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Tottenham fans have taken to Twitter to react after L’Equipe revealed that the north London outfit are in ‘serious contention’ to sign Lille midfielder Boubakary Soumare, and are awaiting a decision from the 20-year-old over his future.

These Spurs supporters recently reacted to an update from La Voix Du Nord, which stated that the youngster is keen on a move to England and Lille are willing to sell their asset for a fee between €50m (£42.8m) – €60m (£51.4m).

The more recent update from L’Equipe offers something different in the respect that it reveals Jose Mourinho’s side are serious contenders for Soumare’s signature – the Lille No.24 has made 17 Ligue 1 appearances this term, as well as six outings in the Champions League.

Spurs only recently signed two midfielders in Tanguy Ndombele and Giovani Lo Celso, and with glaring issues at right-back and in between the sticks as Serge Aurier and Paulo Gazzaniga struggle – you only need to look at how the pair were responsible for both of Chelsea’s goals on Sunday – you would think that’s where their priorities should lie.

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However, the interest in Soumare seems entirely genuine if L’Equipe are to be believed, and this update has sparked a discussion amongst a number of Tottenham fans on Twitter.

This supporter expressed some frustration over the news, sarcastically stating that an inexperienced youngster who has never played in the Premier League is “just what we need”.

Additionally, this fan also poured cold water on the news. Despite mentioning that it would be a “good transfer”, the supporter went on to list the areas that need reinforcing more than midfield – given what we previously mentioned about Aurier and Gazzaniga, they are entirely right to do so.

When discussing the update, this fan named ‘Joe’ went as far as comparing Soumare with a “16/17 Wanyama” – high praise indeed given how imposing and consistent the Kenyan was in that 2016/17 campaign, the final season at White Hart Lane.

While others may have expressed resistance to this transfer above, these two supporters seem excited by the news and quite clearly want a deal to be completed.

“Yes please” and “please get it done” suggest that this pair are extremely keen to see Soumare arrive in north London as a Tottenham player.

Lastly, this fan called Soumare the “heir to Sissoko’s throne” – keeping their verdict on the young Frenchman short and sweet, without going into much detail over whether or not they want a deal to happen.

In other news, these Tottenham fans were disappointed with this update on Toby Alderweireld and Mauricio Pochettino…

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In regard to their astounding form this season, many may argue that Championship leaders Norwich don’t need any new signings. Daniel Farke has his young charges playing exciting, attacking football, and promotion back to the Premier League looks like a real possibility.

However, as we all know, England’s second tier is arguably one of the most demanding in world football. It contains 46 games, each one of them against tough, determined opposition – it is especially demanding on the players both mentally and physically.

Potential injuries are a big worry, whilst even just a tiny slip could see Norwich drop down the table – the gap between first and ninth is just ten points.

With that in mind, the Canaries may need a new signing or two in the January transfer window. We asked Norwich fans if they’d like to see former Sunderland and current St Etienne star Wahbi Khazri arrive at the club, as he has been in fine form with eight goals in 15 starts this season.

In what was far from a landslide vote, 56% of you voted against bringing the Tunisian to Norfolk, obviously believing that he isn’t the right fit for the club as shown by the results below…

After a short but successful loan spell at St. James’ Park last season, Newcastle and manager Rafael Benitez went on the charm offensive to bring Kenedy back to Tyneside for this campaign.

Kenedy, though, is yet to display the form from last term that had Newcastle supporters desperate for him to return to St. James’ Park, and the Brazilian has not helped himself in this difficult spell with his latest comments.

The Breakdown

Speaking to Brazilian outlet UOL (via the Shields Gazette), Kenedy said: “It was good to be loaned to get more playing time – better than staying at Chelsea and not playing.

“I hope this year I can make a good season for Newcastle and go back to Chelsea to continue. I have a dream to return and to be a champion for the club.”

With Chelsea being his parent club and a club of massive stature in European football, it is only normal for £9m-rated (via Transfermarkt) Kenedy to envision himself eventually making it in west London.

