Everton legend Peter Reid has told the Liverpool Echo that the club should have signed Fernando Llorente during the summer transfer window when they discovered that a deal for Arsenal’s Olivier Giroud wasn’t going to be possible.

Toffees boss Ronald Koeman was desperate to bring in a direct replacement for Romelu Lukaku before the end of August with Sandro Ramirez taking time adapt to the Premier League and the side struggling for goals in the early stages of the campaign, but they failed to sign anyone.

Koeman is under pressure with the club currently lying 16th in the top flight standings and having taken just one point from a possible six in their Europa League group despite a big summer of spending, and Reid believes they missed out by not snapping up Llorente.

The tall centre-forward scored 15 goals in 33 Premier League appearances for a struggling Swansea City in his first season in England, and the 32-year-old completed a move to Tottenham Hotspur on deadline day.

However, the Spaniard has been playing back-up to Harry Kane under Mauricio Pochettino and has played just 17 minutes of Premier League football so far, while Everton are now relying on the previously frozen out Oumar Niasse to find the net.

Reid told the Liverpool Echo: “I think last January, it was common knowledge that Lukaku was going, so I found it strange that they didn’t get a recognised striker in, as hard as it might have been.

“They should have gone and got one in.

“If Giroud wouldn’t come, Fernando Llorente was available and he’d have done for me. Llorente was gettable, so they are out there.”

Everton will look to bounce back from their 1-0 defeat at home to Burnley last time out when they face newly-promoted Brighton and Hove Albion at the Amex Stadium on Sunday.

Former Arsenal forward Paul Merson has said that the loss of Sadio Mane will harm Liverpool’s chances of beating Manchester United at Anfield this weekend.

Mane is facing six weeks on the sidelines after picking up a hamstring injury while representing Senegal during the recent international break.

Merson has claimed that Liverpool would have had a chance of overcoming United with the presence of their leading scorer, but the 49-year-old does not believe that the Reds have enough as it stands.

United will travel to Merseyside having won six of their seven Premier League matches at the start of the 2017-18 campaign, which has left them in second position in the table. Liverpool, meanwhile, are five places and seven points behind Jose Mourinho’s side.

Merson told Sky Sports:

“This is a massive game, but I just don’t see how Liverpool win without Sadio Mane. I half-fancied them with Mane, but I can’t see it now.

“It will be interesting to see how United approach it. You would like to think, with the squad and firepower they have got, that they will have a go. But we have said that before and they have parked the bus, so we will have to see what happens.

“It’s a big game for Romelu Lukaku. Now he is with one of the big boys he has to perform against the big boys. Manchester United are a better team but Liverpool’s home advantage should help them get a draw.”

Liverpool could also be without the services of Dejan Lovren for the clash at Anfield, but Mourinho has a problem in central midfield.

Indeed, Marouane Fellaini has joined Paul Pogba and Michael Carrick on the sidelines, leaving Nemanja Matic and Ander Herrera as United’s only fit senior central midfielders.

According to the reliable @ExWHUemployee on Episode 61 of the West Ham Way radio show, West Ham United manager Slaven Bilic isn’t picking in-form starlet Toni Martinez for the first team as he doesn’t believe he is good enough yet.

The Irons’ 2-2 draw against bottom-of-the-table Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park on Saturday increased the pressure once again on Bilic after a brilliant Carabao Cup win against Tottenham Hotspur at Wembley days earlier, with his team surrendering a two-goal lead and giving away a 96th minute equaliser against the Eagles.

Despite his fine form for the U21 and U23 sides this term Martinez hasn’t been involved with the first team at all, even when both Diafra Sakho and Andy Carroll were absent for the 3-0 home defeat by Brighton and Hove Albion.

His exclusion has been particularly confusing and frustrating for the London Stadium faithful, and Bilic is missing a trick by not letting him feature in his match day squads.

Here are three reasons Bilic is getting it so wrong by ignoring Martinez…

Goals

With 10 goals in their opening 10 Premier League matches this season and with Javier Hernandez, Carroll and Sakho scoring just four of those, it is clear to see that Bilic would probably benefit by having more firepower in the squad.

