All posts by n8rngtd.top

A number of Aston Villa supporters have been heaping praise on teenage midfielder Carney Chukwuemeka following his impressive FA Youth Cup display on Tuesday evening.

The 17-year-old, who signed a professional deal at Villa Park back in October, scored three times in the club’s 6-1 win over Newcastle United.

Chukwuemeka netted his second and third goals in the space of three minutes in the second half to ensure Villa would advance to the semi-finals, where they will face local rivals West Brom.

The Englishman, capable of playing as a defensive, central or attacking midfielder, was the star of the show at St James’ Park, and his performance caught the eyes of hundreds of Villa supporters on social media.

Villa fans react

The club kept fans up to date during the quarter-final on their official Twitter page.

As to be expected, the news of Chukwuemeka’s hat-trick had a number of supporters talking, with one labelling the youngster’s potential as ‘insane’.

“I’ve seen enough play him on Saturday”

Credit: @catrinedwards18

“Silly”

Credit: @AVFCharvey04

“This lad is gonna be insane”

Credit: @TomLiversage

“Send Barkley back to Chelsea and start this man, baller”

Credit: @PearsallHarry

“It’s a joke. Please get him in the team”

Credit: @_Whittall

“Omg man this guy is unstoppable.”

Credit: @LukeKing_

In other news: Aston Villa outcast a shock target for European giants, find out more here. 

Crystal Palace came from behind to record a stunning victory over Aston Villa on Sunday afternoon.

The Eagles’ usual suspects, Wilfried Zaha – who bagged the all-important equaliser – and Eberechi Eze – who assisted him, were at the centre of it all but an unsung hero may have emerged from the shadows with a masterclass to deliver Roy Hodgson’s second win since March.

That player being Tyrick Mitchell.

The 21-year-old defender clinched his first senior goal for the club, bagging the winner in the 84th minute. Mitchell was in the perfect place at the right time as he bundled home a fluffed cross from Eze.

But the young left-back delivered so much more than the winner on the day.

As per SofaScore, he was graded as Palace’s best performer, with a rating of 8.4 – by comparison, this was better than both Zaha (7.8) and Eze (7.4), so he certainly deserves just as many plaudits.

He was amongst Hodgson’s most influential players, recording 51 touches over the 90 minutes, and that resulted in superb contributions at either end of the pitch.

Defensively, he was industrious, registering four clearances, two blocks and one tackle whilst he also won 100% of his battles, both in the air and on the ground, meaning the threat on offer from Bertrand Traore, and then Anwar El Ghazi was nullified throughout.

Further up the pitch, Mitchell made two crosses, which would have delighted target man striker Christian Benteke. In fact, he bagged the first equaliser as a result of a great ball in from wide.

He also produced one key pass and one dribble, proving to be a nuisance to Villa’s defence and Ahmed Elmohamady, in particular.

Palace reporter Joe Doyle at football.london was equally glowing of his performance in their post-match column.

“Pushed higher up more often with Schlupp offering a level of protection on the occasions he could move forward. Played in a great ball for Benteke to get an equaliser after the half hour,” he wrote. “A good shift throughout, getting forward more and more, and was in the right place at the right time to grab the winner.”

Mitchell, who is valued at €10m (£9m), put in a stormer of a performance at Selhurst Park and was certainly an unsung hero for Hodgson.

AND in other news, Fresh twist emerges in Crystal Palace manager hunt, it’s great news for Eagles fans…

Many West Ham United fans were far from happy with the performance of Issa Diop during their 1-0 defeat to Everton on Sunday.

The Hammers’ hopes of qualifying for the Champions League for the first time were damaged on Sunday thanks to a Dominic Calvert-Lewin strike. While it is not impossible for them to reach the group stage of Europe’s premier club competition, they face an uphill battle to get there – they are now five points behind Leicester City in fourth with just three games left (Sky Sports).

Diop, valued at £16.2m by Transfermarkt, started at the heart of the back four against the Toffees, and it is fair to say he wasn’t at his best. For example, he was dribbled past on two occasions (SofaScore) by an Everton team who seemed reluctant to attack, while he was partly at fault for the only goal of the game along with fellow defender Craig Dawson.

These Irons supporters were far from happy with what they saw from Diop, who one fan labelled a “liability”, and they took to social media platform Twitter to share their thoughts.

