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David Sullivan must fund a move for West Ham United to sign Adam Armstrong this summer after Kevin Campbell lauded the potential impact of the Blackburn Rovers striker.

What’s the word?

While speaking with Football Insider, the former Arsenal attacker urged West Ham to secure Armstrong’s services in the next transfer window.

David Moyes has been carrying out personal checks on the forward as he eyes his Sebastien Haller’s replacement, but the Irons are currently reluctant to pay Blackburn’s £25m asking price, according to The Sun.

Campbell rates Armstrong highly and believes that the 24-year-old would be a nightmare for Premier League defenders through his dynamic movement.

Armstrong has been in terrific form in the Championship this season despite Blackburn’s plight, with only Ivan Toney (28) and Teemu Pukki (22) scoring more often than the 19-goal frontman, but in promotion-chasing sides.

Campbell has urged West Ham to capitalise on Blackburn’s willingness to listen to offers for Armstrong to add depth behind Michail Antonio, with Brighton recently joining the race and Newcastle reportedly ready to re-sign their academy product.

“The squad strength isn’t quite there at West Ham. Antonio is a great player but if he needs a rest, there isn’t really someone who can come in and be that guy,” Campbell said. “Moyes is limited with who he can pick up top.

“Armstrong has had a good season and I think will be a good signing for West Ham and they should probably make that move before he goes somewhere else. He’s a handful. Small strikers are a nightmare for centre-halves because centre-halves are almost always tall.”

Should West Ham sign Blackburn’s Armstrong?

West Ham’s apparent reluctance to pay Blackburn’s £25m asking price could see the London Stadium natives miss out on signing the club’s alleged top striker target, with interest in Armstrong continually building.

Brighton are thought to be increasingly keen on Armstrong as he represents a more natural finisher than any of Graham Potter’s current options, is young and English, and have several players that they could include in a swap deal.

Newcastle have a huge advantage in any race to sign the 24-year-old, too, having included a 40% sell-on clause in the £2m deal which saw Armstrong move to Ewood Park in 2018, which has seen Blackburn set the Toon their own £16m asking price.

West Ham must sign a striker in the off-season after Moyes opted against investing the £20m from Haller’s exit in January, and could land a second Antonio type in Armstrong.

In a similar way to how Campbell lauds the 24-year-old for being a lively problem for opposition defences, former Liverpool striker John Aldridge has praised Antonio for his ability to give those on the other side a nightmare.

“Antonio is a handful up front and has caused us problems before, so the back four will be tested again as he’ll put himself about big time,” Aldridge noted in his column for the Liverpool Echo in October.

Armstrong has earned his admirers in a Blackburn side 16 points down on the Championship play-off places, with Rovers’ run of one win in 12 league games failing to detract top-flight suitors.

West Ham would surely rue missing out and seeing that talent flourish for a rival club in the Premier League next season, so Sullivan must dig deep and fund a move.

AND in other news, West Ham have set their sights on a “competitive beast” who won’t cost David Sullivan a penny…

The Buccaneers eased into the Caf Confederation Cup quarter-finals after claiming a 2-0 win over the Algerian outfit on Sunday night.

GOAL runs the rule over the individual performances of the Bucs players following the Group B clash.

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  Richard Ofori – 7/10

  Produced a solid display – dominating his area.

  Ofori pulled off several important saves including a fantastic stop denying Aimen Lahmeri in the first-half and another fine save to deny Ismail Saadi in the dying minutes of the game.

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  Paseka Mako – 8/10

  Produced one of his best displays as a Bucs player.

  Most of Bucs' attacks were launched through Mako's left flank and he linked up with Deon Hotto to a deadly effect. Mako also did a great job man-marking Oussama Bellatreche.

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  Ntsikelelo Nyauza – 8/10

  Deployed as a right-back and he put in a good performance.

  Nyauza played well defensively – making vital interceptions and clearances. The bulky defender didn't offer much going forward, but he broke the deadlock when he headed home Deon Hotto's set-piece.

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  Olisa Ndah – 7/10

  The ever-reliable Nigerian was in good form once again.

