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This article is part of Football FanCast’s Transfer Focus series, which provides opinion and analysis on recent transfer news…

According to The Daily Mail, Juventus are keeping a close eye on Manchester United starlet Tahith Chong ahead of a potential move.

What’s the word?

The Dutchman has struggled to force himself into Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s plans this season, and has barely featured for the first-team. Chong has managed just 24 minutes of Premier League football, and has occasionally played for the club’s academy sides, registering two goals and an assist in just two games in Premier League 2.

The 19-year-old’s existing contract with the Red Devils comes to an end when the current season finishes, and The Daily Mail claim Juventus are eyeing up a free transfer move for the teenager – similar to how they snared Paul Pogba from the Manchester side a few years prior.

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The report adds the Bianconeri had representatives in attendance for when Chong scored for United’s U23s side against Stoke last Friday, and that the winger has yet to reach an agreement with the Red Devils over a potential contract extension.

A spanner in the works

Having made a huge fuss at the end of last season about how United are going to emphasise a new focus on youth, Solskjaer has frustratingly broken his promises through his use of Chong.

“The players know deep down it’s ingrained in our history and tradition. They will get a chance and they know they will get the backing from the supporters. Let’s see what we decide with these boys, but I can see most of them staying here and getting their chances next year.”

The Dutchman has had glowing words said about him, with his former U18s manager at Old Trafford, Kieran McKenna, hailing him as an “eye-catching player”.

What kind of statement would be made if United were to let Chong walk away for free, when all the talk has been about they are reviving the side with their academy graduates. The Red Devils simply cannot allow the Dutchman to make his departure at the end of the season, and so Solskjaer simply has to start placing more faith in the teenager, or risk losing him completely.

Liverpool’s 100% winning start to the 2019/20 Premier League season has rightfully seen them gain plaudits for reaching the summit of the league table, but one former Merseyside player has heaped praise on one of the club’s star performers in the current campaign.

Jamie Carragher, who made over 500 appearances for the Reds alongside winning the Champions League, has singled out Senegalese forward Sadio Mane for his performances so far in 2019/20 and has even stated that the 27-year-old is his favourite player at the club.

Carragher has also stated he believes Mane is amongst the elite in world football after the forward helped Liverpool lift the 2019 Champions League whilst also playing a crucial role in the club’s domestic campaign that saw them fall fractionally short to Manchester City in the race for the Premier League title.

Mane will be hoping to help his side go one step further in the league this year, and Carragher’s praise of the forward points to a player who is likely to continue to play a pivotal role in Liverpool’s domestic and European aspirations in the current campaign.

Arsenal fans have been drooling over Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s second goal during their 3-1 win against Leicester City last season at the Emirates.

Messy Ozil stole the headlines from the game after one of the most prominent displays during the last campaign, as the Gunners extended their run of wins to ten in all competitions.

The Germany international, who is of course now in the headlines for different reasons – scored the equaliser right on half time, which helped spark a wonderful second-half comeback.

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The German produced two sumptuous flicks during the build-up to Arsenal’s third goal, as he was an inspirational figure in helping the north London side secure all three points. He deservedly earned the man of the match award and assisted in pushing Arsenal to fourth in the Premier League table.

Supporters are loving reminiscing about the scintillating goal that the tore the Foxes apart. Several fans said that they had “goosebumps” watching the goal back, while one fan in particular said that the flowing move will never lose its edge… we agree.

Take a look at some of the best responses from Arsenal fans down below…

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This article is part of Football FanCast’s The Chalkboard series, which provides a tactical insight into teams, players, managers, potential signings and more… 

Sheffield Wednesday were in Carabao Cup action in midweek, but it’s a return to the Championship on Saturday afternoon as they travel to the north-east to face Middlesbrough.

The Owls were defeated on Tuesday night as Marco Silva’s strong Everton side ran out 2-0 winners.

Aside from that, Garry Monk remains unbeaten in his two league matches as their new manager and now comes up against one of his former clubs.

