As reported by The Daily Mail, Rangers are one of a number of teams interested in signing Kilmarnock midfielder Youssouf Mulumbu this summer.
What’s the story?
Mulumbu has been key in Kilmarnock’s reversal in fortunes this season, emerging as one of the stand-out stars in the Scottish Premiership. Guided by manager Steve Clarke, Mulumbu has helped transform the Ayrshire from a side that looked destined for a relegation battle into one of the most consistent sides in the division.
However, it appears the 31-year-old’s spell at Rugby Park could be coming to an end.
The Daily Mail report he looks set to leave the club this summer when his contract expires and that Rangers are interested in signing him.
The paper reckon that the Light Blues are rivalled by the likes of Celtic, Aberdeen and Hibernian for his signature.
Can they convince him his future lies at Ibrox?
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Would he improve the Rangers midfield?
As evidence by his recent display in a Kilmarnock win at Ibrox, the DR Congo international has more than enough about his game to suggest he could definitely become a regular starter at Rangers.
The Light Blues midfield has been accused of being too lightweight at times this season, something that was apparent in their tussle with Motherwell just this weekend.
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Mulumbu carries a physicality that would be a great addition to the Rangers squad, also possessing the technical skills and top-tier experience that can really push them on.
On a free transfer, making a move for him at the end of the season is something of a no-brainer.
“Forget about Mario Balotelli, he is an absolute waste of time. He shouldn’t be anywhere near this team.” Once again Mark Lawrenson, the former Liverpool man has stuck the boot in on the struggling Italian striker. As Liverpool laboured to a 0-0 FA Cup quarter final draw with Blackburn Rovers last weekend, second half substitute Balotelli was again the only player to be publicly chastised.
Super Mario has become the ‘Super Scapegoat’.
Even on a night when he won his side a game, this time against Besiktas, the headlines were not of Mario rescuing a turgid Liverpool performance with a late penalty. Instead it was how ‘disrespectful’ he was. Taking the penalty off Jordan Henderson to selfishly ensure his side took a lead to the second leg.
Even captain Gerrard had to run with this story rather than one about a young player, struggling at a new club, who managed to keep his nerve in a pressurised situation.
When he scored, arguably his most important Liverpool goal, a late winner against top four rivals Tottenham, the story that dominated social media the next day was how ‘arrogant’ Balotelli did not even celebrate, showing his disregard for the club. It is almost like being the sole reason for a team’s failure can begin to grind.
There is no doubt that the former Manchester City man has struggled since his arrival on Merseyside. His most positive performance for his club came on his debut, when he and Sturridge cut ribbons through Tottenham in an emphatic away win.
Then the injury to Sturridge came and Mario was expected to lead the line by himself, a role which has never and will never suit his style of play. Although the whole side was struggling for form, unable to replicate the heroics of the previous season, only Balotelli was continuously picked out and derided for his form.
A lot of the negative attitudes towards the Italian stemmed from an incident where he swapped shirts at half time against Real Madrid. Something so trivial which helped to overshadow the fact that they had just been humiliated at home against the Spanish champions.
Anything to take away attention.
A lot of the criticism for the form of Balotelli should be placed at the door of the manager. Brendan Rodgers knew the player he was signing; it was not like it was some unknown talent he was acquiring. The issues that have been so troubling to club and manager are ones that have always been tagged with the striker.
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When Liverpool signed him, they signed a precocious talent, one that needed nurturing and cherishing. Instead it seems he was bought almost for the sole purpose of taking attention away from an underperforming team.
The method is simple, if the Liverpool team are struggling, bring him on and let him be the story.
If Super Mario can rebuild his Liverpool career it would be one of the great stories in English football, if only to make sure Mark Lawrenson is proved to be an incompetent fool. Again.
There are few clubs in England that have a greater tradition of putting faith in youth players than West Ham, so much so that it is known as the academy of football in some quarters. With Frank Lampard, Rio Ferdinand, Michael Carrick and Jermain Defoe just some of the many examples in recent years and the current Hammers boss, Sam Allardyce, believes it is vitally important that clubs look to develop their youth set-ups for the sake of the future:
“I think that every football club’s strategy should be to develop young players and I think there should be more emphasis on it than there has been in recent years. The problem is that results are everything in the Barclays Premier League and everybody focuses far too much just on that. People forget that development and long term strategies are extremely important.
