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West Ham United have suffered a blow in their pursuit of Leeds midfielder Kalvin Phillips after Newcastle swooped in to hijack the move.

The Lowdown: Failed January bid

Irons fans endured a disastrous January transfer window after failing to sign a single player in the mid-season market.

The Hammers boss claimed that this was not down to a lack of trying; the Daily Mail previously reported that West Ham had made a club-record £55m bid for the 26-year-old on deadline day.

Whilst it was reported that negotiations had started three weeks prior, the east London club made their move too late in the month and ultimately failed in their pursuit.

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The Latest: Newcastle hijack Phillips move

According to a fresh report by the Daily Mail, Leeds’ hopes of keeping Phillips are under threat, as Newcastle are prepared to hijack any move to east London by bumping the Yorkshireman’s salary from £25,000 per week to a staggering £120,000-a-week.

This follows Sportsmail’s claim that the Leeds player has told his club that he is willing to extend his stay with the Whites beyond his contract expiry date of 2024, despite growing interest from Newcastle, Aston Villa and West Ham.

Therefore, it appears that the Hammers may have slipped down Phillips’ pecking order, given the seemingly preferable choices of remaining at Elland Road or moving to the financially-welcoming Magpies.

The Verdict: Big blow for West Ham

This news represents a serious blunder from GSB and West Ham, who now seem set to miss out on the holding midfielder due to their lack of urgency in January.

Rising to prominence during Euro 2020 as he partnered Irons star Declan Rice in the middle of the park for England, Phillips received huge plaudits for a number of his performances during the tournament, with Arsenal legend Ian Wright hailing him as “phenomenal”.

When compared with similar players in Europe’s top five leagues, the 26-year-old ranks in the 99th percentile for pressures and the 97th percentile for blocks made (via FBRef), so his quality as a midfueld destroyer is plain to be seen.

Therefore, with Newcastle hijacking the Irons’ move for the Leeds maestro, this will come as a huge blow to the east London club.

In other news: These were West Ham’s three worst performers against Everton

Rangers have been handed a fresh injury lift over John Lundstram…

What’s the latest?

Gio van Bronckhorst has revealed that the Gers midfielder trained on Friday and is set to be back in action in the Europa League on Thursday night.

Lundstram was taken off in the first half on Sunday in the Premiership as he struggled with a knock, but he has now recovered from that in time to be in contention to play in the European quarter-final second leg clash against Braga.

Speaking on Wednesday morning, the Dutchman said: “Lundstram is training today so hopefully available for tomorrow.”

Van Bronckhorst will be elated

This update will surely leave the Gers head coach feeling elated, as having Lundstram available will be a huge boost to his team.

The ex-Feyenoord boss may have been fearing the worst when the midfielder was forced off the pitch in the 26th minute against St Mirren on Sunday. Steven Davis was pressed into action in the first half of the 4-0 win and the Rangers chief may not have been expecting Lundstram to be back in action quite so soon.

The 28-year-old’s participation in training on Friday suggests that he is fit enough to feature against Braga, which will delight Van Bronckhorst as Lundstram’s recent form has shown that he is a key player for the club, particularly in Europe.

In the Europa League this season, only four other outfield players have averaged a higher SofaScore rating than the ex-Sheffield United man – Alfredo Morelos, Leon Balogun, Ryan Kent and James Tavernier.

He has averaged an impressive score of 6.97 in the competition across 10 appearances. In those matches, he has won 60% of his duels and made 2.9 tackles and interceptions per game, which shows that he has provided a solid defensive base to allow the attackers to go about their business in the final third.

In the Premiership, he has averaged a score of 6.88 across 25 appearances, starting 16 games. He has completed 90% of his attempted passes whilst making 2.2 tackles and interceptions per game, which shows that he has been consistently delivering solid performances domestically and in Europe throughout the campaign.

Therefore, Van Bronckhorst will be eager to be able to name him in the starting XI against Braga at Ibrox on Thursday night. The English midfielder has shown that he is built for the big occasion, netting a stunning goal against Borussia Dortmund, and the statistics suggest that he can have a big say in this upcoming quarter-final match-up.