  Ndah went about his business as usual – dominating his aerial duels and making crucial interceptions while playing some accurate passes into midfield.

Goal rounds up details of all the Premier League shirt sponsors for the 2018-19 season

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  Arsenal – Fly Emirates

  Dubai-based airline Emirates has adorned Arsenal's shirts since 2006, when they also agreed a naming rights deal with the Gunners for their new stadium at Ashburton Grove.

  The agreement has since been extended twice, with the latest deal signed earlier this year understood to be worth more than £200 million ($257.6m) over the course of five years through to the end of the 2023-24 season.

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  Bournemouth – M88

  The Cherries have been sponsored by Asian online gaming company M88 since 2017. The deal, worth £8 million ($10.2m), expires at the end of this season.

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  Brighton – American Express

  Financial services company American Express has sponsored Brighton since 2013 with the deal said to be worth £1.5 million ($1.9m) per season. The company has also sponsored Brighton's stadium – titled the American Express Community Stadium – since its opening in 2011.

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  Burnley – LaBa360

  Burnley agreed a club-record sponsorship deal with gaming and betting brand LaBa360 in the summer believed to be worth £3 million ($3.8m) a season. The length of the agreement is unknown, with the Clarets simply describing it as a "multi-season" deal.

Bayern Munich won the German title again this season, but the race for the top four was exciting right til the end. Who made our best XI for 2019-20?

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  GK: Yann Sommer (Borussia Monchengladbach)

  Gladbach's successful first season under Marco Rose was thanks to impressive performances across the pitch.This started with the Bundesliga's most consistent goalkeeper, as Yann Sommer proved once again why he is so reliable between the posts.

  The Switzerland international saved more shots than any other goalkeeper in the German top-flight and also had the best save percentage of any regular No.1.

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  RB: Achraf Hakimi (Borussia Dortmund)

  Achraf Hakimi's second season on loan at Borussia Dortmund was an improvement on his first as he proved himself in a variety of positions under Lucien Favre.

  He was most effective down the right flank for BVB, and was the only defender to provide more than 10 Bundesliga assists in 2019-20.

  The Morocco international also chipped in with five goals, and though Dortmund are keen to keep hold of him, all signs point to him joining Inter this summer in a €40 million (£36m/$45m) deal.

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  CB: Matthias Ginter (Borussia Monchengladbach)

  Matthias Ginter won the World Cup with Germany back in 2014 despite not playing a single minute for Die Mannschaft. However, since moving to Gladbach in 2017, he has become their most important defender and this season as has progressed more under new head coach Marco Rose.

  Ginter is not only a rock at the back, but helps build the play by bringing the ball forward and finding a team-mate, something he has done over 1800 times in 2019-20.

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  CB: Martin Hinteregger (Eintracht Frankfurt)

  Eintracht Frankfurt centre-back Martin Hinteregger is the top scoring defender in Europe's top five leagues with eight goals in 2019-20.

  However, the 27-year-old Austrian is not just a danger going forward and at set pieces, but is dominant in defence too and is the only centre-back to have more than 50 successful tackles in the league this season.

Since Victor Orta joined Leeds United he has got the vast majority of his recruitment spot on.

Under Marcelo Bielsa, you need a very particular type of player, someone who’s willing to work hard and press from the front. They have to withstand his meticulous training ideas and his intense murder ball sessions.

Fail that, and you’ll be out the door quicker than you can say Thorp Arch. Jean-Kevin Augustin found that out the hard way.

Signed on loan from RB Leipzig in January 2020, he played just 48 minutes before departing Yorkshire with not even much of a farewell.

However, as Orta will tell you himself, there are plenty in this Leeds squad that appear to be tailor-made in a lab for Bielsa. One of them has been Patrick Bamford.

The striker has attracted his fair share of criticism during his time at Elland Road but this term he’s been a revelation, scoring 13 Premier League goals. To emphasise that achievement, Bamford had netted just once at this level before promotion last year.

One of the players who helped him get to such a promising level at Leeds was Kemar Roofe. The duo played in tandem during the 2018/19 campaign and brought the best out of each other.

