All posts by rastrear-estafeta.com

A major update has emerged on Ipswich Town target Max Power, regarding where he will be playing his football next season.

What’s the talk?

Ipswich Town target Max Power has officially signed for League One rivals Wigan Athletic. Power has put pen to paper on a two-year deal with Wigan and will link up with his new teammates at the start of next month upon the expiry of his deal at Sunderland.

The East Anglian Daily Times reported earlier this month that Ipswich manager Paul Cook was keen on a reunion with Power after working with the midfielder earlier in his career. Ipswich have now missed out on a deal for Power, with Wigan swooping in to secure a deal with the Sunderland man.

Wigan manager Leam Richardson hailed the “fantastic” midfielder upon his arrival at the club. He told Wigan’s official website:

“Max is a great lad who I really enjoyed working with the first time around. He is fantastic in the dressing room, and a great character to have around the place.

“He still has a lot to offer, he can play a number of different positions as he did during his last spell, and we are delighted to have him back at Wigan Athletic.”

Cook will be devastated

Ipswich manager Cook will be devastated by this update as he has missed out on landing a familiar face ahead of next season. Cook managed Power during their previous spells at Wigan together, which means that the 27-year-old would likely not have needed the adaptation period other signings may need to adjust to Cook and his management style.

Power could have been an excellent addition to Cook’s squad too. He enjoyed a solid season with Sunderland in League One as he averaged a WhoScored rating of 6.74, producing five goals and three assists, across 44 appearances.

He could have added additional, proven, quality to Cook’s options, whilst also being able to play in a variety of positions. The £3.9k-per-week dynamo was deployed as a defensive midfielder, right-back, centre-back and central midfielder in League One for Sunderland last season.

Cook will not be best pleased with Wigan securing Power’s services ahead of Ipswich. CEO Mark Ashton will now need to work hard to source alternative targets in the coming weeks to make sure that Cook has enough quality to mount a promotion push next season.

AND in other news, Ipswich get potential transfer boost over “incredible” £7.9k-p/w beast, Cook needs him…

Liverpool are expected to sign RB Leipzig defender Ibrahima Konate this summer, with the Bundesliga outfit waiting for official confirmation that they will pay his £30.2m release clause.

What’s the story?

The 22-year-old has long been linked with a move to Anfield as Jurgen Klopp looks to strengthen his centre-back options ahead of the 2021/22 campaign, and now a deal looks set to be completed.

According to Sky Sports, Konate’s imminent arrival is just dependent on the Reds paying Leipzig the required fee, with Die Roten Bullen already eyeing up his replacement.

Klopp is making a mistake

Current centre-back options Virgil van Dijk, Joe Gomez and Joel Matip all suffered serious injuries last season, forcing the likes of Jordan Henderson and Fabinho to fill in at the heart of defence, meaning Liverpool have prioritised that area of the pitch in the transfer window.

The 2019/20 Premier League champions made the bold decision not to replace Dejan Lovren 12 months ago after the Croatia international joined Zenit St Petersburg in an £11m deal.

It left Klopp with just three recognised senior centre-backs in his first-team squad, but by January all of them had picked up season-ending issues.

Therefore, focussing on bolstering the centre-back position makes perfect sense for the Merseyside outfit. However, signing Konate does not.

Although the former France Under-21 international in undoubtedly an extremely talented player with bags of potential, he has already incurred his fair share of fitness problems, despite being just 22 years old.

The youngster started just eight league games in 2020/21, failing to start three Bundesliga matches in a row all season. An ankle injury picked up in December kept Konate on the sidelines for two months, with Dayot Upamecano and Willi Orban keeping their place in the starting XI upon his return.

As per Transfermarkt, the former Sochaux man has already missed 405 days of action through injury in his fledgling career, totalling 46 fixtures where he’s been forced to watch from the stands.

With Liverpool’s season being destroyed by a plague of injury issues, it’s hard to fathom why Klopp has turned to a man who’s already effectively missed a year of his career through a string of fitness concerns to solve the problem.