The brace that Martinez netted in the 3-1 Checkatrade Trophy win against Bristol Rovers in the Memorial Stadium on Tuesday took his tally for the campaign to 11, and continued his prolific form in front of goal for the U23 side.

He certainly has that goalscoring touch and he could offer a different option from the substitutes’ bench when the Irons need to find the net.

The fans love an academy player

Bilic certainly isn’t popular among the majority of the West Ham fan base right now considering some of the poor performances and results they have witnessed since the start of last season, and the Croatian boss is certainly missing a trick by not giving Martinez an opportunity.

All football fans love it when a youngster from the academy gets a chance in the first team – especially one that has been so prolific – and while Bilic may see it as a risk that he can’t afford to take right now, it wouldn’t even be much of one considering he is 20 years of age and could be partnered with an experienced player like Carroll or Hernandez if needs be.

Confidence

While a number of West Ham senior players seem to be suffering from a distinct lack of confidence right now – especially after the demoralising collapse against Crystal Palace – Martinez could prove to be a breath of fresh air if he was brought into the first-team squad.

The 20-year-old seemingly can’t stop scoring right now and his positive mentality and self-belief could provide a boost to a manager and players that have appeared to be quite forlorn in recent Premier League matches.

Do you agree, Irons fans? Let us know below.

Since Wayne Rooney was dropped from the England squad in March this year, Gareth Southgate has issued the Three Lions armband to five different players already, seemingly undecided on who should be  skipper at the World Cup in Russia next summer.

Eric Dier was issued the most recent audition against Germany and Brazil and certainly didn’t let himself down. But Football FanCast are taking a look at the arguments for and against giving the captaincy to a considerably more seasoned England man – West Ham loanee Joe Hart.

Pros – Vast experience, vocal character and will be a constant if picked

With 75 caps to his name, Hart is the most experienced member of Southgate’s latest squad by quite some distance. In fact, the only more-capped player to be called up since Southgate took charge from Sam Allardyce is indeed Rooney.

Domestically and in terms of age too, the 30-year-old offers far more experience than most; he’s won two Premier League titles, reached the latter stages of the Champions League and even spent a year of his career in a foreign top flight with Torino – how many England players can say that?

He’s also a very confident character who won’t be afraid to make his voice heard if others aren’t pulling their weight, and should Hart retain the No.1 jersey for the World Cup, he’ll be one of the few constants in Southgate’s starting XI. That’s still a big if though, which brings us onto…

Cons – Uncertain role and questionable composure

With Jordan Pickford and Jack Butland seemingly gaining ground with every appearance they make, be that at club or international level, there’s no guarantee Hart will still be Southgate’s first-choice by the time the World Cup comes around. We already know Butland was pencilled in to start against Germany but suffered a broken finger – Hart taking his starting berth instead.

David Moyes instilling more defensive discipline and organisation at West Ham should help Hart’s Premier League form but with a big emphasis on building for the future, Southgate may opt for younger alternatives next summer.

Furthermore, even if Hart does start in Russia, there’s still question marks over his temperament and composure. All goalkeepers are guilty of errors but Hart’s always appear to be sourced from a rush of blood to the head, and the energetic cockiness he showed in the tunnel before that monumental error against Iceland at Euro 2016 still lives long in the memory.

Hart may be a very loud voice, but that doesn’t necessarily mean he says the right things and after that horrific exit in summer 2016, focus will be a key word for Southgate at the World Cup.

So, should Hart be England’s World Cup captain? Let us know by voting below…

The significance of Everton and West Ham’s Premier League clash on Wednesday night lays in how both clubs have come to mirror each other in their desperate bids to join the dominant forces in English football.

Significant elevation of spending during the last two summer windows has considerably raised expectations, something both of their former managers – Slaven Bilic and Ronald Koeman, who were both touted for each other’s’ jobs post-dismissal in another example of curious Hammers-Toffees symmetry – have both paid the price for this season.

