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A number of Aston Villa supporters have laid into Tyrone Mings’ erratic performance in the first half away to Arsenal.

Dean Smith’s side have had a week to reflect on their shock 3-2 defeat at home to Wolves last Saturday, on a day when it looked as though three points were in the bag.

Instead, Villa suffered one of their most disappointing Premier League losses in recent memory.

Smith’s men are back in league action this evening, making the trip to north London to face an Arsenal side still flattering to deceive under Mikel Arteta.

The Gunners were the better team from the off however, and one player who struggled to impress in the opening 45 minutes at the Emirates was Mings.

The England international was diving into tackles, completed a poor 71 per cent of his passes and was eventually booked for a mistimed challenge on Alexandre Lacazette.

Aston Villa fans react to Mings’ first half

These Villa supporters gave their thoughts on Mings’ display on Twitter.

“Mings carries on just like he finished last week”

Credit: @brian_seadon

“Mings try not to hoof the ball challenge!”

Credit: @YoungArevalo

“Mings is struggling”

Credit: @jimmydoris1986

“I love Tyrone Mings but he is TRASH in a back 3”

Credit: @avfcPJR

“Omg Mings no”

Credit: @JamieeAVFC

“Mings is so reckless. Incredibly naive at times “

Credit: @SandbrookNick

In other news, some Villa fans have slammed a piece of Premier League news that has emerged. Read more here.

Kristoffer Ajer is unhappy with Celtic after they rejected two bids in the region of £10m for his services, according to The Athletic.

The Lowdown: Ajer’s contract running down

The 23-year-old, who made 46 appearances for the Hoops last season, is into the final 12 months of his Parkhead deal. The Norwegian recently shared his intentions to leave Celtic Park this summer and move to a top-five league.

The likes of Norwich City, Bayer Leverkusen and Newcastle United have all been linked with the defender, and it now seems as if two of those clubs have made big-money bids for Ajer, considering his situation.

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The Latest: Bailey’s post

The Athletic’s Norwich City correspondent Michael Bailey posted a link to a story on Ajer on Twitter, shortly after Ange Postecoglou’s first press conference as Celtic boss had finished.

Within his post, Bailey claimed Ajer is unhappy with how the Hoops are handling his situation, revealing that  both Norwich and Leverkusen have had offers turned down as he stated:

“Kristoffer Ajer unhappy with how Celtic are dealing with this summer. £10m bids rejected from Bayer Leverkusen & Norwich City for CB in the last yr of contract. Not over yet.”

The Verdict: Sell

Should Celtic remain stubborn and Ajer stays at Parkhead for the 2021/22 season, the 23-year-old could end up leaving for nothing this time next year. He will be able to discuss a potential pre-contract agreement in January, so it would make sense for Celtic to accept an offer in the region of £10m over the coming weeks.

That may allow Postecoglou to bring in one or possibly two defensive additions, with Mario Vuskovic and Piero Hincapie two centre-backs who have recently been linked with a move to Glasgow.

In other news: Alan Nixon provides Aaron Hickey to Celtic update, find out more here. 

According to a report by West Ham United insiders Claret & Hugh, the Irons have been talking to Brentford ace Ivan Toney’s representatives over a possible summer move – with yet another striker seriously on the radar it would seem.

West Ham insiders shares Toney news

This comes as links to Chelsea forward Tammy Abraham continue to heat up with ExWHUemployee recently revealing that he is top of the Hammers’ list of preferred forwards (Patreon).

However, bringing fresh information, C&H explain that West Ham United have now contacted the representatives of Championship high-flyer Toney as an alternative option.

The 25-year-old forward has a contract with the Bees until 2025 and could demand a considerable transfer fee, valued at around £35 million according to a recent update by Football League World.

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Regardless, West Ham are allegedly in the fray alongside a host of Premier League clubs including Everton, Leeds, Wolves and Palace.

Transfer Tavern take

He has been on fire for the promotion-chasing side this season and could be a huge signing if GSB manage to do a deal this summer.

Indeed, Toney has netted an extraordinary 29 goals and 10 assists in 42 Championship starts for Brentford and, at just 25, could prove a real snip for £35m.

You could argue he rivals Abraham in terms of top striking targets and has been heralded by figures in the media as ‘unplayable’ for his form over 2020/2021 (David Cartlidge, ESPN).

We therefore believe that he should be prioritised just as much as Abraham with manager David Moyes seeking to acquire a much-needed striker this summer.

