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Leeds United secured their second successive Championship victory on Saturday to retain the initiative in the title race.

The Whites had to battle hard at Elland Road, but were ultimately deserving of their 2-1 victory over strugglers Bolton Wanderers. However, Marcelo Bielsa will feel that his side should have been able to secure a more comfortable margin of victory.

This is a recurring theme, as Leeds have struggled to take their chances in recent weeks.

Who do you want to see promoted this year? The Pl>ymaker FC squad have picked their 3 favoured teams in the video below…

On the chalkboard

If Leeds are to hang on and achieve automatic promotion to the Premier League this season then they must rediscover their clinical edge soon. However, the recent injury sustained by 14-goal top scorer Kemar Roofe will have come as a major blow in this regard.

Bielsa must now find a way to make his side more prolific without having the 26-year-old forward to lead the line. The likes of Patrick Bamford and Tyler Roberts must now step up. The Argentine coach must first find a way to configure his attacking talents in a cohesive and effective manner.

Adapting to Bamford

25-year-old summer signing Bamford will now be the first choice to lead the line for the Whites. The 6’1” striker’s season has been ravaged by injuries so far, but now fully fit he has the capacity to get amongst the goals. 

Bamford is a clinical and reliable finisher, but a very different kind of forward to Roofe. Leeds must now adapt to having the former Middlesbrough hitman up front.

Bamford is less mobile than Roofe, but his movement in the penalty area, strength, and hold up play make him an ideal target man. If he can cultivate a relationship with the likes of Roberts and Pablo Hernandez, who can break forward from deep in order to link up with the No. 9, then Leeds could suddenly find themselves banging them in with regularity again.

Celtic are reportedly edging closer to signing defender Cameron Carter-Vickers on a permanent deal this summer.

The Lowdown: Carter-Vickers impressing on loan

The American traded Spurs for the Hoops last summer, having failed to force his way into Nuno Espirito Santo’s plans in north London after several loan spells.

Carter-Vickers’ signing has been a masterstroke by Celtic, with the 24-year-old proving to be a dominant performer at the heart of the defence, averaging 4.3 aerial duel wins per game in the Scottish Premiership and ranking as the club’s fifth-best player.

While his move is only temporary currently, recent reports have claimed that it could become permanent ahead of the summer transfer window, with an extremely exciting update emerging late last night.

The Latest: Permanent deal close

According to The Daily Record, sharing an update late on Monday evening, Carter-Vickers looks increasingly like sealing a move to Parkhead, fending off interest from Burnley, Wolves and Leicester City in the process.

A £6million option to sign the USA international is set to be triggered for the defender, as Ange Postecoglou looks to seal a significant piece of business, with the report claiming the player’s camp feel Glasgow is the best place for his permanent development.

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The Verdict: Huge signing for Hoops

Carter-Vickers has shown all season why he could be a great long-term capture by Celtic – he has been hailed as ‘outstanding’ by Greg Taylor – so this update is hugely positive in that respect.

At 24, the Spurs man is at an age where he is already experienced but has another decade or so at the top level, meaning he could be a fixture in the team well into the Hoops’ future.

Carter-Vickers has already forged a strong understanding with Carl Starfelt at centre-back – both were exceptional against Rangers last weekend, making 20 clearances and six interceptions between them – and that is a partnership that could be the bedrock for more success for Postecoglou’s side.

In other news, Kieran Devlin has hailed one aspect of Celtic’s win over Rangers. Read more here.

Celtic have cashed in on a number of players over the past few years such as Odsonne Edouard, Kristoffer Ajer, Moussa Dembele and Kieran Tierney, to name but a few.

One other player that the Hoops sold in recent memory but they may now be regretting is full-back Jeremie Frimpong, who moved to Bayer Leverkusen in January 2021 in a deal worth a reported £11.5m.

After joining from Manchester City’s youth ranks in 2019, the defender went on to make 51 appearances for the Hoops across all competitions, scoring three goals and providing eight assists along the way.

Since moving to Germany, the 21-year-old – who is currently picking up £25k-per-week according to Salary Sport – has racked up 47 appearances for Leverkusen in total, finding the back of the net twice and delivering nine assists in the process.

With 25 Bundesliga appearances under his belt this season, the right-back has scored one goal and set up another six, earning himself an overall performance rating of 6.88/10 from WhoScored. That makes him Leverkusen’s sixth-highest rated outfield player, showing how important a figure he is for his current club.

To highlight just how much of an attacking threat he has been this term, no other Leverkusen defender has made more key passes per game (1.2) than the former Hoops youngster, who also has his team’s joint-second highest number of dribbles per game (1.9).

In January 2021, shortly before calling an end to his Celtic career, Transfermarkt had Frimpong’s market value listed as £3.6m. It now stands at a massive £18m, highlighting a significant increase of 400%, which shows just how much of a boost his career has enjoyed since waving goodbye to the Parkhead club.

