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Liverpool could potentially be set to bring back Aaron Ramsey to the Premier League, if reports are to be believed.

TuttoMercatoWeb report that the Reds are amongst a handful of English clubs who could be interested in the Welshman – as well as the likes of Tottenham Hotspur and West Ham United.

Whilst Ramsey would be a fantastic addition for that duo, Liverpool should steer clear of his signature.

After leaving Arsenal on a free transfer in 2019, the midfielder has not yet managed to capture his best form. In 61 appearances for the Old Lady, he has scored just six goals and notched six assists in all competitions.

In that time, Ramsey has started just 32 of the available matches and at the age of 30, only has a limited number of years left in which to return to the displays that made him such a key member of the Gunners’ squad.

After all, former Arsenal boss Unai Emery hailed the 61-cap Welsh international as “amazing” in his final few months at the Emirates Stadium.

Liverpool though cannot afford to wait for the midfielder to play himself back into form.

The Reds and Jurgen Klopp will be desperate to rectify their woeful performances of the 2020/21 campaign and simply cannot have passengers.

Meanwhile, there is also plenty of competition at Anfield for a midfield spot. Fabinho, Jordan Henderson, Naby Keita, Curtis Jones, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and James Milner are currently competing for a starting berth. Whilst it’s looking unlikely that Georginio Wijnaldum will be at the club next season, he is still intensifying that competition at the current time.

This would certainly leave Ramsey without a place in the current squad.

Considering that the £18m-rated midfielder would surely be asking for wages similar to that of his £187k per week pay packet with Juventus, it would appear to be a huge waste of resources to bring him back to the Premier League.

Liverpool and Michael Edwards then should avoid signing him at all costs.

AND in more news, take a look at which big-money arrival would be a sign of intent from the Reds…

Gary Mabbutt has told Football FanCast that Tottenham Hotspur can beat Dinamo Zagreb as long as Jose Mourinho unleashes the full force of his attack in the Europa League Round of 16.

Spurs have progressed to the last-16 after a series of thumping wins in the competition.

Mourinho’s side beat Wolfsberger 8-1 on aggregate in the last-16, and also beat Ludogorets 3-1 and 4-0 in the group stages, while beating LASK 3-0.

There were some poor results too; a 1-0 loss to Royal Antwerp marked perhaps the nadir of Mourinho’s reign, while a 3-3 draw with LASK was notable mainly for the lack of defensive organisation.

But Spurs have progressed to within spitting distance of the quarter final and the draw with Zagreb could be seen as favourable.

Indeed, Manchester United drew AC Milan, while the likes of Arsenal, Ajax, and Roma were all drawn elsewhere.

Mabbutt admits that the draw could have been tougher, but he thinks Zagreb are a fine team who will provide a stern test.

The Croatian outfit conceded just once in the group stages, coming through a group including Wolfsberger, Feyenoord, and CSKA Moscow.

Mabbutt told FFC: “Yes. I mean, of course, when we look at the teams who are involved in the draw, there are teams you think, oh, I’d like to avoid those. But yeah, any team to get to this stage in the Europa League, obviously, are fantastic teams. And certainly there are ones that you would prefer to avoid more than others.

“Zagreb, I think, if you look at their records in European competition, never got past the last 16 in the Europa League, so hoping the same thing happens this year.

“But yeah, in fact, last year, they actually set a European record for going nearly the whole of the group stage without conceding a goal. They conceded that going into the last 15 minutes of their sixth group stage match. So again, obviously, as a manager, you look at that, and you see that they may be quite strong defensively.”

And, as a result, Mabbutt believes Spurs need to top-load the team and bring in some of the strongest attacking players available to Mourinho in order to breach Zagreb’s defences.

Indeed, he has insisted that if Mourinho can get the likes of Harry Kane, Son Heung-min, and Gareth Bale all firing, no team in the world would want to come up against them.