Konate appears fast, strong, comfortable with the ball at his feet, and an accomplished passer, but if he spends half his time in the physio’s room, then Liverpool are back to square one.

While it’s hard to criticise Klopp’s previous endeavours into the transfer market, this is a deal that seems almost impossible to justify, given the huge risks attached.

And, in other news…Liverpool eye move for “clinical” £795k-p/w gem, Edwards must stay clear 

There is almost an expectation that Bruno Lage will become Nuno Espirito Santo’s successor but Get Italian Football News’ Editor in Chief, Conor Clancy believes that Paulo Fonseca could be a great fit for them.

Fonseca was recently relieved of his duties by Roma almost immediately after Jose Mourinho was on the market following his sacking from Tottenham Hotspur earlier this year and he will take charge from next season.

Wolves have a large Potuegese contingent within their squad, eight first-team players to be precise and Fonseca has experience of similar tasks during his time at Shakhtar Donetsk, as they are famous for having a lot of Brazilian players in their ranks.

The Portuguese manager has a history of winning trophies which is something Wolves haven’t experienced for a long time and Clancy believes that he could be a good alternative that Wolves target, he exclusively told The Transfer Tavern:

“He’s proven how he can work from his time at Shakhtar as they always have a lot of Brazilian players and he won things there. I’d presume that Portuguese is the language of the dressing room or at least some corners of it so I do think that Wolves seems like quite a nice fit for Fonseca.”

After being granted a work permit to move over to England take charge at Molineux, Lage appears to not be far away from being appointed as the club’s next manager, however, Fonseca could be someone that remains on their radar.

Fonseca has been linked with several jobs since leaving his role at Roma, including the vacant roles at both Everton and Celtic which would provide two totally different tasks for him.

Several Aston Villa fans have been reacting to footage of some comments from Dean Smith following the club’s 0-0 draw with Everton on Thursday evening.

Villa defeated the Toffees at Goodison Park earlier this month but failed to find a way through this time around.

Club captain Jack Grealish came on from the bench to make his first appearance for three months, with the point not enough to take Villa back into the top half of the table.

Villa only have one home fixture remaining now, with fans set to return for the visit of Chelsea on the final day.

Smith felt a Villa Park stalemate was a fair reflection of the game, giving his thoughts on Emiliano Martinez matching Brad Friedel’s clean-sheet record, praising Tyrone Mings and outlining European ambitions as well as Grealish’s return.

The full interview with the manager is available to view here.

Villa fans offer mixed reaction

Villa posted the clip on their official Twitter page on Thursday evening, and this is what these supporters had to say in regards to Smith’s comments, with more than one pleading with the boss to cut ties with loanee Ross Barkley.

“Listen to that ambition. Can’t wait for the window.”Credit: @AaronjGray”Please, Deano… Pretty please with a cherry on top… send Barkley back to Chelsea and give the kids a chance”Credit: @ClaretKev1980″Again you played with one striker. Watkins on his own is like a lost sheep just like Davis was tonight. You’ve got to have 2 strikers on the pitch otherwise we going to struggle next season scoring goals.”Credit: @Martin10041965″Please stop playing Barkley.”Credit: @PrincesaRodeo”New manager. Please #avfc”Credit: @Harry34740948″Deano telling the medical staff to shove it and giving all the villa what we needed, the skippers back inject it”Credit: @leesalt20

In other news: Villa source drops surprise Friday Bodymoor Heath meeting claim; could be vital for Johan Lange, find out more here.

Speaking exclusively to Football FanCast, former Aston Villa midfielder Lee Hendrie believes Barnsley boss Valerien Ismael is the kind of manager who would bring aggressiveness and energy to Crystal Palace.

Ismael is currently being linked with the Palace job, with Football Insider claiming that the south London club’s director of football Dougie Freedman is pushing to bring him in ahead of Frank Lampard – Steve Parish’s preferred choice.