In other news: West Ham fans flock to this transfer news, find out more here.

Everton made a huge transfer mistake all the way back in 2009 when they failed to capture the signing of midfielder Ever Banega. It’s one that they will surely regret.

At the time Banega had just finished a loan spell with Atletico Madrid when Everton were interested in signing him on a permanent basis from his parent club Valencia.

Now 33 years old he would have been 20 at the time and a young prospect with a bright future ahead of him. However, according to The Daily Mail, the move fell through at the last minute with the Spanish club reluctant to let Banega leave after they had failed to secure a replacement for him.

He went on to stay at Valencia until 2014 making 185 appearances for the club and being directly involved in 41 goals before moving to Sevilla for £2.35m. It was here where he achieved a tremendous amount of success, winning the Europa League three times in two separate spells, lifting the trophy in 2015, 2016 and most recently 2020.

Arteta 2.0

At the time he was close to signing for the Toffees, he was compared to their star midfielder at the time Mikel Arteta, with special notice paid to his quality in possession and his playmaking ability.

Everton did have playmakers of their own under David Moyes such as Marouane Fellaini and Steven Pienaar, but Banega could have made a huge difference in the middle of the park sitting alongside Arteta.

After failing in their attempts to sign the Argentine “maestro” in the words of WhoScored when he was rated at just £7.2m, the Toffees subsequently had to rely on youngster Jack Rodwell at the time. The Englishman was 18 during that season and played 28 games for the club in the Premier League. He went on to have a good Everton career but at the time had much less ability than Banega.

Ultimately this is a signing that would have improved Everton greatly, with the 65-cap Argentine eventually going on to be worth a high of £18m. However, if the player had left he wouldn’t have gone on to achieve anywhere near as much as he did with Sevilla.

Although they got close, Everton didn’t win a trophy during Moyes’ time at Goodison Park and have gone without silverware since 1995.

Banega now plays in Saudi Arabia for Al-Shabab who he joined on a free transfer in 2020.

IN other news: More misery: Alan Myers drops four-word Everton claim that’ll leave supporters fuming…

Southampton look to have been robbed blind in their negotiations with Tottenham Hotspur for Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg in the summer, with the Danish international continuing to impress in Jose Mourinho’s side this season.

The former Saints captain was sold to the North London club for a reported fee of just £15 million, despite Southampton reportedly setting an asking price of £35 million earlier in the summer.

Of course, they were able to negotiate a deal with Spurs that saw Kyle Walker-Peters move the other way for just £12 million, which has proved to be an excellent deal for the club, but you could definitely argue that the South Coast club could have negotiated a much better deal for the defensive midfielder.

In his time at Spurs, Hojbjerg has seen his market value rise to a career-high of £31.5 million, despite being valued at just £18 million during the summer.

He has been a mainstay in Mourinho’s Spurs side this season, making 29 appearances in the Premier League and averaging a very solid 6.96 rating for his performances.

After impressing in Spurs’ 2-0 North London derby win earlier in the season, Mourinho was full of praise for the former Bayern Munich man, saying:

“Simplicity is genius. And the guy is so simple in everything he does with the ball. And I think he’s a phenomenal player. Congratulations, Mr Levy.”

The fact that Mourinho was saluting Spurs’ chairman Daniel Levy, who is renowned for his ability to negotiate transfer deals, suggests that even the Portuguese manager believes that they got a bargain when signing Hojbjerg.

Although Southampton were almost forced into a decision with Hojbjerg due to his old contract being set to expire at the end of this season, the fact that the Danish international’s value has gone through the roof during his time at Spurs definitely suggests that they could’ve demanded a bit more.

If he continues to impress with the Lilywhites, then you could definitely argue that Southampton were robbed blind by Levy in the negotiations for Hojbjerg.

And, in other news… Saints can forget about relegation after news on £75k-p/w star; Ralph surely buzzing

Flocking to Twitter, these West Ham United fans have had their say after the club confirmed a ‘good bit of news’ in regards to their head of recruitment position.

The Hammers made a club staff announcement yesterday in revealing manager David Moyes’ entire backroom team for the upcoming 2021/2022 campaign.

In what will be a very interesting season ahead for West Ham, where they will even be competing in the Europa League group stages, Moyes will be backed by his first team coaching staff with Billy McKinlay now returning to the club.

