All posts by rastrear-estafeta.com

At the end, Liverpool were able to get their man when they signed Virgil van Dijk from Southampton last January.

However, the Reds were unsuccessful in their initial pursuit in a development which resulted in the Dutch centre-half not being in the right frame of mind to play for the Saints going into the 2017/18 season (Guardian).

Van Dijk, though, in a recent interview, has insisted he always gave his everything during his time at St. Mary’s.

The Breakdown

“After the end of August [and the transfer window] I put my head down, played for Southampton and gave everything,” the Liverpool defender told the BBC (via Daily Echo).

“I was happy to play because I came back from an eight-month injury. When everything happened over the summer, people doubt you.  For me, I really didn’t care as I gave everything in games and training.”

On the pitch, it is hard to argue against what van Dijk has said with the 27-year-old having truly put in some colossal performances at the back for the Saints.

However, to say he gave everything to the club entirely after effectively going on strike following his failed summer transfer to Liverpool is absurd and likely to leave some Southampton supporters feeling a little disgruntled.

Given the project Jurgen Klopp has going on at Anfield, you can understand van Dijk’s frustration at being denied his dream move at first. But making yourself unavailable for the club who pay your wages is not the classiest of ways to go about things, making the above comments that have followed more than a year later far-fetched.

Celtic centre-back Christopher Jullien is no closer to making a return to first team action.

What’s the latest?

That’s according to a claim made by Kieran Devlin, with The Athletic journalist revealing in a recent Q&A that, after pushing back the 28-year-old’s predicted return date a number of times already, the club are no longer putting a timeframe on exactly when they believe the former France under-20 international will be back in action.

Devlin added that Jullien’s recovery from the injury he suffered in December 2020 has gone extremely poorly, also suggesting that he is none the wiser as to when the centre-back could potentially step back onto the Parkhead pitch.

In response to a fan asking for an update on the defender, the journalist said: “Return date kept getting pushed back and pushed back, and now there’s no estimated return date anymore. Think the club just didn’t want to put a date on it anymore, so [I’m] uncertain when he might be back. His recovery from the injury last December has just gone really, really poorly.”

Postecoglou will be fuming

With Celtic’s run of bad luck concerning injuries seemingly never-ending since Ange Postecoglou’s arrival at the club, the news that Jullien appears no closer to making a return to action will undoubtedly have left the 56-year-old fuming.

Indeed, with centre-back duo Stephen Welsh and Carl Starfelt both spending time on the sidelines due to knocks this season, Postecoglou would have very much enjoyed being able to call upon a player of Jullien’s ability as, prior to picking up his injury last year, the 28-year-old was in exceptional form for the Hoops.

Over his nine Premiership fixtures in Celtic’s 2020/21 campaign, the £4.95m-rated Frenchman helped his side to keep five clean sheets, scored one goal and registered one assist, as well as making 1.2 interceptions, 1.2 tackles and 3.6 clearances and winning 6.9 duels per game.

These returns saw the £20k-per-week defender average a SofaScore match rating of 7.43, ranking him as the club’s second-best performer in the league last season.

However, with Devlin suggesting that the Frenchman is still some way off being ready for a return to first team football, Postecoglou has no other choice but to continue getting by without the centre-back, whose return to action is undoubtedly a case of the sooner the better for the Bhoys.

In other news – “Heard similar rumours…”: Devlin drops behind-the-scenes Celtic claim which fans will love

Celtic aren’t expected to make a move for Gremio midfielder Fernando Henrique, according to Football Scotland.

The Lowdown: Henrique links

Reports last month suggested that the Hoops were set to bring Henrique to Scotland in the New Year.

The Daily Record relayed reports from Brazil who labelled a Parkhead switch as ‘likely’, even though the 20-year-old hasn’t featured in Gremio’s last 22 league games.

[web_stories_embed url=”https://www.footballtransfertavern.com/web-stories/celtic-updates-19/” title=”Celtic updates!” poster=”” width=”360″ height=”600″ align=”none”]

Henrique even follows Celtic on Instagram, of course leading to more speculation, but it seems as if a move to Scotland isn’t on the cards after all.

The Latest: Not interested…

Football Scotland shared an update regarding Henrique on Wednesday morning.

They claimed that links over a move to Celtic are ‘wide of the mark’, stating that Ange Postecoglou’s side are no longer interested in the central midfielder.

The Verdict: Focus on Japanese trio…

Celtic have a lot on their plate at this moment in time ahead of the January transfer window opening, with the Hoops reportedly looking to bring in three Japanese stars.

Midfielders Reo Hatate and Yosuke Ideguchi are two of those, and should Celtic land the pair, then a move for Henrique may no longer be needed.

