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The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s (KSA) Public Investment Fund (PIF) are now reportedly eyeing up a move to bring Ismaila Sarr to Newcastle United.

The Lowdown: Interest remains

The St. James’ Park faithful were reportedly interested in signing Sarr when he was playing in the EFL Championship with Watford, and it seems as if that interest has resurfaced now that he is back in the Premier League.

Of course, he may be more difficult to sign now that he is in the top flight, but the new owners will no doubt be confident that they will have any amount of money it takes to sign him – the Tyneside chiefs have a net worth estimated at £320billion.

The Latest: Sarr eyed

As per The Daily Mail, PIF are now eyeing up Sarr as their first transfer target following the completed takeover in the North East.

However, the Hornets are unlikely to sell their prized asset in the January transfer window, because they know how key he is for them to stay up.

Watford believe that Sarr has a similar potential to that of Jack Grealish, who left Aston Villa to join Manchester City last summer in a big money move worth £100m.

The Verdict: Sign

Described as ‘frightening’ with ‘phenomenal’ acceleration by his teammate Ben Foster (The Daily Mail), Sarr’s arrival would mean the Tyneside outfit boast a big threat on both flanks with Allan Saint-Maximin on the left-hand side.

Comparing his stats to the likes of Miguel Almiron, Ryan Fraser and Joelinton in the Premier League so far this season, Sarr already has four goals, and averages more shots, dribbles and crosses per game (WhoScored) – he would definitely be an upgrade on the current company around Callum Wilson and Saint-Maximin.

If they can persuade the Hornets to let him join in January, he could well be key for the Magpies to stay up in their own relegation battle.

In other news, find out who NUFC have been alerted to the possibility of signing in January here!

Lots of Everton fans have been left fuming as transfer news emerged on Aleksandr Golovin.

As per The Liverpool Echo, the Goodison Park club have been linked with a move in the January transfer window for the AS Monaco man, of whom Rafael Benitez is an admirer.

However, the Ligue 1 club’s asking price is said to be around £40m, which would prove problematic in the winter.

Given that the Toffees only spent £1.8m in the summer transfer window, a move for Golovin at that price does seem unrealistic anyway, but it looks especially expensive given that he has never been able to reach double figures in terms of goals or assists in his entire club career so far (Transfermarkt).

Nonetheless, Everton already have plenty of options in the middle of the park, so they should be focusing on strengthening other positions in their squad.

Everton fans on Golovin transfer news

These Toffees supporters fumed as the transfer news on Golovin was shared on Twitter:

“I don’t know what’s more laughable. The price or the source”

Credit: @Gino52483223

“Bin”

Credit: @Feedtheyak22

“He’s not done anything since being on pens during the World Cup in 2018”

Credit: @mxrganhulme7

“Just don’t need these highly-priced overrated players”

Credit: @richard_smw

“No thanks”

Credit: @WAJG_96

“No”

Credit: @mickyholt

In other news, find out what Carlo Ancelotti revelation has left many Evertonians talking

Victor Wanyama has affirmed his commitment to CF Montreal after previously expressing a desire to return to Celtic. 

The lowdown

Wanyama told Football Scotland earlier this month that he wants ‘to come back and give it a last go’ at Celtic Park because ‘everything there was great’.

He also confirmed that the Hoops had tried to sign him on loan in January 2020 when Neil Lennon was in charge.

Wanyama spent two years at Celtic after joining from Belgium in a £990,000 deal.

He made 91 appearances for the club in that time, helping them to win two Scottish league titles and one Scottish Cup.

The Kenyan played so well that he earned a £13.05million transfer to EPL side Southampton.

He now finds himself at MLS outfit CF Montreal, where he has just over a year to run on his contract.

The latest

Wanyama has now quashed hopes of an imminent return to Glasgow by confirming that he will spend the 2022 MLS campaign in Montreal.

“I still have a contract here, I love the club and I just want to focus on our task,” the £4.5million-rated midfielder said, as quoted by TVA Sports. “I will be here next season too.”

The verdict

Wanyama isn’t necessarily closing the door altogether on a second spell at Celtic. He may look to move on when that contract ends next year, and he’ll only be 31 at that time.

Could he represent an upgrade on summer signing James McCarthy, who’s disappointed so far?

Or would it be painted as a similarly careless deal, sentimentally bringing back an ex-Hoop whose best days are perhaps well behind him?

