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Everton have been linked with a move for Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Harry Winks as the club begins to make plans for the January transfer window.

What’s the story?

According to Caught Offside, the 25-year-old is wanted by Toffees manager Rafael Benitez and will push for a Spurs exit once the winter transfer window opens, with the Liverpool Echo claiming that the Merseysiders have now made an enquiry to Spurs for the player.

Winks has struggled for game-time in recent months and is now believed to be seeking a way out of north London in search of regular action.

Imagine him and Doucoure

After rising through the ranks at his boyhood club, Winks has made 178 appearances for Tottenham in all competitions and started their 2019 Champions League final defeat at the hands of Liverpool.

The technically gifted talent featured prominently during the reign of former manager Mauricio Pochettino, who lavished praised on the midfielder after a late winner against Fulham two years ago.

“He deserves the praise because the whole action is amazing,” said Pochettino. “He recovered the ball like a full-back, we started to build from the back, and then he arrived for the cross from GK, which was fantastic – we have to praise him too.

“It’s amazing, amazing, because we were talking in the last few weeks that he had to score and to have more presence in the opposition’s box because he has the quality to do it. I’m so happy.”

However, a lot of Winks’ good work goes unnoticed. The England international has only recorded nine goal contributions throughout his career, but he offers a different set of skills to the team.

As per WhoScored, no Spurs player who started a league match bettered or matched his average of 70 passes per game last season, and he also topped the charts for pass completion after achieving a 90% success rate.

His highly impressive figures weren’t just down to picking the safe and simple options every time, either. Winks managed 1.3 key passes per Premier League fixture in 2020/21 and pulled off 4.4 long balls – of all of Tottenham’s outfield players, only Toby Alderweireld completed more (7.3).

Therefore, Winks’s key attributes would provide the perfect balance for current Everton midfield star Abdoulaye Doucoure. The Frenchman’s power and pace cause opponents constant issues, but he also has the intelligence to play cute through balls in the final third of the pitch, making him a nightmare for defenders to handle.

It remains to be seen whether Everton follow up their interest in the £18m-rated Winks, but director of football Marcel Brands could pull off another astute piece of business by snapping up the disciplined Tottenham maestro.

In other news… Brands must sanction Everton swoop for £12.6m-rated ace, he’s an “outstanding technician” 

Leeds United have sold some terrific players in the modern era as the likes of Rio Ferdinand, Jonathan Woodgate, Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink and Robbie Keane have sealed big-money moves away from Elland Road.

In and amongst their most expensive departures, however, is a player they sold whilst competing in the Championship – Chris Wood.

The New Zealand international left Leeds to join Burnley for roughly £14.7m in the summer of 2017, as Leeds missed out on the play-offs in the second tier. This remains the club’s third-most expensive sale in history, with Hasselbaink (£15.03m) and Ferdinand (£41.4m) the only players ahead of him in that regard.

He was sold for more than the likes of Keane, Robbie Fowler, Alan Smith, Harry Kewell and Fabian Delph. How did Wood get to that point, though?

The current £50k-per-week colossus was snapped up from Leicester by Leeds in the summer of 2015 for a reported fee of £3.2m. This was a gamble by the club as he was coming off the back of scoring one goal in seven Premier League games for the Foxes. He also failed to beat the goalkeeper in the Championship during eight matches on loan at Ipswich.

That risk paid off for Leeds, however, who ended up playing a blinder in the transfer market. He enjoyed a solid first campaign at Elland Road as he found the back of the net 17 times in all competitions, including 13 in the Championship, showing signs of promise as a young centre-forward.

Wood then exploded onto the scene in the 2016/17 season as he set the second-tier alight for the Whites. He averaged a WhoScored rating of 7.0 as he scored a phenomenal 27 goals, whilst also providing four assists, in 41 starts.

His sensational form in the Championship led to Burnley paying £14.7m for him at the end of that campaign, which meant that Leeds made a cool £11.5m profit in two years on the striker. Whilst this is a masterstroke from the club in its own right, what followed on from it proves that they played a blinder.

12 months on from the sale of Wood, Leeds signed Patrick Bamford from Middlesbrough for £7.11m. The ex-Chelsea man scored 16 goals in the club’s 2019/20 promotion campaign before firing in 17 top-flight goals for Marcelo Bielsa last term, proving himself to be a consistent scorer at the top level. Since then, he’s also earned his first cap for England too.

In four full seasons for Burnley in the Premier League, Wood, who was hailed as “first-class” by Peter Crouch, scored 10, 10, 14 and 12 goals in his four seasons at the Clarets. This suggests, purely based on goalscoring, that Leeds ended up being better off by making a huge profit on Wood and then replacing him with Bamford.

Since becoming one of Bielsa’s biggest projects, he has topped the Kiwi’s top-scoring Premier League season.