Forward Daizen Maeda is also on Celtic’s radar, with the club also looking to make Jota’s loan permanent. So, this update on Henrique, who hasn’t kicked a ball in recent months, shouldn’t come as a shock, and shouldn’t cause much heartache for Hoops fans either with so many other targets lined up.

In other news: Celtic set to lose millions on colossus who wants out of Parkhead in January. 

Arsenal have submitted an offer for Fiorentina striker Dusan Vlahovic, according to reports in Italy…

What’s the word?

La Repubblica claim that the Gunners have bid around €70m (£58.5m) for the 21-year-old and La Viola president Rocco Commisso is now prepared to let him leave Florence this month.

The Fiorentina supremo has grown impatient with Vlahovic’s attitude and the behaviour from his representatives after it was confirmed back in October that he would not be signing a new contract.

In recent weeks, the Daily Mail revealed how his transfer could cost a total of £150m when factoring in wages and other fees, so the north London giants will have to pay a premium to see him arrive at the Emirates Stadium before January 31st.

Get it done!

Arsenal are in desperate need of reinforcements this month, that much is obvious following Sunday’s north London derby postponement.

With virus cases on the increase, players at the Africa Cup of Nations, Granit Xhaka suspended and other injuries mounting up, Mikel Arteta has been left with a threadbare squad this week.

There is a longer-term issue emerging, though.

Alexandre Lacazette’s contract is up at the end of the season and there has been no incline that he’s prepared to extend his current deal, so right now, the French veteran is set to leave, whilst Pierre-Emerick Aubamyang’s future is by no means certainly after he was stripped of the captaincy.

It means a new frontman is needed and Vlahovic would surely be a dream signing for the young Spanish head coach.

The Serbia international has been in electric form in front of goal this season – as per Transfermarkt, he’s delivered 19 goals in 23 appearances, meaning he’s found the net once every 102.5 minutes.

That builds on his impressive form for Fiorentina last season, where he bagged 21 goals in the Serie A.

He has since been lauded as a “complete number nine” by Italian football expert Conor Clancy, whilst his former coach Ivan Tomic dubbed him a goalscoring “monster” with shades of Zlatan Ibrahimovic about him.

Valued at £63m by Transfermarkt, the Gunners would do very well to secure him for just £58.5m. He’s a player that Arteta desperately needs, so it’s on Edu Gaspar and co to seal a move for him at all costs before the end of the month.

AND in other news, Imagine him & Partey: Arsenal can find new Santi Cazorla in £49.5m-rated “outrageous talent”…

According to Football Insider, a new target for Tottenham Hotspur has emerged in the last week of the transfer window as they now set their sights on Sevilla defender Diego Carlos.

The Lowdown: Tottenham eye centre-half…

As reported by reliable correspondent Alasdair Gold, Spurs have a central defender on their agenda as manager Antonio Conte sets out four priority positions to strengthen in his squad.

[web_stories_embed url=”https://www.footballtransfertavern.com/web-stories/tottenham-latest-news-2/” title=”Tottenham latest news!” poster=”” width=”360″ height=”600″ align=”none”]

Alongside a new defender, it is believed that Spurs are after a right-wing-back, midfielder and striker as they seek to back Conte (football.london) – with transfer chief Fabio Paratici apparently set for a busy final week.

Tottenham are in talks to offload Tanguy Ndombele with sights set on his replacement in Fiorentina midfielder Sofyan Amrabat (Fabrizio Romano), with FI now sharing news on a new name being targeted.

The Latest: Spurs open Carlos talks…

According to FI, Tottenham have ‘opened preliminary talks’ to sign the Brazil international and are interested in a swap deal to bring down his £50 million asking price.

It is believed that the Lilywhites could allow midfielder Giovani Lo Celso to go the other way to ‘sweeten the deal’.

Spurs have ‘turned their attention’ to the colossal defender as they enter the market for a centre-half in this final week transfer push.

The Verdict: Unlikely?

Depending on whether the La Liga side are open to a swap deal, it will be interesting to see how this develops, but our thoughts are this move will be rather unlikely.

Newcastle submitted a series of £30 million bids for the South American star, all of which were knocked back, perhaps highlighting just how challenging it will be to negotiate a last minute deal with Sevilla.

Given their current attempts to sign Wolves star Traore, Amrabat and FC Porto forward Luis Diaz, signing a new defender may have to wait until the summer window.

In other news: Sky Sports: Conte ‘very, very close’ to signing which ‘could excite the Tottenham fans’, find out more here.

As well as managing to rack up just 19 points from 17 Premier League games so far this season, Everton have conceded a total of 29 goals, more than the likes of Burnley, Brentford and Southampton among others.

