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A year into the ‘Gaal-acticos’ project, Manchester United have been linked with a whole host of glamorous, exciting names to usher them into a new era. After securing Champions League entry (albeit with a potentially tricky qualifier to navigate), the Red Devils are back in the big time and raring to go. Sergio Ramos is the latest name to be linked with a blockbuster move to Old Trafford, and it’s easy to see why.

Ramos is a fiery Spanish defender with unquestionable star quality. Having won everything there is to win in the game, any deal bringing the Real Madrid defender to Manchester is likely to be eye-wateringly expensive. The World Cup winner would no doubt represent a major upgrade on United’s current centre-backs, but at 29-years-of-age there are better options available to Louis van Gaal this summer.

Ramos’ age is only half the story. Borussia Dortmund’s Mats Hummels and Valencia’s Argentine beast Nicolas Otamendi are not much younger than Madrid’s centre half, but represent cheaper alternatives. Ramos is believed to earn four and a million euros a year at Real, and that figure will only rise if a move to the Premier League comes to fruition. Taking into account a transfer that is likely to be well in excess of £30m, the numbers simply do not add up. United’s recruitment policy last term was flawed, and this potential deal would suggest Ed Woodward has not learnt a thing since then.

Sure, a United line up with Ramos marshalling the defence looks a lot sounder than last term, but are looks deceiving? Ramos does not ply his trade against top class opposition week in and week out. Real Madrid often battered teams four, five, six nil last season – hardly taxing work for a centre half. Though it was his iconic header that helped secured ‘La Decima’ for the Galacticos, Ramos is simply not the solid centre-back he would have you believe. His ill-discipline is really exacerbated in games against Barcelona and the latter stages of the Champions League.

Ramos’ impetuous desire to defend on the front foot may fly in La Liga, where Real Madrid have the likes of Toni Kroos, Luka Modric and James Rodriguez to control the play against lesser sides. So, the meticulously planned designs of Louis van Gaal may not suit Ramos’ cavalier approach.

The contract extensions given to Paddy McNair, Tyler Blackett, Phil Jones and Chris Smalling last season should also be taken into account. United are clearly looking to the future for their back line, and is hard to imagine such an expensive deal having a positive effect on the current crop. If these lot aren’t given time to develop, United could be letting themselves in for another bumpy transition in a few years. You can’t spend £30m and pay hundreds of thousands a week on a centre back every few years, while ignoring your youth players – not at Man Utd.

Clearly, Ramos is a better defender that Paddy McNair or Tyler Blackett. Clearly, Ramos is a better defender than Phil Jones or Chris Smalling. But United must plan for the future with these centre halves following their contract extensions. Ramos’ disciplinary record does not suggest he is the type to nurture nervous young centre halves.  19 red cards, a huge ego and a fiery temper and you expect him to hold Blackett’s hand in training? Or comfort Paddy McNair should he make a mistake during the season? Doubtful at best.

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At 29 years of age and a swelling trophy cabinet, does Ramos truly have the desire to reinvent himself as a Manchester United legend? Or is he simply using this saga to secure one last big contract before he turns 30.

Manchester United do require defensive additions this summer as they prepare for an immensely important football season. It is up to Louis van Gaal and Ed Woodward to identify targets who fit the ethos of the club and can help them improve in all areas, not big signings for the sake of sending a message. Radamel Falcao should have taught them that.

Tottenham Hotspur surged to an impressive 3-0 victory away to Burnley on Saturday in the English Premier League, inspired by a scintillating Harry Kane performance.

The England striker scored a superb hat-trick to punish the home side, equalling Alan Shearer’s long standing Premier League goal scoring record of 36 goals in a single calendar year, first achieved in 1995.

Kane is now joint-top of the league scoring charts this season with 15 goals from 19 games and appears to be getting better and better as time goes on.

Tottenham fans were in absolute awe of the 24-year-old, with some even exclaiming that he is the best centre forward in the world right now. With performances like the one seen on Saturday, who can really argue against that?

If he remains fit and in form, Spurs’ chances of a top four finish are strong, even if other important players are not quite at their best.

Supporters took to Twitter to share their thoughts on his hat-trick…

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According to reports in The Telegraph, Tottenham Hotspur are reportedly interested in signing Barcelona star Denis Suarez on loan during the January transfer window.

The Telegraph says that while Spurs are expecting to have a quiet month in terms of incomings and outgoings, they are keen on Barca duo Andre Gomes and Suarez, who could be available on loan in order to boost his minutes on the pitch and to aid his development and progress.

The 24-year-old was once on Manchester City’s books and he could well attract interest from a number of Premier League sides if he was made available.