Let’s see what these fans had to say about Diop

“I like Diop but he needs to remember he’s a centre back, he gets caught out far too high up the pitch time and time again. That’s coachable, Moyes needs to have a word and if he won’t listen don’t play him”

Credit: @TheLawless

“The amount of times he gets dragged out of position! They definitely studied that, in fact they definitely did as Calvert-Lewis confirmed. Exposed Dawson. Horrible defending.”

Credit: @RyanMac97158556

“They were both at fault for the goal. Diop out of position leading to Dawson being out paced. We need to bring in a next level CB in the summer.”

Credit: @Sam6WHU

“Diop & Dawson are average, need a 2nd CB with Og in the summer IMO, Dawson does improve with Og tbf but Diop for me is a liability as a CB, I reckon he’d be a good CDM,”

Credit: @rickwhufc

“Diop had another usual stinker. But Benrahma was shocking today. It seems Moyes’ criticism has got to his game negatively I think 8th is now more likely”

Credit: @westham_mo

“100% need to get rid of Diop…”

Credit: @Jsklen_face

In other news, West Ham fans want the club to sign this man.

Many Wolves fans have been left to slam a transfer update involving Owen Otasowie.

As per the Daily Telegraph, the defensive midfield player is wanted by Anderlecht, Nice and Wolfsburg on loan for the 2021/22 campaign, if he is allowed to leave Molineux on a short-term deal.

Otasowie has been a handy player to have for Nuno Espirito Santo, especially when the depth of his squad has been tested with injuries to the likes of Raul Jimenez and Pedro Neto this season.

The United States international has played in six games in the Premier League so far this term, grabbing himself one assist (Transfermarkt), and some WWFC supporters feel that the 20-year-old should stay at the Midlands club in order to continue his development.

Wolves fans on Otasowie transfer update

These Wanderers slammed the transfer update as it was shared on Twitter, with one fan even going as far as to claim that it was ‘pointless’:

“But no, this would be dreadful news”

Credit: @TonyWilde99

“Pointless unless he signs a new deal”

Credit: @FW90

“Just say NO!”

Credit: @MichaelPoulter3

“No, it’s easy, you simply play him”

Credit: @ConallJH_

“NOOOOOO he deserves to start for us sorry not sorry”

Credit: @CBeier3

“Nah play him”
Credit: @YasWWFC

In other news, find out what transfer update has left Wanderers fuming here!

While Patrick Bamford has led the line superbly for Leeds this season, there’s no doubting that Marcelo Bielsa’s side could do with some reinforcements ahead of their second campaign back in the Premier League.

Bamford has bagged an impressive 14 goals and provided a further eight assists in the top flight alone, but the strength in depth up top is virtually non-existent for the Whites.

However, with reports linking the club with a summer transfer move for Barnsley’s Daryl Dike, the Elland Road club could unearth a striker who has a large resemblance and many similarities to one of the Argentine’s most feared centre-forwards in his time in management: Fernando Llorente.

The Spaniard’s name may be best known to fans of English football from his time at Tottenham, but it was with his performances back in his native country with Athletic Bilbao under Bielsa that he truly made a name for himself.

In the two full seasons for which the pair worked together, Llorente smashed in 34 goals and provided another eight assists in 89 games, to this day remains the second-most prolifc player in terms of most goals scored for Bielsa.

Standing at 6 foot 2, and with a real presence in the air just like Llorente – he wins a monstrous 6.4 aerial duels per game in the Championship (the fifth-most of any player in the division and comfortably more than everyone in the Leeds squad) – the £4.5m-rated Dike is a proper handful inside the penalty box.

[snack-amp-story url=”https://www.footballfancast.com/web-stories/latest-leeds-transfer-rumours-and-news” title=”Latest Leeds transfer rumours and news”]

He was dubbed a “revelation” by former Salford City manager Richie Wellens, who also added: “I can’t see Barnsley paying £17m for him, but I take my hat off to him for swapping the Orlando weather for Barnsley. But seriously he’s done great, he scores goals, he’s powerful and he’s given Barnsley a whole new dimension to their game.”

That new “dimension” is what Llorente brought to the table at Bilbao, combining a mix of technical quality and aerial dominance to fire the Basque club to a whisker away from lifting both the Copa Del Rey and Europa League under Bielsa’s management.

Given the kind of success that Llorente enjoyed under Bielsa whilst at the San Mames Stadium, Dike would surely fancy his chances of replicating the Spaniard’s work at Elland Road if the Whites were to sign him this summer.

