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Sunderland have ‘strong interest’ in Scottish midfielder Scott Fraser, according to Sunderland Echo journalist Phil Smith.

After failing to gain promotion to the Championship via League One, Black Cats boss Phil Parkinson is under increasing pressure to deliver at the Stadium of Light.

The 52-year-old coach has already added some new faces to his side with the signings of Bailey Wright and Aiden O’Brien, whilst Tom Flanagan signed a new deal to remain at the club.

Interest in a number of other targets has also emerged with Danny Graham and Matija Sarkic linked in the press, whilst a talk linking the Wearsiders with a move for Fraser has also been reported.

Fraser, who had spent the last two seasons with Burton Albion, opted to turn down a new contract at the Pirelli Stadium this summer.

Quizzed on Sunderland’s interest by fans during a weekly Q&A session with Sunderland Echo, Smith said:

“There’s definitely been a strong interest.

“He has an excellent record in terms of producing goals and assists at this level, which would offer the manager a different option to what he currently has in central midfield.

“The question is what his options will be in the aftermath of the salary cap introduction and whether Sunderland can realistically compete.

“There’s been Championship interest in him and at 25, it’s a big move for him at a time when his stock has never been higher.

“I suspect he’s one of many who will be assessing (and perhaps reassessing) his options.

“From Sunderland’s perspective, for the reasons I’ll outline in the answer below, I suspect they will currently be making a few different plans to be right across whatever happens in the next few weeks.”
Having played regularly for Burton, the 25-year-old netted an impressive five goals and gained 11 assists in 30 League One appearances this term.

Like much of Sunderland’s transfer business this summer, the English Football League’s salary cap will need to be taken into consideration and if Championship sides are keen on Fraser, it may be that the Black Cats are priced out of a move.

Little moves have been made since the confirmation of Bailey Wright and Aiden O’Brien’s deals and you have to think that Phil Parkinson needs to get a move on.

Pressure is mounting on his shoulders to deliver and the summer months will go a long way to determining how well his side get on next term.

What do you make of Phil Parkinson’s summer signings so far? Let us know in the comments section below…

Leeds United aren’t finished bringing in defensive reinforcements just yet as they target a player that has been likened to former Whites captain Rio Ferdinand…

What’s the word?

According to The Athletic’s Phil Hay, Marcelo Bielsa is keen to sign another centre-back having already brought in Robin Koch from Freiburg last week and it appears ex-playoff victor Axel Tuanzebe is someone that’s been linked.

Speaking on the Ornstein and Chapman podcast, Hay said: “I think it’s likely that they will bring somebody else in. [They’ve] been linked with a player in Croatia [Josko Gvardiol]. They’re also keen on Axel Tuanzebe over at Manchester United.”

Right now, it remains to be seen whether that would be a permanent deal or a temporary loan switch to Elland Road. The 22-year-old is currently valued at £7.2m by Transfermarkt.

The next Rio?

Tuanzebe very much fits the bill of being a typical Marcelo Bielsa player – he can play in the middle, at full-back and in defensive midfield very much in similar nature to Ben White last season who stepped up in the absence of Kalvin Phillips at times.

As per The Athletic, there has previously been a belief at Old Trafford that the young defender could become the next Ferdinand or Nemanja Vidic, which is high praise indeed and thus opens up further reason as to why he should be signed at all costs.

Some at Elland Road may recognise him from his loan spell at old foes Aston Villa, who clinched promotion via the playoffs two years ago. During that campaign, the 22-year-old averaged 3.9 clearances, 3.2 aerial duels won, 1.1 tackles and 0.9 interceptions per game, via WhoScored.

His form led to Villa boss Dean Smith saying: “He is a terrific guy. He’s got a terrific attitude, that is the thing which will stand him in good stead with his career. I can’t speak highly enough of him.” and that he is a “big prospect”.

United will be without both White and Gaetano Berardi this season, so the signing of Koch isn’t enough and perhaps they can hand Bielsa his own Ferdinand as a nice apt reminder of the last time they were in the big time.