Meanwhile, Southampton are only above the top flight relegation zone on goal difference following a poor campaign under Mauricio Pellegrino, and they are likely to look to spend and add some players to their squad this month following the £75m sale of Virgil van Dijk to Liverpool.

Having scored just 21 goals in 22 Premier League games boosting his side’s attacking options could be the Argentine manager’s priority before the window slams shut on January 31, and bringing Suarez to St Mary’s could prove to be a shrewd move.

Here are three reasons Southampton must hijack Tottenham’s bid to sign the Spaniard…

His ability

Even though he faces a huge battle to get into the Barcelona team because of the quality the La Liga giants have, Suarez has still scored three goals and provided a further six assists – including both in the 2-0 win against Sporting Lisbon in the Champions League – in 16 appearances in all competitions this season, with the majority of those outings coming from the substitutes’ bench.

WhoScored.com lists his strengths as his passing and his crossing, while he has also successfully completed 13 of the 20 dribbles he has attempted in 12 appearances in the Spanish top flight and in Europe this term.

Of course, you don’t play that much for Barcelona unless you have something about you, and bringing him to St Mary’s on a temporary basis would be quite a coup.

His versatility

The 24-year-old is a versatile player, and that flexibility could appeal to Mauricio Pellegrino as he looks to boost his side’s attacking threat this month.

Suarez has played as a central midfield, central attacking midfielder and as a left winger for Barcelona this season, and he would certainly fit in well to Southampton’s preferred 4-2-3-1 system as he could play on the left and in the middle of the three, and perhaps even in the two in a home match where Saints face a tough task to break their opponents down.

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Loan deal

According to reports in The Times, even though Virgil van Dijk completed a £75m move to Liverpool at the start of the month, the way the deal has been constructed means that Southampton will only receive £17m initially, cooling any feeling from the fans that they could be set for a spending spree this month.

That figure is likely to limit the amount of money they spend during the January transfer window, and bringing in a player of Suarez’s quality on a loan deal until the end of the season could prove to be an attractive option in a volatile market, and in a month where it can be difficult to get good value for money with permanent moves.

Do you agree, Saints fans? Let us know below.

According to reports in The Sun, Southampton have launched a £17.5m bid to sign Monaco striker Guido Carrillo during the January transfer window.

Saints are only lying outside of the Premier League relegation zone on goal difference following a disastrous campaign in which they have only scored 21 goals in their 22 top flight matches, and manager Mauricio Pellegrino is keen to boost his side’s frontline this month.

With Charlie Austin set to be out for around two months with a hamstring injury, the Argentine boss is looking for a target man and the 26-year-old Monaco man fits the bill.

Meanwhile, Newcastle United are just four places and two points above the south coast outfit in the standings, and while they picked up a vital 3-2 win against West Ham United at the London Stadium last weekend, they have netted one less goal than Saints this term.

Even though there is yet to be any progress with regards to a takeover, Rafa Benitez will be keen to add new players to his squad before the window slams shut on January 31 in order to boost his side’s chances of surviving, and bringing Carrillo to St James’ Park could prove to be a shrewd move.

Here are three reasons Newcastle must hijack Southampton’s bid to sign the Argentine attacker…

They need a striker

In 22 Premier League matches this season, Dwight Gayle and Joselu have scored six goals between them while Aleksandar Mitrovic, who is looking certain to leave the club this month, has netted just the one.

If the Serbia international does leave before the window slams shut then it is clear that Benitez will want to bring a new striker to the club in order to have a different option to use, and Carrillo could prove to be the answer having largely played second fiddle to Radamel Falcao with Monaco this season.

Standing at 6ft 2in tall he would certainly provide some much-needed competition for Joselu, to allow Newcastle to play the same way whoever is on the pitch.

His ability

Even though Carrillo has rarely been a starter for Monaco this season, he has still scored five goals and provided one assist in 22 appearances in all competitions.

His standout moment in the campaign came last month in the 3-2 win against Troyes when he came on at half-time with the Ligue 1 leaders 2-0 down, before he followed up an own goal with a brace in the last five minutes to complete a remarkable turnaround and give his team all three points.

The 26-year-old is decent in the air – he has won 28 of the 51 aerial duels he has faced in 15 French top flight matches this season according to Squawka – while he has also shown how useful he can be when defending too having made eight clearances.

Price tag

While Rafa Benitez is unsure of the budget he will be handed this month, he will certainly be hopeful that he could afford to match the £17.5m fee that Southampton are reportedly ready to pay for Carrillo.

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If they fail to invest in key areas in the team this month they risk going down, and that is probably something that Mike Ashley can’t really afford to do if a takeover deal falls through.

Newcastle have already been linked with a move for £17.8m-rated Las Palmas attacker Jonathan Viera by The Telegraph, but they might be better off targeting Carrillo instead considering they need goals and a another focal point up top.

