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An update has emerged regarding Newcastle United and their struggles in the January window…

What’s the talk?

Telegraph journalist Luke Edwards has revealed that PIF are failing in the transfer market due to their reluctance to pay the right price.

The reporter tweeted: “Nobody thought two players would be enough in Jan 1st, with no new centre backs or midfielders among them. It’s ok to ask what’s happening and the pressure is on this week. Actually, it’s not just ok, it’s the right thing to do with seven days left.”

He then added: “You have to make bids that are too good to turn down in January, not haggle and try to get a bargain. So far they have done too much of the latter according to my sources.”

Seething

Newcastle fans will surely be seething with this error from PIF, as Eddie Howe’s team is in desperate need of reinforcements ahead of the final few months of the campaign.

The Magpies are in a terrible position in the Premier League and the current group of players have shown that they are not good enough to compete at the higher end of the table. They are currently 18th in the division and have only won two games all season, with both coming against teams in the bottom five.

Only Norwich have conceded more goals, having played a game more, and only Burnley have won fewer matches, with the Clarets having three games in hand over the Toon. This suggests that they could be bottom of two key performance-related statistics if they concede two or more goals in their next game and Sean Dyche’s side are able to pick up another win in their three matches.

Therefore, Howe’s squad needs to be strengthened further despite the additions of Kieran Trippier and Chris Wood if they want to improve their chances of avoiding the drop. A year, or maybe more, of playing Championship football may not be what PIF imagined when they completed their takeover of the club, but they could be heading for that unless they change their tact in the next week, which is why fans will be frustrated as it stands.

PIF now need to start paying the fees required to land their targets or else they could end up with a lack of signings, or potentially panicking and bringing in the wrong ones close to deadline day. Time is running out and Newcastle supporters must be seething with the lack of progress behind the scenes.

AND in other news, Luke Edwards “told” frustrating Newcastle transfer update, Howe surely livid…

A big Rangers transfer claim has emerged, regarding the potential sale of Romanian forward Ianis Hagi from Ibrox and his future under Giovanni van Bronckhorst.

What’s the talk?

Former Premier League forward Noel Whelan has claimed that the Gers will need to buy and sell players like the winger for profit to compete with Celtic in the long-term, citing their business model with Virgil van Dijk in particular.

He told Football Insider: “Rangers have got to sell players like him in order to be self-sustainable.

“That’s been the case for Celtic too, not just Rangers. As much as they’re giants in Scotland and well-known across Europe, we’ve seen over the years that Celtic will take profits on their best players.

“Their recruitment has been so crucial for them, and that’s the same for Rangers. They buy them, nuture them, develop them – but then when the time is right, they sell them on.

“It just like what happened with Van Dijk at Celtic. Many have come through there and done a great job for them, winning titles at the club.

“It’s just the way of the world right now. Money talks if you are Rangers or Celtic, they just can’t compete with the Premier League clubs at the moment.”

Masterclass

Turkish outlet En Son Haber recently claimed that Rangers are preparing for Hagi’s exit as a number of clubs circle around the forward. In selling the attacker, they could repeat an Old Firm masterclass from Celtic – as they sold van Dijk for a gigantic profit back in 2015.

Per Transfermarkt, the Hoops signed the Dutchman from Groningen for £2.48m in 2013 before selling him to Southampton for £14.13m two years later. He is one of seven players Celtic have sold for more than £11m since 2014, whilst Rangers have not sold a player for more than £3m in that time.

The Gers reportedly paid £4m to sign Hagi from Genk in 2020 and the interest in his services now could offer them the chance to make a profit on him, much like Celtic did with van Dijk. Ross Wilson now has a major decision to make and he could repeat their masterclass in doing so.

Selling the Romanian international could allow them to kickstart a healthy business model moving forward where they are able to develop young talent before selling them on for big money and then replacing them with more prospects. The Gers could use Hagi as the poster boy for this, showing targets his potential success to convince them to make a similar switch.

This could aid the club in their attempts to sign talented youngsters in the future, as it would show that Rangers are willing to be a stepping stone in their footballing journey. Whilst it may not be music to the fans’ ears, it could be a profitable move by Wilson that helps the long-term future at Ibrox.