This current value would comfortably make him Celtic’s most valuable player, eclipsing Callum McGregor’s current value of £6.75m at the top of the tree. Taking all this into account, it’s safe to say that the Hoops lost a valuable asset when they sold Frimpong.

However, with the player reportedly adamant that he wanted to leave the club, perhaps they should have done more to try and convince him to stay where he was, even if they still managed to accrue a decent transfer fee for him.

In other news: Ange can axe “infectious” ace as Celtic become “serious contenders” for “massive” deal

Celtic were rather busy during the previous summer and winter transfer windows in terms of the deals they managed to complete.

Not only did the Hoops welcome a number of new players to the Parkhead club, but they also managed to move others out in the opposite direction.

However, they didn’t always end up signing every player that was mentioned with a move to Celtic Park.

One player, in particular, that was linked to the Hoops in the previous January window that didn’t end up joining was Callum Styles.

With the transfer window set to open for business again once the season comes to an end, we think that the Bhoys should reignite their interest in the Barnsley figure and launch a move to bring him to Celtic.

Having racked up a total of 115 appearances for the Championship club prior to their match against Swansea City, the midfielder has scored eight goals and provided six assists.

This shows what a useful creative and attacking player he can be on the pitch.

One goal that the 22-year-old scored for his current side from outside the box was labelled as a “rocket” by journalist Sanny Rudravajhala, highlighting what he’s capable of on the ball.

The Hungarian has also racked up an average of 1.2 shots and 1.1 key passes per game in the league, putting him in the top five for each statistic in Barnsley’s squad.

Described as being a “massive talent” by teammate Cauley Woodrow, Styles has played in numerous positions across the pitch throughout his career.

This highlights how his versatility could make him a very useful squad member for Ange Postecoglou if the Hoops are able to sign the £2.7m-rated gem this summer.

Looking ahead to the summer, with Barnsley looking likely to get relegated as things stand, a move to Celtic could be rather tempting for the player rather than potentially playing in League One.

Also, with his contract at the Yorkshire club set to expire in the summer of 2023, this next window could be the ideal time for Barnsley to cash in on him should they get relegated and he doesn’t put pen to paper on a new deal.

In other news: Ange can finally axe “unbelievable” £18k-p/w Celtic flop with “aggressive” prodigy

Celtic have not been particularly reluctant when it comes to spending money in the transfer market to bring new players to Parkhead in recent years.

And, one player that the club splashed out a fee of £1.7m on back in the 2014 January transfer window was Stefan Johansen.

During his time at Celtic Park, the midfielder scored 19 goals and provided 22 assists in 114 appearances across all competitions.

In the 2016 summer transfer window, Celtic then sold the Norwegian to Fulham in a deal worth around £2m.

With 81 appearances in the Championship across the 2016/17 and 2017/18 campaigns, the midfielder managed to score 19 goals and register 16 assists.

After that, the 31-year-old found himself on the move again, this time for a loan spell with West Bromwich Albion where he made 14 appearances before returning to Fulham in May 2019.

The 2019/20 season saw the former Hoops star play in 36 games but fail to find the back of the net.

Last summer saw Johansen bring an end to his time with Fulham by joining fellow London club Queens Park Rangers on a permanent deal worth just £630k after he had spent some time there on loan.

This season has seen the Norway international pick up more yellow cards (7) than goal contributions, despite making 34 appearances in the Championship.

To further highlight how unimpressive the midfielder has been going forward, only eight of the 23 shots at goal he’s had in the league have been on target.

His overall performances haven’t been much to shout about either, with WhoScored giving him a rather underwhelming season rating of 6.61.

Described as a player that had a reputation of having a “bad attitude” by former Celtic manager Ronny Deila, Johansen has gradually seen his transfer value and yearly goal contributions go down since his early Fulham days.

Taking all of this into account, it seems as though not only did the Parkhead club get a lot out of the player on the pitch, but they also pulled a financial blinder by selling him when they did.

With the way Celtic have shot to the top of the SPFL table this season under Ange Postecoglou, it’s hard to imagine that many supporters will have been wishing their club had kept hold of the £11k-per-week midfield man.

AND in other news: Huge blow: Celtic suffer major injury setback, it’s terrible news for Postecoglou

Former Aston Villa striker Kevin Phillips has been reacting to the club’s move for Calum Chambers, as per Football Insider.

The Lowdown: Out-of-the-blue Chambers move

Villa recently announced a move for Chambers completely out of the blue, similar to how they brought Danny Ings to the club over the summer.

The under-the-radar transfer made Chambers Villa’s fourth senior acquisition of the January window, penning a three-and-a-half-year deal from Arsenal.