This, of course, comes after Palace confirmed that Roy Hodgson would be stepping down as manager after four years at Selhurst Park.

And for Hendrie, Ismael could be a good candidate to replace the Englishman. The Sky Sports pundit told FFC in an exclusive interview:

“He wants that aggressive style. He’s got a very good, young squad at Barnsley and done absolutely brilliant this season with what he’s had at Barnsley. I’ve got to say that, for sure.

“I say he likes that aggressive style, but he likes that energy and he plays football in the right way.”

Certainly, Ismael has done a fantastic job in the Oakwell dugout this term, taking Barnsley to the Championship play-offs.

The Tykes also enjoyed a good FA Cup run under the former Palace player, giving finalists Chelsea a real game in their 1-0 defeat in the fifth round of the competition.

Manchester United staged a dramatic turnaround in North London on Sunday evening, coming from behind to beat Tottenham Hotspur 3-1.

Heung-Min Son had given the hosts the lead but strikes from Fred, Edinson Cavani and Mason Greenwood secured three points for the Red Devils.

Despite the dramatic comeback, it was still a tricky evening for a few of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s charges at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium – none more so than Victor Lindelof.

The £21.6m-rated Swedish centre-back was the weak link in the Manchester United backline throughout the game as Spurs took control in the first-half.

According to WhoScored, he only contributed a single tackle in 90 minutes and also did not produce a single interception. For comparison, Lindelof’s centre-back partner Harry Maguire provided two tackles and four interceptions of his own throughout the game.

Meanwhile, the former Benfica man continued to struggle against Spurs by only producing two clearances.

[snack-amp-story url=”https://www.footballfancast.com/web-stories/the-latest-man-united-transfer-rumours-and-news-old-trafford-macheda-solskjaer-lingard-ousmane-dembele-anthony-martial-injury-rabiot-van-de-beek” title=” The latest Man United transfer rumours and news from Old Trafford…”]

His poor defensive work was compounded by an attempted horrendous clearance from Harry Kane’s pass into Lucas Moura, allowing the Brazilian to slide the ball across for Son to score the opening goal.

Whilst the goal did not mean a great deal at the end of the match, the way that Lindelof struggled to defend would have been a concern for Solskjaer.

The defender was also not too inspiring on the ball in terms of playing out from the back either. He racked up a middling 84.5% pass accuracy and could only pick out his teammates with just two of his six attempted long balls throughout the match.

So, despite United’s excellent showing in North London, having picked up a fantastic three points, Lindelof was certainly an outlier thanks to a difficult personal performance.

Solskjaer will certainly be expecting better against Granada in midweek.

AND in more news, have a look at why the Red Devils could be committing a major transfer error in the summer if they loan out one of their stars…

In the end, Leeds United’s late equaliser was a win for football, as Marcelo Bielsa’s side rescued a point in their Premier League clash against Merseyside Reds (Liverpool).

With all the pre-match talk dominated by the European Super League – you only had to look at Sky Sports’ Monday Night Football coverage to see that – it was easy to forget that Leeds v Liverpool was a coming together of two of English football’s biggest clubs.

The Whites looked off the pace in the first half with Jurgen Klopp’s men dominating proceedings, and the visitors eventually got their reward when Sadio Mane netted to open the scoring.

However, Leeds kicked back into the gear after the break, and after spurning several opportunities to haul things level, they managed to find a way past Alisson thanks to a superb header from Diego Llorente.

In truth, the Whites could have, and probably should have, ended up with more than just their solitary point, and much of that has to do with Patrick Bamford’s woeful night in front of goal. As per Sofascore, he failed to find the back of the net with five of his attempts on goal, including missing three official big chances, not least a one-on-one chance in the first half.

The striker also struggled to just get involved in the game, managing just eight passes in total over the course of the 90 minutes, and his radar went awry at frustrating times too, misplacing seven of his 15 attempted passes as he desperately tried to make things happen (Sofascore).