Bamford was the player to make things stick up top, acting as a support act for other players. Roofe, meanwhile, was the striker who’d get in behind and stretch the defence.

Indeed, since he departed for Anderlecht in the summer of 2019, Leeds haven’t really had a player capable of doing the same. They tried to replace him with Eddie Nketiah but he never got a chance to prove himself, being recalled to Arsenal after half a season.

Leeds have been a breath of fresh air to the top-flight this term but you can’t help but think they need just a little more pizzazz in the final third. One man who could give them that is Ivan Toney.

The Brentford sensation was linked with a move to the Whites last week and if he arrives, he could replicate what Roofe gave so willingly to Bielsa’s side.

Speaking about the former Leeds man in February 2019, Eddie Gray typified the Rangers’ striker’s qualities expertly. This came after the forward suffered a cruel injury: “It’s a blow for a number of reasons (the injury), goalscoring obviously. He’s lead the line well, but he’s got that little bit of pace. It is something we [Leeds] have not got in abundance. Real pace. I’m talking about, like Norwich pace.”

Indeed, Leeds still lack a bit of speed. Raphinha has added to that but despite their free-flowing capabilities, few in the squad can blow a defender away.

Toney could do that, however. He has had a breathtaking season in the Championship, scoring a haul of 26 goals in 34 outings.

He has pace, and pivotally for Bielsa, can defend from the front. Peterborough owner Barry Fry said before he left for the Bees: “He’s turned into a tremendous all-round footballer. It’s important to remember Ivan is not just an exceptional goal-scoring forward, he’s also an outstanding defender.”

Indeed, those sentiments have also been delivered by Brentford boss Thomas Frank: “Ivan is a special, special player,” he began.

“He showed top positioning in the box, which is what we work with him on, but also he read cleverly (where to go) off the shoulder of the second central defender and showed perfect timing to get in front of him – and then a one-touch, perfect finish, just fantastic,” Frank added.

Playing off the shoulder and picking up little pockets of space is incredibly similar to Roofe. Put Toney’s clinical goal-scoring ability into the equation and you have a far more fearsome proposition.

Frank concluded: “But it is also his work ethic which is so important. Defending from the number nine backwards is key for me and there is so much more about him that he brings to the squad.”

With that in mind, the 24-year-old feels like the perfect man for Bielsa. If they can steal a march on other suitors for Toney’s signature, he would be a first-class signing.

AND in other news, Leeds have their perfect Pablo heir in rarely-seen 19 y/o, he’s a “great talent”…

Pep Guardiola's side once again showed why they're the league's runaway winners, putting five goals past Swansea City on Sunday

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  Jack Butland | Stoke City

  Butland made six saves in Stoke's 1-1 draw with Burnley; four more than his opposite number Nick Pope.

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  Danilo | Manchester City

  Danilo made two interceptions and one block against Swansea, while also notching an assist for Kevin De Bruyne.

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  Phil Jones | Manchester United

  Jones made five clearances and five interceptions in United's win and clean sheet at Bournemouth in midweek.

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  Christian Kabasele | Watford

  Kabasele made four tackles and two blocks against Crystal Palace; both team highs for the Hornets.

Many Glasgow Rangers fans have slammed a “desperate” article from Keith Jackson, who has suggested the Gers could be in big trouble if Steven Gerrard leaves Ibrox.

Over the past few days, Gerrard has been linked with a move to his former club Liverpool, with current Reds boss Jurgen Klopp potentially being lined up as the new Germany manager (The Mirror). Gerrard, of course, has done a fantastic job with the 54-time Scottish champions – they are within touching distance of winning a first Premiership title in 10 years as they lead the table by 15 points (BBC), and they are also into the Europa League round of 16.

However, Jackson believes Gerrard could depart Ibrox if he does not receive a bumper new contract – even though he has a deal which will keep him in Glasgow until 2024 (BBC). The Daily Record journalist also added that, if the 40-year-old does depart, the Gers could crumble like a “house of cards”.

The piece was shared by the Daily Record’s official Twitter account, and these fans took to the social media platform Twitter to share their thoughts on the article from Jackson, who has riled some of the Ibrox faithful in the past.

