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Newcastle United correspondent Mark Douglas expects more business at the club after a fee was agreed for Joe Willock. 

The lowdown

Arsenal have accepted a sum in excess of £20m for the midfielder, who spent the latter half of 2020/21 on loan at St James’ Park.

Provided he agrees to join, the 21-year-old is set to travel to the northeast in the next 24 hours and undergo a medical in the early part of this week. Assuming there are no late hitches, Willock would become the Magpies’ first signing of the summer.

According to Transfermarkt, Newcastle have yet to generate any funds from player exits in this transfer window, as the likes of Christian Atsu, Yoshinori Muto and Andy Carroll have all left on free transfers.

The Athletic’s Chris Waugh has labelled the club’s budget for this transfer window ‘meagre’ amid Mike Ashley’s efforts to sell up.

The latest

Douglas tweeted that he still believes there will be transfers in and out of Newcastle before the deadline at the end of this month. It won’t necessarily have to be permanent incomings either, with some loan slots available.

He added that Willock was their primary target heading into the transfer window, and that they ‘passed up other options to get him’.

Douglas outlined: “Still think #nufc will do more business – in & out – before deadline. Loan slots available & could be some trading to do.

“Willock was the one they wanted though; and have passed up other options to get him. Hopefully gamble will be shown to have paid off.”

The verdict

In light of the bleak assessment issued by Waugh, it’s somewhat surprising to see Newcastle splash out such a hefty fee for Willock, who could feasibly become the second-most expensive signing in their history given the fee which has reportedly been agreed for him.

What we don’t know at this stage, and what we’re keen to find out, is how the deal is structured, along with the extent to which a balancing of the books will now be required.

It certainly wouldn’t be a surprise if loans made up the rest of their arrivals, though, if most of the summer budget goes on a permanent deal for Willock.

In other news, a Newcastle journalist issued this claim on Steve Bruce’s future.

James Ward-Prowse would not turn down a move to Tottenham this summer, says former Southampton midfielder Carlton Palmer.

Ward-Prowse has been heavily linked with a transfer to Aston Villa, with Sky Sports reporting last month that the Midlands club had a £25m bid rejected for the player.

And now, according to The Telegraph, Tottenham are also interested in signing the 26-year-old before the transfer window slams shut.

Southampton have already lost key players in Danny Ings – to Villa ironically – and Jannik Vestergaard and Palmer believes Ward-Prowse could follow them out of the St Mary’s exit door if Tottenham make an acceptable offer.

“You wouldn’t say no to Tottenham if there was a bid made and accepted,” the ex-Southampton player said to TT in an exclusive interview. “A player of ambition, you’re looking at Southampton, they’re selling their best players and they’re not replacing them.

“If an offer comes in at £35m, he will be gone to either Tottenham or Aston Villa.”

It will be interesting to see how this one ends because Ward-Prowse has four years left on his contract, while manager Ralph Hasenhuttl has also told reporters that he expects the England international to remain at St Mary’s.

However, the Saints have often shown that none of their assets are untouchable if the right offer comes in.

West Ham United manager David Moyes has said that he “will be adding a defender” to his squad before the end of the transfer window, and there may be “other players” arriving at the London Stadium in the next fortnight too.

Moyes was speaking after his team opened the new season with a 4-2 win away to Newcastle United. The Irons trailed 2-1 at the interval but second half goals from Said Benrahma, Tomas Soucek and Michail Antonio ensured that they took the three points back to the capital.

A quiet transfer window for West Ham so far

West Ham have only made one new signing so far this summer, recruiting goalkeeper Alphonse Areola from Paris Saint-Germain to provide cover and competition for Lukasz Fabianski. That deal involved a loan fee of £1.8m.

Fiorentina defender Nikola Milenkovic has been named as a potential defensive target, with Italian newspaper Corriere dello Sport reporting on Saturday (via Sport Witness) that he will either join West Ham or London rivals Tottenham Hotspur.

Fan feed West Ham Transfers relayed Moyes’ comments, and here’s how supporters reacted.

West Ham fans flock to Moyes’ transfer comments

“Some good news at last”

Credit: @DKouzas

“Trust in the Moyesiah”

Credit: @iantjrandall

“Please Milenkovic”

Credit: @_moseme

“Defender must be close then”

Credit: @xDellisOfficial

“I love this team so much it’s unbelievable”

Credit: @rayo4591

“can only pray”

Credit: @GeorgeeWHU

In other news, EXWHUEmployee issued this exciting update on one transfer target.

Newcastle United journalist Liam Kennedy insists that Steve Bruce has not been helped by the club’s takeover situation.

The Magpies continue to hope that the long-mooted takeover from the Saudi Arabia-backed Public Investment Fund will be given the green light amid court proceedings.

It remains to be seen if the club would be willing to keep Bruce as manager were the takeover to go ahead.

