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As the proposed takeover in the North East draws nearer to completion, the Saudi-led consortium, headhunted by the country’s crown prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) and backed by the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund (PIF), will surely be looking for a marquee signing in the upcoming summer transfer window to mark a new era at St. James’ Park.

The would-be owners, comprising also of businesswoman Amanda Staveley and the billionaire Reuben brothers, should look no further than former Tottenham Hotspur ace Gareth Bale.

As per ChronicleLive, odds have tumbled on Bale returning to the Premier League this summer, with Newcastle United his most likely destination according to the bookies.

According to the latest odds from Betfair, the Tyneside club are now 4/1 to complete the signing of the 30-year old this summer, with a move to any MLS Team priced at 6/1.

Manchester United have also been linked with Bale, and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side are 7/1 to capture his signature this summer, while a return to Spurs is 10/1.

The Welsh international does not have to prove himself in the top flight, having scored 43 goals and provided 31 assists in 146 appearances across six seasons (via BBC).

Whilst he may cost the club a fair bit to sign, indeed he is valued at £28.8m by Transfermarkt, the prospective new owners will have plenty of money at their disposable, making the Welshman potentially an affordable target.

Given his history in the game so far, including his excellent record in the English top flight, NUFC’s prospective buyers could certainly do worse than making Bale their marquee signing to bring in the new era.

Geordies, do you think Bale still has what it takes to succeed in the Prem? Comment below!

Speaking on Sky Sports, Jamie O’Hara has slammed Tottenham’s players over their lack of action amidst the controversy surrounding the club.

What did he say?

It’s fair to say it’s not been the greatest of weeks for Spurs. The north Londoners came under heavy fire for their decision to furlough some of the club’s non-playing staff, and whilst O’Hara labelled it as “stupid”, he did take aim at the players themselves too.

He said: “I’m disappointed in the players. They’re the money-earners there. Come on now, if you’re a big player at Tottenham you look after your own and for me, it’s the first and foremost thing you should be doing in this situation, so I’m surprised.

Spot the fact from the fib: Are these Premier League records true or false?

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“Maybe Daniel Levy is put in a bit of a situation where he’s waiting for the players to take pay cuts, so he’s got to do something and try to save money as he’s a businessman. If I was there I’d be asking that question and hopefully some of them are, like Harry Kane and Dele Alli. They’re big players at the club and earn a lot of money – they should be looking after the staff.

“Tottenham is not just about the players, it’s about everyone at that football club – the financial team, the corporate side, the marketing, the stewards, the chefs – everything about what makes the club great is all the people that work there, so the players should be the first people to make sure they’re looked after.”

Responsibility

Levy of course will have to take the brunt of the blame that has accompanied his decision, but the players themselves as O’Hara suggests, should be trying to fight the corner of the club’s staff.

With the increasingly ridiculous amounts of money being pumped into football, and the astronomical wages players earn nowadays, the entire profession is just completely out of touch with normalcy.

Situations like these simply reinforce the divide, and it’s why Spurs’ players can send a major statement by publicly voicing their frustrations and taking a strong stance on the matter.

Meanwhile, Alasdair Gold has provided an update on Spurs’ interest in this Premier League starlet.

This article is part of Football FanCast’s Opinion series, which provides analysis, insight and opinion on any issue within the beautiful game, from Paul Pogba’s haircuts to League Two relegation battles…

Harry Kane could be set to break even more records at both club and international level.

The England international scored against Kosovo at the weekend as the Three Lions won 4-0, meaning that he became the first player in English football history to score in every single qualifier for an international tournament, this one being Euro 2020.

It also took his tally for his country to 32 goals in 45 caps.

Wayne Rooney, who scored 53 goals in 120 caps, currently holds the all-time scoring record.

Football FanCast has crunched the numbers, both at national and club level, and one has to feel that Kane can break both the national team record and the Premier League one held by Alan Shearer, who hit 260 goals during his time in the top-flight.

As it is, Kane has scored a goal every 0.7 games at international level. He needs 22 more goals to pass Rooney’s record, meaning he needs to win roughly 32 more caps.

That would take him to 77 – more than achievable for a player who is currently the captain of Gareth Southgate’s side.

Indeed, in his last 11 caps, Kane has scored 13 goals. If he were to keep up that record, he would break the record within his next 21 appearances for England, meaning he would be their all-time goalscorer after just 63 outings.

At Premier League level, the hill is higher and harder to climb.

Thus far, the 6 foot 2 striker has scored 131 Premier League goals and is 13th in the list of the league’s all-time top scorers.

He has averaged 18.7 goals per season so, if we round that up to 19, we can get a clear picture of how long it will take the Spurs striker to break Shearer’s long-standing record.

Now, it must be said, that Kane could well leave for a club like Real Madrid or PSG but let’s assume that he stays in north London or joins a rival Premier League club like Manchester United or Man City.

If he continues at his current rate of scoring and hits 19 in every single season, it will take him until the 2025/26 season, when Kane is 32, to break Shearer’s record. At that rate, he would reach 264 goals by the end of 25/26. A 19-goal season in 2019/20 would take his tally to 150, equal with ex-Liverpool star Michael Owen.