AND in other news, Leeds gem with 66.6% dribble rate stole the show on Sunday, he eclipsed £54m-rated ace…

Nottingham Forest confirmed on Thursday morning that they are expecting their biggest crowd of the season this weekend against Blackpool.

And, as to be expected, a number of Forest fans have been reacting to the update on social media.

Steve Cooper is unbeaten in his first three games as manager after replacing Chris Hughton in September, with wins over Barnsley and Birmingham City coming after a draw at home to Millwall.

The 1-1 draw at The City Ground last month was Forest’s highest attendance of the season with 25,589 supporters in attendance.

Forest sit second on the average Championship attendance table behind Sheffield United, and it seems as if that figure will increase after the meeting with The Tangerines, with a season-high crowd expected.

Forest fans react

Forest shared the attendance update on their official Twitter page on Thursday. This is what these supporters had to say in reply, with one labelling it as ‘positive’.

“love a full City Ground. Just need every fan to get behind the team and make some noise”

Credit: @PMarshall78

“Feel good factor is back”

Credit: @DarrenWeston82

“Think it’s the most positive I’ve been for about 18 months.”

Credit: @JamieBriody

“Love this”

Credit: @NFFC_Woodz

“How quickly things change in football, the fans are buzzing again”

Credit: @NottinghamGupta

“What happens when we start playing decent football!!”

Credit: @gavreds84

Paul Joyce has revealed an injury update on Abdoulaye Doucoure which many Everton fans were dreading.

Taking to Twitter this morning, The Times journalist confirmed that the Goodison Park club are ‘concerned’ that the former Watford ace is now ‘facing lengthy time out’ with a ‘broken foot’.

At 1pm, Everton published a tweet on their official Twitter channel to verify the news, with a link to an accompanying club website post which read: “Everton can confirm that Abdoulaye Doucoure has suffered a stress response in a bone in his foot sustained during Sunday’s match against West Ham United.

“The French midfielder is being assessed by the Club’s medical team at USM Finch Farm and is undergoing further investigation to determine the full extent of the injury.”

Ranked as the Toffees’ second-best player behind Dominic Calvert-Lewin in the Premier League so far this season with an average rating of 7.3 given by WhoScored, he has looked a player reborn under Rafa Benitez.

Doucoure ranks highly among his teammates in terms of average tackles (2.5), interceptions (1.1), clearances (1.4), shots (1.8), key passes (1.1) and dribbles (0.9) per game, and also has two goals and four assists from midfield (WhoScored).

Several Toffees supporters were dreading the worst when rumours surfaced earlier this morning, and Joyce and the club have subsequently put some authority to those initial fears.

Everton fans on Doucoure update

These Everton fans were left fuming as the injury update on Doucoure was shared on Twitter:

“Wow”

Credit: @KaneBurnett98

“Season over..”

Credit: @JstinR7

“Announce relegation”

Credit: @iphillips_efc

“Can’t have nice things us”

Credit: @JayWilson_97

“I can’t be bothered anymore”

Credit: @FPLupthetoffees

“Just cancel the whole football club, save the hassle”

Credit: @ItsOnlyJk

In other news, Everton could face a big decision over this ‘important’ player

Tottenham Hotspur have confirmed that Nuno Espirito Santo has been sacked as the club’s manager.

The Lowdown: Spurs struggling

Despite winning their first three Premier League games (Sky Sports), Spurs have had an overall miserable campaign to date.

As it stands, they are eighth in the top-flight table and have won just two of their last seven league matches. Calls have been made for the manager to be relieved of his duties, and Daniel Levy has now made a decision.

The Latest: Nuno gets Spurs sack

As such, Nuno has this morning been sacked as Tottenham manager, with the Daily Mail’s Sami Mokbel breaking the news shortly before it was confirmed by the club.

His job was not deemed to be under threat before Saturday’s 3-0 loss to Manchester United, but the nature of that performance appears to have left Levy and Fabio Paratici with no choice but to part ways with the 47-year-old.

The Verdict: Next decision must be right

Nuno was far from Spurs’ first choice to become the club’s new manager in the summer. The likes of Antonio Conte, Paulo Fonseca and Gennaro Gattuso were all higher up the list but, for one reason or another, none of them made the move to north London.

After four months in charge, the Portuguese has been let go, leaving Tottenham in a poor position in the table. It is vital that Levy and co get the right man through the door to replace him after jettisoning a second manager in less than seven months, otherwise this could be an unstable season of struggle for Spurs, who already face an uphill battle to return to the Champions League.

In other news, Tottenham want to sign this up-and-coming defender

Liverpool managed to make no issue in keeping their winning run in the Champions League group stage going this season with a 2-0 win over Atletico Madrid at Anfield.

Goals from Diogo Jota and Sadio Mane secured the three points against Diego Simeone’s side who saw defender Felipe sent off after just 36 minutes.