However, the timing of his words do not come at a good time with both himself and Newcastle not enjoying the best of starts in the Premier League while the Newcastle faithful, regardless, will not take kindly to Kenedy publicly admitting he is using the club as a stepping stone.

For Kenedy, it has never been a question of ability, but rather his attitude with the former Fluminense man having not always seen eye to eye with his former manager at Chelsea Antonio Conte (via Telegraph).

And, if the 22-year-old does not fix up in the coming weeks, a collision course with Benitez and Newcastle supporters may also await.

According to a post by sports correspondent Carrie Brown on her official Twitter account, former Manchester United boss Louis van Gaal has reportedly ruled himself out of the running to be the new Everton manager amid links he could get the job earlier this week.

What’s the word, then?

Well, The Mirror reported on Monday that the Dutchman could be outsider to succeed fellow Dutchman Ronald Koeman at Goodison Park after the odds were slashed on him taking the hot-seat, but Carrie Brown has moved to dampen those rumours.

She posted on Twitter that the 66-year-old had told her that “it’s not the project for him” with a return to England to manage a top four club seemingly the only thing he is willing to consider.

Everton are continuing to chase Watford’s Marco Silva – the favourite for the vacant role – but a move is proving difficult as the Hornets don’t want to lose him mid-season and he doesn’t have a release clause in the contract he signed in the summer.

Why wouldn’t LVG want to manage Everton?

It seems he is only willing to manage a club competing for the Champions League spots in the Premier League and while that is something that the Toffees hope to do in the future, they are obviously struggling right now.

The Dutchman has probably been put off by the Merseyside outfit’s low placing in the table and their poor form, and the fact that he only wants to manage a big club suggests he isn’t that desperate to return.

Considering Arsene Wenger, Jurgen Klopp, Mauricio Pochettion, Jose Mourinho, Pep Guardiola and Antonio Conte are in charge of those teams right now, it is hard to see where van Gaal could realistically be handed an opportunity considering he failed to pull up many trees with United previously.

Would Everton and the fans have wanted him?

It probably would have been a mixed consensus.

While the club may well have fancied an experienced name like van Gaal who has managed Barcelona, United and Bayern Munich and is a name that could potentially attract big-name players to Goodison Park, the supporters will have remembered his time at Old Trafford and probably not have been too impressed.

According to reports in the Liverpool Echo, Everton are reportedly keen to sign Sunderland goalkeeper Jordan Pickford this summer and have already lodged an £8m bid, but it was laughed off by the Black Cats.

What’s the word, then?

Well, Toffees manager is keen to sign a new keeper before pre-season to provide competition for Maarten Stekelenburg and Joel Robles, and he has been consistently linked with Pickford over the course of the last few weeks.

The one sticking point appears to be the fee though, with the Black Cats only willing to consider offers of £30m for the 23-year-old despite their disappointing relegation to the Championship.

With the Merseyside outfit offering just £8m so far, the two clubs are a long way apart from an agreement.

Would he be a good signing for Everton?

He certainly would be.

While Sunderland went down in a dour campaign, Pickford was one of only a few players to come out of the season with any praise following some impressive performances between the sticks.

The 23-year-old kept four clean sheets and made an average of 3.79 saves per game.

Will Sunderland compromise on the fee?

While they certainly won’t be willing to accept an offer of £8m, things might change if Everton raise their bid to something more around the £20m mark.

The Black Cats know that it is important that they challenge for automatic promotion back to the Premier League and the fee received for Pickford could help the new manager significantly strengthen his squad over the summer.

Will Everton compromise or turn elsewhere?

It’s difficult to say.

While they will like raise their offer for Pickford it’s unlikely they will go up to the £30m that Sunderland will want.

If they aren’t willing to do that, Koeman will have to move on to his next target but the problem for Everton is that other clubs know that they have a significant transfer budget this summer.

What’s the verdict, then?

