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Southampton may have only netted 43 goals throughout their previous Premier League campaign, but they still racked up more shot-creating actions (732) than 12 other teams in the top flight.

One man in Ralph Hasenhuttl’s squad who played a big part throughout the 2021/22 season in an attacking sense is James Ward-Prowse.

With 36 league appearances under his belt and more minutes played than anyone else at St Mary’s, the midfielder ended the campaign with more goal contributions (15), shots at goal (51), shot-creating actions (113) and progressive passes (135) than any other player at the south coast club.

This highlights just how crucial a figure he has been and why so much of their attacking play comes through him.

In terms of potential incoming transfers before the summer window closes, one man who has been mentioned with a move to St Mary’s and who has the potential to form a deadly duo with the Southampton skipper is Manchester City striker Liam Delap.

Despite reportedly having a permanent bid for the striker rejected by the Premier League champions, who would apparently prefer a loan move for their player, a temporary deal could be the best option for the Saints if they want the teenager as part of their squad for next season.

Having made 60 appearances for City across their senior and youth teams, the 19-year-old has found the net 46 times and delivered 16 assists in the process.

This shows the clinical goalscoring talent that he has and hints at how much he could flourish in the Premier League with a player like Ward-Prowse behind him setting up goalscoring opportunities.

Delap’s senior debut for City came in a 2-1 Carabao Cup win over Bournemouth in 2020. His performance on the night was described as “superb” by journalist Jonathan Smith, who also hailed the striker’s goal in that match as a “stunning” one.

This highlights just how capable the youngster is at playing at a senior level and offering a goalscoring threat for his team.

Taking all this into account, if Southampton can secure a potential loan deal for the City starlet and get him playing with Ward-Prowse, this could be just what Hasenhuttl needs to make his team a much more potent goalscoring outfit.

AND in other news – “Understand..”: The Athletic journalist drops big Saints update, Hasenhuttl will love it

Manchester United are reportedly now eyeing up a move for Nice central defender Jean-Clair Todibo this window.

The Lowdown: Alongside Martinez?

Ajax centre-back Lisandro Martinez has been strongly linked with a move to Old Trafford to link up again with his former manager Erik ten Hag.

They could look to bring in two new centre-halves with Todibo as well, or sign the Frenchman as a potential alternative to Martinez, with Arsenal also firmly in the race for his signature.

The Latest: On shortlist

Taking to Twitter, Foot Mercato journalist Sebastien Denis has revealed that Todibo is on the ‘short list’ for the Red Devils as well as Newcastle United, and is estimated to cost more than €20m (£17m):

“Info: FC Sevilla and Naples have approached Nice for Jean-Clair Todibo. But the Gym said no. The French defender, estimated at more than 20 M € , is on the short list of Manchester United and Newcastle and things could change for him this summer.”

The Verdict: Get it done

Whether MUFC sign Martinez or not, this is a deal that they need to get done before the season starts. Both Eric Bailly and Phil Jones have reportedly told their teammates of their plan to leave this summer, so Ten Hag will need extra cover in the heart of the defence.

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Todibo, branded as ‘quick’ by fellow Nice teammate Amine Gouiri despite his six-foot-three colossal stature, has played at a high level for the likes of FC Barcelona as well as his current club, and is still only 22 years of age.

He comes off the back of a solid campaign for Nice, helping them qualify for Europe with a fifth-placed finish in Ligue 1, with some memorable performances like in the 0-0 draw away at champions PSG, where he was highly praised for frustrating world superstars Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappe.

Nonetheless, if United can get both Todibo and Martinez through the door, it could represent a great piece of business.

Michael Bridge has dropped an update on reported Tottenham Hotspur transfer target Youri Tielemans.

What’s the talk?

In a recent interview on Chris Cowlin’s YouTube channel, the Sky Sports reporter revealed that, despite Arsenal having been heavily linked with a £40m move for the Leicester City midfielder this summer, he would not be surprised to see Spurs – who have also been linked with the Belgium international – make a late move for the 25-year-old.

Speaking about Tottenham’s interest in Tielemans, Bridge said: “Don’t be surprised if they might have another look at him maybe down the line. I’m not saying that there have been any bids, but I know there have always been people at the club that have admired him, even back in the [Mauricio Pochettino] era. Is there something they could do there? I don’t know.