AND in other news, Gio can finally axe a “Rangers legend” by signing “perfect” £3.1k-p/w beast in January…

A journalist has revealed that there is now interest from Newcastle United in signing Sam Johnstone.

The Lowdown: Too leaky

The St James’ Park outfit have conceded no fewer than 42 goals in the Premier League so far this season, the joint-most along with bottom-placed Norwich City.

A change in goalkeeper could help, as Martin Dubravka has been disappointed with some of his performances when he has had to come in for the Slovakia international.

Nonetheless, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) consortium have the money to go out and buy a new established number one for Eddie Howe, should he wish.

The Latest: Johnstone interest

Speaking on talkSPORT, journalist Alex Crook has revealed that Newcastle are now in a race with a number of other top-flight clubs to sign Johnstone, who is out of contract at West Brom in the summer.

He revealed: “I’m hearing Tottenham are joining the likes of Newcastle, Southampton and West Ham in showing a definite interest in Sam Johnstone.”

The Verdict: Get it done

If the Tyneside outfit can snap up Johnstone on a free, it would be a real bargain. He is currently rated at £7.2m by Transfermarkt, and being an England international, he could easily demand a bigger transfer fee, so getting him for nothing would represent very good business.

Even if he does not join until the summer, at the very worst the Magpies will be in the Championship. Therefore, if the Baggies do not go up, it should be a move that Johnstone would be fine in making.

He is ‘world class’ on his day, as Wolves legend Steve Bull says, and he could be a mainstay in the Newcastle side for years to come if he swaps the Midlands for the Magpies.

In other news, NUFC have now made a proposal for this Serie A beast

Aston Villa manager Steven Gerrard will be without one of his standout performers since the 41-year-old’s arrival last month on Sunday as they host Midlands rivals Leicester City.

What’s the latest? 

Speaking in his press conference, Gerrard confirmed that left-back Matt Targett will face a late fitness test before the Villa boss makes a decision on whether or not to include the 26-year-old against Leicester.

The 41-year-old said: “Matty Targett will probably struggle for this game, but we’ll make a late decision on him.”

The defender was taken off in the 67th minute during the Midlanders’ clash with Manchester City on Wednesday night due to a head injury and therefore faces a race against time to be available to face the Foxes.

Leon Bailey is a confirmed absentee for the game, with Gerrard also sweating on the fitness of Danny Ings (Birmingham Live) as Villa face the prospect of being without several valuable players this weekend.

Gerrard will be gutted

Villa have been excellent during Gerrard’s short time at the helm, winning twice and losing narrowly to Manchester City. One of the key factors to the former Liverpool captain’s instant success has been the performances of Targett at left-back, who has been a standout performer in the last couple of games.

The 26-year-old was rated 8.1 by SofaScore in Gerrard’s first game, a 2-0 win over Brighton, and then scored the opener in their 2-1 triumph at Crystal Palace last week.

This is a stark contrast to his start to the campaign under former manager Dean Smith, where the defender’s performances were under par, particularly against Watford on the opening day as he was withdrawn at half-time after a tricky test against Ismalia Sarr.

Villa do have a natural replacement in Ashley Young, but the 36-year-old has started just one Premier League game at left-back this term, also being deployed as a winger and central midfielder on occasion.

However, the £900k-rated veteran has also vastly improved under Gerrard, recording his two assists to date this season against Brighton and Crystal Palace.

It appears that Targett won’t beat the race against time to be fit for the Leicester clash, which is a significant blow to Gerrard, who will be gutted if he has to do without the 26-year-old. Villa fans shouldn’t panic though, as in Young they have a vastly experienced replacement to fill in at left-back.

In other news – Forget McGinn: Gerrard must stick with £52k-p/w Villa beast dubbed “better than Pogba”

Flocking to Twitter, many Southampton fans slammed the performance of midfielder Oriol Romeu as their side drew 2-2 away to Crystal Palace on Wednesday evening.