He added: “Well, if I was a manager, I would make sure that I keep my defence strong and then throw everything I’ve got at them, and unleash Kane, Son, Bale. If you’ve got a team, you’ve got players like, Harry Kane, Son, Gareth Bale, Dele Alli, Lamela, Ndombele. If you’ve got all those players on top form, there’s not a team in the world would like to face those players now.”

Tottenham could potentially sign Jose Mourinho’s new Sergio Ramos by bringing in Fiorentina’s Nikola Milenkovic.

What’s the story?

Reports in recent weeks have suggested that Spurs are after the Serbia international, and are keen on bringing him to the Premier League.

An update was delivered on their pursuit of the 6 foot 4 powerhouse by Italian publication CalcioMercato, who claim that Mourinho’s side, along with fellow Premier League giants Liverpool, have reached out to Milenkovic’s agents over a potential move.

The report adds that Manchester United also remain in the equation for his signature, and that Fiorentina also hold out hope they can tie him down to a new deal.

Mourinho’s new Ramos?

Throughout his illustrious managerial career, Mourinho has worked with some of the world’s best, not least Sergio Ramos in his time at Real Madrid.

The Spain international was one of the cornerstones of Madrid’s success in the early 2010s under Mourinho’s leadership, playing 137 times for him – the second-most he’s played for any manager, only behind current Los Blancos boss Zinedine Zidane.

Ramos was his leader on and off the pitch, and enjoyed some of his peak years under Mourinho’s management – he was named in FIFA’s World XI for three years in a row during the pair’s time at the Bernabeu.

Speaking back in 2012, the current Spurs boss remarked: “When Sergio is at his best, he gives me all that a defender has to give: security in defence, quality bringing the ball out, strength and set pieces, leadership. When he is in shape, he is one of the best.”

And in Milenkovic, Daniel Levy could unearth something incredibly similar. The Serbian is an absolute powerhouse in the centre of defence, averaging 1.5 tackles and 1.3 interceptions in Serie A this season – both stats in the top five among Fiorentina’s entire squad.

The £25.2m-rated titan has already earned rave reviews for his abilities and potential, being described as someone who is “fearless” and is a “beast”. Milenkovic has shown he could also develop into the leader Ramos is right now, having captained Fiorentina on a couple of occasions already this season, despite only being 23.

When Mourinho joined Madrid as manager in May 2010, Ramos was only 24 and was still trying to make his mark on world football. Milenkovic is in that similar age profile, and under the Spurs boss’ guidance, could develop into a superstar just like the Spaniard did.

Meanwhile, Spurs played a blinder by selling this man for £17m…

Jose Mourinho faces several selection dilemmas as his Tottenham Hotspur side welcome his former club, and local rivals, Chelsea to N17 this evening.

Spurs have slipped in terms of form over the last seven days, recording back-to-back losses and that has seen them drop to seventh in the Premier League standings.

A win for the visitors at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium would see them leapfrog Spurs too, so there is plenty at stake tonight.

Harry Kane won’t be rushed back, which is cause for concern as only Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg’s wonder strike has meant that Spurs didn’t go two games without scoring.

So how will they lineup this evening? Here’s our predicted XI as well as the latest team and injury news…

Spurs are set to be without Kane, Sergio Reguilon, Dele Alli and Giovani Lo Celso, according to the Evening Standard’s Dan Kilpatrick.

Mourinho’s three-at-the-back ploy lasted just 45 minutes on the south coast, so it would be a surprise to see him revert back to it. Therefore, we may well see Davinson Sanchez and Toby Alderweireld axed in favour of an Eric Dier and Joe Rodon partnership.

Dubbed “the general” by Spurs legend Gary Mabbutt and a “good leader” by Gary Neville, the £26m-rated Dier was surprisingly axed for the Seagulls defeat after starting Spurs’ previous 14 league games. He should come straight back in.

Whilst on the flanks, Ben Davies will surely continue in the absence of Reguilon, but there’s a decision to make on the right. Serge Aurier wasn’t involved whatsoever after he reportedly left at half-time against Liverpool, so we could see Matt Doherty given the nod.

