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Nottingham Forest fans have taken to Twitter in annoyance, after The Mirror revealed that Ben Osborn could be involved in a swap deal that would see James McClean team up with Martin O’Neill and Roy Keane once again in a move to The City Ground.

O’Neill is hoping to sign the 29-year-old whom he managed whilst as manager of the Republic of Ireland national team, as per The Mirror, where McClean arguably played some of his best football.

Osborn, however, came through the academy at the City Ground and has made over 200 appearances for the Reds, as per Transfermarkt, becoming somewhat of a fans’ favourite during that time as a result. The 24-year-old can also be used as a full-back as well as on the wing, so his versatility is especially useful to Forest.

Thogden has ranked his top 5 sets of Championship away fans for Pl>ymaker FC. Did your club make the list? Find out in the video below…

As a result of the aforementioned facts, fans of the play-off chasers are livid that he could potentially leave the club, if their reactions on Twitter are anything to go by…

Taking to Twitter, journalist Ekrem Konur has now made a surprising transfer claim involving Tottenham Hotspur and in-form Premier League forward Michail Antonio.

The Lowdown: Spurs eye new striker…

Since the last transfer window, Tottenham managing director Fabio Paratici has been on the hunt for a new forward and alternative to star man Harry Kane.

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Indeed, a report by The Telegraph listed the likes of Dusan Vlahovic and Simy on the Italian transfer chief’s radar while The Times actually revealed they had agreed a fee for Lautaro Martinez.

The latter man’s move to north London crumbled when Inter Milan pulled out of the move, mainly due to Romelu Lukaku completing his switch to Chelsea (Fabrizio Romano).

Having no luck in their search over the summer, links to Vlahovic continue to be prominent after the arrival of new manager Antonio Conte, but now a surprising claim has emerged on a new name.

The Latest: Spurs could make Antonio bid…

As per Konur, writing on social media, it is believed Tottenham ‘could make an offer’ to sign West Ham United star Antonio ‘in January’.

The Jamaica forward has been in sublime form over 2021/2022, even winning August’s Premier League Player of the Month award, and not so long ago found the net against Spurs in a London derby.

The Verdict: Pinch of salt…

Given the unlikelihood of West Ham parting ways with their striker, especially considering he is their only natural number nine, we advise to take this with a pinch of salt.

Both the Lilywhites’ and West Ham’s fierce rivalry make this a difficult deal to negotiate – not to mention the month-long January window meaning Antonio’s current club would have very little time to find a successor.

Called ‘unplayable’ by former Spurs boss Harry Redknapp (talkSPORT via Read West Ham), there is little arguing his quality and threat in the final third.

According to WhoScored, the 31-year-old has averaged a far higher amount of shots and key passes per 90 than any Tottenham player this season whilst scoring six goals and assisting three others.

He would undoubtedly add quality but the amount of variables make this move almost impossible.

In other news: Conte set for Spurs injury boost as Sky Sports reporter breaks update on Twitter, find out more here.

Taking to Patreon, reliable club insider ExWHUemployee has shared some ‘great news’ for West Ham, with an announcement expected in January.

The Lowdown: West Ham making behind-scenes changes…

Over the last few months, the Hammers have seemingly been undergoing somewhat of a staff overhaul behind the scenes, right down from the very top of the club.

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Indeed, their biggest announcement recently is arguably the acquisition of former chief Manchester City scout Rob Newman, who will now play a big part in the facilitation of transfers alongside David Moyes in a new head of recruitment role (whufc.com).

More recently, West Ham overhauled their under-23s setup, with former head coach Dmitri Halajko being replaced by former midfielder Mark Robson (whufc.com).

The Latest: Ex shares ‘great news’ for West Ham…

Sharing news on his ‘The West Ham Way’ Patreon channel, the Hammers insider has shared a development from his ‘sources outside of the club’.

Indeed, it was claimed that former defender Kenny Brown Jnr should now also be returning to Rush Green in an academy coaching capacity and is expected to leave his similar post at bitter rivals Millwall.

