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West Bromwich Albion’s search for their first win back in the big time rumbles on after playing out the Premier League’s first 0-0 stalemate of the season against Burnley on Monday evening.

Baggies boss Slaven Bilic somewhat made a statement with his team selection, dropping both Semi Ajayi and Kyle Bartley for the experienced duo of Ahmed Hegazi and Branislav Ivanovic.

Romaine Sawyers was also dropped whilst late summer addition Karlan Grant made his debut.

There was even a return for Darnell Furlong at right-back despite Dara O’Shea’s recent debut outing for Ireland, but the 24-year-old failed to repay the faith put in him with a disappointing display at the Hawthorns.

Albion largely dominated the game, raking in 56% possession and 13 shots to the Claret’s nine, though the visitors had the richer chances in front of goal.

And even though they kept their first clean sheet of the campaign, Furlong was particularly wasteful.

He lost possession a whopping 30 times, considering he was up against the exciting Dwight McNeil, this could have ended poorly for the Baggies whilst Furlong also landed just one accurate cross from seven attempts, committed one foul and made only 64% of his passes, via SofaScore.

On a different day, or against a more lethal player like Sadio Mane or Raheem Sterling, he’d have certainly been punished for his mistakes.

This was backed up by BirminghamLive’s review – they graded him a 6/10 and said: “McNeil had a lot of space down the left in the first half and Albion’s centre halves had to cut out crosses that came from the flank, but going forwards Furlong gave as good as he got. Deliveries were often disappointing.”

Furlong was dropped for the Southampton defeat but his performance here fails to prove why he should be trusted over O’Shea going into Monday’s tie with Brighton & Hove Albion.

He’s way more suited to playing as a wing-back, which this four-at-the-back system does not account for.

AND in other news, Baggies may have unearthed the next Shane Long in their “bull of a number nine”…

The Daily Record has suggested that Glasgow Rangers and Steven Gerrard should look at bringing in Stewart Downing this summer.

The 35-year-old currently plays for Blackburn, and his contract is set to run out at the end of this current campaign. Downing is actually a former teammate of Gerrard’s, with him playing with the Gers boss following his £20m move to Anfield in 2011.

Now, as a free agent this summer, he could be available for a move to Ibrox, and there is no doubt that he would add a potentially massive edge to Gerrard’s squad. There are few players who are as experienced in English football as the 35-time England international – he has made 408 appearances in the Premier League and 171 in the second tier as well during a career that has taken him from his home town of Middlesbrough to Sunderland, the Reds, Aston Villa, the Rovers and West Ham United.

He has been a creative force no matter where he has been, regularly averaging over 1.5 key passes per match, and he has regularly contributed with a number of goals and assists.

At his age, and with the likes of Ryan Kent for Gerrard to choose from, it is unlikely Downing would be a guaranteed starter, but his experience could be a huge boost to the Gers’ chances of winning a first major trophy since 2011. It may be a deal worth looking at for the 54-time Scottish champions.

Let us know what you think below!

Wolves striker Raul Jimenez is reportedly ‘on his way’ to Manchester United this summer, reports say. 

Jimenez, 29, has been in sensational form at the Molineux Stadium this season, scoring 17 goals and supplying 6 assists in the Premier League as Nuno Espirito Santo’s side finished seventh in the table.

While the Wanderers will be able to qualify for the Champions League if they win the Europa League which is set to start next month, the Portuguese media claim the Mexican forward will be moving elsewhere.

As is often the case, United have been linked to some of the world’s best strikers in the transfer window, and Jimenez is no exception. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is eager to increase his firepower prior to the 2020/21 Premier League season, having reached an agreement with Shanghai Shenhua to extend Odion Ighalo’s loan move.

According to RTP, as cited by Sport Witness, Wolves have already signed a replacement in preparation for his departure.

Jimenez is set to follow in the footsteps of his compatriot Javier Hernandez and move to Old Trafford in the summer. ‘Chicharito’ scored 59 goals in 157 games in all competitions for the Red Devils, so his countryman will have his work cut out if he wishes to emulate his performances at Man United.

However, the Mexico international certainly seems to be on the right track, as he has hit double digits for the past two seasons in a row.