With this in mind and the fact that the January transfer window is close to opening, the Toffees could do with adding some reinforcements to their squad to fix their leaky defence.

Also, Everton could do with not having any of their current defenders leave the club halfway through the season such as Yerry Mina, who has been linked with a move to Italian club Napoli in recent days.

Since joining the Merseyside club from Barcelona back in the 2018 summer transfer window in a deal worth a reported fee of £28.5m, the centre-back has gone on to make 84 appearances for Everton across all competitions, scoring six goals and providing one assist in the process.

In the 24 Premier League appearances he made for Everton last season, Mina showed what a useful defensive unit he can be for the team by racking up an average of 4.5 clearances per game and one interception per match whilst winning 62% of his duels and completing 90% of his passes.

To put those numbers into perspective, fellow Toffees defender Ben Godfrey has not been able to match Mina in any of those categories so far this season with 14 games played.

Even though he’s struggled with injuries this season, it would still be a catastrophe from owner Farhad Moshiri if he were to sell the £120k-per-week Colombian this January given their defensive frailties.

Labelled as a “monster” on the pitch by Michael Ball in the past, Mina’s potential exit in January would surely be a massive blow for the Toffees and their chances of ending the season away from the relegation zone, especially if they don’t sign an immediate replacement for him if he does leave.

Given the recent dissent from Everton fans towards the club’s hierarchy, it’s safe to say that Mina’s potential exit in January would not do much to improve the relationship between Moshiri and the fans who would no doubt be left seething.

Even though his current contract at Goodison Park isn’t set to expire until the summer of 2023, it could be worth the hierarchy at Everton offering the centre-back a new deal to keep him in Benitez’s squad and hope that he’ll be able to stay fit for the rest of the season and help the team push up the league table.

In other news: Big boost: Benitez drops exciting Everton claim that’ll leave fans buzzing – opinion

Many Everton fans have been reacting to a revelation which has emerged involving Salomon Rondon.

As per The Daily Mail, the former Newcastle United and West Brom striker has now thrown himself into a hard-hitting new training regime which includes boxing, spinning and extra cardio work.

The coaching staff have been left so impressed by him that they’ve had to warn him that he needs to take days off to recover.

Rondon admitted that he does not feel he is at the level that he would like to be, so he has implemented this regime in order to try and win over the Goodison Park faithful, many of whom have slated him in recent weeks.

[web_stories_embed url=”https://www.footballtransfertavern.com/web-stories/everton-news/” title=”Everton news!” poster=”” width=”360″ height=”600″ align=”none”]

The Venezuela international has struggled since signing for the Merseyside club, with no goals in nine games across all competitions so far this season, and some Toffees supporters seem to think that his new regime will not change much.

Everton fans on Rondon revelation

These Everton fans gave their reactions to Rondon’s revelation as it was shared on Twitter:

“Try running on a match day please pal.”

Credit: @PG3640

“Good laugh”

Credit: @bigrobbogolf

“Just kicking the ball would be a start.”

Credit: @PaddyWeathers4

“No thanks….Dobbin please”

Credit: @Vicaz22

“Leave the club, that will make us all happy”

Credit: @MyloOnceMore

“Wow so insightful”

Credit: @paulsteenalbo

In other news, find out what injury news before today’s clash with Brentford had many Evertonians buzzing

Ange Postecoglou has dropped a teasing hint on Celtic’s remaining business in the January transfer window.

What’s been said?

In recent comments cited by Football Scotland, the 56-year-old Bhoys boss suggested that, despite his earlier claim that Celtic’s business this winter was all but done, the Hoops could still look to get more deals done before the closure of the current market on January 31.

Speaking about the Parkhead side’s potential business, Postecoglou said: “There still could be some things that happen.”

Nicholson must now act

While it is true that Celtic have already been particularly active in the January transfer window, having already brought no less than five new faces to Parkhead this month, following the recent news that both Kyogo Furuhashi and Callum McGregor could be set for lengthy spells on the sidelines, as well as new signing Daizen Madea being called up to international duty, Postecoglou has once again been left short of options in a number of positions within his first-team squad.

Indeed, with Maeda linking up with the Japan squad and Kyogo still unavailable due to a hamstring injury, the Bhoys boss has been left with only Giorgos Giakoumakis as a senior option at centre-forward until at least the start of February – with the Greece international having only played 237 minutes of Premiership football this season due to his own injury troubles.

Meanwhile, with David Turnbull also sidelined with a knock, in addition to both Yosuke Ideguchi and Liel Abada picking up injuries alongside McGregor in the 2-1 Scottish Cup win over Alloa Athletic last weekend, the 56-year-old has also been left short in central midfield and on the wings.