“He’s an attacking-minded midfielder that Tottenham are keen to look at. I don’t think that’d be anywhere near, but that’s someone that I have heard not to completely rule out in future. I heard that a few weeks ago, and I said, ‘I thought he was going to Arsenal?’, and they went, ‘No, no, not at the moment’.”

Huge coup

Arsenal previously appeared to be the clear favourites in the race to sign Tielemans this summer, so should Fabio Paratici go on to seal a late deal for the midfielder ahead of Mikel Arteta’s side, it would undoubtedly represent something of a huge coup for Spurs.

Also, considering just how impressive the 25-year-old was for Brendan Rodgers’ side last season, it is not difficult to understand why the Italian sporting director would be keen on a move to bring the Belgian to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium ahead of the club’s 2022/23 campaign.

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Indeed, over his 31 Premier League appearances last term, the £60m-rated talent was in remarkable form, scoring six goals, registering four assists and creating six big chances for his team-mates, along with taking 1.8 shots, making 1.2 key passes and completing 0.8 dribbles per game.

The £120k-per-week midfielder also impressed in metrics more typical of his position, making 2.3 tackles and 0.7 interceptions, playing 44.6 passes and 2.3 long balls, and winning five duels (at a success rate of 51%) per match.

These returns saw the former AS Monaco starlet average an exceptional SofaScore match rating of 7.08, ranking him as the Foxes’ third-best outfielder in the league behind only James Maddison and Jamie Vardy.

As such, while it is true that Antonio Conte already has Oliver Skipp, Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, Yves Bissouma and Rodrigo Bentancur in the middle of the park – as well as the likes of Harry Winks, Tanguy Ndombele and Giovani Lo Celso, all of whom are reported to be free to leave the club this summer – it is nevertheless clear to see that Tielemans would make an excellent addition to the Spurs squad.

With Tottenham’s north London rivals possessing a well-known interest in the 25-year-old, Paratici has extra incentive to get a deal over the line for the Leicester star ahead of 2022/23.

AND in other news: Contact made as Paratici in Spurs talks for “£30m player”, he’s “the next Declan Rice”

West Ham are one of the teams who have asked about Burnley winger Dwight McNeil, according to 90Min. 

The lowdown

McNeil and Burnley suffered relegation to the Championship on the final day of the 2021/22 season after a 2-1 defeat to Newcastle.

The Athletic’s Andy Jones reported in the days following their demotion that internal discussions would be held about McNeil’s future.

He featured in every single Premier League game for the Clarets last term, starting 35 out of 38.

The 22-year-old has two years left on his contract at Turf Moor and is valued at £16.2million by Transfermarkt.

The latest

90min journalist Graeme Bailey names six sides who have expressed an interest in signing McNeil.

West Ham, Newcastle, Tottenham, Everton, Brentford and Fulham are all considering a move for the Englishman.

The verdict

The 21/22 season was not only a difficult one for Burnley as a collective, but also for McNeil individually.

He failed to score a goal and only registered one assist, having notched seven goal involvements (2G 5A) the season before.

He was even booed by the club’s supporters during a heavy defeat against Chelsea in March.

Moyes, then, would potentially have to rebuild his confidence, but he’ll be able to look beyond his recent woes.

This is a player with a great deal of potential, as evidenced by his ten caps for England at Under-21 level.

If he’s available for a reduced fee following their relegation, then he might still be worth a punt.

In other news, David Moyes is personally looking at this bid.

Manchester City have acted on their reported interest of Leeds United midfielder Kalvin Phillips.

What’s the word?

That is according to Football Insider, who claim that the Citizens have submitted a bid for the England international.

It is said that Phillips is Pep Guardiola’s top target for the remainder of the summer window with an offer already on the table for the 26-year-old.

As per the same report, Guardiola is said to be a “huge” admirer of Phillips, and has reportedly made his admiration clear at City, with the Spaniard looking to include him in what looked to be a revamped team next season.

It is said that a sum of £60m could be enough to prise the Leeds United asset away from Elland Road.

Pep will be buzzing

Having already wrapped up a sensational deal for Erling Haaland, Guardiola is further adding to the narrative that his side will change tactics next season by tabling a bid for Phillips.

With the 21-year-old Norwegian up top, City will no doubt look to become more direct, which will cause a domino effect throughout certain positions in the attacking phase of the game.

The three positions that will be impacted most are at left-back, right-back and defensive-midfield, with the Spanish tactician no doubt looking for both full-backs to push up when in possession.