Tuanzebe would be a fantastic addition, whether that’s on loan or permanently.

AND in other news, Marcelo Bielsa must let “exceptional” teen sensation loose at Leeds this season…

Aston Villa are hoping to sign another striker in this transfer window despite landing Ollie Watkins from Brentford.

Football Insider reports that the club are remaining active in the market as Dean Smith looks to bring in striking reinforcements.

Villa, of course, narrowly avoided relegation to the Championship at the end of the 2019/20 season.

And they have already snapped up Watkins in a deal worth up to £33m.

The report now states, though, that Villa want to sign two strikers instead of just one and are monitoring Bournemouth forward Joshua King.

Stuck in lockdown? Our mega footy quiz will cure any boredom…

The former Manchester United youngster dropped through the Premier League trapdoor into the Championship last term.

He made 26 appearances in the top-flight and scored six goals, while also registering four assists.

Bournemouth are keen to receive £20m for the star, and have already rejected a bid worth £16m from Villa in this transfer window.

It shows Smith’s desperation to keep Villa in the top-flight and a move for King would complement Watkins nicely.

Having a pair of pacey strikers who can spring beyond opposition defences can only be a good thing; this would be an excellent deal.

According to The Telegraph, West Brom are considering a move for West Ham’s Xande Silva in this summer transfer window.

What’s the word?

The Baggies earned automatic promotion to the Premier League with a fine campaign last season, and have had a good start to their transfer business with a permanent deal for Grady Diangana.

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Now, The Telegraph claim that Slaven Bilic is after yet another talented player from the club he used to manage, with Silva considered a “top option” alongside Huddersfield Town’s Karlan Grant.

Another Diangana

Much of Diangana’s success came from the fact Bilic trusted him with first-team opportunities, and the youngster rewarded him with a series of fine performances – he scored eight goals and provided seven assists in 30 Championship games.

In Silva, West Brom could enjoy another Diangana success story, with the 23-year-old having struggled to break into the West Ham first-team since his arrival at the club.

He has made just two appearances for the Hammers, and even that has only totaled around 96 minutes worth of football. Those who have watched him develop at academy level however speak of someone who has got all the ingredients to become a top player.

West Ham’s former U23s manager, Liam Manning, said: “Xande Silva has done really well. He’s settled in, having been here just over a week now, and his attitude has been terrific. He has shown his quality in training, like he has tonight in this game. He’s a very quick, physical player, and he’s settled in quickly with the group.”

Predominantly a right-winger, Silva can play on the left flank as well as through the middle, and he could prove to be another shrewd acquisition that really makes his mark at the Hawthorns if given a chance.

Hands up if you predicted Aston Villa’s stunning start to the new season.

Dean Smith’s side have begun the 2020/2021 campaign like a house on fire, with two wins from two in the Premier League, and safely making it into tonight’s Carabao Cup last 16 clash against Stoke City.

But with a game against reigning Premier League champions Liverpool coming on Sunday, it will be no surprise to see Smith ring the changes as he looks to keep his usual starting eleven fresh for the visit of Jurgen Klopp’s juggernauts.

And with that in mind, below is a look at how Villa could line up for their match against Stoke.

In goal, Jed Steer is likely to take over goalkeeping duties from summer signing Emiliano Martinez, with the 28-year-old keeping a clean sheet last time out against Bristol City.

Smith could be boosted for Thursday night’s game with the return of forgotten man Bjorn Engels, who has been missing from action for the past few months with an injury. The central defender hasn’t featured in a match-day squad for Villa since the clash against Leicester way back in March, but having seemingly recovered from his thigh problems, could well get a run-out against Stoke.

Engels is likely to be joined by Kortney Hause alongside him, with Ahmed Elmohamady and Neil Taylor occupying the right and left-back slots respectively.

In midfield, 19-year-old starlet Jacob Ramsey is likely to get another chance to impress Smith, with Marvelous Nakamba and former Arsenal youngster Henri Lansbury completing a midfield three.