Meanwhile, Leeds could finally wave goodbye to this liability…

Aston Villa are facing the prospect of losing highly-rated academy starlet Carney Chukwuemeka amid reported interest from Manchester United and Manchester City.

What’s the story?

The 17-year-old is yet to make a first-team appearance for Dean Smith’s side, but has been making waves at youth level, predominantly playing for the club’s U23s this season at Premier League 2 level.

Now, The Guardian claim that both Manchester clubs are tracking his progress at Villa Park, with sides like RB Leipzig, Monaco and PSV Eindhoven also monitoring his development.

The report adds that Villa are keen to tie him down to a new longer-team deal however.

Transfer misery for Smith

Recently on the 1874 podcast, Gregg Evans spoke about how highly thought of Chukwuemeka is behind the scenes at Bodymoor Heath training ground, revealing that “he’s the one everybody’s talking about” and even hailing him as “the real deal”.

With the likes of Louie Barry also knocking on the first-team door but yet to see a taste of first-team action, there’s surely real pressure on Smith’s shoulders to start giving some of the club’s younger talents a chance, just like he’s done with Jacob Ramsey.

[snack-amp-story url=”https://www.footballfancast.com/web-stories/latest-aston-villa-transfer-rumours-and-news-copy-copy” title=”Latest Aston Villa transfer rumours and news”]

And with the success of the likes of Jadon Sancho and Jude Bellingham in moving abroad to Borussia Dortmund, even interest from clubs like RB Leipzig are going to be very hard to turn down for Chukwuemeka if he feels like he’s got a much faster pathway to the first-team there.

Given the number of clubs interested, Villa are facing a real nightmare over losing one of their club’s highly-rated talents.

Meanwhile, Villa could land a bargain deal in this Premier League star…

Chelsea’s season has been quite the ride already, with the Blues starting the season like a house on fire, before petering out somewhat in recent times.

However, last weekend’s demolition of Huddersfield should have gone someway to improving things at Stamford Bridge.

Manager Mauro Sarri has already come under some pressure for the job he is doing, but the Italian will be hoping to see out the season and cement a Champions League spot, while he also has the chance of winning a trophy with the League Cup up for grabs in a one match shootout with Man City.

The summer is bound to be an interesting one too at the Bridge, and with January passing with little to shout home about other than the arrival of Gonzalo Higuain, it will be interesting to see if Chelsea can keep hold of star players like Eden Hazard and Willian.

It is however, the ability to keep the Brazilian that we think should be a priority for the Blues, with the 30-year-old a more important piece to the jigsaw than some might think in London.

Willian is integral at times to Chelsea and how they play, and while he might not always be the first name on the team sheet, he generally delivers when it matters.

There is not just his ability to take into account either, with his experience something which will be vital for the Blues if they are indeed to challenge for top honours in the coming seasons.

While all eyes will be on the future of Eden Hazard, Willian remains arguably just as important, and it’s vital in our opinion that Chelsea keep hold of the tricky Brazilian star.

Chelsea fans, what do you think? Will Willian go or will he be kept on? Let us know in the comments!

Southampton have faced criticism for some terrible transfer decisions in recent seasons, with the likes of Jordy Clasie, Guido Carrillo and Wesley Hoedt memorable disasters, but there is no doubt that the club’s deal for Dejan Lovren eight years ago was a good one.

The Saints signed the centre-back from Lyon in the summer of 2013 in a deal worth £9m and he became a regular in Mauricio Pochettino’s side during the following season.

The Croatian international was hugely impressive in his only year with the Saints, making 31 appearances in the Premier League, contributing two goals and one assist, which helped him average a superb 7.32 WhoScored average rating.

As a result of his excellent performances, Liverpool shelled out £20m to sign him the following season, meaning Southampton were able to make a very quick £11m profit on the former Dinamo Zagreb man.

During his time with the Reds, the centre-back would go on to make 185 appearances and won both the Champions League and the Premier League under Jurgen Klopp, yet was regularly criticised by Premier League supporters and Liverpool fans alike for his error-prone nature.

[snack-amp-story url=”https://www.footballfancast.com/web-stories/southampton-saints-ralph-hasenhuttl-martin-semmens-st-marys” title=”Latest Southampton news, transfer rumours and more”]

Lovren was seen as a liability for much of his time on Merseyside and, despite playing a part in their title triumph last season, the 31-year-old was allowed to join Zenit St Petersburg in the summer, something the Reds may have lived to regret due to the long-term injuries to both Virgil van Dijk and Joe Gomez this season.