Ex claims that this is ‘great news’ for West Ham as Brown Jnr is a ‘very highly rated’ coach, not to mention a respected former Irons player.

He also believes this shake-up could be announced in January as Brown Jnr looks set to replace current academy coach Jeremy Sauer – who is expected to depart over the next month.

The Verdict: Great move…

Judging by recent events, it appears that the club are nurturing a somewhat holistic feel at West Ham, with the return of many former faces in coaching roles.

As Moyes seeks to build his long-term vision for the club, a goal which he has publicly stated in the past, one big part of this may well be his staff in east London set to play an underrated role.

Another academy shake up could feed into the Scotsman’s previous admission of wishing to develop plenty of young talent at West Ham, leaving little surprise there has been a fair few changes at that level over these past months.

It appears he may well be serious about building a successful project at the club over many years and not just for the short-term, a prospect which should delight supporters.

As Ex shares this ‘great news’ of another highly-rated figure coming back to the club in a coaching role, this may well come as another small cog in Moyes’ masterplan for the Irons.

In other news: ‘Announce the league’, ‘Christmas sorted’…ExWHUemployee’s ‘fantastic news’ has many West Ham fans buzzing, find out more here.

Antonio Conte is reportedly now strongly interested in signing Nahitan Nandez for Tottenham Hotspur once the January transfer window opens.

The Lowdown: Conte knows him well

Nandez is a player that Conte will know well from his time in the Serie A, where the Uruguay international has managed to score four goals and make a further nine assists in 88 games in total over all competitions for Cagliari over the last three seasons (both of the meetings between Cagliari and Conte’s Inter last term.

With claims that Giovani Lo Celso could leave Spurs next month, added to the fact that they have been linked with midfielders like Franck Kessie in recent days, it is no surprise to see Nandez as a player that they would also be interested in, should he be allowed to leave Sardinia of course.

The Latest: Strong interest

As per Calciomercato, there is now ‘strong interest’ from Conte and the Lilywhites in Nandez, as well as from Inter.

However, Cagliari do not want to let him go, and he currently has a release clause of €36m (£30.3m), although it is thought that that price could be negotiated down.

The Verdict: Lo Celso replacement

If Lo Celso were to leave the Tottenham Hotspur stadium next month, then Nandez would be the perfect replacement for him.

Just one year older than the Argentine at 26, he has averaged more key passes (1.1), dribbles (1,5), crosses (0.6) and long balls (1.9) in their respective domestic leagues so far this season, on top of his two assists (WhoScored).

Serie A experts think very highly of him, including journalist Mina Rzouki, who even went as far as to claim that he was ‘unstoppable’ back in May, while Conor Clancy likened him to a ‘machine’ and described him as ‘powerful’ despite his small stature (This is Futbol).

Nonetheless, Nandez would certainly be a smart addition to Conte’s squad for the right price.

In other news, find out who THFC’s three worst players were against Southampton here!

Given the catastrophic season that Everton have had under the managerial guidance of Rafa Benitez with just five Premier League wins under their belt from a possible 19, it wasn’t much of a surprise to see him sacked from the club, especially after losing 2-1 against relegation strugglers Norwich City in their latest league outing.

Since then, Everton have made the decision to appoint Duncan Ferguson as their caretaker boss for the time being as they begin yet another search for a potential manager.

With there still being some time left until the current January transfer window closes, Toffees owner Farhad Moshiri could use this time to not only search for a suitable long-term manager to take the reins at Goodison Park but also to bring some new players to the club to help Ferguson get their season back on track and give the fans something to shout about positively.

One player the Merseyside club could look to bring in that would certainly get a lot of people talking is Real Madrid and former Chelsea winger Eden Hazard, who has recently been mentioned with a move back to the Premier League by reports in Spain, specifically with Everton and Newcastle United interested in taking the Belgian.