AND in other news, From £4.5m to £25m: Wilson had huge Rangers howler over “remarkable” 12-goal gem…

[ad_pod ]Newcastle fans have taken to Twitter in annoyance after it was revealed by The Chronicle that Atletico Madrid winger and January target Gelson Martins snubbed an offer to talk to the Magpies about a move to Tyneside.The struggling Premier League club submitted a loan offer to the Spanish club for the Portuguese international’s services, which was accepted by Atletico.However, after Ligue 1 side Monaco made an offer of their own, Martins decided to join them and help their battle against relegation to Ligue 2 – they are currently languishing in 19th place in the French top-flight.Newcastle are still in talks with the French club over a deal for Italian left-back Antonio Barecca, but will be disappointed by their failure to lure the former Sporting Lisbon attacker to St James’ Park, especially after having an offer accepted.Be sure to check out the incredible story of the man who rose from a Tanzanian refugee camp to become one of Australia’s biggest football stars in the video below…Martins’ decision to not hold talks means that the Magpies are still yet to see a new signing arrive this month, with a report from the Telegraph suggesting that Rafa Benitez will walk away from the club in the summer if he does not get bodies through the door.They will be used to this kind of disappointment by now, but let’s see how Newcastle fans reacted to missing out on Martins on Twitter…

Tottenham are battling their Premier League rivals Arsenal in the race to sign Middlesbrough defender Djed Spence in the summer transfer window.

What’s the story?

The Evening Standard’s Jack Rosser initially revealed on Twitter: “Djed Spence will move this summer with Arsenal, Tottenham and Bayern Munich all in the race. Boost for all involved as the fee could be as low as £12m, though given the interest a bidding war could see that go up. #THFC #AFC”

In a follow-up article, he added: “A number of clubs are tracking Spence, who will have a year left on his Boro contract come the end of this campaign. Senior figures at the Riverside Stadium know they will not be able to keep hold of the player this summer.

“As well as north London rivals Arsenal and Spurs, German giants Bayern Munich are also keeping a close eye on Spence’s progress.”Conte will be buzzingSpence became the talk of the town earlier this calendar year when he helped to knock out Arsenal in the FA Cup third round – a performance which saw Ian Wright waxing lyrical while on punditry duty.The Gunners icon said: “Let me say, that was one of the best right-back performances I have seen for a very long time. A very long time. I have not seen a combative, technical, swashbuckling performance like that for a very long time.”With Spurs’ own right-back Emerson struggling badly since his big-money move last year – he has even been dubbed a “liability” by some fans – Antonio Conte could well find his ideal replacement in Spence.Indeed, former Spurs defender Jonathan Woodgate recently claimed that the flying full-back would come in and immediately be an upgrade on Emerson.He said: “If you play in La Liga like Emerson Royal has, balls don’t really go into the box that much to the back post.  You don’t need to do that much defending. In the Premier League, it happens week in, week out. I’ve watched Emerson Royal and Djed Spence for Nottingham Forest, and Spence looks a different level, compared to him.”The 6 foot machine could be an exciting addition to this Spurs team, and one which would have Conte absolutely buzzing.AND in other news – Sold in 2020, now worth £34m: Spurs suffered double disaster over 26 y/o “machine”

As per Calciomercato, some news has come to light on a ‘top summer priority’ for Tottenham Hotspur and their manager Antonio Conte.

The Lowdown: Spurs targets identified?

Sharing a transfer update earlier this month, The Athletic lifted the lid on Spurs transfer chief Fabio Paratici’s list of summer targets for a real priority position.

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According to their sources, the Lilywhites have identified strengthening their left-sided centre-back ranks as a real priority, with a few big names reportedly on their agenda.

Writing on Twitter, Jack Pitt-Brooke claimed that Joško Gvardiol (RB Leipzig), Sven Botman (Lille) and Nico Schlotterbeck (SC Freiburg) are all targets, along with Inter Milan star Alessandro Bastoni.

Sharing an update on the latter, Calciomercato have made a claim involving Conte.

The Latest: Conte ‘probes’ for Bastoni…

As per their sources, backing The Athletic’s claim, Conte has personally given the green light to the signing of a left-sided centre-back, suggesting the move to Paratici.

In addition, Bastoni is apparently a target, with the Italian head coach now ‘probing the hypothesis of re-embracing one of his pupils’ at Spurs.

The Verdict: Make a move?

The £122,000-per-week defender, who has been tipped as an international heir to Italy footballing legend Giorgio Chiellini, could seriously boost Conte’s defensive options and come as a long-term addition at Tottenham.

Just 23 years old, the Nerrazzuri defender was a regular under Conte as his Inter side lifted the 2020/21 Scudetto, starting 33 Serie A matches in that triumphant campaign.

It’s clear that Bastoni is favoured by the Spurs manager, and with Italian football experts like Kaustubh Pandey (Get Italian Football News) calling him ‘world class’, the centre-back may well be a brilliant prospective addition in north London.

In other news: Tottenham could strike ‘imminent agreement’ for ‘magical’ £25m striker! Find out more here.

Since Steven Gerrard was appointed as Aston Villa’s manager back in mid-November, the former midfielder has used a total of 24 players at the Midlands club so far.