Ralph Hasenhuttl’s men travelled to Selhurst Park looking to put a damp winless run behind them, with their last victory coming in a 1-0 home win over Aston Villa at the beginning of last month.

However, despite making an impressive first half comeback, the Saints had to settle for a point against Palace and their third draw in six games – leaving them only six points above the Premier League drop zone.

Wilfried Zaha opened the scoring just two minutes into the encounter with a near post finish past Willy Caballero after a quick break away through the Saints midfield, but the visitors didn’t plan on lying down.

Two strikes in quick succession from James Ward-Prowse and Armando Broja gifted Southampton a 2-1 first half lead that they, eventually, weren’t able to maintain.

Instead, Eagles forward Jordan Ayew clinched an equaliser just past the hour mark to dash hopes of an overdue win for Hasenhuttl.

Saints fans slam Romeu…

Flocking to social media, it’s safe to say Saints supporters weren’t impressed with one player in particular as they slammed midfield man Romeu.

The 30-year-old, ranking in among Southampton’s worst-rated players on SofaScore with a 6.5/10, also gave away possession 19 times in south London whilst only managing to win a third of his ground duels (SofaScore).

Dribbled past three times also, Romeu’s defensive work on the night was arguably questionable – leaving little wonder why many supporters weren’t impressed with his contribution.

Find all of their reactions down below:

“Romeu’s not having much of a game either smh”

Credit: @Saintly1885

“Romeu has been terrible”

Credit: @TheBig_Borowski

“Romeu is having a shocker”

Credit: @HarryStokes_93

“What’s up with Romeu tonight? He’s having an absolute stinker.”

Credit: @tomholland28

“Like to see Diallo for Romeu, think he’s been poor today”

Credit: @LiamDibden

“Romeu needs to shut his legs and stop getting nutmegged”

Credit: @ChrisPen1980

“@SouthamptonFC

points dropped again and Romeu is the worst player we have, don’t know why he keeps getting picked”

Credit: @StevieLawton88

While things at Celtic appear to be increasingly on the up under the management of Ange Postecoglou, with the Bhoys currently on a run of six games without defeat in all competitions, there are nevertheless a number of positions in the 56-year-old’s first-team squad that are lacking a considerable amount of depth.

Indeed, in a recent article for The Athletic, Kieran Devlin highlighted Celtic’s need for an adequate replacement for Callum McGregor in the number six role, as, during the four-game period in which the central midfielder was sidelined back in September, the Hoops clearly lacked a player who could replicate the 28-year-old’s “passing range, speed of thought and execution to accelerate attacks.”

However, before Postecoglou enters the January transfer market in search of a backup for the Scotland international, perhaps it would be wise to take a closer look at one of the club’s summer signings first – in the shape of Liam Shaw.

Indeed, after joining the club on a free transfer back in July, the 20-year-old said of his style: “I describe myself as a box-to-box midfielder, a lot of energy running up and down, I can score a goal, and be aggressive in that I like a tackle and I like to press people.”

This is something that was evident in his 19 Championship appearances for Sheffield Wednesday last season, over which the £315k-rated man scored one goal and created two big chances for his teammates, as well as making an average of 0.3 key passes, 0.7 tackles and taking 0.5 shots per game.

While these statistics are not exactly mind-blowing, it must be remembered that his returns came while the midfielder was enjoying his breakthrough season in professional football within a side who were fighting at the wrong end of the Championship table – before ultimately suffering relegation.

Indeed, it is clear to see that the foundations are undoubtedly there for Shaw to blossom into a fine number six, something that will be developed further with more experience of first-team football.

However, with the 20-year-old being yet to make an appearance in the Scottish Premiership under the management of Postecoglou, it would appear a very wise move for the Bhoys boss to finally unleash the rarely-seen Shaw in the coming weeks and months, as the midfielder could prove to solve one of the 56-year-old’s biggest issues at Parkhead.

In other news: Ange must ruthlessly axe “incredible” £14k-p/w Celtic ace, there’s a better option

With the return of Premier League action now in sight, Southampton have an away clash against Norwich City next up as they look to continue the good run of form they were on prior to the current international break having won three of their previous four league games.