And having scored on his debut against Bristol City last time in the Carabao Cup, Bertrand Traore is surely set to make his home debut for Villa, with Anwar El Ghazi and Keinan Davis joining him in attack.

Predicted XI: Steer; Elmohamady, Hause, Engels, Taylor; Ramsey, Nakamba, Lansbury; Traore, El Ghazi, Davis.

And in other news, Aston Villa must make this transfer move before the end of the deadline.

Liverpool have been handed a huge boost to their ranks as they look ahead to the Merseyside derby next weekend. Thiago Alcantara is no longer self-isolating after recently being tested positive for Covid-19 (via Liverpool ECHO).

The midfielder has made just one appearance for his new side since he joined last month. His return will be very well received by the fans who have been eager to see him in action since he made his debut against Chelsea. It’s come at the perfect time too, as Jurgen Klopp’s men will be looking to amends for their humiliating 7-2 thrashing against Aston Villa.

After tallying an impressive 31 goals and 37 assists during his time with Bayern Munich, he could be the driving force in the Liverpool’s midfield to catch an in form Everton off-guard. As it stands, the Blues are ahead by three points having started the season perfectly. They currently top the Premier League table and would love nothing more than to extend their lead with a win over their Merseyside rivals.

With Sadio Mane out of action and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain injured, Liverpool need as much creativity as they can get to grab goals at Goodison Park. Everton have scored 12 goals so far, averaging three per game. The Reds will need to be in their top attacking form to get themselves on the front foot – Thiago could be the answer to this.

With the Spaniard’s driving force in midfield protected by Fabinho just behind, Liverpool will have a much better chance of snatching a result from their neighbours on Saturday.

In other news, Michael Edwards could have clever plan up his sleeve for Harry Wilson…

Jarrod Bowen proved to be West Ham United’s weakest link in the east London outfit’s one-all draw with Manchester City on Saturday.

Hammers boss David Moyes trusted the winger to begin the Premier League affair for his 17th straight top-flight start, with Bowen not missing a kick-off since the Iron’s 3-2 loss at Liverpool in February whilst he adapted to the club following a January transfer worth in excess of £20million.

But Moyes will have been left underwhelmed with what Bowen was capable of delivering against Pep Guardiola’s Sky Blues this weekend, as the attacker struggled to make an impact upon moving centrally to cover for Michail Antonio once the goalscorer was forced off.

Bowen had started with early signs of promise in the midday kick-off by relentlessly harrying Joao Cancelo, though could not turn the hustle into anything worthwhile to go a second game without influencing the scoreline after strikes in wins over Wolverhampton Wanderers and Leicester City.

His efforts brought Moyes’ comments from September back into full focus, having urged the former Hull City attacker to offer more than just an enthusiastic presence.

“[Taking] Jarrod Bowen out of the Championship was always a gamble,” Moyes noted, via quotes by West Ham’s official website. “Most boys take a little bit of time to settle, but Jarrod hit the ground running.

“His goalscoring record at Hull was always around 15 a season, so we want him to add to his count in the Premier League, but his enthusiasm, his speed, his energy – he’s been great round the club, and he’s been a really terrific signing for us.

“I hope I can get more out of him, and for many reasons I really enjoy working with him.”

The 23-year-old could only display enthusiasm against Manchester City, however, as he failed to register a single key pass or shot on goal, while only winning two duels, per SofaScore.

The Leominster-born forward won each of his duels on the ground but only attempted four, while losing each of his two aerial contests, losing possession 11 times, misplacing seven of his 13 attempted passes (meaning a meagre 46.1% pass success rate), failing to connect with a teammate with his only cross and misplacing four of his five attempted long balls.

Right-back Vladimir Coufal was also given no defensive support from the right-sided forward, with Bowen offering just one clearance to zero interceptions or tackles.

Bowen further turned over possession by losing out in two of his three attempted dribbles, as the 23-year-old recorded SofaScore’s lowest match rating by any player for either side at 6.3 out of 10, with Man City ‘keeper Ederson (6.4) the worst-performing member of the visiting team.