Well, if Everton want to show ambition and sign a player that could be at Goodison Park for at least the next five years, they will need to pay the money to get him.

Even though Sunderland are demanding £30m, it is likely that a compromise would be found.

If you were to define Claude Puel’s start to life as Southampton manager you would have to call it average. That is in no way a criticism to the fromer Lyon and Monaco manager, it’s just the fact that his side sit 10th in the table and have a goal difference of zero. In fairness you cannot really get a much more average start than that.

If the Saints are to secure a Europa League place for the third season in a row then they are going to have to work their way up the table and ultimately, the only way that can be achieved is by winning games and to win games, you need to find the net with regularity.

After a start to the season which has seen them win three games, draw four and lose four, they are going to need to make sure that form improves as we move nearer to the halfway stage of the season and beyond. This team has looked impressive at times but the main worry is who will get the goals to fire them up the table.

As good as Charlie Austin has been, he still has a habit of wasting his chances, while Nathan Redmond is still adapting to a new position. Throw into the mix Shane Long, who never quite gets the rewards for his endeavours, and with Jay Rodriguez once again battling injury, and the options look sparse on the South Coast.

That’s not to forget the fact that they have record signing Sofiane Boufal among their ranks. We’ve only seen glimpses of what he can do but unfortunately for Saints fans, they will have to do without him for a month when he represents Morocco in African Cup Of Nations duty in February.

Therefore, Southampton may very well have to look to the January transfer market to improve their chances of securing European football once again. It was always going to be a tough task for Puel this season, to not only follow up on the incredible work that Ronald Koeman did, but once again do so with another player exodus in the summer.

After a slow start to proceedings, Southampton looked like they were finding their stride with a five game unbeaten run across September and October, although that mood of optimism has been tempered slightly after being comfortably beaten by Chelsea and upset away at Hull just before the international break.

And it was that game against Hull that was pretty much symptomatic of their season so far. After going ahead through an early Charlie Austin penalty, they then failed to put Mike Phelan’s side to the sword as they missed a hatful of chances.

Those missed chances would be punished later on when Hull performed an unlikely comeback to get their first win in seven matches and leave Southampton asking themselves how they didn’t manage to win that game. The answer to that question is simple; if you don’t take your chances at this level then more often than not you will be punished.

If the league campaign has been steady then it’s the Saints’ Europa League campaign which has arguably got them the most plaudits. After crashing out in the qualifying stages last season to Midjytlland, they now look set to advance to the Round of 32 with their cause being helped hugely by their win over Inter Milan a few weeks ago.

As it stands, Southampton certainly don’t have the squad to compete on two fronts, so it’s either going to take a near herculean effort from the players that Claude Puel has at his disposal or reinforcements are sought in the January transfer window.

The transition to English football has been a relatively smooth one for the 56-year-old Frenchman and with a couple of additions, he could very well take this side up to the next level and away from the trappings that mid-table mediocrity brings. This upcoming transfer window will be important for a lot of sides and Southampton will need to be at the front of queue when it comes to snapping up a striker with an eye for goal.

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Paul Scholes gave his bizarre assessment of Manchester United after the Red Devils beat Luton in the Premier League.

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Scholes reacts to Man Utd winRed Devils beat LutonHatters had more possession & shotsWHAT HAPPENED?

United legend Scholes took to Instagram after watching Erik ten Hag's team win 2-1 against Luton at Kenilworth Road, posting his personal verdict of the match on his story afterwards.

AdvertisementWHAT SCHOLES SAID

Scholes said: "Weird team, United…Reckon they could be the only team that could win 5-0 and get hammered!"

GettyTHE BIGGER PICTURE

Scholes picked up on the fact that United created enough opportunities to score a lot more than two goals and run away with the game. Hojlund scored twice in the opening seven minutes, while Luton goalkeeper Thomas Kaminski potentially stopped it from being five for United after saving from Hojlund, Alejandro Garnacho and Marcus Rashford. However, at the same time, the Red Devils ceded 59% of possession to Luton and were actually outshot 22 to 21 by the hosts.