One of those 24 players is midfielder Morgan Sanson, who, alongside Ashley Young, has made six appearances for Villa under the Liverpudlian, all of them coming in the Premier League.

The Frenchman has started two of the six league games he’s played in so far this season under Gerrard, the first of which came in their 3-1 defeat against Chelsea followed by their recent 2-2 draw against Manchester United.

Even though the 27-year-old has only made 16 appearances for the Villans since arriving from French club Marseille back in the 2021 January transfer window in a deal worth a reported fee of £16m, his future at Villa Park should be starting to come into consideration based on what he’s managed to deliver for the club.

His performances in the Premier League so far this season have earned the midfielder an overall rating of 6.34/10, currently making him the lowest-rated player in Villa’s squad at the moment that has started more than one league game according to WhoScored, suggesting that he has let Gerrard down when given the chance to show what he can do.

In the game against the Red Devils at the weekend, not only did Sanson give the foul away that led to the free-kick that Bruno Fernandes scored his first goal of the game from but the French maestro also gave the ball away in the second half that led to United’s second goal. All of that culminated in him reacting badly when he was substituted off, which he had to apologise for on social media afterwards.

In addition to his underwhelming performances, Sanson has struggled with injury issues since he made the move to the Midlands club, which former Villa manager Dean Smith described as “frustrating,” which shows that he hasn’t been a particularly reliable player for the team.

Moving forward, if Sanson doesn’t start delivering for Villa on the pitch until the end of the season, then Wes Edens and Nassef Sawiris must seriously consider cutting their losses with the player in the next summer transfer window to see if they can reclaim any of the money they paid for him.

Also, with young Villa midfielder Carney Chukwuemeka apparently not happy with his playing time at the club, potentially axing Sanson, who is currently picking up a weekly wage of £59k-per-week according to Salary Sport, from the team could give him a clear path to regular game time to see if he would be a better option than the struggling Frenchman.

In other news: Lange could secure another AVFC transfer masterclass as claim emerges on £9m-rated ace – opinion

Newcastle United showed during the previous January transfer window how capable they are when it comes to bringing new players to the club.

Having spent a total of £91.89m in January according to Transfermarkt, this certainly seems to have been a turning point for the Toon.

Since January, Eddie Howe’s side have only lost three league games and won their four previous matches.

Now that the summer transfer window is approaching, it seems as though an early hint has been dropped over one potential area that the club could look to strengthen at Darsley Park before next season starts.

What’s the talk?

Speaking to GIVEMESPORT, journalist and transfer insider Dean Jones had this to say about the possibility of Newcastle signing a striker in the summer.

He commented: “It could honestly be anyone. They’re just going to throw money at whoever seems available from across Europe. So, I still think that they’ll sign a massive name this summer up front.”

Great news for Newcastle fans

In January, the Magpies secured a deal for striker Chris Wood from fellow Premier League side Burnley for a fee of £25m.

Since then, the 30-year-old has found the back of the net on two occasions and appeared in all but one of their league games. As a result, there is clearly a need for greater quality in that area of the pitch.

In terms of who the ‘massive name’ could be, the Toon have recently been linked with a swoop for Benfica striker Darwin Nunez.

With 33 goals in 39 appearances for the Portuguese club this season, he would definitely fit the bill for what Newcastle are said to be looking for in the summer.

Having scored 21 goals in the league since the start of January, it’ll be exciting for the Toon fans to hear that the club may not only be looking at bringing another striker to St. James’ Park but also a potentially big name as well. Their record isn’t great but someone of Nunez’s calibre could certainly put that right.

Now that Howe has been able to take his side into the top half of the table after their dismal start to the season, adding a top striker to their ranks could propel the team even further up the table.

With that in mind, it could mean that finding regular game time next season may be a challenge for Wood and Callum Wilson should the club manage to add a consistent goalscorer to the squad.

In other news: Howe can finally axe “nervous” dud as NUFC plot bid for £197k-pw gem who’s “top-level”

Speaking to GiveMeSport, journalist Paul Brown of The Daily Star has shared what he knows as West Ham United eye a move for Flamengo forward Gabriel Barbosa.

The Lowdown: West Ham enter talks…

As first reported by Sky Sports, West Ham have been in talks to sign the Brazil international and even tabled a loan bid with the option to make his move permanent for €30m (£25m).

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Barbosa is believed to be keen on a move to England and the Premier League amid David Moyes’ search for a centre-forward alternative to Michail Antonio.

New recruitment chief Rob Newman and the east London club are still yet to bring in a signing for that position as the January transfer window enters its final week, with Brown now sharing an update on their bid to sign Barbosa.

The Latest: West Ham move ‘on the table’…

Speaking to GiveMeSport, citing ‘lots of little leaks’, he claims that a move for the 25-year-old is still ‘on the table’, believing it is due to the fact we don’t actually know what Barbosa wants himself.

