Many Everton fans have been reacting on Twitter after Football Insider reported that defender Mason Holgate is surprisingly top of Manchester City’s summer shopping list.

The report says that Pep Guardiola is looking for a centre-back with Premier League experience to help them with their defensive woes – City have conceded 29 goals in 27 top-flight matches compared to 17 for runaway leaders Liverpool.

Football Insider say that they have made the 23-year-old a firm summer target, and that his pedigree and versatility – he has played in central defence, central midfield and at right-back this term as per Transfermarkt – make him an ideal addition for the boss of the Citizens.

Holgate has only just established himself as a regular in the starting XI for the Merseyside outfit, with 25 of his 73 total appearances for the Toffees coming this term – including 17 Premier League starts as he looks to be manager Carlo Ancelotti’s preferred option alongside Yerry Mina at the heart of the backline.

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Football Insider say that Everton are keen to offer the defender a new and improved contract, which is due to expire in 2022.

One Toffees fans seems particularly concerned about the exit link, saying “please no”. Of course, the lure and prospect of playing for Guardiola could easily prove to be a difficult one to turn down for Holgate.

Other supporters have simply laughed off the transfer link, with one supporter suggesting that City couldn’t afford him, and another bringing up the FFP situation.

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Indeed, City are facing a two-year ban from European football for serious breaches of UEFA’s financial regulations, although they have appealed the potential decision.

While another supporter suggested that they would sell him for £75m, another believes that he will stay because of the club’s ambitions to qualify for the Champions League with Ancelotti at the helm.

It will certainly be interesting to see what the player thinks if the proposal does arrive from Manchester, having finally worked his way into the team at Goodison Park.

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Callum O’Hare showed similar traits to Aston Villa talisman Jack Grealish during Coventry City’s 1-0 win over Sunderland.

On the chalkboard

On Sunday, most people associated with Aston Villa will have had their eyes firmly set on Wembley, as they focused on the club’s Carabao Cup final.

However, had their gaze drifted to the day’s League One action, they will have had plenty of reason for encouragement, as O’Hare put in a good performance during Coventry’s win over fellow promotion-chasers Sunderland.

The youngster has excelled during his loan spell at St. Andrew’s so far this campaign, with some of his play feeling Jack Grealish-esque.

Considering how talismanic the current club captain has become, there are certainly worse signs for the 21-year-old’s potential.

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Following Jack Grealish

The Villa loanee was playing on the left of a front three, where Grealish has often operated for Villa this campaign, though he wasn’t necessarily sticking to that role, as has been the case with the captain.

One part of Grealish’s game that he replicated against Sunderland was an ability to draw fouls. Villa’s 24-year-old is fouled an average of 4.9 times per game in the Premier League, due to how intelligent he is in protecting the ball.

O’Hare showed a similar ability, as he was fouled three times, the most of any Coventry player in the game.

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There was an intelligence in the way he drew them as well, which was most obvious when he was under pressure late in the game with no support. Rather than blindly trying to make something happen, he kept possession and eventually won the foul.

The grit that can also be seen in Grealish’s play was there as well, as the 21-year-old put in plenty of running, going on to make two tackles, while he mimicked his Villa team-mate in testing the goalkeeper as well with two shots on target and three efforts at goal in total.

He may not have directly contributed to a goal, but O’Hare was a real bright spark, and his performance should be an encouraging sign for Villa fans.

Meanwhile, Villa fans were left underwhelmed by their transfer link.

Southampton’s season hasn’t exactly gone to plan this term.

The Saints have had something of a rollercoaster campaign, going from a record-equalling 9-0 loss to Leicester City to being touted for a top-six spot a few months ago.

Any hopes of European football at St Mary’s next season have vanished in recent weeks as they’ve lost four of their last five games, and with the south coast club seven points clear of the drop zone with nine games to go, you’d expect them to be safe from relegation at this point.

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As this campaign looks pretty much done and dusted, some thought has to be put towards how the squad will shape up next term, and the first position to think about is the goalkeeper spot.

Alex McCarthy has cemented his position as Saints’ number one this term, starting each of the last 19 league games, but he may face a bit of competition from the returning Fraser Forster next time out.

At first glance, the stats point towards Forster being the first-choice next term as he outdoes McCarthy in a number of key metrics.

However, it has to be considered that Forster is playing at a lower standard than McCarthy. He’s in a league where a 37-year-old Jermaine Defoe is the top scorer he’s had to face this season, while McCarthy has had to come up against some of the world’s best strikers in the Premier League.

But that doesn’t mean that the Celtic stopper shouldn’t be commended for his incredible stats. You still have to stop the shots that come at you, and he has the second-best save percentage in Scotland’s first division.

