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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 Danish tabloid Ekstra Bladet, via Sport Witness, Wolves have been regularly scouting Lyngby BK centre-back Frederik Winther this season after making a fourth trip to watch him over the weekend.

What’s the word?

The reports suggest that the west Midlands side sent scouts to Denmark on Sunday as Lyngby BK were defeated 3-0 at home by Brondby IF in the Superliga.

The 18-year-old has started 13 matches this campaign for the first division playoff winners, but Ekstra Bladet (via Sport Witness) claim he is ‘far from fully developed’ with them also stating that the club’s sporting director Birger Jørgensen would find it hard to say no to any Premier League advances.

Birmingham Live understands that Wolves want to add a central defender in the January transfer window, so with them checking out the young Danish starlet on more than one occasion, he could well be high on Nuno Santo’s shortlist.

An unlikely future

All these reports surrounding Wolves and potential centre-backs can only mean one thing for Jesus Vallejo.

He is currently on loan at the west Midlands club, but having played just 522 minutes of football this season, his spell is unlikely to extend beyond its current terms.

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He has failed to live up to the hype that a Real Madrid and Euro U21 winning player should command, as seen with the Molineux faithful blasting his performances on multiple occasions this season.

The 22-year-old put in a dire display last time out against Southampton as he was partly at fault for their opening goal after his aimless clearance soon found its way back past Rui Patricio. As well as that, he made just one tackle and gave away a foul in the process too.

It’s clear his time in the Midlands hasn’t gone well but this could mean Wolves are planning for his exit, rather than thinking about possible plans to bring him in permanently.

With Nuno sending scouts to watch Winther, he is surely planning for when the Spaniard’s loan deal expires at the end of the season – that’s if he doesn’t want the emerging talent to make an immediate impact as early as January.

Unsurprisingly, Virgil van Dijk has been named on the 30-man shortlist for the 2019 Ballon d’Or.

The centre-back is actually one of six Liverpool players to be included, with Sadio Mane, Roberto Firmino, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Georginio Wijnaldum and Alisson Becker also recognised for their form.

Van Dijk played a key role in Liverpool winning the Champions League last season – scoring twice and providing two assists in 12 appearances in the European Cup.

The Netherlands international was also outstanding in the Premier League as he featured in all 38 of Liverpool’s fixtures, scoring four times in the process.

It remains to be seen whether the centre-back can finish top of the pile at the awards ceremony at the start of December.

However, Liverpool fans are understandably delighted to see the powerful defender’s form recognised with a nomination for arguably the greatest individual accolade in world football.

A selection of the Twitter reaction can be seen below:

أكد نجم أتلتيكو مدريد لويس سواريز أنهم لن يبحثون عن أعذار لخسارتهم في مباراة الأمس أمام إشبيلية، في بطولة الدوري الإسباني.

وخسر أتلتيكو مدريد بهدف دون رد، في الجولة التاسعة والعشرين من البطولة. هدف فوز إشبيلية أمام أتلتيكو مدريد

وشهدت المباراة جدلًا تحكيميًا، حيث رأى لاعبو أتلتيكو مدريد أنه كان هناك لمسة يد واضحة قبل هدف فوز إشبيلية.

وكتب لويس سواريز عبر حسابه الشخصي بموقع “تويتر”: “لا توجد أعذار واهية، عندما تخسر عليك أن تحاول دائمًا أن تبحث عن التحسين”.

وأضاف الأوروجواني: “لم يقل أحد بأن الأمر سيكون سهلًا، لتحقيق النجاح عليك دائمًا محاربة كل شيء والجميع، لأنه لا أحد يمنحك أي شيء”.

وواصل: “علينا مواصلة العمل والتطلع إلى الأمام”.

No hay excusas, cuando se pierde hay que siempre intentar mirar para mejorar. Nadie dijo que iba a ser facil. Para llegar al éxito siempre hay que luchar contra todo y CONTRA TODOS porque nadie te regala nada. A seguir trabajando y mirando hacia adelante 💪🔴⚪️ #siemprepositivo pic.twitter.com/QXMEbVn0m0 — Luis Suarez (@LuisSuarez9) April 4, 2021

ويتصدر أتلتيكو مدريد حاليًا جدول الدوري الإسباني بـ66 نقطة، ويليه ريال مدريد في المركز الثاني بـ63 نقطة، ثم برشلونة برصيد 62 نقطة مع العلم أن لديه مباراة اليوم ضد بلد الوليد.