One Liverpool player that we think was a massive shining light for the Reds in midweek was right-back Trent Alexander-Arnold.

In the 89 minutes he was on the pitch for, Alexander-Arnold managed to assist both goals, make two interceptions, three tackles, attempt 112 passes with an accuracy rate of 92%, four of them being key passes, complete two accurate crosses and 11 accurate long balls, ultimately earning himself an impressive overall match rating of 8.4, making him Liverpool’s highest-rated player on the day according to SofaScore.

This shows just how vital Alexander-Arnold was for his side on this occasion and that he stole the show over any of his teammates, even the likes of Mane and Jota who were on the scoresheet, thanks to Alexander-Arnold’s assists.

So far this season, the 23-year-old dynamo, who is currently valued at £67.5m according to Transfermarkt, has made 11 appearances for the Reds across all the competitions in which he has managed to provide six assists in the process.

Since making his senior debut for the Reds, Alexander-Arnold, who has been dubbed as “outstanding” by Klopp in the past, has managed to score 10 goals and provide 50 assists in the 190 appearances he’s made across all competitions, highlighting just how much of an attacking threat he is for the team from the right-back position.

Additionally, with Alexander-Arnold being currently listed as Liverpool’s second-highest rated player with an overall season rating of 7.69, according to WhoScored based on his performances in the Premier League. This shows how important he has been for the team in their latest league campaign.

Moving forward, if Alexander-Arnold can keep producing the same sort of performances as he did in midweek throughout the remainder of the season, we feel he will be a massive part of any success Liverpool have this year, whether it be domestically or in the Champions League if he can keep providing assists and maybe even add some goals to his tally this season, as he’s shown in the past that he is capable of.

In other news: Klopp could already own £54m-rated machine’s heir with “excellent” 18 y/o LFC prodigy – opinion

Newcastle United are one of the clubs interested in Sevilla goalkeeper Bono, according to Spanish outlet Fichajes.net. 

The lowdown

Aided by his Sevilla defence, Bono has kept six clean sheets in 10 appearances so far this season, conceding just four times. His record of letting one in every 225 minutes is the best in the division (via Transfermarkt).

English audiences may be familiar with the Moroccan goalkeeper, labelled the ‘hero’ by Phil McNulty as Sevilla beat Manchester United in the semifinals of the 2019/20 Europa League.

The 30-year-old is valued at €18million – which equates to around £15.4million – by Transfermarkt.

The latest

‘Several’ Premier League teams are keen on Bono, with the Fichajes report namechecking Newcastle and West Ham United.

From Sevilla’s point of view, Bono is under contract until 2024, and so there’s no pressure to sell at this stage.

The verdict

It certainly looks like Newcastle are intent upon strengthening the goalkeeper position, with Fenerbahce’s Altay Bayindir linked on Friday.

That report suggested that Newcastle were willing to fork out £14million for the Turkish international, which could place him in the same price bracket as Bono.

Bono and Sevilla have frustrated their opponents in impressive fashion so far this season, and so it’s no surprise to see interest from abroad and Newcastle in particular.

Magpies shot stopper Karl Darlow, paling in comparison to Bono’s impressive numbers, has kept zero clean sheets – leaking 12 goals and conceding every 53 minutes on average (Transfermarkt).

Taking this into account, it’s little wonder both Newcastle and Eddie Howe have their eyes on reinforcements between the sticks – with Bono coming as a potential bargain alternative.

In other news, this agent has been in contact with Newcastle. 

Wolves striker Hwang Hee-chan is wanted by Liverpool and Manchester City, heightening the need for Wanderers to sign him permanently.

The Lowdown: Hwang shines for Wolves

The South Korean joined Wolves on loan from RB Leipzig in the summer and has made an immediate impression at Molineux. He has scored four goals in just six Premier League starts, helping Bruno Lage’s side to find a good run of form as they rose to eighth in the table and becoming their top scorer so far this term.

It appears as though the 25-year-old’s form has not gone unnoticed by some of the country’s leading clubs, though.

The Latest: Premier League giants eye up move

According to The Mirror, both Liverpool and Man City are keen on the idea of signing Hwang, seeing him as a strong player to add to their respective squads.

The report stated that the pressure is now on Wolves to try and sign the striker permanently in the January transfer window in order to avoid any complications next summer.

The Verdict: Potential big blow

Hwang already looks like a hugely exciting player for Wolves – Garth Crooks has described him as ‘devastating’ and he won the club’s Player of the Month award for October – and while Leipzig may not definitely allow him to leave, there is hope that a deal could be struck.

The idea of him moving to Liverpool or Man City instead is a painful one, further strengthening one of those clubs’ attacking options and leaving Wolves lighter in that area in what would be a hammer blow to Lage’s squad.