In midfield, Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg could reignite a partnership with Harry Winks, which would allow Tanguy Ndombele to be deployed in a more advanced role. This would see Moussa Sissoko axed.

Gareth Bale is another who is facing the chop tonight. He failed to make much of an impact at Brighton, starting only his second Premier League match since he made his sensational return to the club.

Instead, Mourinho is surely likely to turn to back-up Carlos Vinicius as he’s the only true replacement for Kane. It would allow Steven Bergwijn and Heung-min Son to play their natural wing positions.

That would make it a total of four changes.

AND in other news, Mourinho MUST ruthlessly AXE £90k-p/w passenger tonight, he’s held Spurs back for weeks…

With Kalvin Phillips already out injured, the last thing Leeds United boss Marcelo Bielsa needed was for any more of his key midfielders to pick up injuries.

But that was exactly the case both in the build-up and during the Premier League clash against Southampton on Tuesday night. Jamie Shackleton was ruled out before the game due to an adductor problem, while Mateusz Klich was forced off midway through the second half.

Speaking after the 3-0 victory over the Saints, Bielsa delivered an update on the duo, saying: “After the game against Wolverhampton, Shackleton presented himself with some problems in his abductor that did not allow him to play today. We don’t have information on Klich just yet”.

If both are ruled out for the foreseeable future, and with Phillips seemingly still not over a calf problem that looked touch and go before the defeat to Arsenal, Bielsa is left short for options in central midfield.

And that is exactly why 18-year-old Nohan Kenneh could well be the starlet to emerge on the scene for Bielsa’s side, and it’s safe to say he’s already modelling himself on some top players.

He said: “Currently I look up to Kalvin Phillips as (we) both play in a similar position, but I occasionally watch videos of Patrick Vieira for his qualities in midfield.”

Phil Hay described him as “supremely gifted” for The Athletic, and he’s capable of playing in holding midfield as well as further back in central defence. At a towering 6 foot 2, Kenneh’s certainly got the physical attributes to develop into a Premier League-ready player.

Describing himself as someone who is “aggressive and hard-working who likes to break down play”, but also liking “getting forward and scoring long-range goals”, Kenneh seems like he’d tailor-made for Bielsa as either a holding midfielder or someone who can get up and down the pitch in a box-to-box role.

Given the injury problems that Bielsa currently has on his hands, giving the 18-year-old Kenneh might well turn out to be the answer. It may be down to be a rather unfortunate set of circumstances, but the Leeds boss must unleash Leeds’ teenage powerhouse.

Liverpool striker Divock Origi is reportedly attracting interest from RB Leipzig this month, and Jurgen Klopp must axe him following his less than impressive performances this season.

What’s the word?

According to German news outlet Sport Bild (via Daily Mail), Julian Nagelsmann’s side are interested in one of Origi, Kelechi Iheanacho or Kasper Dolberg, as they look to add to their attacking options.

It is suggested that it would initially be a loan move until the summer, which would suit Liverpool, as it would likely mean he would be unavailable for next month’s Champions League tie against Die Roten Bullen, whilst if he is able to rediscover his form in Germany, he could perhaps return to Anfield a different player.

Should Klopp axe him?

After his heroics in the Champions League during the 2018/19 season, it was perhaps hoped that Origi could push on and become much more of a regular in this Liverpool side, but his performances over the past two seasons have been far from good enough.

Last season saw the Belgian international average a poor 6.42 average rating for his performances in the Premier League, managing just four goals and one assist in 28 appearances.

However, this season has been even worse, as in his five appearances in the Premier League, he has managed a shocking 6.20 average rating, which is the worst of any outfield Liverpool player this season.

The 25-year-old, who earns £60k per week at Liverpool, was handed his first Premier League start of the season in Thursday’s game against Burnley but squandered a golden opportunity to give Klopp’s side the lead in the first half, as he inexplicably fired against the crossbar when clean through on goal – the match ended in defeat with the club’s 68-match unbeaten home run in the English top flight coming to an end.

