All posts by h79snht.top

Simon Grayson has been charged with the task of getting Sunderland back to the Premier League, following their relegation from the top flight at the end of last season.

The Black Cats have already made some headway in that regard in the transfer market this summer, signing a 24-goal striker in the shape of James Vaughan from Bury and one of the best performers in the Championship during the second half of last season – winger Aiden McGeady.

Recent reports have revealed the Wearsiders also have their eye on Bournemouth’s Max Gradel, who boasts second-tier credentials as well from his 18 goals for Leeds during the 2010/11 season, but Eddie Howe’s side have already turned down a loan offer.

With that in mind, we asked Sunderland fans earlier this week whether their club should try to once again tempt the Cherries into parting with the 45-cap Ivorian, who Transfermarkt value at £5.95million, by tabling a transfer bid.

And according to our poll, a staggering 76% of Sunderland fans would back an attempt to sign Gradel on a permanent basis. He’d certainly be an impressive addition for the Black Cats, but Sky Sports believe he’s a key part of Howe’s plans for the coming season.

According to reports in the Sunday Express, Arsenal right-back Carl Jenkinson is a target for Premier League rivals Swansea City after being told that he can leave the Gunners this summer.

What’s the word, then?

Well, the Sunday Express says that Arsene Wenger has put Jenkinson up for sale in order to offload him before the transfer window closes at the end of the month.

The Sunday Express says that despite the 25-year-old attracting interest from Serie A trio Cagliari, Hellas Verona and Sassuolo, they are yet to submit a bid for the full-back.

The report adds that the fact that Jenkinson still has one year left on his £45,000-a-week contract could be holding up his exit, although Swansea are now said to be lining up a swoop for the Arsenal man.

How did Jenkinson do last season?

While the 25-year-old was ruled out of the opening months of the season because of a torn ligament in his knee, Jenkinson struggled to break past the likes of Hector Bellerin and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain in the Arsenal side when he returned to full fitness.

The right-back made five appearances in all competitions – with just one of those coming in the Premier League against Manchester United at Old Trafford – for the Gunners, and the disappointing campaign comes on the back of a two-season loan spell with West Ham United.

Will he leave before the end of the month?

It certainly seems so.

Wenger will be keen to decrease the size of his squad and offload the deadwood before the window slams shut and Jenkinson is certainly one of the players the Frenchman will want to see go.

While a transfer fee for the 25-year-old shouldn’t be a problem, the right-back may need to compromise on his wage demands if he is to secure a move to the Liberty Stadium in order to play regular football again.

Would he be a regular at Swansea?

It’s difficult to say.

Kyle Naughton is certainly the first-choice right-back for the Swans right now and it wouldn’t be an easy task for Jenkinson to win his place in the side, but it would certainly provide Paul Clement with some more competition for places in a side that just escaped relegation to the Championship last season.

According to reports in the Daily Mail on Thursday, Manchester City are expecting to receive a bid from Turkish side Antalyaspor for out-of-favour midfielder Samir Nasri.

The Daily Mail says that the Frenchman, who spent last season on loan with La Liga side Sevilla, doesn’t appear to have a future under Pep Guardiola and the signing of Bernardo Silva from Monaco earlier this summer has only pushed him further down the pecking order at the Etihad.

The 30-year-old will now be looking to leave on a permanent deal and while a move to Turkey could be tempting, Nasri would perhaps also jump at the chance of staying in the Premier League.

Meanwhile, Newcastle United boss Rafa Benitez has been busy strengthening his squad this summer but he is looking to add more new faces to ensure that the club isn’t involved in a relegation battle in the upcoming campaign.

Here are three reasons Newcastle should take a punt on signing Nasri…

Qualities

While he may be surplus to requirements at the Eithad because of the wealth of options Pep Guardiola has to choose from, the Manchester Evening News has told how the Spanish manager was impressed with the performances of the Frenchman against Manchester United, Real Madrid and Tottenham Hotspur during their pre-season tour of America this summer, and in training.

The 30-year-old also showed his qualities during his loan spell with Sevilla last season as he scored two goals and provided a further three assists from 37 chances created in 23 La Liga appearances.

His passing accuracy of 89% shows how well he uses the ball and he can also move with it and get himself out of tight situations after successfully completing 39 of the 57 take-ons he attempted.

There is no doubt that he could become a key player for Newcastle and dictate the play if he did move to St James’ Park.

Experience

While some may question his attitude at times, there is no doubt that Nasri is hugely experienced from his time playing for Arsenal and Manchester City in the Premier League and in European competition.