On the chalkboard

In terms of who Ralph Hasenhuttl could pick in his starting XI to take on the Canaries, who are currently sitting at the bottom of the Premier League table with just five points on the board, one player that should definitely be in the running for a place in the team at the weekend is Adam Armstrong, who is currently earning a weekly wage of £53k-per-week according to Salary Sport.

Armstrong’s previous appearance for Southampton saw him score the winning goal in their 1-0 win over Aston Villa just before the current international break after which the striker said that he is “confident with both feet” when it comes to striking the ball the way he did for the goal against Villa.

As well as the goal, Armstrong managed to put in a solid display across the pitch for the Saints in an attacking and defensive sense with three dribbles completed, 13 passes made, seven duels won, two tackles made and one interception, ultimately earning him an impressive overall match rating of 7.3/10 according to SofaScore, which would make him a real nuisance for Norwich’s defenders if he puts in a similar sort of performance this weekend.

[snack-amp-story url= “https://www.footballfancast.com/web-stories/check-out-the-latest-southampton-news” title=”Check out the latest Southampton news!”]

In addition to this, the 24-year-old, who is currently valued at £16.2m according to Transfermarkt, has provided two assists and scored one other goal in the nine league games he appeared in for Southampton this season prior to the Villa match.

It’s safe to say Armstrong has not proven himself to be a consistent goalscoring threat for Southampton yet in the same way former Saints striker Danny Ings had after scoring 46 goals in 100 games for the club before moving to Villa in the summer.

However, the forward has still shown in the few months he’s been at St. Mary’s that he is still a useful attacking option for Hasenhuttl with the potential to grow and develop his game after joining from Blackburn Rovers back in August.

Taking all of this into account, Hasenhuttl should definitely keep Armstrong in the team to face Norwich at the weekend to see if he can continue his goalscoring run and give newly appointed Canaries manager Dean Smith nightmares after ending his reign at Villa with a defeat.

In other news: Lost the ball 81x: Ralph must brutally axe “unbelievable” Saints dud, he’s a liability – opinion

Everton shared a post-match interview with Rafael Benitez on their official Twitter channel shortly after the 5-2 defeat to Watford on Saturday afternoon.

As to be expected, a number of Toffees fans were quick to interact with the post following the calamitous result.

Benitez made two changes from the defeat to West Ham last time out by bringing in Tom Davies and Anthony Gordon for Abdoulaye Doucoure and Alex Iwobi.

It looked as if the home side were on course for three points when Richarlison restored Everton’s lead after the hour mark, but a crazy final 15 minutes saw the visitors net four times, with former Toffees striker Josh King sealing a hat-trick.

Benitez gave his assessment to the club’s media team after the defeat in a four-minute interview, which is available to view here.

Everton fans react

One of the points which unsettled supporters was when Benitez revealed that Gordon wasn’t fit enough to play the full 90 minutes, with one labelling that as ’embarrassing’.

“An absolute waste of time. Soft ball questions. Why didn’t he bring Gbamin or Holgate on after 2-1? Why bring Gordon off because he doesn’t have 90 mins in his legs but keep Rondon on who doesn’t have any minutes in his legs? Joke interview.”

Credit: @IfYouKnowYourH1

“Good to hear him calling out the lack of character in the squad as it’s stank for decades but saying Gordon hadn’t got 90 mins in him whilst leaving Rondon on… Really ?!?!?!”

Credit: @ianspeny

“Might be harsh but embarrassing interview from @rafabenitezweb imo, talking about match fitness numerous times when he’s gone and signed a slug with no ability and played him for 6 weeks, absolutely deluded he is. Never mind conceding 5 against a poor side”

Credit: @g4j4s4

“‘We know Gordon doesn’t have 90 mins in his legs’ Pretty certain Gordon (20) has more legs in him than Rondon who looks like he’s running on quicksand whenever he plays. Shambles.”

Credit: @FureyEthan

“So Gordon doesn’t have 90 minutes in his legs, but Rondon does?????????”

Credit: @KxtHxrington

“Pointless listening to this. All the man does is fail and he’ll fail here. And I told you that months ago.”