The Gunners failed to activate a clause in the versatile defender’s contract to allow them to extend his deal by a further 12 months, which ultimately placed the defender’s future in his own hands.

The Latest: Phillips comments

Phillips, who regularly features as a pundit on Sky Sports, was talking to Football Insider regarding the move for Chambers. He labelled Villa’s business as ‘amazing’ and heaped praise on the club’s hierarchy for backing Gerrard this month, saying:

“They are the big winners this window, in my opinion. The business Steven Gerrard and Aston Villa have done so far is just amazing. Hats off to the board for backing Steven.

“Steven has clearly had an impact in terms of the players the club can attract. Villa is a massive club, of course, but this calibre of signing hasn’t been seen at the club in a long time. The club is moving in the right direction.

“To bring the players in they have had, with the possibility of a couple more coming in… 1000 per cent Villa have had the best window.

“It has put them in a position where they could challenge for European football.”

The Verdict: Solid transfer window for Villa

Even though Villa haven’t bolstered their central midfield ranks following bids for Yves Bissouma and Rodrigo Bentancur, they have still enjoyed a respectable transfer window.

They’ve made marquee additions in Philippe Coutinho and Lucas Digne and have also brought in experienced squad players in Chambers and Robin Olsen.

A central midfielder would have been the icing on the cake, but it seems as if that may have to wait until the summer for Gerrard ahead of his first full season in charge.

In other news: ‘Ridiculous’ – Lots of Aston Villa fans fume at ‘the dumbest’ deadline day move.  

As per Torino Granata, a possible boost for West Ham United has come to light amid their links to Torino striker and soon-to-be free agent Andrea Belotti.

The Lowdown: Pellegrini fails in 2019 bid…

Multiple reports from 2019 have backed that the Hammers and former boss Manuel Pellegrini lodged a bid to sign the Italy international, but to no avail.

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Football Insider, Calciomercato and TUTTOmercatoWEB all claimed that West Ham made an offer for Belotti nearly three years ago with the striker coming as a name who will be familiar to supporters.

Out of contract this summer, it appears the 28-year-old will finally be on the way out of Turin and for free, gifting David Moyes and co a chance to solve their striker shortage with a long-term target.

The Latest: Belotti open to joining…

Torino Granata, sharing the latest on his future post-Torino, now claim that Belotti is open to joining West Ham this summer.

Indeed, according to their sources, a Premier League move for the forward cannot be ruled out.

It is believed that a move to the Irons or fellow interested side Newcastle ‘could be more attractive’ to Belotti.

The Verdict: Make the move…

An proven threat at both international and club level, bypassing Belotti’s estimated £25.2 million Transfermarkt valuation and snapping him up for nothing would be a very shrewd move.

Torino’s captain and figurehead is one of the Serie A big names set to make a headline-grabbing move this summer and we believe a transfer to West Ham may well be on the cards.

However, with Newcastle, Roma, Atalanta, Inter Milan and Toronto also on his trail, Moyes and co should waste no time making the striker an offer.

In other news: Blow for Moyes: Journalist says ‘underrated’ West Ham ace is now ‘ready to leave’! Find out more here.

Everton’s Financial Fair Play issues could prevent them from spending big in a rebuild this summer, and even if Frank Lampard steers them to Premier League safety, he could be forced into sounding out bargain transfers, loan deals and free agents as the club look to get back on track.

The potential sales of in-demand trio Richarlison, Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Jordan Pickford could provide the club with a welcome cash injection, but the fees earned from those prospective transfers may not all be reinvested in the playing squad.

With that being said, one player with whom they were linked in January will be available at the end of the season on a free transfer – Matias Vecino.

What’s the news?

According to Italian news outlet Calciomercato, there is almost no chance the Inter Milan midfielder will remain at the club beyong this summer, with his contract set to expire at the end of June.

The Uruguay international has long been a target for the Merseyside club, first being linked by Gianluca Di Marzio in 2020 as then-Toffees manager Carlo Ancelotti was keen on taking him to Goodison Park, while Rafael Benitez was also keen on signing him in the January transfer window according to Calciomercato.

Bargain signing for Lampard

Rated at £4.5m by Transfermarkt, Vecino could still have a decent resale value which would give Everton an automatic profit if things don’t work out, and at the age of 30, it seems unlikely that he would want a long-term contract.

However, the midfielder would most likely be a low-risk, high-reward signing who would bring some much-needed fight into an already experienced team.

Once labelled a “very good and vastly underrated player” by journalist Adam Digby, the former Fiorentina star has started just two games in Serie A this season, averaging a 6.69 rating from Sofascore. Despite barely featuring, he still ranks in the top 1% for xG per 90 (0.30) among midfielders in Europe’s top five leagues and continental competitions in the last 365 days.