The Frenchman has made more than 200 top flight appearances for the duo and scored 36 goals and provided a further 42 assists in that time.

The Newcastle side as it stands looks to lack a little bit of knowledge of this level and adding the 30-year-old to the squad would certainly go some way to eradicating that issue, as he could pass on advice to some of his more inexperienced teammates if he did move to St James’ Park.

Price tag

According to reports in The Telegraph, Manchester City are asking for a fee in advance of £10m for the Frenchman, who has two years remaining on his contract.

While that price tag certainly wouldn’t phase Newcastle, his wages could be a bigger problem as The Telegraph says he is currently earning £185,000-a-week.

Nasri would certainly need to heavily compromise on those wages if he is to secure a move to St James’ Park but if he wants to stay in the Premier League it is something that he will have to do.

The chance to prove a point to City and Guardiola, and be the top dog in a side managed by Rafa Benitez, could be enough to convince him that it is a challenge worth taking on.

Do you agree, Magpies fans? Let us know below.

West Ham are amongst the batch of Premier League clubs who have taken little part in summer Deadline Day, yet to get any deals over the line.

But earlier today, there were rumours from The Independent and London Evening Standard respectively, speculating potential loan deals for 34-cap England international Jack Wilshere and Barcelona playmaker Andre Gomes – who Transfermarkt value at £22.5million.

With that in mind, we asked Irons fans which midfielder they’d prefer their club to sign before tonight’s 11pm deadline and it was Wilshere who marginally came out on top in our poll with 52% of the vote.

There hasn’t been much news on Wilshere since but with the summer deadline fast approaching, the Arsenal midfielder is running out of time to guarantee regular football for this season.

He struggled to impress on loan at Bournemouth last season and appears unlikely to earn a spot in the starting XI at the Emirates Stadium any time soon.

West Ham United midfielder Manuel Lanzini took to his official Twitter account on Thursday to announce that he was back in training following his injury lay-off, and Irons fans are understandably delighted with the news.

The 24-year-old has played just 45 minutes of football for the east London outfit this season after aggravating the knee injury he picked up in pre-season during the 3-0 defeat to Newcastle United at St James’ Park last month, but he now looks to be closing in on a return to the first team.

The 2016/17 Players’ Player of the Season would bring some much-needed creativity to a Hammers side that has scored just four times in their five Premier League fixtures this term, but he is unlikely to make his comeback against

Tottenham Hotspur at the London Stadium this weekend despite scoring the winner against them back in May.

West Ham supporters were quick to give their reaction to the Argentine’s post via social media, and while some simply said “at last”, others described it as “the best news ever”.

Here is just a selection of the Twitter reaction…

Newcastle United will look to bounce back from their disappointing 1-0 defeat to fellow newly-promoted side Brighton and Hove Albion at the Amex Stadium last weekend when they host Liverpool at St James’ Park on Sunday.

The match will see Magpies manager Rafa Benitez come up against his former side, who he led to Champions League glory in 2005.

The Toon Army’s latest defeat was especially frustrating as the side came into the clash with the Seagulls with three straight Premier League wins under their belt, but they were unable to find the net on the south coast with Tomer Hemed’s finish proving to be the difference between the two clubs.

Having already been beaten on Tyneside by Tottenham Hotspur on the opening day, Benitez may well be considering making some changes to his side for the visit of the Reds, who have all of Roberto Firmino, Philippe Coutinho, Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah available after injury.

Here are three changes the Spaniard should make to his starting XI against Liverpool…

Javier Manquillo for Chancel Mbemba

While Mbemba has performed admirably at left-back in four of Newcastle’s six Premier League matches this season, it would perhaps be a bit of a risk to play the centre-back there against Liverpool considering he could come up against the likes of Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah.

With DeAndre Yedlin likely to keep his place at right-back from the side that lost at Brighton because of his pace, Manquillo should come back into the team against his former club having dropped to the substitutes’ bench against Stoke City and the Seagulls.

Jonjo Shelvey for Isaac Hayden

While he made an impressive start to the Premier League season Hayden has faded a little in recent weeks, and he even took to his official Twitter account to criticise his own performance in the win against Swansea City.

Shelvey started the campaign alongside the former Arsenal man in the middle of the park but his red card on the opening day against Tottenham saw him miss two top flight matches and he has come on as a substitute in the Magpies’ previous two games.

Benitez may decide this is the match where he needs a little more bite in midfield, as well as player that is capable of setting the likes of Dwight Gayle and Christian Atsu away on the counter-attack with his passing.