Credit: @easyluckyfree84

In other news: ‘Don’t make me cry’ – Many Everton fans buzzing over ‘great news’

Crystal Palace have been handed a big injury boost ahead of their Premier League clash against Manchester City this afternoon after manager Patrick Vieira revealed that he has no fresh injury concerns.

What’s the word?

Talisman Wilfried Zaha hasn’t started the Eagles’ last two games after returning from international duty with an illness, while long-term absentees Nathan Ferguson and Eberechi Eze are still recovering from their respective Achilles injuries.

However, Vieira confirmed in Friday’s press conference that virtually everyone had taken part in training earlier in the day, providing him with plenty of options for the tricky fixture ahead.

“This morning, we had training, and everybody was available,” said the Frenchman. “The only one that didn’t start training with the squad yet is Nathan [Ferguson]. But again, he’s doing really well, and he should start taking some part of training with the team in the next couple of weeks.”

However, despite Eze returning to first team training, Vieira disclosed that today’s encounter at the Etihad Stadium had come too soon for the 23-year-old.

“He’s been very good. He had a full week with the first team, where he did from the start to the end, and is doing really well. So I was really pleased with where he is at the moment. But it’s still too short for him to take part in the game tomorrow,” the manager said.

The former Nice boss then revealed that Zaha is doing well following his recent setback, although he refused to confirm on Friday whether the Ivorian would start against the Cityzens.

Vieira concluded: “We will make a decision tomorrow. Wilfried had a full training session with the team, and he’s doing well. We will make a final decision tomorrow morning.”

Patrick Vieira will be delighted

News that Palace have no new fitness worries will leave Vieira delighted going into one of the toughest fixtures on the Premier League calendar.

Zaha was the club’s top scorer with 11 top-flight goals last season, so his possible availability will be a huge boost for the Eagles as they attempt to cause an upset against the reigning champions, just as they have done in the past.

The south London outfit have drawn their last four games as they continue to excite and frustrate in equal measure under Vieira, and they’ll be hoping that this positive injury update will help them turn one point into three.

In other news… Vieira could unearth CPFC gem in “quality” 19 y/o who has “so many strings to his bow” 

Paul Robinson says signing Luka Jovic would be too great a risk for West Ham United after news emerged of the Hammers’ interest.

The former Totttenham Hotspur and Blackburn Rovers goalkeeper was speaking to Football Insider.

The lowdown: Jovic a target

Jovic has recently been linked as a target for GSB, as well as their London rivals Arsenal.

Having spent the second half of last season back on loan at Eintracht Frankfurt, he’s played only 32 minutes across Real Madrid’s seven La Liga fixtures.

He scored four goals in eight Bundesliga starts during his stint at Frankfurt and has netted six times in 17 caps for Serbia (via Transfermarkt).

David Moyes publicly stated during the transfer window that he felt cover was needed for Michail Antonio up front, but West Ham were unable to sign a striker.

The latest: Haller all over again

Robinson fears that West Ham could repeat their Sebastien Haller mistake by signing Jovic.

Haller, Jovic’s strike partner at Frankfurt, moved to the London Stadium for a club-record £45million in 2019 but wound up leaving midway through last season after scoring only 14 goals in 54 outings.

“I have not seen too much from him over the past couple of seasons,” he said.

“I think it would be a risk in all honesty. They took a risk with Haller and it backfired.”

Instead, Robinson thinks they should prioritise domestic targets, but he did warn that they faced a difficult task.

“I think they should go for a more proven striker, perhaps someone who has scored goals in the Premier League to provide cover and competition for [Michail] Antonio.

“It is a hard sell though. How do you convince someone to come in when they are going to be sitting on the bench if Antonio is fit.”

The verdict: Better options

Even though he’s playing in a lower-quality league, Genk’s Paul Onuachu looks a more sensible option for West Ham.

With Jovic, you not only need him to recover his confidence, but you’ll also need to foot his whopping £175,000-per-week salary.

To provide some context, West Ham’s top earner at present is thought to be Kurt Zouma on £120,000. 

In other news, read this source’s January swoop claim.