Moyes will likely need to bend Bowen’s ear ahead of visiting Liverpool next weekend, but his prior comments calling for the winger to add to his goal output inspired the forward to impress with a brace at home to Wolves and net in the away win over Leicester.

AND in other news, David Moyes must hit the reset button as £27.2m target puts West Ham’s interest in the past.

Glasgow Rangers are level on points with Benfica at the top of Group D in the Europa League after a goal from Alfredo Morelos secured the victory against Lech Poznan at Ibrox on Thursday night.

The 6-cap Colombia international came off the bench to score the winner as Steven Gerrard’s side beat the Poles 1-0 to stay unbeaten in the Europa League group stages.

Despite the rather dull result, there were a fair few eye-catching performances, with Rangers left-back Borna Barisic in particular putting in a impressive defensive shift, but Glen Kamara arguably stole the show, which meant that new summer recruit Bongani Zungu remained an unused substitute for the entire game.

SofaScore gave the 25-year-old a solid grade of 7.2, which seems slightly inaccurate – in fact, it’s perhaps unfair, as he won five out of six duels overall (83%), took a staggering 72 touches of the ball, and completed 53 out of 62 passes at a pass accuracy rating of 85%, whilst he made two tackles and two interceptions, which shows that he made several key defensive contributions as well.

By comparison, Barisic actually took fewer touches of the ball, completed fewer accurate passes, and managed to lose possession more times than the monster midfielder, as per SofaScore.

GlasgowLive gave Kamara a rating of 7/10, claiming he “used the ball well and read a number of Poznan counter attacks brilliantly” as he is “becoming such an important player in the Rangers midfield,” whilst The Daily Record awarded him the same score, adding he “oozed composure and confidence, gliding all over the pitch effectively and playing with the minimum of fuss.”

Speaking in the post-match press conference, as quoted by the club’s official Twitter account, Gerrard specifically singled out Kamara for praise, saying: “Glen was outstanding from start to finish. Really pleased with him and where he’s at in terms of his form, he’s in a fantastic place. I thought there was a lot of strong performances throughout the group, but Glen was certainly one of the standouts.”

Once lauded as an “excellent” player by former Rangers star Neil Murray, Kamara has made 70 appearances for the Light Blues, scoring two goals and supplying three assists in all competitions so far, via Transfermarkt.

If the Gers are to regain the Scottish Premiership title whilst they juggle the European competition at the same time, we suspect that the Finland international will have a part to play, that’s for sure. If he stays at the club, of course…

AND in other news, Glasgow Rangers left-back Calvin Bassey could soon usurp Borna Barisic at Ibrox…

Glasgow Rangers boss Steven Gerrard made a brave call to start Kemar Roofe instead of Alfredo Morelos against Lech Poznan in the Europa League. But it backfired almost immediately, as Rangers struggled to break down the resolute Polish side, until the Colombia international came to the rescue.

What’s the word?

Rangers legend Ally McCoist slammed Roofe during the half-time break on Thursday night. He told BT Sport, as quoted by Ibrox News:

“Not only was he not ready, he should have left it for Kent coming in.

“I’ll cut him a little bit of slack but I think he’s maybe expecting [Thomas] Rogne to get a touch there and he doesn’t.

“Now, there’s no excuse for him here. This is Kent’s ball all day and he tries the overhead kick.

“I know he scored a brilliant goal the other week, a fantastic goal. But that is Kent’s to hit all day.”

However, McCoist didn’t stop there, as the BT Sport pundit continued to criticise Roofe for his poor performance throughout the game. When talking about one particular moment when the uncapped Jamaica international lost the ball, he said: “It’s just slackness.

“I don’t know why he tries it with the outside of his foot. It’s just a side-footed pass to [Glen] Kamara that [causes] all sorts of problems. You’re bang open to the counter-attack.”

Roofe was replaced by Morelos in the second half, only for the 24-year-old to equal McCoist’s European record by heading in a cross from Borna Barisic to mark his 21st goal in 36 games.