Yet there is hope that it could be reached quicker.

Kane’s zenith came in 2017/18, when he hit 30 goals. Now, if he were to score 30 goals in every season hereafter, he would smash Shearer’s record by 2023/24.

The amazing thing about these numbers is that they are achievable for Kane.

He is a goalscorer, first and foremost, and has proved that he can hit the net with regularity in a variety of different Spurs and England teams.

The stats point to the realisation that Kane could well become both the best goalscorer England have ever had and also the best goalscorer the Premier League has ever seen.

It would be quite a career for a player who spent 2011 on loan with Leyton Orient.

Just a few days after he suffered the wrath of Sheffield Wednesday fans for his performance against Birmingham, Steven Fletcher well and truly silenced the doubters with an important brace on Saturday afternoon.

The Scotland international opened the scoring against Charlton in their Championship clash, before scoring a penalty in the 80th minute to restore the Owls’ lead after an equaliser from Macauley Bonne.

Atdhe Nuhiu wrapped up the points with a third, but the man on everybody’s lips was undoubtedly Fletcher. As per Sofascore, his 8.7 match rating was the highest of any player on the pitch, whilst he also showed he is more than just a goal-scorer with two key passes too.

And after seeing his fine display, Wednesday fans flooded to Twitter to voice their thoughts about the striker.

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Many supporters hailed the veteran for his goal-scoring efforts, with one fan in particular labelling his first goal as “pure class”.

Check out some of the reaction of Sheffield Wednesday fans below:

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Liverpool fans have been clashing with a number of England fans on Twitter as Three Lions supporters ripped into Trent Alexander-Arnold after his performance against Kosovo.

Fans of the national team didn’t hold back in their criticism of the right-back as they slammed him for his underwhelming showing against the eastern European outfit.

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Below is a selection of tweets about Alexander-Arnold’s performance on Sunday evening.

Understandably, Liverpool supporters didn’t take too kindly to seeing their young star criticised in this way on Twitter.

The Anfield faithful banded together to jump to the defence of the 21-year-old as they fired back claiming that their man is the best right-back in the world.

It was quite endearing to see Reds fans defending their man.

Even though his performance against Kosovo wasn’t his best, it didn’t warrant such a fiery response from England fans.

Here’s what the Anfield faithful have been saying on social media…

This article is part of Football FanCast’s Opinion series, which provides analysis, insight and opinion on any issue within the beautiful game, from Paul Pogba’s haircuts to League Two relegation battles…

Against Montenegro and Kosovo, England can secure qualification for Euro 2020.

A win against either side will be enough to see them guarantee a spot at next year’s tournament. Although there has been an altercation between Raheem Sterling and Joe Gomez, which saw the former suspended for the first of those two clashes, there is still plenty of talent left in this Three Lions squad.

Liverpool have four representatives in Gareth Southgate’s now 26-man group. Trent Alexander-Arnold, Joe Gomez, Jordan Henderson and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain are those to have been selected.

The latter two make up part of a five-man central midfield group quintet with Declan Rice, Fabian Delph and Harry Winks. Looking at these names, Oxlade-Chamberlain surely has to start.

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Rice, Delph, Winks and Henderson are all good players, but they don’t exactly exude creativity. Between them this campaign, they have 50 appearances in all competitions and have a grand total of one goal and one assist.

The former Gunner, meanwhile, has made 14 appearances, managing four goals, of which three have come in the Champions League.

Unfortunately, a serious injury prevented the 26-year-old from making more than four appearances last term, but during the 2017/18 season, he picked up five goals and eight assists. Between them, the rest registered two strikes and four assists.

Southgate has switched between a 4-3-3 and 4-2-3-1 formation during this qualification process, and the former has clearly been more effective. The latter set-up was used when the Three Lions lost their first qualifier in 10 years against the Czech Republic, and was also in place when they conceded three against Kosovo.

As such, the three central midfielders is far more effective. But surely it cannot be deployed if there is so little attacking threat.

This is where the man the Reds signed for £35m in 2017 comes in. Clearly, he carries a far stronger offensive threat, and that should complement the likes of Jadon Sancho and Harry Kane further forward.

Whilst two of those more defensive-minded players can feature, three would be far too pragmatic. As a result, Oxlade-Chamberlain must be given a chance by Southgate at Wembley on Thursday.

Manchester United’s form looked like it was improving with two victories coming after the unlikely draw at home to Liverpool, but their defeat to Bournemouth on Saturday proved they’re some way off challenging for a spot in the top four.

Despite having 42% of possession, Bournemouth managed to have six shots on target compared to United’s four. This suggests they’re not good enough defensively to keep the opposition out, and they’re not clinical enough going forward to make use of the possession they have. Ashley Young is one player who is not performing well at either end of the field with just 0.8 tackles per game in the Premier League this season and only 2.4 crosses too. He’s 34-years-old and it’s, perhaps, looking like his time as Man United’s first-choice left-back could be coming to an end.

The Englishman was booked on the 66th minute on Saturday and that meant, because he’s totalled five so far this season, he’ll miss the next league game against Brighton at home. Man United news aggregator Utd Report relayed the news to their followers on Twitter and the replies were filled with celebration instead of disappointment.