He would also bring high intensity to Lampard’s team, ranking in the top 3% for tackles in the attacking third per 90 (0.58), top 8% for pressures in the attacking third per 90 (4.84) and top 1% for goal-creating actions per 90 (0.69 – more than any other midfielder), as per FBRef.

There is no doubt that Vecino could still have a lot to give for his next club, and if that destination is Goodison Park, then Everton would have an excellent addition to their midfield for next season. They could strike gold by landing the 30-year-old on a free transfer.

In other news: Lampard must finally unleash “aggressive” ace, it’s “bizarre” that Everton don’t play him

Newcastle return to Premier League action tonight against Everton as they look to make it back-to-back wins in the top-flight.

The Magpies beat Leeds 1-0 in their last outing in January and now come up against Frank Lampard’s Toffees on Tuesday night at St. James’ Park.

Eddie Howe’s squad has been bolstered since their previous match, with Matt Targett, Dan Burn and Bruno Guimaraes coming in, but what changes will he make to the side?

Time’s up

One player who must be brutally axed from the XI is central midfielder Joe Willock. His time is up and he must be placed on the bench for this clash as he has been underwhelming throughout the campaign, putting in another below-par showing against the Whites.

As per SofaScore, he lost 70% (7/10) of his individual duels in the match and failed with three of his five dribble attempts. In 90 minutes on the pitch, he made one tackle and zero clearances, interceptions or blocks, showing that he was disappointing from a physical and defensive standpoint.

Willock has struggled all season and has not made up for his lack of strength in the middle of the park by being a threat in the final third. In 17 Premier League matches, he has scored zero goals and created just 12 chances (zero big chances) – registering zero assists.

This means that he is far too weak out of possession and lacking in quality when he has the chance to get on the ball to make things happen. That is a far cry from the eight-goal Willock Newcastle fans watched in the second-half of the 2020/21 campaign.

Freddie Ljungberg previously dubbed Willock as “passive” whilst the midfielder was playing for the Gunners and the lightweight’s statistics this season suggest that the retired Swedish international’s choice of word was apt. He does not offer enough in midfield to make him a key player for Howe and that is why he should be axed from the side.

Therefore, Howe must axe the liability from the team and give another player a chance to come in, whether that is new signing Bruno Guimaraes or another midfielder until the Brazilian is fit to make his debut for the side. Either way, Willock’s time in the XI is up and he should be restricted to a supporting role for now until he is able to show vast improvement – in training or off in the bench.

AND in other news, Major blow: Newcastle dealt big setback ahead of Everton that’ll leave fans gutted…

When Steven Gerrard was appointed as manager of Aston Villa, plenty of eyebrows were raised around the country.

The Liverpudlian is clearly a very talented and highly-rated coach but rightly or wrongly, there is always an element of scepticism attached to those arriving on English shores from Scottish football.

What he achieved north of the border was tremendous, as he guided Rangers to the Premiership title last term, doing so in unbeaten fashion.

That was the biggest boon attached to his CV upon arriving at Villa Park but we have quickly discovered there is another hugely appreciated bonus that he brings with him; that of attracting footballers to come and play for him.

The signings of Philippe Coutinho and Lucas Digne prove that, as two impressive regular internationals joined the club, marking a set of acquisitions that were some of the most impressive in the club’s recent history.

However, there could be arrivals before the window is closed with Johan Lange and Gerrard targeting a certain Luis Suarez no less.

It appears as if the Uruguayan is enthralled by the idea of working with somebody he respects highly from when the ex-midfielder was still a player, and what a signing he’d be.

Boasting 241 goals in Europe’s top five leagues, he is a generational talent, someone who has found the net throughout his career with jaw-dropping consistency.

Yet, he isn’t the only offensive name that could still put pen to paper at Bodymoor Heath before January 31st.

Another player who has been linked with a move is Swedish winger Dejan Kulusevski.

The Juventus star has been touted with switches to the likes of Tottenham Hotspur in recent times but it’s Villa who must secure his services.

After all, the £27m-rated gem could create a destructive and compelling partnership alongside both Coutinho and Suarez in the forward line.

Described as “explosive” by former Villa and Sweden striker Marcus Allback, Kulusevski has attributes in his locker that could scare opposing defenders up and down the country.

Capable of playing all across the front line, he has scored nine times and registered ten assists for Juve, but it was at Atalanta where he was most prolific.

He beat the goalkeeper on 17 occasions while proving himself to be a creative marvel, racking up 26 assists.

Indeed, with that kind of service for Suarez, they’d have the potential to create an awe-inspiring attack under Gerrard.

Admittedly, bringing both of them to the Midlands this winter seems unlikely, but supporters can always dream.

AND in other news, Grealish 2.0: Gerrard must avoid transfer howler on AVFC’s “selfless” £31.5m-rated gem…