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Meanwhile, Boro have been struggling after picking up just two wins in eight matches, leaving them languishing in the bottom-half in 15th.

There is one considerable area of weakness Wednesday can exploit as a result of their misfortune.

On the Chalkboard

Jonathan Woodgate’s side have been without one important figure, their long-serving captain George Friend.

Their former defender has already ruled the 31-year-old out of action for this game, so Monk should fully be aware of the situation and should be planning to make them pay for releasing such information.

The left-back has played 286 times for Boro but has only managed to feature in one Championship match this term.

It was a 1-0 defeat to Blackburn Rovers with Friend still scoring a WhoScored rating of 7.37.

During that game he showed his importance by making four tackles and four clearances. He was also fouled three times and was able to complete a key pass.

His absence from the side will, therefore, surely be felt at the Riverside Stadium this weekend.

Friend showed what a presence he can be on the flanks but Wednesday have a couple of wingers they can call on to cause problems, including Adam Reach and Kadeem Harris.

They have scored two goals and assisted two more between them this season, per WhoScored.

They will be looking to get at a flank that Boro have been lacking quality in when Friend has been absent.

Marc Bola has featured four times at left-back and only achieved an average rating of 6.59. Wednesday simply have to exploit this.

On Tuesday night, Serge Gnabry slalomed his way through the Tottenham Hotspur defence and scored four goals as Bayern Munich won 7-2 at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. That scoreline bears repeating: 7-2.Indeed, it doesn’t tell the story of the match. Spurs actually led through Heung-min Son and could have scored three in the first half an hour, but Joshua Kimmich equalised and then Robert Lewandowski scored a sensational goal on the turn just before half-time.Spurs’ heads dropped and Gnabry, so devastating, so efficient, scored twice in two minutes and they were 4-1 down. Harry Kane scored from the penalty spot and then the embarrassment came, the humiliation, the downright disgraceful final 10 minutes.Gnabry scored in the 83rd minute, Lewandowski in the 87th and then the former Arsenal man struck again on 88.By the time the final goal hit the back of the net, the stadium was nearly empty, save for the gloating horde of Bayern fans. Who could blame them?At the same time, a number of Arsenal fans were taking to Twitter to express their joy at Gnabry’s performance. Of course, the man himself tweeted afterwards that “north London is Redâ€.

The supporters, though, ought to think twice as they were handed a glimpse of what they could have won.

Gnabry left Arsenal to join Werder Bremen in 2016 and swiftly earned his move to Bayern, where he has already won the Bundesliga.

He has 18 goals and 13 assists in 50 appearances for the club and last night was his coming out party, his explosion on the European scene and, while Gunners fans revelled in the performance at their rivals’ expense, they ought to look at their own squad list.

They currently have Nicolas Pepe, signed for £72m from Lille in the summer, and it is hard to know whether or not he’s actually any good.

He’s scored once, from the penalty spot, and has two assists in all competitions but there is a suspicion that he really is just very fast and doesn’t offer a lot else.

Indeed, one has to say that Gnabry is already streets ahead of Pepe in his development in the attacking third and here’s the kicker: they’re both 24.

They both have five league starts so that’s where we’ll examine their statistics.

While Pepe has one goal and one assist, Gnabry has one goal and two assists. Chalk that one up for the former Gunners ace.

Pepe averages 2.9 shots per game, per WhoScored, while Gnabry has three. The latter has 1.8 key passes to the former’s 1.6, too, but his dribbling is nowhere near that of Pepe’s. The Ivorian has 3.3 per game; Gnabry has 1.6. But when the latter’s output is better, why does it matter?

Pepe also has a worse pass completion rate, while defensively, Gnabry has a higher tackle rate too.

Throughout their careers, Pepe has, of course, been excellent previously. In Ligue 1, he scored 35 goals across two seasons, while Gnabry has 31 in the Bundesliga across three full campaigns. One wonders if perhaps the Gunners star had found his level in France; he also has more assists across his campaigns with the club than Gnabry does in Germany.