You can see some of their reactions to the tweet below:

Man United fans, who do you think should start at left-back when Ashley Young is next available?

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…

Former Manchester City striker Paul Dickov has heaped the praise on Phil Foden following his performance against Atalanta in the Champions League.

What did he say?

Foden was starting a game for only the second time this season after he played 90 minutes against Preston North End in the Carabao Cup earlier in the season.

Fans were calling for the 19-year-old to start prior to the game, and their prayers were answered by Guardiola as he was named in the starting XI alongside Ilkay Gundogan and Kevin De Bruyne in midfield.

And the quality of his performance appears to have made a profound impact on City legend Dickov.

The Scot wrote on his Twitter: “Forget about the sending off, @PhilFoden absolutely magnificent tonight and showed everybody why he’s going nowhere on loan & @ManCity is the place to be”

Guardiola has to let him build

Foden, who is already valued at £27m by Transfermarkt, was in fantastic form against Atalanta and proved within his display that he deserves more minutes for the Premier League champions going forward.

The academy graduate scored in the last Champions League fixture against Dinamo Zagreb and matched that goal with an assist and four big chances created against the Italian side in the week. His performance was slightly marred by a late sending off, as he received two yellow cards inside six minutes of each. The first one was slightly harsh, although the second one was a clear foul on Marten de Roon.

Guardiola must, however, look past the sending off and remember his excellent performance, as Foden will need all the minutes he can get if he is going to build and become a regular for City.

There is then the issue City have with David Silva leaving at the end of the season. The Spaniard has enjoyed 10 sensational years at the Etihad and no doubt Guardiola will be already looking for his replacement.

However, the man to fill his boots could be Foden for the years to come, but it is hard to seem him being fit to do so as soon as next season given his lack of minutes of late.

With this in mind, it’s vital the former Barcelona coach gives him all the game time in the near future.

This article is part of Football FanCast’s Opinion series, which provides analysis, insight and opinion on any issue within the beautiful game, from Paul Pogba’s haircuts to League Two relegation battles…

Sheffield Wednesday have enjoyed eight of their 14 Championship matches with Garry Monk at the helm, and it is safe to say that they are currently on the right path.

The Owls have lost just one match under the 40-year-old as they sit in fifth position, only three points from the league-leading West Brom, who failed to win either of their games last week.

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It is now 15 points from a possible 24 after Saturday’s 0-0 stalemate against local rivals Leeds United, which before the game had Monk well on track to surpass his three previous predecessors.

His impact at the club has been highlighted by Adam Reach, who spoke after that draw about the former Swansea City man.

The 26-year-old has started every single match under Monk, primarily on the right-hand side of midfield, so there’s no one better to explain just how well the manager has done than a player that has been a regular under him.

Speaking to BBC Radio Sheffield, Reach said:

“We have stuck in there and got ourselves in a good position and finally I think we have got a manager who is the right man at the right time and we have got the quality of the players.

“We have got someone who is improving every player.

“I think everyone can admit they have improved in some area under him and we need to keep that going.

“There is plenty more work to do. We are always striving to get better.”

This glowing review of Monk’s reign so far only goes to show that Wednesday are serious contenders for promotion this season.

The division is hugely competitive with just four points separating second to 12th, which is crazy, but that doesn’t neglect the Owls’ chances one bit.

The 40-year-old is working with a squad that was completely inherited, meaning he’s effectively managing a team built by Steve Bruce, and to some extent, by caretaker boss Lee Bullen.

He can’t stamp his own mark, player-wise, until January if he chooses to do so.

Losing just one game in eight matches at a club that hasn’t seen the playoffs for over two seasons now is mightily impressive, and they’re only just improving.

After Blackburn Rovers this weekend, the south Yorkshiremen have to play West Brom and Swansea City, which should prove Wednesday’s credentials this season.

It certainly has been the right man at the right time.

Leeds United fans believe that midfielder Kalvin Phillips deserves to be called-up to the England squad.

The Three Lions face Montenegro and Kosovo in Euro 2020 qualifiers in November, and supporters of the Whites think that the 23-year-old is more than good enough to be in Gareth Southgate’s plans.

Phillips has been a regular for the Elland Road club since Marcelo Bielsa took over in 2018, starting 13 in all competitions this season. It would be fair to say that he has seriously improved his game under the Argentine.

Indeed, he should be considered the enforcer in the Leeds midfield, the man who protects the back four. The stats suggest he has performed that role well as he has recorded the second most amount of tackles in the Championship this season with 42, only Hull City’s Kevin Stewart has made more (45).

Added to that Phillips also averages 1.5 clearances and 1.4 interceptions per game, but he has also shown attacking talents too with an average of 1.5 key passes and 1.5 dribbles per game, as well as a pass completion percentage of 83.6% (via WhoScored).

However whilst he has certainly impressed, it has been in the second division which probably keeps him below the likes of Harry Winks, Declan Rice and Jordan Henderson right now, all of whom are performing in the Premier League.

Despite that, many Leeds fans do believe he is good enough and have expressed that on Twitter…