In other news, Alex McLeish has issued his verdict on the future of this Celtic forward. 

With the latest international break now out of the way, Liverpool are back in action at Anfield this evening, with a clash against Arsenal next up for Jurgen Klopp’s side in their chase for the Premier League title. 

Speaking ahead of the match against Mikel Arteta’s team, Klopp revealed that he has a number of injury issues in his squad, with the likes of Harvey Elliott, Naby Keita, James Milner, Curtis Jones, Roberto Firmino, Andy Robertson and Jordan Henderson either unavailable or doubtful for the match. 

With this in mind, here’s how we feel Liverpool will line up for the clash against the Gunners, who are currently just two points below the Reds in the table. We are expecting three changes from the team which started the 3-2 defeat at West Ham in the Merseysiders’ last outing.

In goal, despite conceding three poor goals against the Hammers, we think Klopp will stick with Alisson Becker to see if he can record a clean sheet this time around.

For the defence, with Robertson apparently not fully fit, it would make sense for Kostas Tsimikas to come in on this occasion to take the load off the 27-year-old, who picked up a hamstring problem whilst away with Scotland.

At centre-back, next to Virgil van Dijk, we can see Klopp picking Ibrahima Konate ahead of Joel Matip to see if he would be better suited to keeping Arsenal’s attacking players contained after being on the bench for the West Ham game. The Cameroonian was Liverpool’s lowest-rated defender at the London Stadium as per SofaScore, so he could face the axe this evening.

At right-back, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see Trent Alexander-Arnold in the team after his free kick goal  against West Ham and three assists in England’s recent 10-0 win over San Marino. 

In midfield, with so many players out injured at the moment, it seems that Klopp could be forced to go with a trio of Fabinho, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Thiago Alcantara. The latter, who is currently earning £200k-per-week according to Spotrac, could be the man to come in for injury doubt Henderson.

Finally, with injuries in mind once again, we think a front three of Sadio Mane, Diogo Jota and Mohamed Salah will be the way forward for Liverpool to see if they can penetrate Arsenal’s defence, who have conceded just one goal in their three previous league games. 

In other news: Klopp must unleash Liverpool’s “brilliant” £120k-p/w star, he could terrify Arsenal

Celtic have been handed a major transfer boost ahead of the upcoming January transfer window.

What’s the talk?

That’s according to a report by the Daily Record, who claim that Ange Postecoglou’s side could land the Yokohama F Marinos centre-forward Daizen Maeda – who has been heavily linked with a switch to Parkhead this winter – for a fee somewhere in the region of just £3m.

Fans will be elated

Considering just how impressive Maeda has been in Japan so far this season, the news that the Bhoys can land the 24-year-old for a relatively cheap transfer fee will have undoubtedly left fans of the club elated.

Indeed, over his 35 J League appearances this term, the £990k-rated man has scored a whopping 22 goals, registered three assists and created four big chances for his teammates, as well as taking an average of 2.5 shots and making 0.9 key passes per game.

These returns have seen the player who Kevin Muscat dubbed a “fantastic” talent average a SofaScore match rating of 7.09, ranking him as his club’s joint seventh-best performer in the Japanese top flight.

Furthermore, the Japan international is also a player who Postecoglou already knows extremely well, as Maeda scored 12 goals and provided his teammates with four assists over his 50 appearances under the leadership of the 56-year-old, during the manager’s own spell at Yokohama F Marinos.

As such, it would very much appear that the 24-year-old would make a fantastic addition to Celtic’s current options up front in the January transfer window, meaning that the news regarding the forward’s extremely affordable transfer fee will come as a huge boost to the Bhoys, as a deal for Maeda very much looks there to be done for Michael Nicholson and the Hoops transfer team in the coming weeks.

In other news: Celtic dealt potential double injury blow ahead of Thursday, fans will be gutted

The ongoing speculation surrounding Adama Traore, his contract and a potential move away from the club has been a hot topic of conversation amongst Wolves fans.

The 25-year-old has found himself in a challenging position in Bruno Lage’s side, as he competes for a spot with both Daniel Podence and Barcelona loanee, Francisco Trincao, meaning he is not guaranteed to be in the starting line-up.

Despite being out of favour for the initial team sheet, the £43k-per-week winger has made 13 appearances for Wolverhampton Wanderers this season in all competitions and has been coming off the bench for the side often.