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DID YOU KNOW?

Sunday's encounter was the first time that Manchester United had played a league match at Kenilworth Road since April 1992 in the final season before the Premier League era. A 20-year-old Lee Sharpe scored United's goal in a 1-1 draw as they eventually went on to finish second to Leeds in the final table. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's United did face Luton away in a League Cup tie as recently as September 2020, with goals from Juan Mata, Marcus Rashford and Mason Greenwood producing a 3-0 win.

The Germany international is on his way to Barcelona after establishing himself as a club legend by the end of a seven-year stay at the Etihad

Is it time to get working on another statue outside the Etihad Stadium? Ilkay Gundogan has just brought an end to his Manchester City career and he will be undoubtedly remembered with the same level of fondness among supporters as the likes of Vincent Kompany, David Silva and Sergio Aguero.

The Germany international won 12 major trophies during his seven-year stay and was integral to so many of those triumphs. Indeed, Gundogan so often proved City's man for the big occasion, with Kyle Walker noting that the versatile midfielder appeared to transform into "prime (Zinedine) Zidane for the final months" of nearly every campaign.

So, with the 32-year-old now bound for Barcelona, GOAL looks back at Gundogan's 10 most iconic moments during his glorious spell in Manchester…

GettyGundogan's first goal

Gundogan was the first signing of Pep Guardiola's tenure, but he missed the start of the 2016-17 season through injury. However, when he finally returned to full fitness, he made an instant impact, winning a penalty in his first appearance, in a 4-0 Champions League rout of Borussia Monchengladbach, before opening his City account on his Premier League debut three days later, against Bournemouth.

Gundogan made a perfectly timed run into the area before coolly slotting home, which would eventually become a very familiar sight at the Etihad…

AdvertisementGettyA brace against Barca

City had been humiliated by Lionel Messi in their Champions League group-stage meeting with Barcelona in October 2016, with the Argentine scoring a hat-trick in a 4-0 win at Camp Nou.

It initially appeared that the No.10 might run riot again when he opened the scoring in the return clash at the Etihad. However, Gundogan then got to work, turning in a low cross from Raheem Sterling to level the game and then sealing a stunning 3-1 win after pouncing on a loose ball in the area.

GettyThe long road to recovery

Gundogan left the pitch in tears and Guardiola was "so sad" after the German suffered knee ligament damage in a 2-0 win over Watford in December 2016. The manager feared that one of his key men would be out of action for "several months", and so it proved. Gundogan only returned to action in September of the following year, but when he did, as a substitute in a 6-0 demolition of the same side at Vicarage Road, he was given a rapturous reception by the visiting supporters.

"It was very good," Gundogan admitted afterwards, "because it had been a long wait, nine months now. I'm a little proud of myself, because that was not my first long-term injury, so it was a long way that I had to fight back."

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GettyPass master

It quickly became clear that City were one of the finest exponents of possession football the English game had ever seen, and Gundogan was integral to the way in which they hogged the ball. In a historically-dominant 1-0 win over Chelsea in March 2018, he broke the Premier League's individual records for most attempted passes (174) and most successful passes (167) in a single game. The previous record-holder? Naturally, another City legend – Yaya Toure.

MatériaMais Notícias

Torcedor confesso do Ceará, o atacante brasileiro Raffael, que defende há sete temporadas o Borussia Monchengladbach, afirmou que tem como meta antes de pendurar as chuteiras jogar no seu clube do coração. A afirmação foi feita em transmissão ao vivo nas redes sociais do diário “O Povo”.

O atleta de 35 anos de idade falou isso em meio a possibilidade de não seguir na equipe alemã já que, tendo contrato válido até o próximo mês de junho, viu as conversas para renovar o vínculo serem forçosamente interrompidas com a pausa dos torneios mediante a pandemia do COVID-19.