Do you agree, Magpies fans? Let us know below.

One glance at the team sheet an hour before kick-off wasn’t enough. A star-studded front four was set to line up in front of a midfield two of unmatched muscularity and guile. The back four – cobbled together, perhaps – was still the best Jose Mourinho could manage on short notice.

A second glance was needed to confirm that it was, in fact true: the Manchester United manager had taken his side to an away fixture against a top six rival and lined up in about the most attacking manner that he possibly could.

Even some of the early questions upon the arrival of Alexis Sanchez were answered: no, Jesse Lingard wasn’t dumped out of the team, and yes, there was still room for an Anthony Martial or, theoretically, Marcus Rashford in the same starting XI. It was a refreshing feeling.

But within just seconds of the kick-off, we saw exactly why such questions arose in the first place.

Mourinho’s lineup looked like something from the worst excesses of the Manuel Pellegrini era at Manchester City: a 4-2-4 replete with attacking talent, so much so that even one of the midfielders was given a free role, his game more predisposed to attacking than defending anyway.

That’s why, on Thursday morning, the defence will take all the flack. In its loose marking, its hideous own goal, and in its generalised, unwarranted mayhem, Mourinho’s defence looked very much like it was put out into the world by a sworn enemy of the Mourinho way. And yet, despite clear failings, it wasn’t so much United’s defence as it was his attack that let him down.

Nominally, that is, as United didn’t do all that much attacking anyway. Not really. They managed less possession, fewer shots on goal than their opponents (almost four time fewer), and indeed Alexis Sanchez – the beacon of hope proclaiming a fresh start for the Mourinho era – touched the ball just twice in Tottenham’s area on a shy and retiring return to north London.

Again, though, that’s the simple reading. Alexis and co weren’t to blame because they didn’t attack enough, but rather because they couldn’t find the balance they needed to gain any semblance of control over the game. That’s what denied United the chance to either attack or defend.

Overawed not by occasion, the opposition or indeed the mythical location, United’s players were perhaps simply stupefied by their manager’s uncharacteristically liberal approach to attacking. Or at least the number of attack-minded players on the pitch.

Mourinho has proven so far this season, on numerous occasions, that he has intended to suck the life out of top six games. This time he fielded a group of players who were almost as shocked as the rest of us, simply unready for the cold plunge into unchartered waters and left in tatters just seconds after the first whistle.

By all accounts this was a tactical blunder, or at least a strange call that was undone as early as it’s possible to be undone, but that shouldn’t be where we leave it. Indeed, this isn’t a time to slate Jose Mourinho, Instead, it’s time to praise him.

Before this game, we knew that the Manchester United manager had a choice to make. Before Wednesday night, his last two games against top six rivals had ended in defeat against Manchester City and Chelsea, but since losing the derby at Old Trafford in December, United had not faced any of the league’s top sides: that is, since the title race had all but ended, the shackles had theoretically come off.

That’s the United Mourinho attempted to portray to the world at Wembley. This was supposed to be a new side; the winter had ended and the manager’s message to his players was to find their inner child again Free to play the fun, attacking football they’d always wanted, morale should have been soaring ahead of the return of the Champions League, when United’s season would truly be reborn in search for silverware.

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It’s hard to criticise that sentiment. Yes, they were outplayed, yes their bizarrely ineffective two-man midfield was too undisciplined to deal with what Tottenham threw at it, and yes Mourinho was perhaps naive in his choice of line-up. But the mitigating factor here is an early goal so poor that it can only be explained by rawness, and a second just before the half-hour mark so bizarre that it would knock the stuffing out of any side.

Mourinho’s gamble didn’t pay off, and we should be sad about that. Because from here on in, are we going to see a fun-loving United take to the pitch in an attempt frolic in glee again? Or are we going to see a swift return to chains for some of the league’s most exciting attacking players because of a manager’s fear of further reprisal?

United stepped out of their comfort zone and were slapped down instantly. Maybe the real tragedy is that if they’d gone half an hour without conceding at all, we might have witnessed the rebirth of Mourinho’s United tenure. Instead, we might have seen its regression back into the depths.

Joey Barton has never been far from controversy in his football career.

The outspoken midfielder has has experienced life at various clubs, including Manchester City, Newcastle United, Queens Park Rangers, Burnley and Rangers.

Barton has always speaker glowingly about one club in particular – Newcastle.

However, the 35-year-old has since made it clear that he was never a big supporter of the club’s owner Mike Ashley.

The Sports Direct tycoon has been a controversial figure at the North-East outfit, but his 10-year reign could be coming to an end as he put the club up for sale in October.