After his disastrous performances in the Champions League earlier in the season, you could argue that this was Origi’s last opportunity to impress Klopp from the start of a game, something he certainly failed to do.

Therefore, it seems clear that the former Wolfsburg man is not the solution to Klopp’s goalscoring issues at Liverpool at the moment and is unlikely to ever be a regular starter, so sporting director Michael Edwards should axe him this month if Leipzig do make an offer.

And, in other news… Forget Origi: £99m-rated LFC star who lost possession 39x badly betrayed Klopp

According to transfer guru Fabrizio Romano, there’s a small chance that we may see Christian Eriksen return to Tottenham Hotspur this month.

He claimed last week that Spurs boss Jose Mourinho was keen to bring the Danish playmaker back to north London but the main stumbling block would be his reported £229k-per-week wages.

Romano then went on to write in his Sky Sports column just two days ago that Eriksen was keen to leave Inter Milan just one year after joining and that he’d love to be back in a Spurs shirt.

Daniel Levy ought to do what he can to make this happen.

First of all, Mourinho’s yet to truly replace him – neither Tanguy Ndombele nor Giovani Lo Celso have stepped up to produce similar returns, whilst it’s clear to see that Dele Alli is hugely out-of-favour having played only 74 minutes in the Premier League all season.

Indeed, Ndombele is currently the ‘go-to’ in the no.10 role, but he’s only managed to produce three goals and one assist in 16 league appearances this term.

Lo Celso, on the other hand, is currently on the treatment table, but has only been able to contribute towards 11 goals in 56 matches since his arrival from Real Betis 18 months ago.

In terms of creating chances, the pair both average 0.8 key passes per game in the top-flight, which is outranked by three other Spurs players – by quite some margin too with Heung-min Son managing 1.9 key passes and Harry Kane managing 1.6 key passes per game, via WhoScored.

That only goes to show how much of a reliance Spurs have had on the prolific duo.

They say you should never go back, but the north Londoners are a testament to why that’s not always the case – go back to Jurgen Klinsmann’s time at the club to see why.

After leaving Spurs for Bayern Munich in the summer of 1995, the German striker soon returned on loan from Sampdoria just two years later and his nine goals helped steer Spurs to safety in the Premiership.

Eriksen was at Spurs for six-and-a-half seasons, where he scored at least eight goals and provided at least five assists in each of his campaigns barring his final six months at the club, per Transfermarkt.

The £31.5m-rated attacking midfielder also managed an average of at least 1.9 key passes per game during that time frame too, which is over double what both Lo Celso and Ndombele have returned thus far.

No wonder ex-Spurs man Jamie Redknapp told the Daily Mail (via 90min) that Eriksen was a “ruthless playmaker” who could “destroy you.”

If Mourinho wants to add more creativity and another influence to his attack, then bringing back the 103-cap wizard is something that needs to be done. Just like Klinsmann’s return, Eriksen could be the game-changer between Spurs finishing fifth and nearer the top.

AND in other news, Levy should move £25m star on this month, Dier thinks he’s a “nightmare”…

Sadio Mane produced a shocking performance in Liverpool’s surprise 2-0 defeat against Atalanta in the Champions League on Wednesday night.

The Senegalese winger put in an uncharacteristically poor display against the Serie A side, with Gian Piero Gasperini’s side able to effectively shut him out of the game.

As per SofaScore, Mane picked up a 6.4 rating for his performance, with only Divock Origi and Konstantinos Tsimikas rated lower of any Liverpool player who started the game.

The 28-year-old was unable to register a single shot on goal during his 90 minutes on the pitch, with the Italians producing a superb defensive performance.

Mane was also successful in just one of his four attempted dribbles on Wednesday night, whilst his passing was also not at his usual high standard, with just 16/25 of his passes finding their mark, resulting in a poor accuracy rate of 64%.

