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Tottenham Hotspur have been linked with Napoli’s Lorenzo Insigne recently and after an excellent Euros with Italy, there seems little to suggest that he wouldn’t be a superb addition to Nuno Espirito Santo’s side this summer.

What’s the word?

According to RAI journalist Paolo Paganini on Radio Kiss Kiss (via Sport Witness), Spurs have made an offer for the 30-year-old winger, who is also admired by Liverpool and Barcelona.

He claims that Insigne has a number of new suitors following his impressive performances at the European Championships this summer but as it stands, Spurs have made the most important offer from abroad.

The Italian, who is currently valued at £43.2m by Transfermarkt, would contribute two goals in six games for Roberto Mancini’s side as they won the competition, earning an impressive 7.19 rating from WhoScored for his performances.

Former Arsenal man Ray Parlour was full of praise for Insigne on talkSPORT [6:53 am, July 9, 2021], saying:

“Insigne is a real livewire. He gets on the ball, he runs at you, he is an excellent little player.”

He was in sparkling form for Napoli last season too, scoring 19 times and assisting seven times in just 35 Serie A appearances, which helped him average a superb 7.56 rating from WhoScored.

Imagine him and Son

Only Harry Kane would earn a higher average rating than Insigne last season, whilst Heung-Min Son managed a similar return in terms of goals and assists, as he hit managed 17 goals and 10 assists in the Premier League for Spurs.

With Gareth Bale seemingly unlikely to return to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium this summer, adding a player of Insigne’s quality on the wing could prove to be a masterstroke by Fabio Paratici, especially if he can continue his form from Serie A and the Euros in the Premier League.

Although the diminutive winger is at his best when cutting in from the left and shooting, which is very similar to Son, having both of them on the same side could cause all sorts of problems for Premier League defences next season, especially if they were to regularly swap sides.

He could also take some of the pressure off the South Korean to perform, as he was expected to start nearly all of Spurs’ games last season which can often lead to a burnout in the latter stages of the season, so having him interchange with Insigne seems like a great idea for Spurs if they are to progress in domestic and European cup competitions next season.

Paratici must look to give Nuno a frightening partnership in behind Kane next season.

And, in other news… Spurs reportedly lining up huge swap deal 

Manchester United have not made any signings as of yet in the January transfer window, but there has been plenty of speculation with a number of players linked with a move to the club this month, and one of those touted to arrive could be the perfect replacement for Paul Pogba if he does not commit to a future at Old Trafford this summer.

What’s the word?

Journalist, Conor Clancy, has given his perspective on Sergej Milinković-Savić being linked to Manchester United, and the effect he could have on the side, hailing the Lazio midfielder “another Paul Pogba”.

Clancy told GIVEMESPORT:

“I think Milinkovic-Savic is just another Paul Pogba in that they’ve got the same skill set. They’re physically quite similar. When they’ve got the ball at their feet, they’re capable of doing similar things.”

Milinkovic-Savic has been linked this month with a move to Man United, as Rangnick comes under pressure to improve the side, but no official bid has been made for the player as of yet.

Ralf must seal the signing

The £63m-rated beast could surely cure the Pogba headache Manchester United are facing with his contract ending in the summer of this year, and fans would welcome the signing of the midfielder, with one Red Devils fan tweeting;

“@ManUtd why are we not targeting Milinkovic-Savic this window. He looks like the perfect match to a rather subdued midfield.”

The Lazio midfielder is enjoying an impressive campaign so far in his 21 games, scoring seven goals, registering eight assists from a whopping total of 31 key passes and an 82.5% pass success. As a consequence of that, the 26-year-old has claimed the most assists in the Serie A this season.

According to Squawka, when you compare the Serbian to Pogba in their last full season for their respective clubs, the 2020/21 campaign, Milinkovic-Savic scored five more goals, converted more of his chances, bagged six more assists, created a higher degree of chances and completed more passes than the 28-year-old United midfielder.

It’s fair to say that he would not only be a good replacement but could potentially be an upgrade at Old Trafford, and Rangnick should not ignore how well the Lazio midfielder is playing right now, and how his influence could inject a fresh perspective into his currently underwhelming side.

In other news: Rangnick prepared to make offer for Araujo

Manchester United are moving ever closer to appointing Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s long-term successor at Old Trafford with Ralf Rangnick’s interim contract ending shortly.

What’s the word?

Man United have had two primary candidates when considering who to replace Solskajer with Mauricio Pochettino and Erik ten Hag in the running.

However, it looks as though it will be the latter who wins the race to become their new manager.