And, with an incredibly important run of fixtures coming up for the Hoops, including the Old Firm clash on February 2, it is clear that despite having already sealed five signings this month, Michael Nicholson simply must make further moves this January in order to give Postecoglou the best possible chance of keeping pace in the Premiership title race.

In other news: Ange can land dream McGree alternative with Celtic swoop for “complete” 23 G/A dynamo

Celtic have the opportunity to take a step closer to securing the Premiership title this afternoon as they welcome St Johnstone to Parkhead for their latest league outing.

Last weekend saw the Hoops open up a six-point gap at the top of the league table after defeating their Glasgow arch-rivals 2-1 in the latest Old Firm derby.

The Bhoys now have the chance to secure their fifth league win in a row by securing victory against the Saints, who are currently 10 places and 49 points below the Hoops in the league table.

Speaking in his latest press conference ahead of today’s clash, Celtic manager Ange Postecoglou revealed that winger James Forrest is the only player in his squad who will be unavailable to play due to injury.

With that in mind, here’s how we feel the home side could line up this afternoon, with three changes expected from the team which started last Sunday’s win at Ibrox.

In goal, having played in all but three of Celtic’s league games this season, it seems highly likely that Joe Hart will keep his place in the team.

For the back four, we think Postecoglou will stick with the centre-back duo of Carl Starfelt and Cameron Carter-Vickers, who ended up scoring the Bhoys’ winning goal in the derby last weekend.

In the two full-back positions, we predict that Greg Taylor will start once again on the left but Anthony Ralston, who the Hoops boss described as a “warrior”, will come in for Josip Juranovic on the right. Having been criticised for his “really poor” role in Rangers’ goal last weekend by Ally McCoist, Postecoglou may decide to take the Croatian out of the team on this occasion.

Moving to the midfield, having also found himself on the scoresheet last time out, we think Tom Rogic will start alongside club captain Callum McGregor.

However, next to those two, we can see David Turnbull coming in for his first start since December after being out of action for an extended period of time with a hamstring injury, leaving Reo Hatate as the man to drop out following a relatively subdued performance last weekend.

In attack, we imagine that the 56-year-old Hoops manager will stick with Jota and Giorgos Giakoumakis but bring Liel Abada back into the starting XI in place of Daizen Maeda, who completed the fewest passes of any Celtic starter six days ago.

In other news: Celtic handed fresh injury setback ahead of today’s clash, Ange will be fuming

This is part of The Transfer Tavern’s Talking Tactics series, where we analyse two changes the manager should make in their upcoming fixture.

Frank Lampard’s Everton tenure began in style with a resounding 4-1 FA Cup victory over Brentford, but now attention turns to a crucial Premier League clash with Newcastle United.

The Toffees are hovering just four points above the relegation zone, and if results go against them this week, that gap could come down to one.

Injury updates

There was a fresh blow for Everton against Brentford as Ben Godfrey sustained a hamstring injury which is expected to rule him out for four to five weeks.

He joins Tom Davies, Fabian Delph and Abdoulaye Doucoure on the sidelines.

There’s better news on Dominic Calvert-Lewin, though, who’s back available after missing out at the squad.

Kenny out

The first change Frank Lampard must make from Everton’s last league game against Aston Villa is dropping Jonjoe Kenny.

Kenny struggled to make an impact in and out of possession against Villa, winning just one of his four duels, misplacing 17 of his 45 passes and failing to produce a single cross (via SofaScore).

Everton’s right-back faces a daunting test on Tuesday night in the form of Allan Saint-Maximin, who’s completing more dribbles per 90 minutes (4.3) than anybody else in the Premier League.

Ultimately, you have to question whether Kenny is cut out for the PL, the highest-ranking league in Europe. On loan at Celtic last season, in the ninth-best division, he was derided as a ‘horror show’ by pundit Paul John Dykes.

Potential replacements include Seamus Coleman or £12million January signing Nathan Patterson, who’s still awaiting a debut.

Beef up the midfield

When he was manager, Rafael Benitez faced criticism for his use of a two-man midfield. The Athletic’s Patrick Boyland wrote that opponents who set up with a three were able to overwhelm The Toffees.

And significantly, Eddie Howe set out his Newcastle team in a 4-3-3 formation last time out against Leeds United, with Joe Willock, Jonjo Shelvey and Joelinton across the middle.

Lampard matching up his opposite number would have the added benefit of accommodating new signing Donny van de Beek.

The Dutchman isn’t well-suited to a two because, in the words of Boyland’s colleague Mark Carey, he offers a very limited ‘defensive presence’.

He ranks well below the average central midfielder for tackles, clearances and blocks, and so he should be unleashed in a more advanced role, with a duo of Allan and Andre Gomes offering protection behind him.

Elsewhere, Everton are interested in this UCL defender.