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Everton fans have blasted Jordan Pickford after he made a series of mistakes during the club’s 3-1 loss to Manchester City on Saturday.

The 6 foot 1 England goalkeeper conceded three times at Goodison Park, and a number of supporters were unhappy with the manner of the second goal.

Riyad Mahrez bent a free-kick into the bottom corner to give Pep Guardiola’s champions a 2-1 lead, but the shot was to Pickford’s side of the goal and crept into the bottom corner.

He then went on to let in a Raheem Sterling volley, before haring out of his goal in an attempt to tackle Bernardo Silva; he was unsuccessful, though City were unable to score from the chance – leading the Three Lions No.1 to visibly smirk about what could have been another goal for the visitors.

Fans, thus, were unhappy with the form of the stopper as the Toffees slipped to another defeat.

Indeed, Pickford has conceded 10 goals in his last four games, with Everton winning just one of those – a 3-2 triumph over Wolves.

During and after the match, Everton fans were quick to show on Twitter just how disgusted they were with Pickford’s performance…

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This article is part of Football FanCast’s Pundit View series, which provides opinion and analysis on recent quotes from journalists, pundits, players and managers…

Calcio Mercato is reporting that Arsenal have put Mesut Ozil on the transfer list, and that Turkish, Chinese and American clubs have their eyes on him.

What’s the story?

Ozil has had to make do with a bit-part role this season at the Emirates Stadium. He has made just two starts so far this campaign, and it does not look as though he will be returning to the starting XI on a regular basis anytime soon.

It now appears he could be leaving the north London outfit altogether, too. As per the Italian outlet, the former Germany international does not fit into Unai Emery’s plans, which could therefore see him depart.

Still has enough for Europe

It is a sorry situation the former Schalke man finds himself in and, for football purists, it is such a shame to see one of Europe’s great technicians unable to receive consistent playing time.

There was once a time when he was registering 19 Premier League assists in a season. To put that into perspective, only one player in the division’s history has more in one single campaign.

Of course, it is clear he has lost his way in recently, and the level of his displays are not what they once were. But, he is still just 30. That should give him at least another four years of good-quality football ahead of him, whether that is at Arsenal or not.

He still has so much more to give to the elite in European football, and it would be far too soon for him to depart for the big salaries of the USA or China. The Turkish game is far more competitive, but the overall quality is still lacking compared to the continent’s top five leagues.

The pace of the Premier League may now be too much for him, but somewhere like Serie A would be a far better fit. There are plenty of sides in Italy who would love to make use of his technical ability, just like there would be in the Bundesliga.

A fresh start in itself could be enough to rejuvenate him. He has not had an easy time of it in the past 18 months, what with the backlash of his photo with Recep Erdogan and the carjacking attempt against himself and teammate Sead Kolasinac. Both of these incidents came whilst still with the Gunners and psychologically, he may be starting to link his time in north London with bad memories.

It is probably fair to say that his departure from Arsenal is the best thing for all involved. But, from Ozil’s perspective, he needs to stay in football’s heartland. He still has so much left to give.

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Loads of Crystal Palace fans have taken to Twitter to react after Alexander Sorloth bagged another goal for Trabzonspor.

The Norway international joined the Turkish side on a two-year loan deal in the summer transfer window, after a turbulent spell in south London which saw him net just a single goal in 20 appearances – he also spent time out on loan with Gent last term.

Presumably surprising some Palace fans who may have written him off due to his awful form, the 23-year-old has now bagged two goals in two games for Trabzonspor with his latest strike helping them progress into the next round of Europa League qualifying.

Sorloth is still fairly young and one feels that his time at Palace isn’t over yet – his encouraging form in Turkey is definitely enough to back that up.

Let’s take a look at how the Palace fans on Twitter reacted to Sorloth’s second goal for Trabzonspor…

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Unai Emery has plenty to be happy about so far after a promising start to the season for his Arsenal side.