He will be joined by the existing team of assistants in Kevin Nolan, Paul Nevin, Stuart Pearce and Xavi Valero – with the Irons confirming more seemingly good news as well.

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As per the official announcement, West Ham say they are also close to appointing a Head of Recruitment.

In what could be a big potential call in terms of overseeing transfer activity, these supporters believe this is positive news for the club as they drop their takes on social media.

Find all of their best ones down below.

West Ham fans flock to Head of Recruitment news…

“This is a good bit of news!! Despite the negative stuff over the last two days, we are getting someone in recruitment. It’s a step forward for sure”

Credit: @FromTheAnvilWHU

“Head of recruitment close to being appointed which is a huge positive towards transfers”

Credit: @1bbyWHU

“Might actually get somewhere now”

Credit: @WHUsamzini

“This is positive”

Credit: @westham_hub

“Should help deals move forward too.”

Credit: @samizgould

“Ooooh !!”

Credit: @shanyloublog

In other news: ‘Exciting’, ‘Here we go’, ‘Thank you’ – West Ham fans also flocked to this club announcement, find out more here.

Everton are leading the race for Sporting Lisbon midfielder Matheus Nunes but Newcastle are still in with a shout of signing him.

That’s according to Portuguese newspaper Record (via Sport Witness).

The lowdown

22-year-old Nunes made 39 appearances for Sporting in all competitions last season, scoring three goals and setting-up three more.

One of his former team-mates at Estoril, Goncalo Santos, has hailed him as ‘unbelievable’ with the ball at his feet and claimed he’s ‘impossible’ to catch.

Nunes only signed a contract extension in the Portuguese capital last October, ostensibly tying him down until 2025.

The latest

Everton are said to be closing in on an agreement with Sporting after weeks of talks, with a €20million (£17.2million) deal in the pipeline.

Newcastle, the report states, tried to sign Nunes in January and have yet to ‘give up’ on landing the Brazilian.

Intriguingly, Sport Witness sources claim that Everton’s pursuit is being delayed by their manager hunt.

The Toffees have yet to appoint a successor to Carlo Ancelotti, who left to return to Real Madrid at the start of June.

But former Newcastle boss Rafael Benitez is tipped to take over at Goodison Park.

The verdict

Newcastle may be running out of time to jump ahead of Everton with Benitez’s appointment seemingly imminent.

You’d think that Everton can’t rubber-stamp any deal without confirmation from a new boss, but it may be a formality when he does arrive.

In truth, Toon supporters would perhaps prefer to see any funds that have been set aside for a midfield signing put towards a move for Joe Willock, who was a revelation after his mid-season loan move.

It bodes well that they’re competing for big-money deals, though, after previous claims of a very small transfer budget.

In other news, this starlet has reportedly agreed terms with Newcastle. 

David Moyes will be fearing any potential spell on the sidelines for Mark Noble after confirming that the West Ham United captain sustained a “bad” injury against Leicester City.

That’s according to football.london, who quote the Irons boss as revealing Noble took a kick to his elbow during Sunday’s 3-2 win over the Foxes.

Noble had opened the London Stadium affair beside Tomas Soucek as he started back-to-back Premier League games for only the second time this season, as Moyes continues to be without Declan Rice.

Rice is facing a race against time to be fit before the end of the season after sustaining a knee ligament injury during the March international break, which left Noble and Soucek as Moyes’ only natural holding midfield options.

But Moyes could be down to only one option when West Ham visit relegation-threatened Newcastle United on Saturday, after seeing Noble forced off through injury late into his 400th Premier League appearance in claret and blue.

“He got a bad kick on the elbow so his elbow is bad, so we will need to see how he is and, look, Mark has done brilliantly well,” Moyes said following the game.

“He has come into the team and as I said at the start of the season, I thought Mark would have a big part to play, he has a huge part to play because he does so many good things for the team.

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“Obviously, we can’t hide the fact that we miss Declan and Micky Antonio, but we have to find other ways of winning and I have to say, Mark has come in and done a great job.”

Ben Johnson, who is a natural right-back, had to come on to replace Noble in the 82nd-minute and try to help see out Sunday’s game, but was unable to prevent a nervy finish when Kelechi Iheanacho struck his second goal after a late surge of pressure from Leicester.

Moyes will now be fearing the implications of losing Noble for any period of time, having seen his West Ham side emerge as genuine challengers for Champions League qualification.