The former Southampton man has earned a reputation during his time at Anfield for being able to bully his opponents and win the ball back high up the pitch, but he was very much second-best against Atalanta.

Of the 13 ground duels he was involved in, he was able to win just six; whilst he also failed to win any of his three aerial duels, meaning he won just 37.5% of his duels on the night.

To complete a shocking display, Mane managed to lose possession on no fewer than 19 occasions, with it clear that the Reds were beaten by the better team on the evening.

Klopp described the winger as the “complete player” in a press conference during the summer but considering he has now failed to find the back of the net in his last three Liverpool games, it appears that he is in something of a slump.

However, Mane has still had an excellent start to the Premier League season, having averaged a superb 7.72 rating across his eight appearances in the top-flight, so hopefully, it won’t be long until he ends his mini drought and gets his name back on the scoresheet.

The long-awaited fixture of Manchester United vs Leeds ended in a crushing blow for the newly promoted Championship winners.

Their fierce rivalry was the perfect fuel for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side to secure an empathic win which sees them jump to third in the Premier League table.

United hit the Whites for a whopping six goals, thanks to in form Bruno Fernandes and a creative masterclass from Anthony Martial. Scott McTominay, Victor Lindelof and Daniel James also got themselves on the scoresheet to complete a huge win for the Reds.

Marcelo Bielsa will return to the drawing board to analyse what exactly went wrong tonight. Arguably, the entire team was below par, but none more than Jack Harrison.

Harrison disappointed in huge United clash

Leeds’ two goals came from unlikely sources as defenders Liam Cooper and Stuart Dallas were the only players in white to find the back of the net. Even Patrick Bamford struggled to implement his usual fiery nature upon the Man United defence.

However, the striker was also seriously deprived of chances from his fellow attackers.

Harrison was a major weak link in the Leeds midfield, failing to register a single shot on target in 90 minutes. He also failed to complete 90% of his attempted crosses and lost possession an alarming 24 times, highlighting how null his attacking presence was.

The £45,000 per week loanee also struggled with his passing – with just 71% of them finding a teammate and only one of his four attempted long balls coming off, who SofaScore.

Bielsa may not have expected a win this evening, but he will be hugely disappointed to come away with such a heavy defeat. This will not bode well for confidence as the Whites turn their attention to Burnley next time out – a fixture that the boss must consider dropping Harrison for.

He could be replaced by rising star Ian Poveda, or even Stuart Dallas, who has grown into a more attacking role recently. If Bielsa deploys Pascal Struijk, it will give him more freedom to use Dallas further forward rather than in defence during their current injury crisis.

In other news, This ex-Leeds star’s current form will have Victor Orta kicking himself…

After a summer in which it looked like Folarin Balogun would be leaving Arsenal, a backroom shake-up may just have turned the tide on seeing the talented starlet now staying at the Emirates.

A stand-off on a potential new contract threatened to see the 19-year-old walk away, with Sky Sports even reporting that Championship Brentford were keen on signing him.

But with the changes behind the scenes, and Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta handing him his debut in the Europa League last week against Dundalk, things may be beginning to turn around.

And Arteta can really seize the initiative by starting Balogun against Molde on Thursday night. The Spaniard already knows what fellow young striker Eddie Nketiah can bring to the table given that he is already the Gunners’ second-choice striker behind Alexandre Lacazette, so giving him another run-out against Europa League opposition may not see him learn too much more.

However, giving Balogun an opportunity to impress does two important things. One, it shows the teenager that the club now has the faith in him to potentially become a first-team regular, and two, it gives Arteta the chance to work out whether this is a striker that could conceivably be a long-term asset to the club.

Described as someone who is “cold-blooded in front of goal” and an “incredibly natural finisher” by now The Athletic journalist Art De Roche, Balogun looks like he has all the tools to become a leading marksman for Arsenal.

In the cameo against Dundalk, his movement and intelligence of runs showed a glimpse of his undoubted talents. Arteta must surely jump on the bandwagon and start his young striker on Thursday.