Dwight Gayle for Joselu

While Joselu has made an impressive start to his Newcastle career following his move from Stoke City in August, his finishing isn’t quite matching up to his all-round centre-forward play right now.

The 27-year-old missed a whole host of clear-cut chances against his former team before also missing some good opportunities in the defeat to Brighton, and Benitez should certainly consider taking him out of the firing line and putting Gayle in against Liverpool.

The Reds have already shown this season that they are there to be got at defensively and Gayle may have more luck against a shaky backline than Joselu would right now.

Do you agree, Newcastle fans? Let us know below.

Andre Gomes became Manchester United’s youngest player in the Premier League era when he featured against Crystal Palace on the final weekend of the 2016-17 campaign.

Gomes, who joined United at the age of six, replaced Wayne Rooney as a late substitute as the wonderkid made history at the Theatre of Dreams.

The 17-year-old is yet to sign a professional contract with the Red Devils, however, and it has been reported that Barcelona are tracking the teenager.

As it stands, Gomes, who is currently away with England at the Under-17 World Cup, will be free to leave United for a nominal fee next summer as he prepares to enter the latter stages of his Scholar contract at Old Trafford.

Behind the scenes, United are said to be confident that Gomes will sign a new deal, but the club’s fans are extremely nervy as they face the possibility of losing one of the brightest young talents in world football.

A selection of the best Twitter reaction can be found below:

Tottenham Hotspur picked up their first English Premier League victory at Wembley Stadium on Saturday with a 1-0 win over Bournemouth.

Spurs had previously played three league matches at the national stadium and despite sparkling away form, they hadn’t yet picked up maximum points at their temporary home.

Christian Eriksen was the hero of the afternoon, netting from 18 yards just minutes into the second half after combining with Son Heung-min.

It wasn’t a particularly fantastic performance from Mauricio Pochettino’s men but ahead of UEFA Champions League action against Real Madrid and a massive clash at home to Liverpool next week, it’s a perfect three points.

Fans picked out Dele Alli as one of the poorer performers in the starting eleven.

The 21-year-old just didn’t get things right in the final third, missing chances and over complicating his play. So far this term he isn’t quite hitting the standards he set last season and fans are growing impatient.

They took to Twitter to share their thoughts on his performance…

[ad_pod id=’leo-vegas’]

Tottenham Hotspur suffered a 1-0 loss at the hands of Manchester United at Old Trafford on Saturday, and Spurs fans weren’t impressed with midfielder Moussa Sissoko’s performance.

Mauricio Pochettino’s men came into the clash against the Red Devils knowing that a draw would probably be a good result considering Harry Kane missed the game through injury, and they looked to be getting a point before substitute Anthony Martial scored late on.

However, the north London outfit did have a couple of openings of their own and Sissoko fired well over after being set up on the edge of the penalty area in the first half.

Tottenham supporters were quick to have their say on the Frenchman’s showing via social media, and while some simply described him as a “liability”, others said “it’s amazing the negative effect that Sissoko has on the team”.

Here is just a selection of the Twitter reaction…

[ad_pod ]

As reported by The Daily Record, Celtic are interested in signing Reading central defender Liam Moore in the January transfer window.

What’s the story?

The Hoops have been lacking personnel in the central defensive areas all season with injuries meaning they’ve had to rely on the the likes of Nir Bitton and Mikael Lustig to play out of position in some massive matches, not an ideal scenario for any side regardless of how well they’re doing.

Brendan Rodgers admitted last month that he was in the market for such a player this January and it seems he’s found his man.

The Daily Record report that the Hoops are eyeing up a £5m move for Reading regular Liam Moore, a 24-year-old defender who flourished in his debut campaign at the Royals last season.

Will he be the one to finally add a bit of stability to the Celtic defensive line?

Who is he?

Reading came so very close to promotion to the top-flight last season, finishing third in the table and cruelly losing the Championship play-off final on penalties at Wembley.

Moore was a key part of Jaap Stam’s side, making 47 appearances for the club in total, earning a reputation for being a strong centre-back who can pass the ball out from the back, pretty much exactly what Celtic are looking for.

Before his move to Reading he was a young prospect at Leicester City, where he picked up some first-team appearances at Premier League level, helping the Foxes to wins over the likes of Manchester United and Stoke City in his time there.

Young and ambitious, he fits the bill for Brendan Rodgers and if the reported deal can be done, he appears to be a player who can add not just depth but quality too, to the Celtic first team.