In his 13 appearances this season in both the Premier League and the EFL Cup, Traore has been unable to register a single goal or assist for the side, which will put him even more out of favour in Lage’s team.

Lage has spoken out in-depth about why Traore is struggling to make an impact on his team;

“I would like to see from Adama what he did in the first three games, and what I saw in the last two weeks,” said Lage

“That’s the Adama I want to see in the pitch. I want Adama to be more consistent, not just game by game, but also in the game.”

Despite his inconsistency in selection, Traore has been hailed a “fantastic talent” by ex-Premier League manager, Tim Sherwood.

“No one wants to play against him, and no one wants to play with him on occasions also but he’s so quick and powerful and he’s actually getting his head up a little bit more and delivering crosses and making chances.

“He’s a fantastic talent but he needs an arm around him all the time.”

Wolverhampton Wanderers and Jeff Shi could really capitalise on cashing in on an underperforming player who is still considered a talent, especially with links to clubs like Liverpool, which would be sure to bring in attractive offers for the Spaniard.

The club and the manager have an important decision to make going forward as this transfer window could be a real opportunity to squeeze a good price out of other clubs for the forward. Wolves are in a fantastic position to sell for an eye-catching price that may well fund Lage’s plans for other key areas of the team that need reinvestment.

Wolves will take on Norwich City away at Carrow Road this weekend, and Lage could use the opportunity against a vulnerable Norwich side, to showcase Traore’s talent to keep clubs interested in the upcoming transfer window.

Newcastle United transfer target Ousmane Dembele has informed Xavi of his intention to leave FC Barcelona, according to El Chiringuito (via Sport Witness).

The lowdown

Spanish outlet Mundo Deportivo reported last month that Newcastle are in ‘pole position’ to land France international Dembele.

He’s valued at £45million by Transfermarkt, but The Magpies could potentially bring him in on a free transfer because his contract is up at the end of the season.

That’s not to say it’d be a cheap deal. Dembele’s £287,000-per-week wages make him the second-highest earner at Barcelona, behind only Philippe Coutinho (£380,000).

The latest

El Chiringuito’s Jota Jordi revealed that Dembele is lining up his exit from the Camp Nou after a lucrative offer from the Premier League.

“Dembele has told Xavi not to count on him for next year,” he said. “He has an offer from England of a lot of money, with a transfer bonus because he would go free.”

The translation from Sport Witness mentions Newcastle United by name, although it is not clear from Jordi’s comments if they are the ones who have made that offer.

The verdict

This would be an exciting, if risky, signing for Newcastle. Dembele, a former Young Player of the Year in both Ligue 1 and the Bundesliga, is one of the four most expensive players in football’s history.

The great Lionel Messi once dubbed him a ‘phenomenon’, backing him to break into the world’s elite, so there is no questions he is a player with immense natural talent.

But the big concern is his injury record. Since he joined Barcelona in that blockbuster deal in 2017, he’s missed a whopping 100 games through a relentless series of problems.

Ability counts for little without availability, especially if you’re shelling out massive wages for the player in question.

In other news, there’s been a key update on another NUFC target at Barcelona.

Aston Villa shared details on Thursday regarding the club’s trip to take on Manchester United in the FA Cup third round in January.

However, the confirmed news has left a number of Villa fans unhappy on social media.

Steven Gerrard will get his first taste of management at Old Trafford in the New Year after Villa were paired with United in the third round for the fifth time in the 21st century.

Gerrard has won three of his four games in charge at Villa Park and will be focusing on the six Premier League matches before taking on Ralf Rangnick’s side.

The FA Cup tie will take place on Monday, January 10, with a 7:55pm kick-off broadcast live on BBC 1. The two will then face off in the Premier League at Villa Park just five days later, with some supporters not exactly thrilled at the Monday night fixture.

Villa fans react

Villa shared the details on their official Twitter page. This is what these Villa fans had to say in reply to the club post, with one labelling it as ‘dreadful’.

“Ruin my life why don’t you”

Credit: @GSUTV94

“Dreadful tie at a dreadful time”

Credit: @Reece_AV

“Deary me”

Credit: @RobSteele96

“Absolute shambles”

Credit: @HidesGeorge

“bit of a joke that”

Credit: @catrinavfc

“What a joke why didn’t they put the all London game on the Monday night. Dont worry about the Villa fans who have already had 5 out of 7 moved in December and January .”