Let’s see what the fans had to say about Jackson below

“Keith’s still hurting”

Credit: @nor_gov

“what a pointless piece of journalism. Steven Gerrard has never been motivated my money his entire career, he won’t start doing it with management. He’s one of the few people in football that shows loyalty, especially to Liverpool. He’ll leave when LFC need him.”

Credit: @StevenW77751462

“If the bloke did his homework, he’d know that Steven signed a contract last year that runs out in 2024. But of course that doesn’t fit the narrative or sell papers I suppose. Shambles of a journalist.”

Credit: @antarcticdonkey

“Desperate”

Credit: @BrianAuld3

“Lazy lazy journalism”

Credit: @Northernger

“Another in Scotland’s ‘mhedia’ taking this season well we see. Trying your best to deflect and distract from the loss of the ‘holy grail’ and the mess across the city. Delightful.”

Credit: @GfLoyal4

In other news, Rangers are set to do battle with Arsenal over this ace.

David Moyes should push West Ham to bid for Jesse Lingard at the end of the season after Rio Ferdinand urged the on-loan midfielder to quit Manchester United for good.

What’s the word?

While speaking on BT Sport, via quotes by The Sun, Ferdinand claimed Lingard’s temporary move to the London Stadium will be seen as a failure if the Irons do not make efforts to retain the England international beyond his half-season deal.

Lingard joined West Ham on loan for the remainder of the campaign during the winter transfer window, but no purchase clause was included in the terms of his move.

The 28-year-old is expected to hold talks over his long-term Old Trafford future with Red Devils chiefs in the summer, at which point he will have one-year remaining on his £100,000-per-week contract.

Lingard could cost West Ham up to £4m for his six-months on loan, having paid Manchester United a £1.5m loan fee, agreed to cover his salary in full and pay a £500,000 bonus should Moyes guide the east London outfit into Europe.

And the spending may not stop there, as Ferdinand believes Lingard has to leave Old Trafford in the summer as his parent side have now moved on from the playmaker.

“What’s his ambition here, beyond this season? What is he looking to do?” Ferdinand said. “If West Ham don’t put a bid in to buy him at the end of this loan, I think this loan has to be seen as a failure.

“That’s got to be his aim – to get a bid from West Ham and other clubs to take him out of Man U. Because I don’t see him going back to Man U and really affecting that squad now.

“I think they’ve moved past him with the players they’ve recruited, he doesn’t feature and hasn’t done for so long.”

Should West Ham bid for Lingard?

West Ham will be in a strong position to purchase Lingard at the end of the season should he continue featuring as often as he has since arriving at the London Stadium, as he will know the future can be bright in claret and blue.

The picture was very bleak for the £9m-rated maestro at Old Trafford before leaving on loan, with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer only awarding 179 minutes of action across all competitions this season – less than he has featured for under Moyes (262) already.

Lingard has enjoyed an impressive start to life in east London, as well, having scored twice on his debut in a 3-1 win away to Aston Villa and turned in a vastly influential display in Monday night’s 3-0 win over Sheffield United.

He was always a threat on the break and looking to get West Ham moving in the right direction, with a game-high six attempted dribbles and the joint-most successful efforts (3) with Blades defender Chris Basham, per WhoScored.

No one who featured for either side took more shots than Lingard (5), too, while also finding the target (4) at least twice as much as any other player, though unable to find a way past Aaron Ramsdale.

His performance was at such a level that Lingard now leads West Ham for average shots per game in the Premier League this season with 3.7 – 1.5 more than second-ranked Michal Antonio – and is first for dribbles with 4.3 attempted – 1.4 more than Antonio (2.9).

If Lingard keeps up these performances, Moyes should have no reason to not bid for his signature in the summer, having already stated that he is open to a potential deal.

AND in other news, West Ham may rue not signing a £1.8k-p/w target in January as he nears a pre-contract agreement…

Things are looking a lot rosier for Wolves all of a sudden.

Of course, they aren’t completely out of the woods yet, but a win over Arsenal and then a draw with Leicester demonstrated they still have what it takes to mix it with the top half of the Premier League.