“West Ham’s history is one of the best, the development of players at West Ham has been an outstanding bonus to the football club over many years. Tony Carr has done an absolutely terrific job but unfortunately it is getting more and more difficult due to the circumstances that we have to work under. There is more development money coming into the game but yet again it is still a question of time. There really isn’t enough time.
“We don’t have enough qualified coaches in this country and until we get that sorted out and act in the same way as we did towards the Olympics, we will not develop the next generation of top players for the England team.
“From a club perspective at West Ham we work very hard to get as many academy graduates in the West Ham side as we possibly can. At the moment we have got Mark Noble, Jack Collison, James Tomkins and Danny Potts who is only 18. We are on the right track but we should be developing more.”
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For more insight from Sam Allardyce and other leading managers plus exclusive Premier League highlights go to www.yahoo.co.uk/sport
Mohamed Salah made it 37 goals for the season and took Liverpool back up to second place in the Premier League with his late winner at Selhurst Park.
Crystal Palace again battled doggedly in a home match against a top six side – the final one they will face this season – but were again denied in the closing stages, just as they were against Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur.
Sadio Mane was lucky to stay on the pitch when he was pulled up for intentional handball while already on a yellow card but somehow escaped a second caution.
As Palace fumed, Mane was substituted and that allowed Salah – who measures up at 1.75m or 5ft 7in as per Transfermarkt – to again take centre stage and net unmarked in the final ten minutes to allow the Reds to leapfrog their bitter rivals Manchester United in the league table yet again.
We all know how much Reds fans love Salah and his latest match-winning intervention allowed them yet another opportunity to try to find the words to do his performance justice. We’ve taken a look at their latest attempt to pay tribute to the Egyptian international…
After a week or so of ‘will he or won’t he’ chat about Wilfried Bony’s potential move to Manchester City it was finally revealed as a ‘done deal’ this afternoon.
Even when the deal was in its early stages there was a mixed bag of opinions amongst fans of all clubs. Some were questioning whether City even needed Bony, while others insisted Bony would hugely increase City’s changes of successfully defending their Premier League crown.
Either way, you have to feel for Swansea, who have arguably lost the one player that were half-relying on to fire them in to the top half of the table.
An outlay of £28m is peanuts to a team like Man City, but with a strike force that includes the likes of Sergio Aguero, Stevan Jovetic and Edin Dzeko, you wonder where he’s going to fit in exactly.
And that’s what a lot of fans on Twitter are asking, while others were hailing it is a brilliant signing…
We have seen many open games involving Manchester United over the years, with their philosophy to play attacking football, however we may have seen it more so this season than any other.
Sir Alex Ferguson’s men have pretty much gone with the attitude of ‘you score and we will score more’ so far this campaign, scoring a hat full of goals but also conceding far more than we are used to seeing. In a strange way, has the vulnerability at the back benefitted United this season?
Now I say this in the fact that teams may have been more willing to take the game to them and attack, knowing that the defence is susceptible to conceding chances. With the forward players United have at their disposal, they have been able to compensate for poor defending with this and the signing of Robin van Persie has certainly added an extra clinical edge to the front line.
At the end of last season, United had scored 86 while letting in 33 goals, and after just 23 games this season they have scored 57 and already conceded 30. That’s a staggering amount of goals for them to have let in, but it has worked so far especially with rivals Manchester City struggling to reproduce their form from last season.
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The Citizens have found it a lot harder to finish teams off this term which could be a case of Roberto Mancini’s men now just experiencing the territory of being Premier League Champions with other teams naturally more cautious when playing them. This is something United have faced many times down the years, with teams ‘parking the bus’ as the phrase goes. They have however found a way to come through it and continue their success, something which City need to be able to handle. I personally feel their lack of width makes it very difficult at times as it’s often not possible to pass through teams and you need a plan B, as good as the likes of David Silva are.
Of course we could also reverse the initial argument by looking at it in the sense that teams feel that sitting back against United is pointless as they will score anyway, whereas they may feel City can be contained easier.
United’s team is set up to attack with two attacking full backs as well as two wingers so are likely to create more chances. The Red Devils also lack a real tough tackling holding player with Tom Cleverley and Michael Carrick now seeming to be the first choice pairing in the centre of midfield. While Carrick does a job in terms of interceptions and has improved defensively in general this season with areas such as his positioning, he still doesn’t provide the cover that a proper defensive midfielder would. Attack is certainly United’s best form of defence.