During his time with Chelsea, Hazard managed to score 110 goals and provide 92 assists in 352 appearances across all competitions with 245 of those appearances and 85 of those goals coming in the Premier League, highlighting the sort of experience that he’d be able to bring to Everton this month.

In addition to this, with the 31-year-old, who was previously labelled as a “superstar” by Jamie Carragher, having won two Premier League titles and one FA Cup during his spell with the west London club, he would also bring a winning mentality to Goodison Park if he were to make a move there.

Considering their lack of wins in the league this season, this is something that Everton could seriously do with at the moment and something that Ferguson would love to have in his squad as he looks to bring a bit of stability to the club and end the season as strong as possible.

Moving forward, if a move for Hazard would be financially viable for the Toffees this month, this is something that they should definitely consider doing to see if he can have a positive impact on the team going forward.

In other news: Offer made: Everton in talks with 48 y/o “gentleman”, Moshiri is taking a massive risk – opinion

After Ange Postegoclou fielded an extremely young and inexperienced Celtic side in the club’s incredibly impressive 3-2 win over Real Betis last week, it would very much appear as if the future at Parkhead is a bright one.

Indeed, the 56-year-old handed Celtic debuts to both 21-year-old Osaze Urhoghide and 20-year-old Liam Shaw in the Europa League fixture, in addition to awarding first-team minutes to exciting prospects Liam Scales, Adam Montgomery and Ewan Henderson.

However, it is not only on the periphery of Postecoglou’s first-team squad where there are a number of promising talents, the club’s B team side also looks to be littered with up and coming gems – none more so than 16-year-old Rocco Vata.

Vata could be the next Moravcik

Son of Celtic cult hero Rudi Vata, Rocco put pen to paper on his first professional deal with the Hoops earlier this summer, and the attacking midfielder has been highly impressing in the Scottish Lowland Football League ever since.

Indeed, following yet another spectacular goal in Celtic B’s 1-0 win over East Stirlingshire on Friday – with the teenager turning on the afterburners in order to latch onto Mackenzie Carse’s defence-splitting through ball, before taking a touch and crashing his shot past the opposition goalkeeper off the crossbar – the reserve side manager, Tommy McIntyre, was rather understandably full of praise for the youngster.

McIntyre said: “We got a great goal. I thought it was a fabulous goal. He was probably the best player on the night so he deserved the goal. He’s got to get a lot of credit himself. He’s just natural. He plays and we coach him but he’s got to perform on the day. He’s certainly taking everything on board we’re trying to get out of him. There’s more to come from him, there’s no doubt, but he’s young. What a fantastic goal tonight.”

However, the midfielder’s special strike last week was by no means his first of the current campaign, as, during a Republic of Ireland U17 fixture against North Macedonia back in October, the teenager also bagged a breathtaking goal – turning a helpless defender before unleashing a thunderous 30-yard drive into the far corner of the opposition net.

And, although the youngster who The Celtic Bhoys dubbed a “star in the making” undeniably has a great deal of developing to do if he is to go onto break into the Ange Postecgolou’s first-team squad, there are undoubtedly shades of the Hoops’ former playmaker Lubomir Moravcik about Vata.

Indeed, in an article that could quite easily be describing the 16-year-old sensation, These Football Times wrote of the Slovakian midfielder: “He was one of those players who seemed to have more time on the ball than those around him. He dribbled superbly… and scored many spectacular goals from distance with both feet – a rare talent indeed.”

As such, should Vata be able to maintain his current level of performance over the next year or two, Postecoglou could well go on to unearth Parkhead’s next Moravcik in the youngster – something that would certainly delight the Celtic faithful.

In other news: Major Celtic transfer development emerges that’ll have Ange buzzing

West Ham have had an incredible start to their season, currently sitting third in the Premier League, four points from top of the table. For Hammers fans this is the season of dreams so far.

Last term, West Ham finished in a respectable 6th place and it’s safe to say a certain injection of energy and attacking talent in the January transfer window played a huge part in the European qualifying position.