Though, could their squad for the back half of the campaign been bolstered more?

What’s the word?

January wasn’t a particularly busy month for Wolves but they did welcome a new striker to the club in the shape of Willian Jose.

However, it’s been revealed that Jeff Shi and the club’s recruitment team had another forward on their radar last month.

According to Transfermarkt (via Sport Witness), Wolves approached Frankfurt in a bid to sign Portuguese striker Andre Silva.

Atletico Madrid were also pursuing Silva but had a bid rejected for his services. This link certainly makes sense given he’s a client of super-agent Jorge Mendes.

The intermediary currently has a number of Wolves’ players on his books.

Forget Jose

This would have been a seriously eye-catching move for Nuno Santo and Shi to make. They were linked with a swoop for the 25-year-old in 2019 when he was still at Milan but he has come on leaps and bound since.

In fact, he’s far more prolific than Real Sociedad loanee, Jose. So far this season Silva has found the net on 18 occasions in just 21 outings compared to Jose’s meagre haul of four strikes. It’s been a near impeccable campaign for the striker who has earned comparisons to a certain Bayern Munich forward.

After scoring against Mainz last month, Frankfurt boss Adi Hutter commented: “Andre Silva is the solo forward up top, but he does it really well. He wasn’t rewarded against Leverkusen, today he was. His composure on penalties reminds me of Robert Lewandowski, who always turns ice cold.”

Silva has gone from an erratic striker to one that shows remarkable composure in front of goal. Though, that’s not the sole reason Wolves should have signed him over Jose.

He’s confident in the penalty area, but most importantly has similarities to Raul Jimenez. Silva revealed what he brings to the Frankfurt attack last year: “My job at the moment, like a striker, is to score goals, to gain the ball in the air and to protect the ball in the front, so my teammates come more forward. So, I think it’s my job. But the most important in the final is the three points or the winning.”

Jimenez does a wonderful job of protecting the ball and you only need to look at Silva’s stats this term to realise what he could have offered to the Old Gold.

He has won 2.4 aerial duels per game which outmuscles Jimenez by 0.9. It’s a tally that also betters Jose’s in 2020/21 who has only prevailed in one aerial duel a match.

Hailed an “entertainer” for his performances this term, Molineux would surely have been a better place with Silva leading the line.

Depending on the cost, this would have been the perfect striker for Wolves in January. Let’s hope they don’t live to regret their decision.

AND in other news, Forget Aaron Ramsey: Nuno could unleash “special” rarely-seen Wolves gem instead…

After being called into the starting line up against Everton just minutes before kick-off, after usual number one choice Lukasz Fabianski had suffered an injury in the warm-up, stand-in shot-stopper Darren Randolph has opened up over his first Premier League appearance of the season (West Ham United). 

Randolph, who put in a solid display as West Ham snatched a 1-0 victory at Goodison Park, with Tomas Soucek clinching a late winner for the Irons, was inserted at the very last second as David Moyes called upon the barely-seen ace when Fabianski was injured warming up.

Despite his lack of match action, Randolph looked assured with little sign of rustiness – explaining to the club’s official website that he was ready to answer when he was surprisingly called upon.

Brought in as a reinforcement last season from Middlesbrough, re-signing for the Hammers in a £4 million deal, many supporters have hailed the ‘very smart signing’ after his showing against Everton.

Flocking to his message, here’s what Irons had to say.

West Ham fans praise Randolph

“Fantastic keeper. If we’d have never let him go, last season would have gone very very differently.”

Credit: @LocksmithDuude

“Very smart signing”

Credit: @StephenTJourno

“You did a great job mate”

Credit: @SESmotorsport

“Loved seeing him in goal again.”

Credit: @JOSHLOVESAYS

“Love this guy. A reliable back up who never complains”

Credit: @mattggibbons

“Darren Randolph is a more than abled understudy to Fabianski- would be number one choice at majority of other teams in the league. Seems to be the model professional – never complains about game time and when called upon very rarely lets West Ham down. Solid clean sheet yesterday.”

Credit: @WestHamJoshV

In other news: West Ham fans want GSB to swoop for this ‘class signing’, find out more here.