Although this style of play may have served them well in the league, they will certainly need to adapt slightly if they are to progress further in the knockout stages of the Champions League. While Madrid are not the best themselves defensively, they have the familiar face of Cristiano Ronaldo to punish any holes in United’s backline. I do feel Ferguson’s side have begun to show improvements at the back in recent weeks though, and it is no surprise that this has coincided with the return of captain Nemanja Vidic.
This will also bode well for them in the league as we start reaching the business end of the season, and the games become even more difficult with each team fighting for their respective goals for the end of the season.
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So far though, United’s excellent attack along with their patchy defence has worked well for them one way or another. The theory that sides now feel more confident to take the game to them is just an observation and could simply be a coincidence with the fact that more managers seem to want to play attacking football now, with the Premier League also a more open league in general than we have seen in the past.
Andre Green has had a difficult season at Aston Villa due to injury woes, but there is light at the end of the tunnel.The 19-year-old has made just seven appearances in all competitions, and five of those outings were in the Championship.A hamstring injury has kept the attacking midfielder on the treatment table since early January, with his last outing being a 3-1 defeat to Peterborough in the FA Cup.Earlier this week, Green provided a positive injury update, telling theÂBirmingham Mail that he is just a matter of weeks away from returning to action.[ad_pod ]In order to build on his fitness, the teenager got 45 minutes under his belt in a friendly at Bodymoor Heath.The Midlands outfit will not be in competitive action until after the international break on March 31, and it is unclear whether Green will play a part in the club’s Championship game against Hull City.What the midfielder is focused on, though, is Villa pushing for Premier League promotion following their recent back-to-back defeats.Steve Bruce’s side sit fourth in the standings, seven points adrift of the top two.
The uniquely chaotic winter schedule is what makes the Premier League the most exciting and demanding top flight in world football, and it’s thrown up a fantastic fixture this year in Manchester United’s visit to Tottenham.
Both clubs have endured their struggles this season after welcoming new managers in the summer, but with Louis van Gaal and Mauricio Pochettino’s methods finally seeming to kick in, results have improved over the last few months. Spurs have won four of their last seven in the Premier League, whilst United haven’t lost in eight.
The White Hart Lane clash on Sunday will feature two sides high in confidence and resultantly, it’s difficult to pick a winner.
But fixtures of such festive feistiness are usually decided by who dominates the individual battles, so with that in mind, here’s FIVE that could determine the outcome on Sunday.
Robin van Persie vs Jan Vertonghen
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Currently on a run of four goals and two assists in his last five Premier League appearances, there’s no question that Manchester United’s Robin van Persie is back to his former best. That includes a brace against Southampton, a single strike against Liverpool and this absolute stunner against Hull City:
As Gary Neville has often argued, the Dutchman is like a burglar – just as you think he’s in your pocket, he steals a yard of space to net a worldie.
Resultantly, Tottenham’s star centre-back Jan Vertonghen will have to be in top form on Sunday. He’s still yet to rekindle the magic of his debut Premier League campaign but the Belgium international’s performances have taken a notable upturn recently.
With rumours he could leave White Hart Lane in January after refusing to sign a new contract in September, this battle with van Persie is Vertonghen’s chance to prove he’s a part of the world’s centre-back elite, just ahead of the transfer window.
Wayne Rooney vs NABIL BENTALEB
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Nabil Bentaleb has forced his way into Mauricio Pochettino’s first team plans over the last month or so, ahead of Paulinho, Mousa Dembele, Benjamin Stambouli and Etienne Capoue to name a few, with a string of impressive performances against the likes of Everton and Crystal Palace.
The youthful defensive midfielder will face arguably his toughest challenge yet in Manchester United’s Wayne Rooney however, who’s been in predictably consistent form this season to claim six goals and three assists in 13 Premier League appearances.
It remains to be seen where the United skipper will feature against the Lilywhites – he’s been tested as a striker, a No.10 and more recently, a central midfielder under Louis van Gaal and injuries will likely factor into the Dutchman’s team selection.
But with either central or attacking midfield his most likely positions, it will be Bentaleb’s job to halt Rooney’s surging midfield bursts as much as possible.