The Portuguese broadcaster claims Paulinho, who is represented by Jorge Mendes, will move to Molineux from Braga for €30m before the start of next season, which has paved the way for Jimenez to jump ship to the Theatre of Dreams.

Mason Greenwood has burst onto the scene since the restart but Solskjaer has made it clear he still wants to sign a new number nine.

There is no doubt Jimenez will cost a pretty penny or two, as his market value is estimated to be worth £36m via Transfermarkt, and whether or not these are baseless rumours remains to be seen.

United fans, do you think Ed Woodward will sign Jimenez this summer? Let us know down below!

Tottenham Hotspur shared a photo of Son Heung-min as the first team returned to the Hotspur Way training ground ahead of a possible Premier League restart. 

Earlier this month, Son reunited with his teammates after completing mandatory military service in South Korea with flying colours (Daily Mail). Players have been training together in small groups as the English top flight kicked off with phase one of Project Restart (Evening Standard).

The club’s official Instagram account uploaded an image of the forward enjoying himself during a team exercise. Eagle-eyed fans will no doubt spot that his hair has grown back quickly, while many commented they are delighted to see him smiling.  

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The 27-year-old is the second-highest goalscorer for Spurs this season, one goal behind star striker Harry Kane, although he has produced more assists than the England international so far (BBC).

He has scored nine goals and provided seven assists in the Premier League, taking three shots per game, averaging 1.4 key passes and making 2.3 dribbles per match (via WhoScored).

Jose Mourinho’s side are currently eighth in the Premier League, two points behind Wolverhampton Wanderers, four points away from Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s Manchester United and one point clear of bitter rivals Arsenal.

If the South Korean can rediscover his goalscoring form, his return could make a massive difference for Spurs as the north London club seek to charge up the table when football finally resumes. 

Tottenham fans, do you think Son Heung-min’s return will boost the Lilywhites? Let us know by commenting down below! 

Liverpool may have won the Premier League on the pitch but Jurgen Klopp was with the Reds every step of the way.

Klopp, who arrived at Anfield in 2015 after a successful stint in charge of Borussia Dortmund, had his work cut out right from the start.

Taking over the reins from Brendan Rodgers, he had to pick up the pieces left by his predecessor and he rebuilt the Reds into a world-beating side that has won the Champions League and Premier League in consecutive seasons.

The Reds are deserved winners as they have run away at the top of the table and Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City couldn’t keep up with the Merseysiders’ momentum. Liverpool are currently 23 points clear of City with seven games remaining.

Guardiola has confirmed that Liverpool will receive a guard of honour from the former champions when the sides meet on Thursday.

Writing in The Athletic, European football expert Raphael Honigsten paid tribute to the German’s success, noting that “he would never agree to a statue of himself”, although there will be plenty of supporters who strongly disagree.

Unsurprisingly, loads of Liverpool fans raved over Honigstein’s “fantastic” piece with one fan tweeting that it is a “great read”.

Scroll down through some of the glowing reactions so far…

Liverpool fans, should the club erect a statue for Klopp already? Let us know in the comments below!

Arsenal have been graced with many fantastic Spaniards in the modern era of the game, ranging from the exuberant Cesc Fabregas early in his career to their current boss and ex-skipper Mikel Arteta.

But one player they haven’t really been able to replace yet is Santi Cazorla, who departed the club in 2018 after six years.

The little magician regularly racked up goals and assists in an attacking midfield role under Arsene Wenger before injuries blighted his Gunners career. Across the 2013/14 and 2014/15 campaigns, Cazorla notched a total of 11 goals and 21 assists across the Premier League and the Champions League, via WhoScored.

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That void is still felt today with the north Londoners knocked out of the Europa League and sat in ninth place in the top-flight.

This week, Sky Sports have claimed that Arteta is an admirer of Valencia midfielder Carlos Soler, who was once dubbed the next David Silva – a player very much in the mould of Cazorla.

Soler could cost Arsenal around £36m, which is a price mentioned by the Express in a recent report.

His addition would mean that the Gunners wouldn’t be making Dani Ceballos’ loan move permanent this summer – something mooted by the Daily Star, but they do race interested from a couple of La Liga clubs, too.