McCarthy has also been proving that he can mix it with the big boys though – his save percentage is only 0.3% worse than Man City’s Ederson, and his performance in that metric is actually better than the world’s most expensive goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga.

Ralph Hasenhuttl will be spoilt for choice when it comes to his goalkeeper spot in the summer – let’s not forget £13.5m signing Angus Gunn is at the club as well – and it’ll certainly be interesting to see what conclusion he comes to when 2020/21 rolls around.

In other news, Southampton’s owner may be about to make a huge mistake.

Even the recent Premier League suspension surely can’t stop Liverpool from winning the Premier League title.

With no games from now until the start of April, the confirmation of their inevitable top-tier triumph will have to wait, but they are still in an unrivalled pole position – they are 25 points clear at the top of the table, and if their next match is to be against Manchester City, as suggested, they may be able to win it that very same day.

Longer runs in the FA Cup and Champions League could have added some extra shine to this season, but a first title in 30 years should do the trick, and there have been many star performers this term.

Sadio Mane, Roberto Firmino and Mohamed Salah, for example, have scored 49 goals between them, whilst Virgil van Dijk and Joe Gomez have contributed to the Reds having the best defence in the top flight.

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Not everyone has played to their highest standards. Naby Keita is certainly the strongest example, given he has spent large parts of the campaign injured, but Jurgen Klopp’s visible frustration with him against West Ham says all you need to know. And whilst Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain has scored seven times, he has not performed consistently enough to earn himself a guaranteed starting spot, making just 13 starts in the league.

The problem is, they are both currently earning £120,000 a week. That, in itself, is a substantial amount of money, but it is even more shocking when you consider who they are earning more than. Sadio Mane, Fabinho, Alisson, Georginio Wijnaldum, Andrew Robertson and Trent Alexander-Arnold all receive less every seven days, despite all having started more games this campaign.

That is a lot of money to be paying for players who are not amongst their most crucial, especially when you add in the huge fees they paid for them – Oxlade-Chamberlain cost £35m from Arsenal, whilst Keita set the Anfield outfit back £48m from RB Leipzig. As the Reds plan for next season, it is worth considering whether these two are part of their long-term future and whether they are worth the money they are paying.

Meanwhile, this Liverpool man crumbled against Atletico Madrid.

Back on Friday 13th July 2018, Southampton completed the £18m signing of Jannik Vestergaard from Borussia Monchengladbach, where the centre-back put pen to paper on a four-year contract with the Saints.

The Danish defender – who stands at a towering 6 foot 6 – arrived as one of the most expensive purchases in the club’s history, so it’s safe to assume that a lot was to be expected of him.

However, there was something foreboding about the fact he was signed on Friday 13th.

Since arriving at St Mary’s, the 27-year-old has been pretty dreadful.

He angered fans on Twitter within just a handful of appearances for his new club with a poor display against Brighton, and has subsequently lost his place this term as Ralph Hasenhuttl prefers to play Jan Bednarek and Jack Stephens together.

Vestergaard was also effectively put up for sale by the Saints in January, but after no exit materialised for him, he was handed opportunities to impress against Tottenham in the FA Cup and also against Burnley in the Premier League – Southampton lost both games, and supporters on Twitter were livid with him in both outings.

Enough about his on-field displays – let’s take a look at the figures.

Since becoming a Southampton player, Vestergaard has been earning £60k-a-week at St Mary’s.

The Dane has been at the club for 88 weeks, so that works out at a total of £5.28 in terms of wages.

Add that to his transfer fee of £18m, and the centre-back has cost Southampton a whopping £23.28m, which is daylight robbery for the little he has contributed.

Saints owner Gao Jisheng must be wondering how on earth the centre-back was ever handed this much cash a week, and he must also be in disbelief as to how Vestergaard ever merited a fee of £18m.

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The defender – if you could even call him that – has thieved Southampton of a living for almost two years.

In other news, Southampton may have identified the ideal Vestergaard replacement in this man compared to Inter Milan star Milan Skriniar…

Rightly or wrongly, two distinct characteristics have become synonymous with a career once crystallised by Jose Mourinho’s infamous self-coronation as “The Special One” all those years ago.

The first is a reluctance to trust young players, to the extent that the likes of Mohamed Salah and Kevin De Bruyne are now serial trophy winners for Chelsea’s rivals, and the second is the prioritisation of a resolute defence over the free-flowing football you might see at Liverpool or Manchester City, or for that matter Tottenham prior to Mourinho’s arrival in November.

Indeed, as is the case with all seemingly revolutionary figures who last long enough to avert the romantic adage of the good dying young, Mourinho has slowly transitioned from being the standard bearer of football’s new order to becoming a blockade for progress and change.