Credit: @holttrinity

In other news: ‘Can’t say no to the Villa’ – Many AVFC fans buzz as ‘massive’ January update emerges. 

Newcastle United have been linked with numerous talents across Europe since the completion of their Saudi-backed takeover in October. The new owners are just two weeks away from their first transfer window and plenty of eyes will be on the Magpies throughout January.

However, one name who sticks out amid an array of players is Barcelona attacking midfielder Philippe Coutinho.

What’s the story?

After leaving Liverpool for the Nou Camp almost four years ago in what was reportedly a £142m deal, the Brazilian has seen his career stagnate significantly.

Since joining the Spanish heavyweights, the 29-year-old has made 106 appearances, scoring 25 goals and registering 14 assists. By comparison, Coutinho managed 54 goals and 45 assists in 201 appearances whilst his former Anfield manager Jurgen Klopp has hailed him as a “world-class player” in the past.

Furthermore, the Brazilian was sent out on loan to Bayern Munich in the 2019/20 season in a bid to restore his confidence. He produced 20 goal involvements in 38 appearances alongside winning the Champions League, Bundesliga and DFB-Pokal. However, a permanent move to the Bavarian powerhouse never materialised.

The £18m-rated attacking midfielder, previously labelled a “magician” by compatriot Roberto Firmino, has seen his predicament in Catalonia worsen this season. So far, Coutinho has only made a starting lineup in La Liga on five occasions, playing just 501 minutes in the Spanish top flight.

Italian outlet Tuttomercatoweb claimed (via Chronicle Live) that the playmaker will depart Barcelona next month amid the Tyneside club being linked with a move for him.

However, the likelihood of a move to Newcastle being completed doesn’t bode well, with the Brazilian’s wages likely to prove a stumbling block for numerous interested suitors.

Coutinho would be an excellent signing

With the Magpies sat in 19th place in the Premier League, Eddie Howe will be looking for significant reinforcements to help Newcastle’s survival bid.

Callum Wilson has scored a third of their 18 league goals this term and an injury to the English centre-forward would prove detrimental, with Newcastle’s back-up options majorly inferior – winger Allan Saint-Maximin is his only team-mate to have scored more than once in the current league campaign.

The Tynesiders have seriously lacked creativity from midfield this season, and Coutinho would likely make a major difference.

Players such as Miguel Almiron have once again failed to make a real impact, with the Paraguayan scoring just 13 goals and registering five assists in 106 appearances for Newcastle since joining almost three years ago. Indeed, as per WhoScored, Coutinho has averaged a higher seasonal league rating than the 27-year-old in each of the last four campaigns, including 2021/22.

It seems unlikely now, but if Howe could lure the former Liverpool maestro to St James’ Park, it could prove a major boost to the Tyneside club’s Premier League survival hopes.

In other news – “Senior source says”: George Caulkin delivers off-field update which will delight NUFC fans

Aston Villa manager Steven Gerrard has requested the signing of Aaron Hickey from Bologna, according to Tuttosport (via Sport Witness).

The lowdown

Hickey joined Bologna from Scottish Premiership outfit Hearts in a £1.5million move in September 2020.

The 19 year-old may have caught Gerrard’s eye in a Scottish Cup clash in February 2020 when Hearts beat the boss’ Rangers side 1-0.

Hickey, who can play as a left-back and a left midfielder, has scored five goals in 20 Serie A appearances for mid-table Bologna this term.

His contract runs until June 2024 and he’s valued at £11.7million by Transfermarkt.

The latest

Interest from Villa has ‘filtered through’ to Bologna, the report (via SW) says.

Gerrard is said to be the driving force behind the move, having been a fan of Hickey for a long time.

Villa have been sending scouts to watch him in action, but they’re yet to formalise their interest.

The verdict

It feels like only a matter of time before Hickey takes a step up from Bologna. He’s in elite company this season as one of the highest scoring teenage talents in Europe’s top five leagues.

And his reputation is growing quickly too. BT Sport posted a clip of his recent strike against Sassuolo – ‘an incredible first-time finish’ – and it was viewed more than 350,000 times.

Were he to join Villa, he’d be competing for places with the likes of Matt Targett and Leon Bailey. The signing would be a long-term investment, but would also significantly improve Villa’s depth in the short term.

In other news, this Villa star is attracting interest from a UCL giant.