That’s according to Fabrizio Romano and David Ornstein, with the Italian journalist taking to Twitter on Monday evening to reveal the following news:

“Sources close to Erik ten Hag confirm @David_Ornstein report: his appointment as new Man United manager is at final stages. Nothing signed yet – back room staff to be decided. No announcement expected this week. Ajax and Man Utd will be in contact about €2m clause.”

Fans will be buzzing

At long last, the wait now finally appears to be over.

It has been a turbulent campaign for the Red Devils, moving from an outside bet for the Premier League title after signing the likes of Jadon Sancho, Raphael Varane and Cristiano Ronaldo, to a club now who are unlikely to even secure a place in next season’s Champions League.

As a result, to rid the club of those scars and bring in a new manager, especially one as exciting as ten Hag should be incredibly exciting for supporters.

Pochettino has long been admired by the United hierarchy and it was always going to take someone special to leapfrog him in their thoughts.

However, that’s exactly what ten Hag is; special.

The 52-year-old has only ever coached a senior team in the Netherlands so a move to the Premier League, and in particular United, will be an arduous task.

Yet, this only feels positive. The Dutchman was asking for assurances over the amount of say he’d have with incoming transfers and considering he is now close to being appointed, it must mean he is going to play a leading role in proceedings not just in the dugout, but behind the scenes too.

Considering the mess that Man Untied are embroiled in, having a boss with more of a say can only be a good thing for the progression of the club on the pitch.

Combine that with his winning mentality – he has secured two Dutch cups and two Eredivisie titles with Ajax – and this seems like a hire that United have done their due diligence on.

Fans will be elated to finally put this saga to bed.

AND in other news, Ten Hag can become instant hit if MUFC sign £100m “animal” who’s better than Haaland…

Stuart Hodge has claimed that former Glasgow Rangers player Arthur Numan would be a popular appointment at Ibrox alongside Giovanni van Bronckhorst.

The Lowdown: van Bronckhorst confirmed

It was reported late last night that van Bronckhorst was ‘close’ to agreeing a deal in principle to become the next manager at Ibrox, after the departure of Steven Gerrard to Aston Villa.

The Teddy Bears were understood to be ‘very pleased’ with the latest developments after a thorough process led by Ross Wilson, and after Fabrizio Romano confirmed the deal with his iconic ‘here we go’ on Thursday afternoon, the Gers took to Twitter themselves to announce their 17th permanent boss.

As is usual when new managers arrive, rumours have already started on who the Dutchman will bring with him to Glasgow as part of his backroom team.

The Latest: Hodge on Numan

As per The Daily Record, Numan is a potential candidate to join GvB’s backroom staff, and so would leave his current role as chief scout at AZ Alkmaar.

He played 44 senior caps for The Netherlands, in which he crossed paths with van Bronckhorst as his former teammate.

Speaking to GiveMeSport, The Daily Record journalist Hodge has claimed that Numan would be a popular appointment with the Gers faithful alongside Gio:

“Numan would be very popular, but as a whole, a host of Dutchmen could potentially come in.”

The Verdict: Fans would love it

Van Bronckhorst has already proved to be a popular candidate among RFC fans even before his arrival was confirmed, and to have Numan alongside him would really add to the feeling of nostalgia at the club.

The latter helped bring two Scottish Premiership titles to Ibrox alongside van Bronckhorst, and being former teammates, should develop a good understanding with the 46-year-old if they end up working together.

Nonetheless, given what they have achieved with the club before as players, they are two men that the supporters can immediately get behind as club football returns after the international break.

In other news, find out which pundit’s manager claim has Gers fuming here!

Rangers bloggers Four Lads Had a Dream have mocked what they’ve heard from across town following their Scottish Cup win on Sunday.

The Lowdown: Rangers beat rivals at Hampden

Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s men enjoyed a day to remember on Sunday afternoon, beating their most bitter rivals 2-1 in their semi-final clash.

It was a match that not only saw the Gers keep their hopes of winning a treble alive this season, but also ended Celtic’s dream of doing the same in the process.

Rangers were the better team at Hampden Park but that hasn’t stopped Hoops fans from blaming various things on the defeat, including poor refereeing from Bobby Madden, while there are also investigations into potentially offensive songs from some sections of the Ibrox outfit’s support.

[freshpress-poll id=“386877”]

The Latest: Baffled

Taking to Twitter on Tuesday, Four Lads Had a Dream couldn’t believe the reaction to the loss, not holding back on their thoughts on what they’re hearing from Celtic:

“Tackled hard. Referees fault. Sung bad songs. Over Celebrated. What a bunch of spoilt brats they are in defeat.”