Too inconsistent?

Now, before we get started, let’s just make one thing clear. As we’ve previously discussed, we think the Gers could be onto a winner with the former Leeds United striker. The trouble is, the 27-year-old has never been particularly consistent. One week he’s scoring one of the best goals in the club’s history, the next he’s making a fool of himself with a failed attempt at a bicycle kick.

In fact, it’s fair to say that Roofe struggled for consistency during his time at Elland Road. Last season, the £4m-rated Gers forward, who also be deployed as an attacking midfielder in the centre, on the left or on the right, scored 15 goals in 33 games in the Championship, whilst he averaged 3.1 shots per game, via WhoScored. However, he only managed to score three times in the 2016/17 season, as per WhoScored, which should give Gerrard some pause for thought. If he can stamp out this inconsistent form, then great – if he can’t, then that could become a problem.

Whether that be due to the fact that Roofe has only recently recovered from injury or whatever, who knows. But Morelos once again showed that the Gers need him far more than they may be willing to admit.

Say what you will about his attitude – the Colombian’s goal-scoring record more than speaks for itself, as he has bagged 129 goals and 46 assists in 221 games in all competitions in his club career so far, via Transfermarkt. There’s no doubt that those eye-watering statistics will be very hard to replace if he does end up leaving Ibrox.

One thing’s for sure, he certainly saved Gerrard from the potential embarrassment of drawing with a side who currently lie in 10th place in the Polish top flight.

AND in other news, Gerrard’s big call: Glasgow Rangers must unleash Joe Aribo against Kilmarnock after Ianis Hagi struggles…

It’s growing increasingly apparent that Glasgow Rangers may struggle to stop Joe Aribo from heading for the Ibrox exit, but Steven Gerrard simply can’t afford to lose one of his key men, if recent reports are to be believed…

What’s the word?

According to Football Insider, Rangers face a fight to keep the midfielder as he has attracted attention from all over Europe.

Aribo is enjoying a prolific spell in the Premiership so far this season, having fired in four goals in seven games in the Scottish top flight.

It’s claimed that other European clubs have begun to take notice of the 4-cap Nigeria international a lot more, with the outlet suggesting that several sides south of the border have registered their interest as well.

The report adds that the Ibrox outfit believe they are confident of keeping him for the foreseeable future as his contract will run out in 2023, but they are aware that a potential title-winning season could cause some problems.

Gerrard’s nightmare

Whilst Ryan Kent has been linked with a move away from Rangers in recent months, with reports suggesting Leeds United are still interested in signing him despite missing out on his signature in the summer, Aribo’s potential departure would be another devastating blow.

Despite missing a large chunk of the start of the season due to injury, he is still a large reason why Gerrard’s side are nine points clear of their arch rivals Celtic at the top of the table – he has scored three goals in the past three games in the league, having bagged a brace against Hamilton Academical before the international break.

The Gers signed the 24-year-old for a mere fee of £300,000 from Charlton Athletic on a four-year deal. Since then, he has become an integral part of Gerrard’s side, and has played a key role in their success in recent weeks.

It’s perhaps no surprise that Gerrard has swooned over the Nigerian midfielder, as he has taken an unconventional route to his career, with the Liverpool legend even saying he is a “fantastic” beast, which is precisely why Wilson can’t afford to lose him.

Not only is he an important player on the pitch, he is exactly the sort of calibre the Gers need to bridge the gap to Celtic to stop Neil Lennon’s side from winning ten in a row. Aribo, who predominantly plays as an attacking midfielder, can also operate as a centre midfielder and is a vital cog in the middle of the park. He even replaced Ianis Hagi on the right wing in recent weeks.

To coin a phrase from Oscar Wilde, to lose one player may be regarded; to lose both looks like carelessness. Wilson will have his work cut out keeping a hold of both, that’s for sure.

AND in other news, Exclusive: Marlon Harewood makes claim about Jermain Defoe’s Rangers future at Glasgow Rangers…