Barton spent four years at St James’ Park and has now revealed in an interview with the Chronicle that he was wanted back at the club when Steve McClaren was in charge.

One man, though, stood in his way.

“Steve McClaren wanted me to go back. That was the year I joined Burnley – he asked me to come back but Mike Ashley said you can have anybody but him! It was good to know I made that an impression on [Ashley] because the feeling is definitely mutual.”

After leaving Newcastle, the midfielder had spells at QPR, Burnley and Rangers, where he eventually had his contract terminated due to a training-ground scuffle.

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Barton returned to Turf Moor for a stint, but is now currently out of football due to a ban for breaching betting rules.

According to reports in the Daily Echo, Southampton midfielder Mario Lemina has boosted his side ahead of the FA Cup fifth round clash against West Bromwich Albion at the Hawthorns on Saturday by declaring himself available despite being forced off against Liverpool last weekend.

The 24-year-old started the clash against the Reds and was arguably the best player on the pitch in the first 45 minutes, but he was forced off just 12 minutes into the second period after feeling unwell and complaining of dizziness.

The Gabon international may have been a doubt for the trip to the west Midlands, but the Daily Echo confirmed on Friday that under-fire manager Mauricio Pellegrino has confirmed Lemina is available for selection, and that is a big positive for the Argentine given his midfielder scored in his side’s 3-2 win against the Baggies just a fortnight ago.

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Southampton will be looking to pick up some much-needed confidence and progress to the quarter-finals of the prestigious cup competition against Alan Pardew’s men, having dropped back into the relegation zone following the 2-0 reverse against the Jurgen Klopp’s side at St Mary’s on Sunday.

Nottingham Forest stretched their unbeaten run in the English Championship to five matches on Tuesday night after a hard-fought point away to Norwich City.

Caught in that difficult position of being unable to compete for play-off positions and not being in fear of relegation, the closing stages of the season for Forest are all about showing improvement under Aitor Karanka.

Stopping the rot of consecutive defeats fixture after fixture, that certainly appears to be working out well so far.

Forest had to dig deep to ensure they kept a clean sheet against Norwich and while they were lacklustre in attack, the 0-0 draw will be seen as a good point from their perspective.

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At the heart of the battling performance was Ben Watson, who only signed for the club last month after being released by Watford.

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Fans were delighted with his midfield display on Tuesday night, believing their team keep the ball better and have more leadership now he’s in the team.

They took to Twitter to share their thoughts…

Newcastle United striker Aleksandar Mitrovic maintained his impressive form for loan side Fulham as he scored twice in their 3-0 win against Sheffield United at Craven Cottage on Tuesday night, and Magpies fans all produced the same surprise reaction to the news.

The Tyneside outfit decided to send the Serbia international to the Championship outfit until the end of the season as he was struggling for first-team minutes under Rafa Benitez in the Premier League, and his double against the Blades means that the 23-year-old now has five goals in his last four league games for the Cottagers, with the attacker aiming a subtle dig at his parent club earlier this week.

Normally you would think that the St James’ Park faithful would be saying that the decision to let the centre-forward leave was the wrong one and that they want him back considering their team has only scored 27 goals in 29 top flight matches this term, but it isn’t the case.

Newcastle supporters were quick to have their say on Mitrovic’s latest display via social media, and while one said “he had plenty of chances and let us down repeatedly”, another said “Mitrovic is showing that he’s a Championship player”.

Here is just a selection of the Twitter reaction…

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Leeds United owner Andrea Radrizzani has made the headlines of late for being outspoken on a handful of topics.

The Italian’s latest outburst came during an interview with talkSPORT, in which he questioned the commitment and desire of the players, most of which signed long-term contracts earlier in the season.

The latest run of results, which has included just one win in 14, has left the businessman frustrated, but he is not the only one.

The fans have understandably been venting their disappointment on social media, particularly now that the club have drifted in the race for the playoffs.

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As it stands, the Whites are 13th in the Championship table, 11 points adrift of the top six following last weekend’s 2-2 draw with Reading.

Radrizzani has given his take on the situation, and now he is aiming criticism at the players, specifically referring to their recent 3-0 loss to Middlesbrough.

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He told talkSPORT:

“As a club we support them in everything – we gave them long-term contracts, we supported them going to a mid-season camp in Spain. We did everything they wanted, but we didn’t get back their commitment, passion and the spirit, particularly in the last game, the most important game against Middlesbrough away and we played very poorly.

“For me, that was the bottom of the season because there was no commitment, no passion and no spirit. I don’t want players in my team and representing Leeds United with this behaviour, so I hope they can learn and will be here with me next year playing better and with more commitment.”

Leeds fans have been reacting on Twitter to the owner’s comments.