Jesse Lingard joined the Hammers on a loan deal from Manchester United during the winter transfer window and nobody could’ve predicted how integral he’d become for West Ham in the second half of their Premier League campaign.

The 28-year-old attacker in just 16 appearances for the East London scored nine goals, not to mention the impact he had on the players around him, assisting five strikes scored by his teammates too.

There was no doubt that after an impressive loan spell, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was keen to snatch Lingard back from West Ham, and David Moyes was well aware that was the case.

‘Ole made it clear to me quite early in the transfer window that he wanted to keep him. I knew pretty early in the transfer window that he was staying at Manchester United,’ Moyes said.

Despite committing to Manchester United, the England international, who’s contract ends in the summer, has failed to get the game time he had the pleasure of having at West Ham, and as a result, has been linked with a permanent move away from Old Trafford to east London.

West Ham should do everything in their power to secure the signature of the attacking midfielder. His versatility and determination going forward will add further cover in the attacking prowess and threat that West Ham must excel in to stay inside the top four this season.

There are so many benefits to signing Lingard to the London club, with not only his experience, in general, as a seasoned professional with 218 Manchester United appearances and 29 England caps, but he already has 4-5 months of experience playing in this West Ham side, understanding the vision and the culture of the team.

Lingard really enjoyed playing in particular with, West Ham number nine, Michail Antonio, in February he spoke about his ‘connection’ with his West Ham teammates.

“In training we have that connection and built it up fairly quickly. On matchday it is fairly easy to play with Michail Antonio and Declan Rice.”

The thought of those three players lining up alongside each other is a salivating thought for Moyes and the club’s supporters who would no doubt be delighted to see him back in claret and blue.

It would also ensure that West Ham start the Daniel Kretinsky era with a bang by signing the £80-per-week gem, continuing to challenge for the top four providing they can convince the midfielder to leave Manchester United before his contract ends.

In other news: Lingard could be Pogba’s replacement long term

Celtic have rejected an offer for Stephen Welsh.

What’s the talk?

That’s according to a claim made by Anthony Joseph, with the Sky Sports journalist revealing in a post on Twitter that Celtic have knocked back an offer from Udinese for the 21-year-old centre-back.

Joseph goes on to state that the Serie A side had enquired about taking the Scotland U21 international on an initial loan deal with an option to buy, however, Ange Postecoglou rejected the bid as he is keen to keep the defender – who only signed a new four-year deal with the Bhoys last year – at Parkhead.

In his tweet, the journalist said: “Celtic have knocked back an approach from Udinese for defender Stephen Welsh. It’s understood the Serie A club enquired about taking the 21-year-old on loan, with an option to buy. But Celtic are keen to keep the centre-back, who signed a new four-year contract in April 2021.”

Disaster for Celtic

While it does not appear as if Postecoglou has any intention of parting with Welsh this month, should the club go on to be tempted into the sale of the centre-back as a result of a sizeable offer, the youngster’s departure would undoubtedly be something of a disaster for the Bhoys.

Indeed, over his nine Premiership appearances so far this season, the £1.35m-rated defender has been in exceptional form for the Hoops, helping his side keep three clean sheets and registering one assist, as well as making an average of 1.6 interceptions, 0.8 tackles, 85.9 passes, 2.2 clearances and winning 5.1 duels per game.

These returns have seen the player who Greg Taylor dubbed a “superb” talent average a highly impressive SofaScore match rating of 7.11, ranking him as Postecoglou’s 10th-best performer in the top flight of Scottish football – of players who remain a part of Celtic’s first-team squad.

However, it is not only domestically that Welsh has impressed, with the 21-year-old scoring one goal and averaging a SofaScore match rating of 7.07 over his three outings in the Europa League this season.

As such, it is clear for all to see that the defender is a player with an incredibly bright future at Parkhead, which is exactly why losing his services so soon into his Hoops career would be a nightmare for the Postecoglou and the club.

In other news: Ange could repeat Stokes masterclass as Celtic plot offer for “outstanding” £3m dynamo

Brennan Johnson features on Newcastle United’s list of potential replacements for Allan Saint-Maximin, The Daily Mail’s Simon Jones reports. 