[freshpress-quiz id=“383632”]

The Verdict: Bad losers

Put simply, this feels like a case of sour grapes from Celtic fans, who were outplayed by Rangers at Hampden and were fortunate to even take the lead in the first place – Madden had a better game than several of the Hoops key men.

The rivalry clearly means that any defeat will hurt but there was no bias in Rangers’ favour and supposed over-celebrations is a ludicrous accusation to make, given the magnitude of the game.

Football fans are admittedly fickle and will always feel hard done by when they lose, but this reaction has been particularly intense over the past couple of days.

In other news, a Premier League club are reportedly eyeing up a move for a Rangers player. Read more here.

Having joined Wolverhampton Wanderers’ youth setup back in 2018, Theo Corbeanu is a player who very quickly began to catch the eye at the Sir Jack Hayward Training Ground.

Indeed, after a rather quiet first season with Wolves U18s, scoring one goal and registering one assist over 14 Premier League U18 appearances in 2018/19, the versatile centre-forward really started to find his feet in the following campaign, bagging six goals and providing one assist over 17 fixtures for the U18 side, as well as making his first appearance for the U23s.

This form led to the Canada international being promoted to the U23 side on a permanent basis last season, during which the £900k-rated man scored seven goals and registered two assists over 21 Premier League 2 appearances, in addition to making his Premier League debut for the first team – coming on as a second-half substitute in a 2-0 defeat to Tottenham Hotspur in May.

Perhaps unsurprisingly considering his impressive rise through the Wolves youth ranks, the opinion of Corbeanu is extremely high at Molineux, particularly in the eyes of U23 head coach James Collins.

Speaking about the potential of the 19-year-old, Collins said: “He’s athletic, tall, can head it, can defend, can dribble past people and score, he can shoot, he can pass, he’s both footed, he’s got a bit of everything.”

The boss continued: “Theo can be anything he wants to be. He’s an outstanding prospect.”

This assessment of the youngster’s ability is sure to excite Wolves fans, as Collins’ description could also quite easily fit the club’s current first-choice centre-forward, Raul Jimenez – of whom Manchester City midfielder Ilkay Gundogan said: “For a striker, he is so mobile, but also physically so good and talented technically on the ball.”

However, despite his obvious promise, after being sent on loan to Sheffield Wednesday this summer, Corbeanu’s rise appears to have slowed somewhat, as the striker has so far made just four appearances for Darren Moore’s side – all of which have come from the bench.

Indeed, Tim Spiers recently stated in an article for The Athletic that, with both Lincoln City and Crewe Alexandra thought to have been interested in signing the forward this summer, should the 19-year-old still not be receiving regular game time at Hillsborough by the time January comes around, Wolves could well look to move the youngster to a new club for the second half of the season.

And, should Bruno Lage wish to give Corbeanu the best possible chance of going on to fulfil his undoubted potential, this would appear an extremely wise move. The 19-year-old certainly has the potential to not only become Jimenez’s long-term successor at Wolves, but he could also save Fosun millions of pounds in transfer fees as a result.

In other news: Nixon drops worrying claim on “authoritative” £62k-p/w ace, Wolves fans will be gutted

The Express and Star reporter Luke Hatfield told The Transfer Tavern that Carlos Vinicius would be an interesting signing for Wolves.

The Brazilian striker spent last season on loan at Tottenham having been signed by Jose Mourinho, but managed just one Premier League goal, although he played just 303 minutes in the league.

But in the Europa League and domestic cups, Vinicius proved himself as a lethal goalscorer, netting nine goals in just 670 minutes outside of the Premier League, including one hat-trick and two braces.

However, with Heung-min Son and Harry Kane at the peak of their powers, Vinicius was an unused substitute on 17 times last season, which all but ended any chance of Tottenham activating his buy-out clause.

Just a matter of months down the line, however, according to the Mirror, Wolves, who’re short of options up front, could turn to the £16.2m-rated striker.

Vinicius scored 24 goals under the guidance of Wolves boss Bruno Lage when the pair were together at Benfica in 2019-2020.

“He would be an interesting player were Wolves to sign him,” Hatfield told The Transfer Tavern. 

“He didn’t get a fair crack at the whip at Spurs, it was always going to be tough playing back-up to Harry Kane because he’s always going to want to play week in week out and you’ll only see limited opportunities.

“But he showed enough to attract interest of Premier League clubs, so he’d be an interesting signing for Wolves.”

Celtic currently have a significant number of players in their senior squad that have come through the club’s youth academy and play for the first team such as James Forrest and Callum McGregor, who have made a combined total of 42 appearances between them across all competitions this season.

