal boss Unai Emery revealed that he would like to sign the 23-year-old permanently following a successful spell thus far, he said:

“If I would keep [him]? The truth is that it is something that we must wait, but if it were up to me, yes, I would keep [him] with us.”

Although it is claimed that the La Liga outfit may not be able to afford the €15m (£13m) option to buy, so they will have to negotiate with the Spurs chairman in order to keep hold of him past the current season.

Get rid

The report goes onto suggest that Foyth has been one of Emery’s most utilised players, featuring 23 times in all competitions, which is one fewer appearance than what he’s managed for Spurs since the start of the 2018/19 season.

Indeed, the versatile Argentinian has struggled to break into the first-team in north London and the fact that Jose Mourinho was willing to ship him out despite losing the vastly-experienced Jan Vertonghen speaks volumes.

It’s hard to envisage him ever coming back and making an impact at this stage, especially as the Spurs boss is lusting for a ‘transformative’ signing at the back that can echo the rewards of Virgil van Dijk at Liverpool, and Ruben Dias at Man City.

Finances will be tight once again, so it would be wise to now cash in on Foyth to get the money rolling ahead of the summer.

The £9m-rated defender, who earns a reported £36k-per-week in N17, will merely be stealing a wage if he returns to Spurs at the end of the season as he’s surely a fourth or fifth choice behind the likes of Eric Dier, Toby Aldweireld, Davinson Sanchez and Joe Rodon.

If Mourinho gets his wishes, then he’ll only slip further down the pecking order.

In the past, Mauricio Pochettino has lauded the “clever” centre-back someone with “a lot of potential” and “quality” but we’ve never really seen it – last season in the Premier League, he averaged a 6.03 WhoScored rating, which would see him sit comfortably as their worst player this season.

Villarreal want to keep hold of him, so Levy may not get a better time to offload the 2017 signing. It’s time to get rid.

AND in other news, 22 y/o gem could be a perfect replacement for Matt Doherty…

Celtic continue to trudge through their troublesome 2020/21 season as they gear up to face Livingston in Parkhead tomorrow afternoon.

The Hoops have had a plethora of obstacles thrown at them this campaign, including their recent coronavirus nightmare. Both Neil Lennon and 14 of his senior players have been forced to self-isolate after Christopher Jullien tested positive following a training trip to Dubai.

Gavin Strachan has taken hold of the reins in the manager’s absence and will be steering the ship at Celtic Park tomorrow too.

Miraculously, despite having a skeleton crew against Hibernian, the Bhoys were able to come away with a draw thanks to a late goal from David Turnbull. An even later equaliser denied Celtic from maximum points, but it will still be viewed as a positive result given the circumstances.

However, one thing Strachan did wrong during the Hibs clash was his decision to eject Tom Rogic not long after the hour mark.

The midfielder was one of Celtic’s better players and made tough work for the opposition defence. According to FotMob, Rogic completed four of his five attempted dribbles, which was higher than any other player on the pitch. He also had a 100% shot accuracy rating, but was unable to find the back of the net.

With very few senior players fit to play against Livingston, Strachan must be utilising the experience of those he does have access to. Rogic is definitely under this category, having been at Celtic since 2013. The stand-in head coach must trust in the team’s veterans, especially against a side like Livingston.

The Lions are currently fifth in the table and could cause Celtic some damage if they’re not careful. The Hoops already look down and out because of the mammoth 21-point gap between them and Rangers, any further defeats would just rub salt into a gaping wound.

In other news, Celtic can punish Rangers by beating them to signing Taiwo Awoniyi…

If you had thought the international break would give Mikel Arteta the time to try and change some of the things that has been plaguing his Arsenal side this season, then you were sadly mistaken.

The Gunners have looked toothless in attack all season – before the game against Leeds on late Sunday afternoon, they had managed just nine goals in their opening eight Premier League games – and it was a real test for Arteta to fix that.

Having made the call of using Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang through the middle, the Gunners boss opted for both Willian and Nicolas Pepe to start either side of him.

And whilst the latter may have gotten himself sent off for a stupid headbutt early in the second-half, it was actually the north London side’s summer signing, Willian, who was the real let down for Arteta.

As per Sofascore, he had absolutely no shots on goal whatsoever, delivered no key passes, and saw the only cross he attempted fail to find its mark.

Despite showing a couple of neat touches here and there to try and evade the Leeds press, it just seemed like the game passed him by, and he couldn’t cope with the speed and intensity of it all.

In the end, even Arteta had seen enough, and made a fairly rare decision in terms of his managerial career so far, of hooking a player at half-time.

Reiss Nelson and then Bukayo Saka, the Gunners’ two homegrown academy products, delivered the kind of pace and punch that Arsenal sorely lacked. The fact an experienced star like Willian couldn’t do that was bordering on a disgrace.

Some Everton fans have flocked to Twitter to slate Toffees boss Carlo Ancelotti for his tactics and team selection in the Merseyside club’s 2-0 EFL Cup quarter-final loss to Manchester United at Goodison Park on Wednesday evening. 

Manchester United had to wait until the 88th minute to open the scoring in this contest through Edinson Cavani. Anthony Martial then added a second goal for the visitors in second-half stoppage time. 

Despite keeping the Red Devils at bay for the majority of the contest, plenty of Toffees fans have been fuming over the way in which Ancelotti set his side up, both in terms of personnel and system, on social media. 

So, what have these Everton fans had to say about Ancelotti’s tactical decisions? 

Some Everton supporters criticised Ancelotti’s substitutions and some shared that they felt it was obvious the home side, who had accumulated just 35.3% possession by the end of this game, per WhoScored, would lose this contest from the first whistle due to the Italian manager’s negative tactics on the night.

“Why does Ancelotti sub Bernard ahead of Gordon? He was absolutley woeful and Gordon is left without “valuable time under his belt as usual”

Credit: @Lawemannen

“We have Gordon on the bench who runs at defenders for fun. Absolute disgrace Ancelotti picks useless Bernard over him”

Credit: @BlueJedi2187

“New they would score in the last 5… tactics totally wrong.”

Credit:@AncelottiArmy

“Awful tactics. Lost that game (again) before kick off.”

Credit: @KingMantisBand

“not the game i seen the game i seen was everton getting outclassed by a second string man united side poor tactics poor bench poor team miles off teams like man united miles off”

Credit: @seoirse15

“I’m a Everton fan and that was awful.

Our midfield players aren’t good enough.

No VAR cost us.

Carlo tactics questionable.”

Credit: @Evertongezza

“Carlo and his dinosaur tactics strike again”

Credit: @fozzerbluenose

In other news, some Everton fans have been fuming over this footage of Yerry Mina’s clash with Edinson Cavani.