More than anything else, it’s the pressure both teams have struggled to deal with this season as they enter the 14th game of their Premier League campaigns either side of the relegation line, clinging on desperately to avoid freefall. The talent is clearly there for both clubs to secure top half finishes, if not top seven finishes, on paper. But poor starts to the season for varying reasons, including several factors outside of Koeman and Bilic’s control, combined with the aforementioned raise of expectations has created a weight which continues to cripple and suffocate the players – only further exacerbating with every disappointing result.

And yet, you have to wonder why that pressure exists, and where it truly comes from. Everton and West Ham are both enduring miserable campaigns, but neither club have a divine right to be spared from the same relegation-fearing phenomena that has engulfed Newcastle, Aston Villa, Nottingham Forest or Blackburn throughout the years.

After all, we’re talking about one club that has been relegated from the Premier League twice before and another who’ve finished in the top six just twice throughout the Premier League’s 25-year history. In the grand scheme of things, West Ham and Everton dropping into the relegation battle isn’t all that shocking or extraordinary – in fact, amid the most competitive era of English football, it’s the kind of middle-sized-club plight that has become customary.

Of course, we’re also amid an era in which the pressure to succeed is greater than ever before, as is the accompanying short-termist thinking. That’s why both clubs felt compelled to part with their managers less than a third of the way into the season, and that’s why we’re already talking about two teams with clearly superior talent as genuine relegation candidates.

But it’s also why both clubs are stuck in the mess they’re now trying to escape; the miraculous story of Leicester City, very much an anomaly in not only Premier League but English top flight title history, has convinced clubs like Everton and West Ham that with solid investment and the right men in the dugout, they too can defy the balance of power at the division’s summit – if the idea of matching Leicester’s title win is still seen as farfetched, there’s a belief amongst both clubs that they can be the ones to disrupt the big six. Accordingly, Everton and West Ham’s owners and investors have both tried to run before they can walk.

The move to the London Stadium came with promises from David Gold and David Sullivan that it would soon house Champions League football, and while Bill Kenwright announced top four finishes as the ultimate objectives for Roberto Martinez and Ronald Koeman prior to the takeover, Farhad Moshiri’s investment has inevitably suggested an escalation in attempting to achieve that goal. But the finances show just how far off West Ham and Everton are in their shared mission.

Their combined spending during the last three seasons has been just 21% of what the big six have paid out for new signings, which verges upon the £2billion mark, while their combined net spend is just 19%. Everton and West Ham can’t simply assume a few summers of lavish spending will move them on parity with some of the richest clubs in the world. For starters, Watford have spent more than both of them since the start of 2015/16.

Breaking into the Premier League’s ultimate bracket is a long process that requires either unprecedented wealth or revolution from the bottom up, something Tottenham remain the archetype model for. We often consider their rise from top four hopefuls to consecutive title chasers as a consequence of Mauricio Pochettino’s philosophy and ability, but in truth their ascendance began far earlier when Daniel Levy became chairman in 2001.

Previously, Spurs had finished 10th or lower in four consecutive seasons; in the 16 seasons since, they’ve done the same just three times. Mid-table became upper mid-table, upper mid-table became top six and top six became top three. That rise owes far more to the club’s twelve-year youth development plan, which produced Harry Kane and Danny Rose, Levy’s organisation and shrewdness and the talent of their managers than simply announcing ambitions to be a top four club and jumping up a few rungs in transfer spending.

Indeed, we often forget in football’s increasingly short-termist sphere that instant success is rarely truly achievable. It’s a misnomer, a mythic creation, that every club wants but only few are ever lucky enough to enjoy. While there’s nothing wrong with ambition, it still requires a basis in reality and a tangible method of achieving it. Everton and West Ham have, quite simply, attempted to act like a ‘big club’ in the hope big club success would inevitably follow.

Their actual means of getting there, aside from careless spending in the transfer market and moves (planned on Everton’s part) to new stadiums, remain a mystery. Everton’s strategy-less recruitment last summer, echoing West Ham’s from 2016, and the haste in which both clubs disposed of their managers this season only highlights how little long-term planning there actually is.

And now we’re seeing the flipside to that naïve ambition. When you tell supporters to hope for Champions League football in the coming years but can’t achieve the results to justify those claims, the pressure suddenly becomes ginormous. Every poor performance is ruthlessly analysed, every poor result is painted as catastrophic. Everton and West Ham fans have always been demanding and passionate bunches, but their outrage and apathy this season is as much a consequence of how expectations have been raised as the performances on the pitch.