-O plano é continuar jogando, não parar. Não sei se vou permanecer ou se irei embora.Falta eu jogar no time do meu coração. Fico imaginando como deve ser gratificante. Meu irmão (Rony) é torcedor do Fortaleza e jogou lá. Vi o Mota e o Iarley no Ceará. O Osvaldo no Fortaleza. Jogaram em clubes que torcem. Isso faz falta pra mim, de sentir isso no futebol. Vamos ver o que vai acontecer e torcer que tudo dê certo – afirmou.

Caso se concretize o desejo de Raffael, ele estaria não apenas retornando a sua terra natal depois de 17 anos como defendendo uma equipe de seu estado pela primeira vez na carreira. Isso porque, depois de aparecer na base do Vitória e se transferir para o Juventus-SP, ele se transferiu em julho de 2003 do time paulista para o Chiasso-SUI.

Além dos citados, o atacante já jogou na Europa também por Zurique-SUI, Hertha Berlim, Dínamo de Kiev e Schalke 04.

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When two of English football's great rivals met on August 28, 2011, nobody could have expected what followed

Wayne Rooney bangs in a hat-trick. Ashley Young owns the top right corner. Arsenal smashed. Manchester United and Old Trafford in dreamland. No one will ever forget the day Sir Alex Ferguson humbled his long-time rival Arsene Wenger in one of the most remarkable games in Premier League history.

An 8-2 win on August 28, 2011 stunned the Gunners and the rest of United's title rivals – coming just three games into the season and sending out a resounding statement of intent.

Ferguson's team was in a state of evolution as he began to disband his last great side: the Champions League-winners of 2008.

No Cristiano Ronaldo or Carlos Tevez. Paul Scholes had retired, Ryan Giggs was getting older, and absent from the starting line-up on the day were Rio Ferdinand, Nemanja Vidic and Michael Carrick.

This was a glimpse into the future. A look at Ferguson's work-in-progress – even on the back of a title-winning campaign the previous season.

On this day, they looked every bit like champions again. Manchester City would have other ideas, of course. Aguerooooo! and all that.

But for 90 minutes at Old Trafford, United were absolutely unstoppable…

GettyGK: David de Gea

A young goalkeeper relatively unknown to English football fans had only just signed for United, embarking on the daunting challenge of filling the void left by Edwin van der Sar.

He would go on to struggle badly in his first season, losing his place to Anders Lindegaard midway through the campaign. But he would later establish himself as one of the finest keepers of his generation and is still United's undisputed No1.

AdvertisementGetty ImagesRB: Chris Smalling

Deployed at right-back on the day, Smalling was still establishing himself at United after a £10m ($12.2m) move from Fulham the previous year.

Never truly fulfilled his potential at Old Trafford and not helped by the number of managerial changes since the retirement of Ferguson.

Famously called 'Mike' by Louis van Gaal, he has rebuilt his reputation and career in Italy with Roma under another former United boss, Jose Mourinho.

Getty ImagesCB: Phil Jones

Ferguson was convinced he had recruited a future great from Blackburn Rovers in Phil Jones, who could play centre-back, full-back and in midfield.

United's plan was for him to establish himself in the heart of defence as Ferguson started to look beyond Ferdinand and Vidic.

At the end of Fergie's final season the following year, he declared Jones as having the potential to become the greatest player in the club's history.

Injuries and the lack of Ferguson's guidance contributed to his career being derailed but he's still at the club to this day, though United are ready to sell him this summer.

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Getty ImagesCB: Jonny Evans

Another part of Ferguson's plan to overhaul his defence – along with Jones and Smalling – Evans was seen as the future.

While Gerard Pique was allowed return to Barcelona over doubts about his suitability to the Premier League, Evans was seen as a real contender to force his way into the first team.

By Ferguson's final season, he had begun to break up the Vidic-Ferdinand partnership.

Sold by Van Gaal in 2015, it is a decision still questioned by fans.