This season, though, the roles are reversed, and one also has to consider international form. Whereas Gnabry has nine goals in 10 caps for Germany, Pepe has four in 11 for the Ivory Coast.

The stats, then, merely confirm what your eyes will have told you by watching the Bayern star rip Spurs to shreds.

He’s the better player, at least currently. And he certainly has better finishing boots than Pepe.

Of course, he is playing in a Bayern team blessed with the sparkling talents of Robert Lewandowski, Thiago Alcantara and Thomas Muller but, even still, he is standing out whereas Pepe is mired in uncertainty.

Arsenal fans naturally felt inclined to poke fun at their local rivals on Wednesday evening, but it was a bitter-sweet evening for a group of supporters who must have been left pondering what could have been.

Crystal Palace will be feeling hopeful that they can enjoy a strong second half of the season. 

Whilst they’ve reached the quarter-finals of the FA Cup and made inroads to moving on up the Premier League table, Roy Hodgson can be happy with how his team have been performing in recent weeks.

The Eagles have far more attacking threat about them now with the loan signing of Michy Batshuayi, whilst their defence continues to prove stubborn and resistant on many occasions.

Crystal Palace, have the capabilities to achieve much more and that can be done by bringing in some new players during the summer transfer window.

Someone who could add even more strength and depth to the Eagles back-line is Huddersfield star Terence Kongolo.

Kongolo, (who is valued at £13.5 million on Transfermarkt) has proven to be a good player, especially when initially joining Huddersfield on-loan last season.

He proved to be a massive helping-hand in defence and was a large reason as to why they were able to again compete in the Premier League this season.

Having signed a permanent deal with the Terriers in the summer, Kongolo would have been hoping for more than two wins so far this season, something that leaves Huddersfield bottom of the league.

And whilst Crystal Palace have no guarantees of staying up this season, a move to Selhurst Park could potentially be a lot more prosperous for the former Dutch international, allowing him to show his best ability.

With the likes of Martin Kelly, Scott Dann and Joel Ward all able to be improved upon, Crystal Palace would do well to bolster their options with the capture of Terence Kongolo.

Do you agree… Let us know!

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A number of Everton fans took to social media on Saturday to slam the performance of Gylfi Sigurdsson in the shock 2-0 home defeat to Sheffield United.

The 30-year-old scored 13 Premier League goals for the Toffees during the 2018/19 campaign, but the Iceland international is yet to get off the mark this term.

And his performance in the loss to Sheffield United went down terribly with the Everton fans, who are seemingly losing their patience.

According to WhoScored, Sigurdsson actually had a pass success rate of 97% at Goodison Park on Saturday afternoon.

The attacker only managed one shot off target during a disappointing performance though, and it was another poor result for the Merseyside giants.

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Next up for Everton is a trip to Sheffield Wednesday in the EFL Cup on Tuesday night, before hosting the champions Manchester City in the league next weekend.

A selection of the Twitter reaction from the Everton fans can be seen below:

Liverpool have agreed a deal to bring Fabio Carvalho to Anfield on transfer deadline day.

What’s the talk?

That’s according to a claim made by Fabrizio Romano, who revealed in a post on Twitter that Liverpool and Fulham have finally concluded terms after a lengthy meeting this evening.

He said: “Fabio Carvalho to Liverpool, agreement in place for total fee around €10m after 2 hours meeting tonight. Five-year deal ready for Carvalho. #LFC Time to prepare paperworks and sign before midnight then… here we go. He’ll stay at Fulham on loan.”

Klopp will be buzzing

Considering the sheer amount of potential Carvalho quite clearly possesses, the news that the Reds are have tied up a deal for the attacking midfielder with only a matter of hours remaining before the transfer window slams shut is sure to have left Jurgen Klopp buzzing.

Indeed, the £3.15m-rated sensation would appear to make a fantastic addition to the German’s current attacking options at Anfield, as, over his 18 Championship appearances this season, the 19-year-old has been in remarkable form for Marco Silva’s side.