And Kennedy thinks that the club’s fans have been given a glimpse of what life could be like without Mike Ashley, which is somewhat feeding into the supporters’ distrust of the manager.

Indeed, Newcastle began their season with a disappointing 4-2 defeat to West Ham United at St James’ Park, despite twice taking the lead.

Kennedy said: “I think the takeover situation hasn’t helped him. I think that’s almost given people a glimpse of light, thinking there could be a better future ahead.

“And then the realisation maybe this summer is coming that people think maybe not now, maybe we’re stuck with Ashley, and with Ashley comes Bruce, and that level of manager. So in some ways, he’s probably suffering from the circumstances a little bit.”

Newcastle are next in action against Aston Villa before taking on Burnley in the EFL Cup; the club will be hoping to get their first three points on the board against Dean Smith’s men.

When Everton signed Michael Keane for a total that could rise to £30m back in 2017, eyebrows were raised.

There was a clear recognition that the central defender could become a big part of the Three Lions set up and with that in mind, he was always going to cost a fair whack.

However, it’s difficult to suggest that sum of money has ever been worth it. This assessment comes in light of an extremely difficult window for the Toffees too.

Rafa Benitez hasn’t been able to spend as freely as he would have liked when agreeing to come to Goodison Park and their inability to sign another proven centre-half is coming back to bite them.

With Ben Godfrey on the sidelines, those who have come in to deputise are hardly covering themselves in glory.

Keane has been questionable right throughout the new campaign, form that makes Everton’s decision to hand him a new five-year contract in 2020 a rather baffling one.

The £69k-per-week earner was at fault for Leeds’ opening goal last weekend, turning slowly and allowing Patrick Bamford to get the run on him.

Yet, Keane’s form didn’t improve despite playing against Championship opposition in the Carabao Cup.

Everton were far from their best as they scraped a 2-1 win away at Huddersfield after having Moise Kean sent off for his reaction to a late tackle.

Although that didn’t help proceedings, neither did Keane’s defending for Huddersfield’s goal.

As the ball was swung in from a corner, the former Burnley man completely lost his marker as Tom Lees rose highest to head the ball home.

He was playing next to Jonjoe Kenny, a further defender who looked completely out of his depth. He endured a torrid loan spell with Celtic last term and his first outing for Everton after returning did not go well either.

Kenny was caught out on plenty of occasions and was handed a match rating of just five by the Liverpool Echo.

Yet, his statistics certainly weren’t as bad as Keane’s. He completed just 73% of his passes, the second-worst tally by an outfield player in a Toffees shirt on the night.

Furthermore, he surrendered possession on 17 occasions, a tally that only Asmir Begovic topped in the Everton side.

It’s one thing performing below par against Premier League opposition but the fact he was at fault against a team in the division below says a lot about his early season performances.

Rafa Benitez should be incredibly concerned about the form of his centre-back. He must lust for the return of Godfrey.

AND in other news, Patrick Boyland makes Ndombele to Everton claim, fans should be intrigued…

Many Manchester United fans have been left slamming the display of Fred in the first half of their game away at Wolves on Sunday afternoon.

The Brazilian encountered a truly torrid opening few minutes as he struggled to defend against the pace and dribbling ability of Adama Traore in particular.

He constantly lost the ball in the middle of the park and could not recover, gifting chances to Bruno Lage’s team, including a very good one early on for Francisco Trincao, who waltzed past the Brazilian as if he wasn’t even there.

It was always going to be a risk by Ole Gunnar Solskjaer only starting with one natural defensive midfield player, and it really told as Fred struggled to stop attacks coming towards his goal.

Manchester United fans on Fred display

These members of the Old Trafford faithful slammed Fred on Twitter, with one Red Devils supporter even going as far as to claim that he is a ‘disgrace’:

“Take Fred off. Absolutely awful”

Credit: @ZombieJester

“Fred is getting bullied by Traore”

Credit: @_Vigneshhhh_

“CR7 may file a transfer request today after seeing Fred’s masterclass.”

Credit: @Usama7

“Fred is just being himself what a disgrace to this team. Speechless”

Credit: @puppypawerr

“Fred should never play football again. Horrific. I’d give some of our academy players a chance ahead of him”

Credit: @Lord_You07

“Get the Brazilian fraud Fred off of the pitch immediately.”

Credit: @iganeshmgr

In other news, find out whose performance against Southampton was slammed here!

Speaking exclusively to Football FanCast, former Premier League forward Dean Windass believes Crystal Palace letting Gary Cahill go was a “bad decision”, though he can understand the reasoning.

Cahill recently joined Bournemouth, with Palace confirming his release at the start of August following the end of his contract.

Palace and Cahill were said to be in talks over a new deal, but discussions reportedly broke down due to a disagreement over wages, resulting in the south London club releasing the English defender.