“The only reason that one is still on the table is we don’t really know what the player himself wants,” Brown stated.

“There’s been lots of little leaks here and there that he really wants to come to the Premier League and that he really wants to come now and he likes West Ham and the way they play, and thinks he could be a really good fit there. But we haven’t really heard any of that from him.”

The Verdict: Time to step up bid?

Amid this uncertainty surrounding Barbosa’s future in South America and the reports indicating he wants a move to Europe, we believe West Ham need to either step up their pursuit or swiftly move on to other targets.

The January window has just over a week remaining and Moyes needs to address the centre-forward position as soon as possible, especially given Antonio’s history of injury problems and their real lack of natural alternatives.

Having scored 29 goals in all competitions throughout 2021, Barbosa is proven in front of goal and still at a fairly young age as he comes with the potential for sell-on value. Given his torrid spell at Inter Milan, though, you can understand why the Irons haven’t yet lodged an outright permanent bid and are more interested in a loan with the option to buy.

However, now is the time to make a final decision on whether to continue pushing for his arrival as we enter a crucial period of the transfer window.

In other news: ‘I know’ – Sky journalist makes live TV transfer claim involving West Ham and 28 y/o ‘beast’, find out more here.

Antonio Conte is reportedly now eyeing up a move to sign Jordan Veretout for Tottenham Hotspur in the January transfer window.

The Lowdown: Sound familiar?

Spurs fans may have heard of Veretout before, as he has played in the Premier League with Aston Villa, under former Lilywhites manager Tim Sherwood.

He was not exactly a hit at Villa Park, lasting just one season there, but he has come on leaps and bounds since then.

Now playing under another former THFC boss in Jose Mourinho at AS Roma, the central midfield player currently has four goals and eight assists in total so far this term, and is now catching the eye of former Serie A coach Conte.

The Latest: Conte monitoring

As per Calciomercato, Conte is now ‘monitoring’ Veretout’s situation at Roma, as there is a chance that he could be sold.

The player apparently likes Conte from what he saw during the manager’s time in Italy, and is currently valued at between €25-30m (£20.9-25.1m), but it is ‘unlikely’ that he will move this month.

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The Verdict: Get it done

At 28 years of age, Veretout is entering his prime, and so now is the best time to go out and buy him if he is the man Conte wants.

The £91,000-per-week ace would give the North London club that extra bit of creativity needed in the middle of the park, as his 1.9 key passes per game in Serie A so far this campaign is matched only by Son Heung-Min in Conte’s squad in the Premier League, not to mention his six assists in the Italian top flight – no Tottenham player has more than three league assists.

Nonetheless, having seen him up close in Serie A, he is a player that Conte will know how to get the best out of, and a move for the France international in this window would present a shrewd bit of business.

In other news, find out who Spurs have now joined the race to sign here!

Finance expert Kieran Maguire, featured on Sky Sports, believes the decision to operate a Celtic B team in the Lowland League has been a worthwhile venture. 

The lowdown: Here to stay

Having originally been trialled as a pilot scheme to develop Scottish youngsters, clubs recently voted for the participation of the young Hoops and Rangers sides to continue for the 2022/23 campaign.

Neither side can be promoted or earn relegation but the lure of competitive action has been preferred over the original academy style setup.

Following a report from the Daily Record confirming that the Lowland League had received a financial boost in the wake of the Old Firm’s inclusion, Maguire has given his view.

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The verdict: Good deal for all parties

Speaking to Football Insider, the regular contributor for Sky Sports suggested that the decision has proven to be a hit.

“It was a successful experiment, at the end of the day,” Maguire said.

“The fact the Lowlands League wants it to continue shows that the benefits outweigh any detriment.

“They will have also benefited from higher attendances because people will come to see the Colts teams when they are in town.

“It hasn’t held back the Lowlands League teams themselves.

“They have probably upped their game because it is a feather in the cap to beat Rangers or Celtic, even if it is the Colts teams.”

The verdict: Positive early signs

Whilst it’s difficult to quantify the fruits of the B team’s labour just yet, Celtic certainly appear to have a very promising collection of youngsters on the books at present.

The likes of Mikey Johnston, Dane Murray and Karamoko Dembele have all emerged as options for Ange Postecoglou’s side at various points this season whilst supremely talented teenager Ben Doak recently earned a high profile switch to Premier League giants Liverpool.

Continuing to blood the Lennoxtown youngsters in a competitive environment can only be a positive for the future at Parkhead and it would appear to also be a huge financial boost to the lower reaches of the Scottish football pyramid – win-win.

In other news, a journalist has provided a worrying Celtic transfer update. Read more here.