As the paymasters look on from their boxes on Wednesday, either side of perhaps the Premier League’s most surprising early relegation clash this season, both sets will feel they’re paying the price for trying to run before they could walk.

Whether or not Everton fans wholeheartedly approved of the appointment of Sam Allardyce as their manager last month, it was clear that the former England manager would satisfy one of the Toffees’ dire needs: defensive organisation.

When Allardyce was appointed – just before the home game with West Ham that he didn’t actually take charge of – Everton had the second-worst goal difference in the league and they had conceded the most goals. They were also two points above the relegation zone after a 4-1 defeat to Southampton. Just a few weeks later, they’ve clambered out of the relegation scrap, and most importantly, they’ve conceded just one goal in all competitions since the new manager’s arrival. Whatever you think about the approach, it’s been some turnaround.

The likes of Ashley Williams, so poor at times under Ronald Koeman and David Unsworth, seems to have found a natural home under Allardyce. And Wednesday night’s trip to Newcastle saw a similarly solid defensive performance.

But away from home in the Premier League, just having a good defence isn’t usually enough to take three points from the game. Last weekend at Anfield, the Toffees were lucky to come away with anything, especially since they conceded a goal in the first half and could barely attack all game. But this midweek, the Toffees showed signs that Allardyce’s side are beginning to find a way to link their defence with their attack.

The performance of Idrissa Gueye, in particular, was interesting.

Seen in the same sort of mould as N’Golo Kante, Gueye covered ground in the midfield and protected his defence, making an impressive five tackles – more than any other Everton player. But interestingly, it wasn’t just his defensive contribution that stood out. Not only did Gueye make the most tackles of any Everton player, he also made the most passes and had the highest pass accuracy of any player in Allardyce’s side against Newcastle, too, showing that his contribution is much more than just winning the ball back. He’s useful on it, too.

The first thing that Allardyce needed to do when he arrived was sort out the defence. After that, you then need to find a way to keep the defensive record solid whilst also providing a threat going the other way, and with a player like Gueye linking the defence with the attack, the new manager may have found a way to do that: and the Senegalese midfielder’s ability to get in on the attacking action by pitching in with a shot and a key pass show that he’s capable of playing that role.

The second phase of the Allardyce revolution at Goodison Park will be to add goals to the side on top of the defensive organisation he’s already installed. And it looks like Gueye will be crucial to that.

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West Ham United are interested in signing Liverpool striker Danny Ings on loan, reports The Guardian.

What’s the story?

The forward has had a torrid few years since moving to Anfield from Burnley in 2015.

Ings suffered cruciate ligament damage during the first training session under manager Jurgen Klopp in October two years ago.

The striker spent seven months on the sidelines and then suffered more heartache when he damaged cartilage in his other knee.

This season, Ings has made just one appearance, which was in the Carabao Cup as a substitute.

Now that he is injury-free, The Guardian claims that West Ham are among a handful of clubs – including Newcastle United, Crystal Palace and Stoke City – who are interested in signing Ings on loan.

A good fit for West Ham?

A loan deal can never be seen as a huge risk, particularly if it is short term, but the Hammers already have injury problems in the striker department.

Andy Carroll is in and out of the treatment room, which has restricted the former Liverpool player to just nine outings in all competitions.

Javier Hernandez has also had a spell on the sidelines following an injury that he suffered on international duty with Mexico.

If David Moyes is determined to bring in a striker on the cheap, it may be best for the manager to look elsewhere.

Ings certainly deserves a chance to get some minutes under his belt, but the 25-year-old’s injury record is a cause for concern.

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The Arsenal fans in and around the Transfer Tavern are becoming more and more excited by the day because of the progress in the transfer market their club is making. 

Already the Gunners have brought a wealth of experience to the club with players such as Bernd Leno, Sokratis and Stephan Lichtsteiner as they aim to challenge the top four of the Premier League once again. Arsenal certainly are building a very strong team but is that enough to launch a proper top four bid? Our punters feel that the added addition of Adrien Rabiot, who is valued at £45 million on Transfermarkt would cement their team and allow the Gunners to again be a force to be reckoned with.