The Madrid man hasn’t really done anything of note since his full debut against Burnley, those two assists have been his only since whilst he hasn’t got on the scoresheet either. Ceballos also went missing in big games against Liverpool and Manchester United, failing to recorded above a 6.51 WhoScored rating.

Allowing Ceballos’ loan to come to an end and swooping for Soler could be the best solution for Arteta to fill that playmaking void, especially given the 23-year-old’s exploits this term.

He’s bagged three goals this term, including one against Chelsea, which bodes well for his chances of making a better impact than his national counterpart.

One scout report has lauded Soler’s skilful natural ability along with other attributes such as his ‘smart positioning, good dribbling and ability to combine in a tight space.’

That sounds exactly like a certain Cazorla.

Arsenal can surely do no wrong in swapping Soler for Ceballos this summer.

AND in other news, Arsenal fans would happily SWAP Pepe for this winger…

With Spurs have taking a hammering with injuries this season, others have stepped up to the plate. But they may not have necessarily received the praise they deserve.

Dele Alli

Despite being an England regular and household name, it seems like Alli hasn’t received the thanks he is due this season. The 23-year-old has been forced to step up in the absence of Tottenham’s most prolific forwards, Harry Kane and Son Heung-min. As such, Alli has played across six different positions this season and has adapted well to all of them.

When playing in his natural role of attacking midfielder, Spurs haven’t lost a single game this season. The England international has contributed to 11 Premier League goals so far this campaign, scoring eight himself.

With a WhoScored rating of just 6.8, it seems he really has slipped under the radar this term despite his versatility and hard work. Alli has been the difference between a loss and a draw, or a draw and a win on six different occasions in the league, including his brace against Bournemouth to win 3-2 and important goals against Watford, Everton and Burnley to clinch a point.

Without Alli in their side, Spurs would be in a much more alarming position in the Premier League this season and the midfielder deserves to be hailed for his tremendous efforts.

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Steven Bergwijn

Injuries have really plagued this Spurs side this season, with Bergwijn one of the latest to be ruled out of action.

But before his ankle injury, he was really getting into his comfort zone for the London club. In five appearances, the Dutchman scored two goals for Tottenham, including his opening strike on his league debut against Manchester City.

In fact, Bergwijn has performed better than the highly-anticipated Ryan Sessegnon. The 22-year-old has averaged a much better pass rate (86.7%) than the Englishman’s 77.4% and has provided more key passes per game (1.4) on average than Sessegnon (0.3).

The forward man arguably wasn’t given enough time to have people chattering in masses about him, but once both he and the league returns, everyone should be taking note on what a promising player he is for Spurs.

This article is part of Football FanCast’s Transfer Focus series, which provides opinion and analysis on recent transfer news…

According to Sky Sports, Manchester City are considering a move for Leicester City star defender Caglar Soyuncu.

What’s the story?

The Turkey international has been making a lot of noise for the Foxes this season, helping the club into second in the table after 12 games.

The reports from Sky Sports tell how Pep Guardiola wanted to sign former Leicester man Harry Maguire, but the defender went to Manchester United instead. Now, City are monitoring the club’s new centre-back hero Soyuncu and his defensive partner Jonny Evans.

Could be the difference

After the defeat to Liverpool, City have dropped down to fourth in the table and trail the league leaders by nine points. The main cause in their slight demise early on has been their struggles at the back ever since Aymeric Laporte got injured.

The Frenchman is still not expected back for a while after undergoing surgery on his knee. Now, with Soyuncu, they may have found a good enough replacement to patch up their shaky defence. The 23-year-old has been one of the Premier League’s best defenders so far, as Leicester boast an incredible eight goals conceded in just 12 league games – the best in the division.

The £18m-rated man has started each of these 12 games and proved to be a vital addition to the squad this season after starting just four league games last year. He was even named in The Guardian’s team of the season so far earlier this week.

In reality, Guardiola shot himself in the foot by not signing a centre-back in the summer. It was known since May that Vincent Kompany was leaving and the club’s failure to find a replacement for the legendary Belgian has been a thoroughly regrettable oversight.

Now, with the January window soon upon us, Guardiola must sign at least one centre-back to bolster his options and that man could be Soyuncu.