It all led to Andy Hinchcliffe to remark on co-commentary duty for the game (72.20): “Patrick Bamford is going absolute crackers here. He made a couple of really intelligent runs, spinning in behind Fabinho, but his teammates at the back just haven’t seen the runs that he had made. It’s so frustrating for a striker, you’re trying your best but no-one’s helping you out. He’s just got to keep believing that they’ll see him, and he’ll eventually get that golden chance to get that equaliser.”

Well, Bamford did get picked out by a wonderful pass over the top by Luke Ayling straight after, and after a glorious first touch, he proceeded to see his shot come off the crossbar – perhaps slightly unfortunate, but again just another game where a gilt-edged opportunity went begging.

Writing in his post-match player ratings for Leeds Live, Beren Cross gave him a lowly six, explaining: “A horrible, near anonymous first half from the striker, but improved in the second half and even hit the crossbar. Never stopped asking for the ball, but very few proper sights of goal. Looked flat-footed and sluggish in the first period.”

In fact, Bamford had a far better night off the pitch, where once again he spoke eloquently in his post-match press conference and spoke for football fans across the world in pointing out the complete nonsense of the European Super League’s plans.

[snack-amp-story url=”https://www.footballfancast.com/web-stories/latest-leeds-transfer-rumours-and-news” title=”Latest Leeds transfer rumours and news”]

Bielsa would have been very proud of his striker for the way he spoke, but for his woeful performance on the pitch, he no doubt would have been less than pleased with what the 27-year-old produced..

Meanwhile, Leeds are eyeing a summer swoop for this star who’s faster than Lionel Messi…

Ryan Inniss has endured a tough time since joining Charlton Athletic back in October with the bulk of his campaign being hit with a long-term quad injury but on Saturday afternoon, he made a long-awaited comeback and arguably stole the show for Nigel Adkins.

Indeed, it was only the 25-year-old’s seventh appearance for the Addicks and first since the start of November, when he played the full match in their 1-0 defeat to Plymouth Argyle in the FA Cup first round.

Nigel Adkins picked up his first win in charge of the south-east Londoners, defeating fellow promotion hopefuls Doncaster Rovers 1-0 at the Keepmoat Stadium, and Inniss played a crucial role in keeping the opposition out.

Having drawn 2-2 with AFC Wimbledon in his maiden match, Adkins altered his backline and made a total of six changes to include the former Palace man – and evidently, it paid off.

A lot of the plaudits may go to Chelsea loanee Ian Maatsen, a left-back by trade, as he bagged his first-ever career goal despite playing out of position on the right flank.

“[Maatsen] has got the attributes [to play further forward]. I don’t think he’s played there before. He’s been playing left-back. But you can see he’s a very good footballer,” explained Adkins to LondonNewsOnline.

However, if it wasn’t for Inniss, there may not have been a clean sheet and subsequently, that goal would’ve counted for nothing.

The 6 foot 5 colossus was an absolute rock in the heart of the defence, alongside captain Jason Pearce, he made a match-high seven clearances whilst he also put in three tackles, two blocks and one interception.

Industrious would be one word for it, but the centre-back was not letting Rovers score, even despite them having the bulk of the attempts (12 total compared to the Addicks three) and the majority of the possession (60%), as per SofaScore.

No other Addicks player was graded higher than the Englishman’s 8.1 rating – not even the match-winner Maatsen (7.8).

Despite being a man-mountain in height, Inniss wasn’t easily beaten by Doncaster’s nifty forward line, as he won 100% of his five duels on the ground to supplement his five of seven aerial battles won – making a total of 83%.

After 146 days on the sideline, the Addicks monster returned to the starting XI and duly delivered a mighty display. Inniss stole the show up in Yorkshire, and that’ll undoubtedly delight Adkins ahead of the playoff run-in.