While Pep Guardiola is busy completely transforming the parameters of stylistic expectation at England’s top clubs, Mourinho’s still deploying a double pivot, keeping his full-backs tucked in and chipping it up to the big man leading his line. At least he would be if Harry Kane wasn’t stuck on the sidelines.

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And thus, news that Mourinho wants to bring Diego Godin to Tottenham is as unusual as it is unsurprising. You won’t see many top Premier League clubs actively look to recruit a 34-year-old who can’t even guarantee himself a starting berth in Inter Milan’s starting XI.

Of course, Godin has enjoyed a fantastic career and remains a top class defender in his own right. He was Atletico’s on-pitch orchestrator for nine years as they continually defied expectations by setting up in the most compact 4-4-2 known to man to lift a Copa del Rey, a La Liga title and Europa League titles. Speed never came into the equation because Atletico always sat so deep, and if a team were to play to his strengths he would no doubt still be an asset at the back.

But that’s precisely the problem. In the tactical context of the current Premier League, where just four clubs have averaged less than a goal per game this season, who wants to be playing to Godin’s strengths? Who wants to sit deep, encourage crosses into their own box, protect ageing centre-halves and hit teams on the counter? Maybe Burnley, maybe Palace, but that’s about it.

Except Mourinho apparently, and Godin is exactly his wheelhouse; an ageing addition akin to bringing back Didier Drogba during his second Chelsea spell or Nemanja Matic to Old Trafford, and someone entirely focused on keeping the ball out of the net rather than putting it in at the other end.

What’s so confusing about this, though, is that Spurs don’t really need another experienced figure at the back. Jan Vertonghen is 32. Toby Alderweireld is 31. Ben Davies is 26. Serge Aurier is 27. Davinson Sanchez and Juan Foyth, the comparative youngsters of the group, are 23 and 22. Between them, those six players boast an average of 61 caps. Naivety of youth doesn’t seem to be the problem.

Ironically, for Mourinho’s former club Man United, who Mirror Football claim the Portuguese may have to beat to the centre-back’s signature based on their prior reports citing Corriere Dello Sport, the Godin interest makes a lot more sense.

The concerns over having to play to the veteran’s strengths remain but in comparison, the only two defenders aged 30 or over to represent the Red Devils in the Premier League – Marcos Rojo and Ashley Young – went elsewhere in January, either on loan or permanently. If we take Phil Jones out of the equation as well, the 28-year-old having made just two Premier League appearances, United’s oldest regular defender is Harry Maguire at 27. Clearly there’s a void of experience and leadership Godin can fill at Old Trafford.

Ultimately though, this is a symptom of how different Mourinho and his predecessor Mauricio Pochettino are as managers. Pochettino always angled towards younger players who could be moulded around his philosophy – perhaps the only real exception to that in recent years was the arrival of veteran striker Fernando Llorente. Mourinho, on the other hand, has a penchant for the finished product, or failing that, an old, wise head who knows how to win games pragmatically.

The problem though, and especially in Godin’s case, is that old, wise heads just aren’t as exciting as the next big thing breaking through. This potential swoop won’t win any Mourinho doubters over – in fact, it’s almost textbook Jose.

Birmingham City fans have reacted to a memorable moment involving defender Harlee Dean, who netted a superb header in the 2017/2018 season against Fulham.

28-year-old central defender Dean arrived at St. Andrews in 2017 after spells with Dagenham & Redbridge, Southampton and Brentford.

Going straight into the starting eleven for the Blues, Dean has made over 100 appearances in all competitions since, providing Pep Clotet with a good option alongside the likes of Marc Roberts and Jake Clarke-Salter this season.

Birmingham sit just below midtable in the Championship standings as things stand, improving vastly on the opening six months of the season which saw them be fairly inconsistent under Clotet. Dean, who has four goals to his name in a Blues shirt, netted his first goal for the club during his first campaign, opening the scoring with a header against Fulham at Craven Cottage.

With the current standstill in football, Blues’ official Twitter account have been sharing a ‘Moment of the Day’, and the club chose to look back over Dean’s first goal.

Reacting to the post via social media platform Twitter, countless fans have remembered Dean’s opening goal and below are some of those tweets.