His time in England so far suggests he could be a valuable addition and City can’t afford to go any longer with their makeshift defence if they want to clinch a third consecutive title.

This article is part of Football FanCast’s Pundit View series, which provides opinion and analysis on recent quotes from journalists, pundits, players and managers…

Speaking on Sky Sports’ Monday Night Football, Manchester United legend Gary Neville has urged Ole Gunnar Solskjaer to be “selfish” in the upcoming January transfer window.

What did he say?

The Red Devils pulled off just three permanent summer signings in Daniel James, Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Harry Maguire. Despite losing a host of players, including the likes of Romelu Lukaku and Alexis Sanchez, United failed to bring in replacements.

And having seen the side’s young players go 2-0 down at Sheffield United before clinching a dramatic 3-3 draw, Neville insisted Solskjaer desperately needs to add more experienced players to the side.

He said: “They haven’t got senior players to let them know the expectation of what’s required in a football team. They don’t know how to approach a Premier League away game. They don’t understand that it’s different playing at Old Trafford than away from home. They don’t have the experience or maturity. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has to go and spend the club’s money for himself, on two or three experienced players.

“He must demand it, he’s not going to be there to see the fruits of the labour that he’s putting in because there’s a lot of good young players on that pitch that I enjoy watching, but unless they get the players in and around them quickly, they’ll not see the standard and won’t have the maturity.

“Ole’s going to have to be selfish. He’s going to have to have that ruthless streak that a (Jose) Mourinho has, or a (Antonio) Conte has, and he’s going to have to go and spend the club’s money in the January window and put two or three experienced players in that group and they could come alive.”

Needs must

Make no mistake about it, Solskjaer must address some of the key areas for concern in the January window. Waiting until next summer to do something about it would place even greater doubt on their ability to finish in the top four – they currently find themselves nine points behind fourth-placed Chelsea.

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If the United boss simply towed the club line and refrained from bringing in a new striker and midfielder in the summer, then he has to be more selfish in January as Neville alludes to. He has to stamp his authority and take the game to Ed Woodward, and demand that he backs him in the transfer market. The winter window promises to be a pivotal point in the Red Devils’ campaign, and it all rests on whether Solskjaer can really dip his toes into the water.

If he can embrace some of the cut-throat elements of Mourinho’s style of management, then he stands a much better chance of not having Woodward simply roll him over.

Meanwhile, find out how Manchester United fans reacted when Pep Guardiola delivered an injury update on key Manchester City man.

This article forms part of our Profit Players feature series, which is where Football Transfer Tavern takes a look at how well a player has fared since being signed or sold, using statistical figures and statements from pundits to prove how good of a deal the club managed to achieve.

Gareth Bale arrived at White Hart Lane as a 17-year-old left-back from then-Championship side Southampton in 2007, he left in 2013 as the world’s most expensive player, having given Tottenham Hotspur many memorable moments in the time between. Given that his agent – Jonathan Barnett – was recently named as the world’s most powerful agent (per the Daily Mail), now seems as good a time as any to look back on that deal before Barnett helped Bale force a move away from the London club.

The original fee Spurs paid the Saints for the Welshman was £5m, though BBC Sport reported there were also add-ons that eventually saw the price rise to £10m.

His influence at Spurs continuously grew, from making 8 appearances in his first season with the club, to getting a combined 30 league goals and assists in his final one, as per Transfermarkt.

There were plenty of breathtaking performances from the Welshman during that time, including his hat-trick against Internazionale, his derby winning double against West Ham United, the 4 assists he got against Young Boys, and when he scored a hat-trick in 23 second-half minutes against Aston Villa.

Performances such as these were bound to catch the eye of Europe’s giants and in the end, Spurs were given an offer they couldn’t refuse to let him leave and join Real Madrid.

This move saw Bale, then 24-years-old, become the world’s most expensive player at £85.3m, beating the price paid for his new teammate Cristiano Ronaldo, as reported by BBC Sport at the time.

The transformation Bale underwent at Spurs is an incredible one, as he went from a decent left-back to a game-changing winger who was the most expensive player in the world for a time and the club certainly profited from it.

Spurs fans, where does Bale rank among the best players you’ve seen at your club? Join the discussion by commenting below…