The PSG central-midfielder played in 50 games last season for the French champions, providing 5 goals and 7 assists as well as defensive contributions. The 23-year-old is a box-to-box player who has accumulated a lot of interest already this summer from a variety of top European clubs. However, our punters feel a reunion with Unai Emery could be ideal for the midfielder as well as being the perfect Jack Wilshere replacement for Arsenal.

Adrien Rabiot reportedly wants away from the French club so what better time for Arsenal for them to swoop in and buy themselves a midfielder who is brilliant now but also has the potential to be even better under his former coach.

Arsenal are gearing towards a new future and not one with Arsene Wenger, they have to spend big on quality players to ensure they keep challenging as one of the top teams in the Premier League and the addition of Adrien Rabiot would definitely help that cause.

Thoughts… Let us know!

Fulham fans in the Transfer Tavern can’t wait for the Premier League season to begin and our punters are confident they can beat the drop next year.

Slavisa Jokanovic guided the Cottagers to promotion after beating Aston Villa in the playoff final. They earned plenty of praise for their style of football, but it remains to be seen how they will fare after stepping up to the highest level. With a few signings, Fulham will be confident of avoiding relegation.

Jokanovic is yet to make a signing this summer which is worrying with the transfer window closing at an earlier date of August 9 after clubs voted on the matter last season. Strengthening the squad will be vital given the strength of the promoted clubs and the finances available to the Premier League sides. The Cottagers should target a strong, combative midfielder to partner Tom Cairney in the engine room.

The perfect signing could be Saint Etienne midfielder – Yann M’Vila. Valued at £7.2m by Transfermarkt, the Frenchman is no stranger to life in England following a spell with Sunderland back in 2015. The 28-year-old was a key player for the Black Cats, making 37 appearances as they narrowly avoided relegation. The Sunderland faithful were outraged when they decided against making his stay permanent.

He returned to Saint Ettiene after leaving Rubin Kazan in January and made 15 appearances as they finished seventh in Ligue 1. M’Vila is excellent at winning the ball back and has an eye for a pass too; making him a great signing for Fulham.

His experience in the Premier League could be vital in the long-term as they look to maintain their Premier League status. The former France international is nowhere near finished and could turn out to be a fantastic signing.

Fulham fans, thoughts?

The hype surrounding Marcelo Bielsa’s appointment at Leeds United has rather died down in the past 7 days due to a lack of activity in the transfer market so far, and a recent report from The Sun has done nothing to boost the supporters spirits ahead of the new season. 

There is still time for Bielsa to salvage the transfer window with a handful of quality acquisitions, but the club’s lack of movement so far is a justifiable cause for concern at this moment in time.

Jamal Blackman has joined the club from Chelsea, following Lewis Baker to Elland Road from Stamford Bridge, but rumours are beginning to emerge regarding a potential departure from the club.

According to the printed version of The Sun (15th July, page 59, via HITC), Cardiff City are interested in raiding Leeds for Ronaldo Vieira this summer and they are planning on launching a bid worth £8 million.

Although it’s fair to say that Vieira under-performed somewhat last season, a fee as measly as £8 million should be baulked at and rejected flat out by the hierarchy at Leeds.

At just 19-years-of-age Vieira has showcased a level of potential which suggests he could blossom into a fine Premier League standard central midfielder.

A hard-tackling talent with the technical ability to keep possession ticking over for his side, Vieira is the type of central midfield player which every top-flight chasing side needs in the Championship.

Under a manager of Bielsa’s expertise Vieira has the potential to develop at a rapid rate next season, so the club simply cannot afford to sell him to the recently-promoted side this summer.

The market is hardly flooded with players who could effectively replace Vieira for the price quoted even if Leeds were willing to sell, and the quality Vieira has shown in sporadic bursts at both club and international level during his short career so far suggests that Bielsa would be foolish to accept a bid from Cardiff.

Leeds United fans – thoughts? Let us know below!