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Australia’s one-day captain Ricky Ponting is convinced that Shane Watson’s progress is such that the search for a quality all-rounder is almost over for the world champions.Watson had been making progress in leaps and bounds, Ponting told a media conference at the Taj Samudra Hotel in Colombo on the eve of today’s ICC Champions Trophy semi-final with Sri Lanka.”That has been one concern for us – the all-rounder’s position. We have tried a few players over the last few years, they been rotated on different times. Nathan Hauritz has also been working hard over here and things are going along nicely for him,” Ponting said.Ponting also spoke about the Australian policy of having two different captains for the two versions of the game.”Knowing the way I am about my position and knowing the way Stephen [Waugh] is about his, I know there won’t be any sort of conflict. When the Test matches come around, I will obviously step aside and Stephen takes over as the boss of Australian cricket again, which is what he still is.”Ponting outlined the reasons for Australia’s overwhelming success over the last decade in international cricket.”We try to get the best out of the talent in our side. We play a fairly aggressive style of cricket, not only in one-dayers but in Test cricket as well. That is how Australian cricketers are brought up, playing that brand of cricket.”We have a talented side, and when you have a talented side, you always try to improve yourself and look ahead,” he added.Ponting does not believe that there is a big gap between Australia and the rest of the world when it comes to cricket.”So far the results have been good to us. We know that we are a good side, and we know that if we play to our best; we are going to be hard to beat.”Ponting also commented on the increased role of the third umpires in the ICC Champions Trophy: “I am very happy at the way it has worked. There have been minimal delays as well, which is very good as far as I am concerned.”It was during the 1996 World Cup that Australia decided to skip the games which were to be played in Sri Lanka. And most of the Islanders have not taken that issue too lightly. But, given the changing political climate in Sri Lanka and the road to peace becoming a reality, there is a sense of security all around.Even the Aussie one-day skipper seems to enjoy the new Sri Lanka.”This has been a fantastic tour so far. I am really surprised at the feeling and change in mood in the last few years. It is a great feeling at this moment to get around the shopping centres and the streets.”

Liverpool have strengthened their squad extremely well over the last couple of seasons, with Virgil van Dijk and Alisson proving to be genius signings.

The Merseyside outfit’s current squad is arguably one of the best in the world, but one thing the Reds are currently lacking is depth in the ranks.

According to Football Insider, Adama Traore is at the top of Liverpool’s summer shopping list, with the latest reports claiming he may be a Liverpool player once the transfer window opens. However, a potential £70m swoop for the Spaniard should be shelved and instead the Reds should focus on another of their reported targets, Milot Rashica.

Traore has indeed had an impressive season with Wolves but unless Sadio Mané or Mohamed Salah are to leave Anfield this summer, the winger will likely be on the bench for the majority of the upcoming campaign.

Despite setting up more goals for his teammates this term (10) than Rashica (5), Traore is at the point in his career where he should be made a focal point for his club. His strong physique and rapid pace is a deadly combination that teams will be falling over themselves to sign, but Liverpool aren’t in a position to guarantee him regular first-team football.

Their front three of Salah, Mané and Roberto Firmino is one of the world’s best and Jurgen Klopp would be foolish to toy around with the mechanics of Liverpool’s attack. Additionally, despite Real Madrid reportedly prioritising a move for Mané (via The Mirror), the 28-year-old has stated he is happy at Liverpool.

A swoop for Werder Bremen’s Rashica instead would be much more fitting for the Anfield outfit. Tallying 10 goals and five assists this season, the Kosovar winger would provide a burst of fresh energy and chance creation from the bench. The 23-year-old can also play in an attacking midfield role, which the Reds have been lacking in recently.

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Werder Bremen are currently fighting a relegation battle, meaning a move to the holding European champions and Premier League winners-elect in any capacity will be a huge move for Rashica. The Yugoslavia-born forward will also not require a huge sum in order to gain his services.

According to the Express, if Bremen are relegated this season, the club would be willing to slash his £33m release clause. If the Reds are serious about bringing Rashica to Anfield, they could swoop for him for as little as £17m this summer. However, the likes of Borussia Dortmund and West Ham are also eyeing up the 23-year-old’s services.

Liverpool must act fast if they are to bring in back-up in the next window, especially for a bargain price. The signing of Rashica could be what the Reds are looking for to alleviate pressure on their clinical front three.

Newcastle United’s imminent takeover may only be just a few days from an official announcement, but it is still not written in the record books as officially confirmed and that hasn’t stopped the transfer rumour mill circulating around the north-east.

And fans have been reacting to the latest reports on Twitter this week.

According to the Foot Mercato, the Magpies are keen on making an audacious splash in the summer for a trio of players competing for some of Europe’s biggest clubs currently, one of which is Napoli colossus Kalidou Koulibaly.

It’s claimed that the 28-year-old could be available for €80m (£70m) with club president Aurelio De Laurentiis open to selling him at the end of the season.

Amanda Staveley’s Saudi-backed consortium is set to take the reigns at St James’ Park in a takeover deal thought to be worth around £300m, so United could soon have very wealthy financial power in the transfer market.

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Newcastle currently have an array of central defenders on their books including Jamaal Lascelles, Ciaran Clark, Fabian Schar, Federico Fernandez and Florian Lejeune, but you’d imagine the Napoli man would be a considerable upgrade given his previous links to Manchester United and Bayern Munich.

Here’s what supporters have been saying…

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