He passed the ball around for fun against Aston Villa too, recording 94 passes with a 93% success rate, so Tottenham must put as much pressure as possible on the England captain when in possession or he’ll quickly pick them apart.
CHRISTIAN ERIKSEN VS MICHAEL CARRICK
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There’s grounds to suggest Michael Carrick will have to fill in at centre-half against Spurs, with Chris Smalling and Marcos Rojo still yet to return from injury.
But working on the proviso that he’ll feature in his preferred position of central midfield, the former England international’s main priority will be nullifying the talismanic threat of Spurs’ Christian Eriksen.
The Danish prodigy has been enjoying some fantastic form this term, finding six goals and one assist in 17 Premier League outings, and is certainly beginning to deliver on his much-heralded potential.
But perhaps most importantly, he’s Tottenham’s leading creator this season in terms of chances per match, as detailed below:
So if Carrick can stop Eriksen, Spurs will struggle to conjure up regular goalscoring opportunities.
The 33 year-old will have to stay switched on for the full 90 minutes however; Eriksen’s scored two last minute winners already this season, against Swansea City and Hull.
ANGEL DI MARIA VS KYLE WALKER
Once again, one can only speculate how Angel Di Maria will be utilised upon his return to fitness, but whether playing centrally or on the wing, it’s the left-hand pocket he loves to attack most.
That channel has brought him considerable success too, amassing three goals and six assists in 12 Premier League appearances since moving to Old Trafford for a record-breaking £59million this summer.
Thus, he’ll be regularly drifting in and out of Kyle Walker’s defensive remit, who is still on the mend after spending the first portion of the campaign sidelined through injury.
Stopping the 26 year-old midfielder will be no easy task, but famed for his blistering pace and trickery, Walker’s speed will be a huge asset when defending against Di Maria – particularly amid his trademark advances on the break.
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Whether that’s enough to halt arguably the most talented midfielder in the Premier League however, remains to be seen.
HARRY KANE VS UNITED’S BACK THREE
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Manchester United’s three-man defence had the desired effect against Arsenal and Liverpool, whilst the returns to fitness of Johnny Evans and Phil Jones have further strengthened it somewhat – at least on paper.
But it’s still very much a work in progress, with chaotic organisation and unfamiliarity aplenty, and it seems inevitable that it will become unravelled at some point over the winter period.
With that in mind, Spurs youngster Harry Kane could already be licking his lips in anticipation for the United clash. The industrious striker is amid a prolific bout of form at the moment, netting three goals in his last three appearances across all competitions – including this opener against Burnley last weekend:
High on confidence and seemingly spurred on by the spirit of the Tottenham support, especially at home, Kane will relentlessly pressure the Red Devils’ shaky backline all afternoon.
That work-rate may not necessarily translate into a goal, but it will undoubtedly lead to scoring opportunities for Spurs.
The transfer window is a time when the media spotlight focuses primarily on potential new arrivals, but managers will be equally eager to unload those undesirable names from their rosters. As wage bills and financial incentives come under increased scrutiny, it won’t just be Arsenal football club looking to save money at every available avenue.
Very few Premier League bosses will have received a blank checkbook from their chairman this Christmas and will instead have to operate under the popular nightclub policy of ‘one in, one out’. Therefore I have decided to compile a list of those players who are out of favour or perhaps surplus to requirements and will be offered up on a platter to those that show even a fleeting interest.
Click on Liverpool and England’s forgotten man Joe Cole to see the full countdown
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Arsenal got back to English Premier League winnings ways on Sunday with a dominant 3-0 win against Watford at the Emirates Stadium.
The Gunners had lost their last three in the competition coming into the fixture, with the pressure piling up on manager Arsene Wenger. His team knew they had to produce a result and they did exactly that, blitzing their visitors with three goals.
At the heart of the victory were Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Henrikh Mkhitaryan who both scored and assisted each other’s goals, a throwback to their days together at Borussia Dortmund.
Fans were absolutely delighted with their contribution and believe they can be the basis for future success.
Aubameyang has three goals and an assist since joining in January, while Mkhitaryan has two goals and an excellent five assists.
They’ve certainly made an impression and it’ll be interesting to see if they can maintain their contributions into next season when it really counts again.
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Supporters took to Twitter to share their thoughts on the partnership…