The hope is that the promise of regular starts at Molineux appeals more to Hwang than simply being a squad player under Jurgen Klopp and Pep Guardiola.

In other news, some Wolves fans have reacted negatively to a transfer rumour. Read more here.

An update has emerged on Porto forward Luis Diaz, regarding Newcastle United’s interest in his services.

What’s the talk?

According to A Bola, via Sport Witness, the Magpies are one of the clubs interested in signing the Colombian international in the January window.

The report claims that Porto are expecting a club-record fee, more than £42m (€50m), and Diaz has a release clause of roughly £67m (€80m).

Fans would love it

Newcastle must smash their transfer record and pay the fee required to bring Diaz to St. James’ Park as he could be a terrific signing for the club and fans would love it. The supporters would surely be buzzing to see PIF splash the cash on the forward in an attempt to avoid relegation down to the Championship in the second half of the season.

Diaz has been in sublime form for Porto this season and is showing signs that he could thrive in the Premier League if given the opportunity to do so by Newcastle, which is why fans should love the deal if it goes through.

[snack-amp-story url= “https://www.footballfancast.com/web-stories/check-out-the-latest-newcastle-howe-ter-stegen” title= “Read the latest Newcastle news!”]

In the Primeira Liga, he has produced nine goals and two assists in 11 games for the Portuguese giants, whilst he also has two goals in four Champions League games – in a group with Liverpool, Atletico Madrid and AC Milan.

His Porto teammate Sergio Oliveira once hailed him after their Champions League win over Milan, saying:

“I don’t have to answer, we know his qualities, apart from the human level he is also extraordinary on a technical level. The best for him will also be the best for us as a team.”

This suggests that he has the quality to stand out at Champions League level against huge clubs, including Liverpool from the Premier League, and that indicates that he has the ability to play in England. If he is able to translate his form from Portugal over to the northeast then he could be a top player for the club as he’s shown he can score goals on a consistent basis.

Liverpool’s Alisson also previously heaped praise on the forward, hailing him for the hard work he puts in for his country. He said:

“Luis Diaz is an excellent player, he does a lot of work for the defence, he did it in the goals of Copa America.”

PIF and Eddie Howe must now ensure that they are able to get a deal over the line for Diaz. Not only would it be record-breaking for Porto, but it would also represent a club-record swoop for the Magpies, as their most expensive signing in history stands at £40m for Joelinton.

AND in other news, “They’re not..” – Journo makes NUFC transfer claim that’ll surely leave fans worried…

Tottenham Hotspur return to Europa Conference League action as they head to Slovenia to face NS Mura later this evening.

Three weeks ago, Antonio Conte picked up a win in his first game in charge in the competition when his side narrowly defeated Vitesse in a game full of goals and red cards.

He’ll be hoping that it’ll be a little different this time, having drawn to Everton and beaten Leeds United in the Premier League since.

We’re well on our way to seeing what a Spurs side truly looks like under the 52-year-old and a game against the Group G minnows tonight could be the perfect opportunity to get a serious scoreline on the board, with Mura yet to win or draw from four matches.

Spurs have a trip to Burnley to contend with on Sunday, so Conte has an interesting decision to make in terms of team selection and having already hinted at rotation, there’s a good chance we do not see several of his usual starting XI.

Harry Winks was part of the lineup at the weekend but that was only because of Oliver Skipp’s one-game suspension and he is surely in line to face the axe today.

The 25-year-old has hit a career crossroad at Spurs, having been frozen out by former managers Jose Mourinho and Nuno Santo, and whilst Sunday’s inclusion shows some sort of faith from Conte, it would be wise to drop him against Mura.

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He failed to grasp the rare opportunity to impress – it was a lot of sideways and backwards passing without much influence on the game defensively or in the final third. Skipp, however, is amongst the three-most prolific tacklers in the squad, by contrast.

SofaScore graded the Englishman a 6.7, which was the second-worst of any Spurs player to feature, whilst he lost possession a disappointing 14 times from his 63 touches, with none of his passes being a key chance created. He was also dribbled past twice by Leeds, too.

There have been reports suggesting that Winks is seeking an exit in January and it would be wise to finally part ways as he just doesn’t seem good enough anymore.

It was a long, long time ago that ex-manager Mauricio Pochettino dubbed him “perfect” and likened him to Spain’s legendary duo of Andres Iniesta and Xavi.

Since then, Lilywhites legend Graham Roberts told Football FanCast that Winks had “become an average player”, whilst BT Sport pundit Chris Sutton claimed he “looked a shadow of himself” during coverage last month [21st October, 18:40pm].

The £18m-rated midfielder has no place in Conte’s starting XI, even if it’s against a side as small as Mura. His time at the club is surely coming to an end, so it would be wise to try out and look at alternatives.

AND in other news, Fabio Patatici could seal “massive signing” to kickstart Conte era in 31-cap “absolute monster”…