The Irons sit fourth in the Premier League table and only a point behind the Foxes after beating Brendan Rodgers’ side, but doubts will rise over the likelihood of the London Stadium natives maintaining their position with only one natural central midfielder available.

Noble – who Dean Ashton claims has “given absolutely everything he can” to West Ham – did not look out of place against Wolverhampton Wanderers or Leicester after coming in for Rice, with his leadership skills key to keeping things calm.

The 33-year-old put his body on the line to protect the Irons defence on Sunday, too, having thrown himself in front of a driven effort from Youri Tielemans.

But his decision may now cost West Ham in the long run having gone down clutching his arm in the aftermath, to leave Moyes facing an anxious few days.

AND in other news, West Ham eye 23-year-old talent once backed to become “world-class”…

Many West Ham United fans are eager for the club to sign both Alex Kral and Adam Hlozek after the Irons were linked with a move for the duo.

The curtains have now closed on what was a fantastic campaign for the Hammers. They spent much of the season in the race to reach the Champions League, and although they eventually fell short, they still qualified for the Europa League. As such, David Moyes and his team will have a busy summer ahead of them as they aim to get the squad ready for what will be a challenging 2021/22 campaign.

New signings could well be on the way, and they have now been linked with moves for Czech duo Kral and Hlozek by Salim Baungally. The journalist claimed that the Irons are fully focused on signing the pair, who are valued at £9m and £15.3m respectively by Transfermarkt and were both selected in their country’s Euro 2020 squad.

Kral has excelled in defensive midfield in recent months, while Hlozek netted 15 goals during an impressive campaign to earn a new deal at Sparta Prague. However, it may be the case that the new contract simply enables the club to extract a higher fee for him if they were to cash in on him.

The news was shared on Twitter by @WestHam_Central, and it attracted plenty of reaction from supporters. These fans took to the social media platform to give their thoughts on the update.

Let’s see what the West Ham fans had to say about the news below

“Get it done before he gets the Euros Golden Boot”

Credit: @_ghzst

“Pleaseeeeeee”

Credit: @dtmason15

“Yesssss”

Credit: @Tommb22

“GET THEM BOTH IN NOEEWWWWW”

Credit: @FornalsFluency

“Make it happen”

Credit: @whu_hearney

“I’d be over the moon if we sign both!”

Credit: @TrevorBenstock

In other news, many West Ham fans are livid over this man’s snub.

Steven Gerrard has provided an update on Rangers centre-back Filip Helander following his injury against St Johnstone.

What’s the latest?

Rangers boss Steven Gerrard has admitted that Filip Helander’s injury is a concerning one after he was stretchered off against St Johnstone on Saturday, although he does not know the full extent of the blow at this moment in time.

He told The Scotsman:

“I’m concerned. He’s with the doctors now. He’s got ice on it and is bandaged up. It doesn’t look good.

“But until we scan it and assess it in the next 24-48 hours time, we’re not too sure.”

Gerrard will be gutted

Gerrard will surely be gutted by Helander’s injury as it could be a major blow to the club in the short term, with a Europa League clash coming up against Lyon on Thursday.

Whilst there is no definitive timeline on his injury, the fact that he was stretchered off with a knee injury and that the manager said that “it doesn’t look good” are not signs which suggest he’ll be back in action any time soon.

Therefore, the reality of the situation is that Rangers could now be without Helander for an extended period of time, which will weaken the club in the Europa League and the Scottish Premiership.

The Swedish international has proven himself to be a solid defender for the Gers in recent years, particularly impressing in the 2020/21 campaign.

Last season, Helander averaged an excellent SofaScore rating of 7.10 in 22 appearances. He won an eye-catching 68% of his duels over the entire campaign, whilst helping Rangers keep 13 clean sheets in his 22 games.

Gerrard once hailed the £14k-per-week beast as a leader and praised the experience he brings to the side when he is on the pitch. He said:

“I think he has shown great leadership. He had a little bit of an ankle issue before the international break and never played for Sweden.

“I decided to go with Katic at Hearts for the real physicality of Ikpeazu and then use Fil’s experience and leadership away to Porto, which I knew was going to be more of a technical game. One that needed experience.”

This is why the ex-Liverpool midfielder will be gutted that he could now be without the 28-year-old for the foreseeable future. He looks set to lose a quality, proven, option at centre-back and will now need other players to step up and show that they can produce equally solid displays in defence.

AND in other news, 82% duels won: Rangers beast with 73 touches stole the show for Steven Gerrard…