The England youth international has already scored seven goals, provided four assists and created six big chances for his teammates in the league, as well as taking an average of 2.1 shots, making 1.8 key passes and completing 1.3 dribbles per game.

These returns have seen the £650-per-week forward average a highly impressive SofaScore match rating of 7.07, ranking him as Fulham’s eighth-best player in the second tier of English football.

As such, while it is undeniable that Carvalho would not be a starter upon a potential switch to Merseyside, it is clear for all to see that the youngster is a player with a brilliant future in the game – something that leads us to believe the Liverpool transfer team were right to do all they can to get a deal over the line for the 19-year-old prior to tonight’s transfer deadline.

Leeds United reporter Adam Pope has revealed that star man Raphinha is ‘fit and available’ to face Aston Villa this evening.

The Lowdown: International scare

Raphinha, who Jermaine Beckford labelled as ‘phenomenal’, starred for Brazil during the international break in a 4-0 win over Paraguay.

The 25-year-old scored the opener, had a goal disallowed and hit the post before being replaced late on.

The forward was on the end of a heavy challenge with eight minutes remaining and limped off, with Leeds physios assessing Raphinha on his return to Yorkshire.

The Latest: Pope’s reply

Pope shared a video on Twitter on Monday evening in which he spoke with Raphinha regarding his future.

He was then asked by a Whites fan about the fitness status ahead of the trip to Villa Park, with Pope simply saying: “He’s fit and available.”

The Verdict: Phew

Raphinha has been the club’s shining light in what has been a difficult season at Elland Road, so knowing he has avoided serious injury is a relief.

The versatile wide man has been Leeds’ best Premier League performer by some distance and has contributed to ten Premier League goals, with Jack Harrison next on the list with five, as per WhoScored.

It seems as if he’ll have to continue to carry the goalscoring burden on his shoulders with Patrick Bamford still sidelined, but his availability in the Midlands this evening is a huge positive.

In other news: Leeds gifted another injury boost pre-Villa as Phil Hay relays news involving ‘important’ player. 

Sky Sports reporter Keith Downie has dropped a major update on Newcastle United’s plans for the rest of the January transfer window.

What’s the story?

Speaking live on Sky Sports News at 16:05pm on Thursday afternoon, he said: “Hugo Ekitike is a player that Newcastle like, and is a player that Eddie Howe likes. Is he the sort of player that could go straight into the Newcastle first-team? There’s question marks over that.

“Ekitike is still a deal that could potentially happen between now and the closure of the window, but the necessity of getting the Frenchman in has been slightly subsided by the fact Chris Wood has arrived.

“It feels very much that the priority right now is, with Wood and Trippier through the door, is to bring in a central defender. Newcastle had been left to the bare bones in the FA Cup on Saturday, they had just the two centre-backs to choose from. I think at the start of the week we felt they would try and get a defender in by the weekend, they certainly have been pushing behind the scenes. They’ll push for that centre-back over the weekend and into next week.”

Fans will be excited

How quickly things can change in the space of a week.

After falling to a shock defeat in the FA Cup against lower league Cambridge United, Newcastle moved swiftly to address their striking concerns by snapping up Chris Wood from relegation rivals Burnley.

Now, Downie’s update that the Magpies have firmly turned their attentions towards signing a new central defender in the very near future should surely be music to the ears of supporters.

While landing Ekitike would certainly add to Eddie Howe’s attacking options even more following Wood’s arrival, it certainly makes sense for the Tyneside club to put all their eggs into the central defensive basket.

With the second-worst defensive record in the division, bringing in a top-quality centre-back could go a long way to solidifying Newcastle’s spine for the second-half of the Premier League campaign.

The club’s fans will surely be excited at not only seeing their club move fast in addressing their priorities, but also at how soon they could bring someone in too.

Meanwhile, Newcastle have made a fresh bid for this star…