The Gunners have won their first two games of the Premier League campaign, first beating Newcastle United 1-0 at St. James’ Park before defeating Burnley 2-1 at the Emirates Stadium.

The former Sevilla boss has so far given some of the club’s younger players plenty of time to impress, with Joe Willock, Ainsley Maitland-Niles and Reiss Nelson all having started in the first two games.

Find out the truth about why David Luiz joined Arsenal in the video below…

There is some hype surrounding the latter, who looked good on loan at Hoffenheim in the Bundesliga last term. However, he will need to provide a lot more going forward following an offensive display against the Clarets in which he did little of note.

It would even be fair to say that he was a passenger throughout his time on the field, and it came as little surprise when he was replaced at half-time by Nicolas Pepe. During those 45 minutes, he created just one chance and managed one shot.

It was in terms of dribbles and crosses where he was particularly disappointing, though. Not even once was he able to beat his man, and he also failed to complete a cross. Bearing in mind that he is a winger, those numbers are quite frankly not good enough.

All in all, Nelson finished with a rating of 6.22, which was by far the worst of the starting XI. With Alexandre Lacazette and Aubameyang both scoring and record-signing Pepe surely in line to start soon after Saturday’s cameo, Nelson will need to hope that he gets another chance to show his worth in the coming weeks.

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[ad_pod ]Fernandinho is back up and running.The veteran midfielder, who turned 33 this year, has enjoyed an extended break over the summer having helped Brazil claim their ninth Copa America title.He missed City’s Community Shield win over Liverpool at the weekend, which is a frightening testament to just how good Pep Guardiola’s side are.However, with the start of the new campaign fast approaching, and student Rodri eagerly awaiting his first lesson from the master tactician, Fernandinho has put down his flip flops, waved goodbye to the sun, packed his jumpers and returned to Manchester.

It’s not yet clear where the Brazilian will operate in City’s lineup or how prominently he will feature.

Rodri seems like the new obvious choice for the defensive midfield spot as he prepares for his long-term future at the club, while he could play a sporadic role at centre-back following Vincent Kompany’s departure.

Wherever he plays, however, he’ll inject a healthy dose of experience and quality to proceedings.

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On this day in 2002, the Red Devils signed one of the most promising defenders in world football, Rio Ferdinand.

The rest, as they say, is history.

And indeed, 17 years ago Ferdinand was unveiled as Manchester United’s newest signing under Sir Alex Ferguson and the player went on to become an integral figure at the club, establishing an iconic and formidable partnership with Nemanja Vidic in the process.

Ferdinand left United after 12 long years of service and joined QPR for the final year of his career before retiring from the beautiful game.

Now, he has taken to social media and

/B0NhMEzgpZ1/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link” data-lasso->Instagram to celebrate this great anniversary with his beloved club, one which included a cheeky message and a great throwback image.

During his stay at Old Trafford, Ferdinand managed to accumulate a total of 455 games, also scoring eight goals and assisting a further nine in the process.

He also won a plethora of different titles as a Red Devil, including six Premier League crowns and one Champions League title among many others.

The image is bound to induce nostalgic memories amongst the United supporters during a period of time in which they would love a player of Ferdinand’s influence to slot into their defensive unit.

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Celtic fans are not impressed with transfer links to former Arsenal and Real Madrid striker Emmanuel Adebayor.

The Sun reported on Friday that the Hoops were one of a number of British teams interested in signing him after his departure from Turkish side Istanbul Bashakshehir.

The 6 ft 3 forward is now 35 years of age but did have a decent spell in Turkey, scoring 28 goals in 76 appearances for the Istanbul outfit.

How can Celtic improve next season? A Hoops fan tells us how in the video below…

However, Celtic have prided themselves on nurturing exciting young talent in recent years rather than rely on big names who have played at big clubs in the past.

Adebayor doesn’t appear to fit the signing profile or culture of the club, and even as back-up to Odsonne Edouard is unlikely to be a successful signing in Glasgow given he is in the latter stages of his career.

Celtic should be looking at other emerging prospects who can come in and enhance their careers, potentially one day taking over from the Frenchman if he is sold.

Fans have taken to Twitter this weekend to deliver their verdict on the links…