Fortunately for Southampton, they saw the best of Lovren during his time on the south coast, and his signing was a rare transfer success when you consider some of their recent dealings.

If Lovren had stayed with the Saints rather than joining Liverpool, then perhaps they wouldn’t have signed Virgil van Dijk from Celtic in 2015, a deal which proved to be an incredible bargain for the south coast club.

[freshpress-quiz id=“594431″]

Therefore, there is no doubt that Lovren’s signing in 2013 was a huge success for Southampton for a number of reasons, but it is something they have arguably been unable to replicate in recent years.

And, in other news… Hasenhuttl hint on £5.4m-rated speedster could be bad news for rising Saints star

Manchester United are reportedly lining up an audacious move for Wolverhampton Wanderers’ Pedro Neto.

According to The Sun, the Red Devils want to bolster their right-flank and are interested in the Portuguese winger, with him being on their transfer shortlist.

Should he arrive at Old Trafford, he could certainly emulate the type of impact that his compatriot and international teammate, Cristiano Ronaldo, had at United..

Whilst the 21-year-old still has some way to go to even come close to matching the levels of the current Juventus superstar, the signs are extremely promising.

Signed from Lazio at the beginning of the 2019/20 season, Neto had an extremely encouraging first season, notching five goals and racking up six assists in all competitions.

He has almost matched those numbers already during the current campaign under Nuno Espirito Santo, scoring five goals and notching four assists in the Premier League alone, highlighting his considerable progress.

Neto has certainly been a key player for Wolves, with the young winger contributing to 32% of his team’s entire goal haul this season.

He also got his international career off to the best possible start, scoring on his senior international debut in a 7-0 rout of Andorra.

[snack-amp-story url=”https://www.footballfancast.com/web-stories/latest-man-united-transfer-rumours-and-news” title=” Latest Man United transfer rumours and news!”]

It could be said then there is a lot of responsibility on his young shoulders but he is certainly taking that in his stride.

Of course, should the £31.5m-rated winger sign for the Red Devils, there will certainly be inevitable comparisons to Ronaldo, but they do make some sense.

According to WhoScored, Neto is averaging two key passes, and 2.1 dribbles per game this season which are statistics that are interestingly higher than Ronaldo’s numbers of 1.1 key passes and 1.6 dribbles per game respectively.

Whilst Neto still has some way to match the five-time Ballon d’Or winner’s meteoric five shots per game in all competitions, he is still up with the best in Wolves’ current squad, with only striker Raul Jimenez overcoming him.

With Nuno labelling Neto as a “very talented” player, he will surely loath losing him to a Premier League rival but the young Portuguese ace could certainly be the right-winger that Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Manchester United are searching for.

AND in more news, take a closer look at Donny van de Beek’s awful showing in the Red Devils’ 3-1 defeat against Leicester…

Some Liverpool fans have been reacting positively to the news that Southampton won’t sign Takumi Minamino permanently this summer.

The Reds are preparing for Saturday’s visit of Aston Villa as they look to bounce back from their 3-1 defeat away to Real Madrid in midweek.

Jurgen Klopp’s men have failed to fire in attack throughout this season, with the team too reliant on Mohamed Salah’s goals and Diogo Jota proving a huge loss through injury.

Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino have struggled badly for form and it has played a part in Liverpool’s struggles in defending their Premier League title. The decision to loan out Minamino to Southampton in January felt an odd one at the time, with some left unhappy over the decision.

The Japanese forward has scored two goals in six appearances to date for Saints, but their manager Ralph Hasenhuttl has said that he is unlikely to sign the 26-year-old on a permanent deal at the end of the season.

Liverpool fans react to Minamino update

These Liverpool supporters have been giving their thoughts on the Minamino news on Twitter.

“LET’S GOOO”

Credit: @lfcmahdi

“What a relief”

Credit: @LFCWard_oodi123

“Good we need Taki back”

Credit: @DJDAZZA84

“He must come back and Klopp must be given game time”

Credit: @mrobimotala

“Want him back”

Credit: @t1mbo77

“Could probably be helping the first team right now if we’re being honest here”

Credit: @Buck1Actual

In other news, some Liverpool fans are excited about a transfer story that has emerged. Find out who the player in question is here.