The lowdown

Saint-Maximin, Jones writes, is expected to leave St James’ Park when the summer transfer window opens. The Magpies will then reinvest the funds from his exit into their planned ‘rebuild’.

Johnson is only under contract for another 14 months with Championship promotion hopefuls Nottingham Forest.

Aged just 20, the Wales international has scored 14 goals and provided seven assists in 39 league appearances this season.

The latest

Newcastle officials, led by Steve Nickson, have already ‘compiled reports’ on Johnson as they run the rule over potential additions on the flanks.

However, Jones does caution that the club will face ‘fierce’ competition for his signature.

Another player on their radar is Bayer Leverkusen’s Moussa Diaby, but he too is highly coveted.

The verdict

It’s no surprise that a multitude of clubs are interested in Johnson. He’s Forest’s top scorer and he ranks joint-eighth overall in the Championship goal charts, despite being a winger rather than an out and out forward.

As for assists, he’s second for Steve Cooper’s side (behind Philip Zinckernagel) and again in the top ten for the division as a whole.

To put those figures into perspective, as of April 9, he boasts at least eight more goal involvements than any other player aged 21 or under in England’s top four tiers.

He’s already earned nine senior caps for his country and will hope to feature at the Qatar World Cup at the end of the year if Wales secure qualification.

Johnson, who’s been mentored by David Beckham, has inevitably earned some reviews. For instance, the ‘old-fashioned winger’ was dubbed a ‘beautiful footballer’ and a ‘super, super talent’ by sports journalist Josh Bunting. Newcastle should be delighted if they win the race.

In other news, Keith Downie has an update on Eddie Howe.

One of Sunderland’s pieces of January business failed miserably earlier this month as Jermain Defoe announced his retirement from football.

The striker joined the club to bolster their attacking options for the second half of the campaign and has now decided to hang up his boots earlier than expected.

Whilst this is disappointing for the Black Cats and means that he was a wasted signing, the club did pull off at least one brilliant acquisition in January…

Masterclass on Clarke

Kristjaan Speakman pulled off a masterclass as he sealed a dream deal to sign Jack Clarke on loan from Premier League giants Tottenham.

The winger, who Spurs signed for £10m from Leeds in 2019, arrived at the Stadium of Light on loan until the end of the season on the 26th of January.

Ex-Black Cats boss Lee Johnson explained the signing by saying: “The competition for places in our final third is strong and we want to be able to change games as we move into the back end of the season. Jack understands that this is a big club with a lot to play for, but he wants to be an influential player for us and help to ensure we have a successful end to the season.”

Clarke has lived up to the hype so far, albeit under Alex Neil now instead of Johnson, as he has been in impressive form in League One since his arrival. He has an uncanny ability to create space for himself out wide and his play on the ball has been a joy for fans to watch.

Former Premier League forward Noel Whelan previously showered the young forward with praise saying:

“He has got a great ability to glide past players. I don’t think I’ve seen a winger really as talented as that, where it looks effortless, just to take somebody on and he really does get you on the edge of your seat, he’s one of those exciting players.”

In 11 third-tier outings for the club, the ex-Leeds man has created 1.4 chances and completed 1.1 dribbles per game for the Black Cats. This proves that he has the quality, as Whelan explained, to take the ball past opposition players to excite fans and create opportunities in the final third, for both himself and his teammates.

He has also chipped in with one goal to go along with his chance creation, whilst completing 79% of his attempted passes and making 1.2 tackles and interceptions per game. His average SofaScore rating of 6.98 also proves that he has been consistently delivering strong displays as he has maintained a high standard since coming through the door.

Therefore, Speakman pulled off a masterclass by being able to snatch up the winger on loan from a Premier League team in January and it is proving to be a dream deal for the club as it stands.

AND in other news,  Forget Defoe: Sunderland must now swoop for teen prodigy with 21 goals in 13 games…