Ultimately, for Windass, allowing Cahill to leave was not the best of decisions, with the ex-Hull City striker believing his exit is a huge loss for the Selhurst Park dressing room.

“Experience wise and around the changing room, it’s probably a bad decision letting him go,” Windass told FFC. “But I think on the pitch, Patrick’s recognised that obviously he’s coming to that age and probably Gary’s the same. 

“But only time will tell now, you know, what he’s got at the back available, but they need to stop leaking goals.”

Losing someone of Cahill’s experience is a bit of a blow, but Palace are clearly looking to the future.

Marc Guehi, 21, and Joachim Andersen 25, are both significantly younger and could be Palace’s first-choice central defensive partnership for years to come.

Former Nottingham Forest goalkeeper Mark Crossley believes it’s a big boost having Joe Worrall back in the team.

The 24-year-old centre-back missed the opening few fixtures of Nottingham Forests campaign with a calf problem but returned to captain the side in the clubs recent 1-1 draw against rivals Derby County.

Worrall featured 33 times for Nottingham Forest last season, scoring one goal and providing one assist and helped the Reds to a 17th place finish in the Championship. Chris Hughton’s side have started the new season in poor form as they have only managed to get one point from a possible 15 and currently sit bottom of the league table.

Worrall was linked with a move away from the City Ground this summer, with Premier League side Southampton interested in him according to Hampshire Live, but the centre-back remained with Forest beyond the deadline and Crossley believes it’s a big boost to have him back in the Forest side.

“Brilliant boost, he’s going to be a top player, put it that way, and he’s another one whose team’s not doing very well. You wouldn’t be surprised he’s back fit now, he’s back in the team, he leads by example, really good player, really good lad, he’s going to have a really, really brilliant future.

“Forest have got to keep him and it’s going to be difficult to keep him at the club because the start to the season hasn’t been good at all,” Crossley told Football FanCast.

After getting their first point on the board against Derby, you would imagine that Forest will look to build on that and help push them up the Championship table and clear of the relegation zone.

Wolverhampton Wanderers fans were left lamenting a pair of misses from Nelson Semedo in their clash with Watford on Saturday afternoon. 

Wolves came into the game without a point on the board, having lost each of their first three Premier League fixtures by a goal to nil.

Watford, meanwhile, were looking to return to winning ways on home turf after following-up their opening-day victory against Aston Villa with back-to-back defeats at Brighton and Spurs.

Recapping Semedo’s afternoon at Vicarage Road

Bruno Lage selected Semedo at right wing-back for the third consecutive match, with Marcal, who was superb, slotting in on the other side.

The Portuguese ace however had the chance to put the visitors ahead in first-half stoppage time after he was set through by right-winger Francisco Trincao, but he shot straight at Daniel Bachmann.

And then, just after the hour mark, he was in again, only to fire wide of the post.

Semedo also lost six of his ten ground duels, failed to complete a dribble and conceded possession 14 times in total, contributing to a team-low SofaScore rating of 6.2.

Mercifully for Wolves, an own-goal from Francisco Sierralta and a debut strike from Hwang Hee-chan were enough to earn their three points.

These Wolves fans bemoaned Semedo misses

“Remember when fans said Doherty wasn’t good enough after getting 15 goals/assists and now Semedo has missed another 1 on 1. We are actually cursed. How have we missed another”

Credit: @Habby396

“Semedo has robbed Raul of an absolute beauty of an assist”

Credit: @wwfcnaasif

“Semedo man you’re killing me rn”

Credit: @haydenbd_

“Semedo has to score, again”

Credit: @WeAreWolvesFans

“Why is it Semedo every time man, guy can’t finish”

Credit: @_tomwwfc

“Semedo I just can’t man”

Credit: @GeorgeTheStud

In other news, this ‘excellent’ ace has hinted at a desire to leave.

In an exclusive interview with Football FanCast, former Premier League midfielder Carlton Palmer has praised Crystal Palace for the intensity they showed against Tottenham and the way they passed the ball.

Palace ran out 3-0 winners in that London derby versus Spurs last Saturday, courtesy of goals from Wilfried Zaha and Odsonne Edouard, the latter scoring twice.

Nuno Espirito Santo’s side, of course, had to play half an hour with 10 men following Japhet Tanganga’s red card in the second half. But nevertheless, it was still a superb performance by Palace.

And the Eagles’ intensity and passing on the day particularly caught the attention of Palmer.

“I thought they were excellent against Tottenham,” the ex-Leeds United and Southampton player told FFC.

“The way they moved the ball, the intensity. They passed the ball, looking to play from the back, play through midfield. I thought it was a very, very good performance.”

Patrick Vieira will be hoping for another good performance when Palace take on Liverpool next and why not when you have the likes of Zaha and Edouard?

While no one will be expecting the Eagles to travel to Anfield and take all three points back to south London, they look like they have a team that can at least carry an attacking threat during the game and cause Jurgen Klopp’s side problems.