Looking ahead to who could be the next regular figure for Celtic to come through the club’s academy, one potential candidate that could be set for a big future at the Parkhead club is 18-year-old Dane Murray, who has been touted to have a “bright future” ahead of him by Stephen Welsh.

As a product of Celtic’s youth system, Murray is predominantly a midfield player but has been deployed as a centre-back by Ange Postecoglou, which gives a clue as to what the Celtic manager sees in the teenager in terms of his skills and qualities on the pitch.

In Celtic’s 2-1 defeat against FC Midtjylland in the Champions League qualifying second-leg clash back in July, Murray played at the back for the full 120 minutes and managed to show everyone just what he’s capable of from a defensive point of view.

Murray managed to make six clearances, seven interceptions and three tackles as well as winning 11 duels and not getting dribbled past even once.

This display earned the youngster an impressive overall match rating of 7.3/10 according to SofaScore, making him Celtic’s joint-second highest rated player on the day, proving that he definitely has what it takes to play at a high level alongside the rest of Celtic’s more senior players.

In the first leg against Midtjylland, Murray played 45 minutes of action after Nir Bitton got sent off, after which fellow Hoops defender Welsh described the youngster’s performance as “fantastic,” which could be why Postecoglou selected him to start the second leg.

Looking ahead to the future, even though Murray hasn’t been involved in a matchday squad for Celtic in the league this season, he definitely has what it takes to break into Postecoglou’s side at some point in the future.

Consider the talent he’s shown so far and the fact that he has time on his side with his young age and he could save the club millions in potential future transfer fees.

In other news: “No estimated return date”: Devlin drops big Celtic injury update, Ange will be fuming

Newcastle United are reportedly eyeing up a shock move for their former player Gini Wijnaldum.

The Lowdown: Developing story…

TEAMtalk reported last month that the St James’ Park oufit are eyeing a shock return for the Dutchman and are ‘keeping tabs’ on his situation at Paris Saint-Germain.

The Magpies have ‘made it clear’ that they would be interested in signing him, should he be made available in the January transfer window.

It would be a sensational swoop for a player who had a remarkable sole season on Tyneside, with 11 goals and a further five assists from midfield as he played in every single match of their 2015/16 Premier League campaign (Transfermarkt).

Unfortunately, the Netherlands international could not do enough to help his team avoid relegation to the Championship, which is ultimately a big reason why he left to join Liverpool after just one year in the northeast.

The Latest: Contact made

As per AS, Newcastle are the first club to have shown interest in signing Wijnaldum, who wants to leave Paris already, and he has made known his desire to return to the Premier League.

According to sources close to the 31-year-old, there has already been contact made with the Magpies over a potential move, meaning that the ball could already be rolling come January.

The Verdict: No-brainer

Wijnaldum has already shown what he can do in front of the Toon Army, so a deal to bring him back is surely a no-brainer.

Since moving on from Newcastle, he became a won both the Premier League and Champions League, showing that he can perform on the big stage. Indeed, Geordie legend Alan Shearer dubbed him an ‘absolutely sensational’ player back in 2018.

Signing him would be one way for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) consortium to get the fans on their side straight away, as he would certainly be a popular addition among many at St James’ Park, and he would give Eddie Howe that extra bit of experience and quality to give his Newcastle side the best possible chance of avoiding relegation.

In other news, Howe is also lining up this ‘brilliant’ EFL maestro for Newcastle

Former Premier League footballer Dean Windass could see James Ward-Prowse going to Aston Villa, but says Southampton won’t want to lose him.

Villa have already signed Danny Ings from the Saints this summer and there has been plenty of speculation that they are interested in midfielder James Ward-Prowse.

Sky Sports reported last month that Southampton had rejected Aston Villa’s £25m offer for the player and that the south coast outfit have no interest in selling him.

Speaking to Football FanCast, Windass could see the transfer happening but also understands that Southampton won’t want to lose him, saying: “Another situation where Southampton won’t want to lose him, he’s the captain.

“I can see that happening obviously with the funds they get for Jack, he could be the one that can come in. [He’s] not a similar player to Jack but obviously similar quality in the sense he can get you goals from free-kicks. His wide free-kicks – he puts them on the money every now and then.”

Ward-Prowse featured in every Premier League game for Southampton last season and also in the clubs six cup matches (5 FA Cup and 1 EFL Cup), scoring nine goals and creating a further seven.

Both Villa and Southampton have looked to strengthen their sides this summer, with both making five new signings each. With under a month to go in the transfer window, will Ward-Prowse be the sixth Villa signing or will the Saints stand firm and keep hold of their captain for the upcoming season?