AND in other news, Charlton heading for big mistake over Chuks Aneke…

Former Spurs captain Gary Mabbutt has told Football FanCast that Tottenham Hotspur miss the influence of Jan Vertonghen in central defence.

The Belgium international left the club at the end of last season, joining Benfica on a three-year contract.

The 33-year-old remains a central part of his country’s plans, captaining his country in both of their recent World Cup qualifiers against Wales and the Czech Republic.

He has won 125 caps for his country and has made 32 appearances in all competitions for Benfica this term, belying his age.

Last season, he played 30 times in all competitions, despite a serious dip in form. He was even substituted in the FA Cup clash with Southampton and appeared close to tears on the bench.

But Mabbutt says that Spurs clearly miss the veteran centre-back.

Speaking exclusively to FFC, he said: “For whatever reason I think he felt that he wanted a change.”

He added: “I thought he brought a lot to the club during his time there and he’s still captain of Belgium and doing exceedingly well.

“Of course you miss a player like him, I think that’s probably an obvious statement.”

Mabbutt even believes that Vertonghen and Toby Alderweireld previously formed the very best defensive partnership in world football.

He added: “Two or three seasons ago I thought Jan Vertonghen and Toby Alderweireld were the best partnership in the world, working together for club and country.

“And you’re pushing each other every time you play to make sure you reach the level you want to reach. So I thought it was a fantastic partnership, and I was very disappointed personally when Jan went.”

Celtic may be without a manager but transfer preparations at Parkhead are well and truly underway.

What’s the word?

The Hoops have already wrapped up a deal to bring Liam Shaw to Glasgow but two other players who could join are more youngsters from the EFL; Kyle Joseph and Kwadwo Baah.

However, they’re now looking to sign an explosive winger in the shape of Aaron-Salem Boupendza.

That’s according to 90min, who suggest that Celtic are one of a number of teams vying for the winger’s signature.

Boupendza currently plays in Turkey for Hatayspor where he’s been seriously impressive. Arsenal are one of the sides chasing his signature with the Bhoys facing plenty of competition from south of the border.

Southampton, Tottenham, Leicester, West Ham, Newcastle, Crystal Palace, Brighton and Wolves are all monitoring his development while Rangers are also an interested party.

Christie upgrade

This will be music to the ears of Hoops supporters; Boupendza should be an upgrade on the much-maligned Ryan Christie.

The Scot has been in shocking form lately, scoring just twice in his last 25 outings for Celtic. For someone who found the net on 20 occasions last term, he has been abject at best.

Christie’s end product has often been left wanting and that has never been more evident than in the 1-0 defeat to Ross County.

He played as a striker next to Odsonne Edouard but spurned four chances, including an opportunity from just a matter of yards out that not only cleared the crossbar, but also the stand behind the goal.

With that in mind, signing someone like Boupendza would undoubtedly help Celtic. He is capable of playing on either flank, as well as through the middle as a central striker.

He has been electrifying for Hatayspor this season, scoring 18 times in just 28 outings. He’s failed to register an assist but with players like David Turnbull and James Forrest in the side, that should be of no concern.

Vital to the 24-year-old’s style of play is his dribbling. When one-on-one with the defender, Boupendza often gets the better of them. He has attempted 109 dribbles this season, completing 69 at a rate of 2.7 per match.

[snack-amp-story url=”https://www.footballfancast.com/web-stories/latest-celtic-transfer-news-onuachu-edouard-dembele-turnbull” title=”The latest Celtic news and views!”]

For context, no player at Celtic has recorded more than the 1.6 dribbles amassed by Tom Rogic and Edouard.

Clearly, he could offer something different to the new manager at Paradise. On top of that, he could even be a more potent goal threat than someone like Christie.

As Celtic try to reclaim their dominance of the SPFL, finding more goals will be of utmost importance. Boupendza would offer than in abundance.

AND in other news, Forget Christie: Celtic must unleash rarely-seen 23 y/o next term, he’s “outstanding”…