Whilst Joao Cancelo at right-back will most likely keep his inverted role in the side, a left-sided full-back will be expected to make overlapping runs in order to keep width and aid in chance creation out wide.

As such, the defensive midfielder could be left isolated if both central midfielders push up into the final third, like they do currently.

Rodri, especially this season, has not been as prominent out of possession, with an average of just 2.20 tackles and 1.57 interceptions achieved per game.

For comparison, Phillips, who has been dubbed “superb” by presenter and pundit Jules Breach, registered an average of 3.67 tackles and 1.92 interceptions per game. He is an option who is willing to stay back and dictate play from deep and represents a perfect option for Manchester City.

We could either see Rodri as a central midfielder next season and Phillips as a lone holding midfielder, or both the Spaniard and Englishman in a double-pivot in what would be a system change, if the deal can be agreed.

Either way, the fact he’s more prominent in defensive positions than his ever-reliable Rodri, will no doubt leave Guardiola purring with excitement. This would be another landmark deal for City.

In other news: Pep can seal dream Sterling heir as Man City eye “extraordinary” £86m “pure talent” 

West Ham United could also now sell winger Said Benrahma as manager David Moyes and club owners GSB make big decisions on a number of first teamers.

The Lowdown: West Ham exodus?

The Hammers, having just missed out on a Europa League qualification place to Man United on the 2021/2022 Premier League final day, have been tipped to strengthen for next year.

West Ham reportedly have the likes of Jesse Lingard in their sight to bolster their attacking areas among other targets, but as per reports, just as many players could be heading out the other way.

The likes of Nikola Vlasic and Tomas Soucek have been linked with east London departures, and as per The Guardian, it appears GSB could now sell another player.

The Latest: Moyes makes Benrahma decision…

According to their information, West Ham ‘will consider offers’ for Algeria international Benrahma as manager Moyes looks to ‘increase his budget’.

The report adds that the 26-year-old’s inconsistent form has personally ‘frustrated’ the Irons boss who could now look to cash-in.

The Verdict: Right decision?

While Benrahma has arguably failed to turn it on more consistently, when at his very best, we believe he really is a terrific asset to have.

According to WhoScored, the former Brentford star ranks in among West Ham’s top five best-performing players by average match rating – all while attempting more shots at goal than any Hammers player bar star men Jarrod Bowen and Michail Antonio.

As well as this, only Antonio, Bowen and Declan Rice completed more successful take-ons per 90 than Benrahma over 21/22 – leaving little wonder he has been called ‘unplayable’ at times by former midfielder Joe Cole.

Former Aston Villa star Lee Hendrie has also raved over the ‘exciting’ player and we believe offloading him could be a hasty decision – even if Benrahma needs to add consistency to his game.

In other news: ‘I believe’…ExWHUemployee has some ‘great news’ for West Ham supporters, find out more here.

Journalist Pete O’Rourke has made a claim involving Newcastle United and their potential pursuit of Everton striker Dominic Calvert-Lewin this summer. 

The lowdown: Hot property

The 25-year-old endured a difficult 2021/22 campaign, missing 16 matches with a fractured toe and also being ruled out of numerous games due to a persistent thigh issue.

Everton struggled for goals in the 6 foot 2 target man’s absence and ultimately found themselves embroiled in a relegation battle, only avoiding the drop in the final week of the Premier League season.

A recent report from The Telegraph has claimed that Newcastle could be plotting a move to land the England international, a claim which has now been backed up by one interested onlooker…

The latest: Newcastle admire Calvert-Lewin

Speaking to Give Me Sport, O’Rourke claimed that the Magpies are indeed among the clubs who are keen on the 11-cap Three Lions star.

He explained: “Calvert-Lewin does have admirers within the Premier League, with the likes of Newcastle and Arsenal. It’s going to be a tough summer for Everton to keep hold of him, but I’m sure they will be looking at top dollar.”

The verdict: Howe would like him

Calvert-Lewin is under contract until 2025 and holds a market value of £37.8m (Transfermarkt), so despite the inevitable lofty asking price, signing him this summer would be the clearest indication yet of where new ownership group PIF want to take Newcastle and just how quickly.

During 2020/21, the Everton marksman scored 16 times and registered three assists in 33 Premier League outings, duly earning high praise from journalist Grant Wahl, who described the 25-year-old’s form as ‘unstoppable’ after the opening weeks of the campaign.

If the January signing of Chris Wood was evidence of Eddie Howe wanting a focal point in Newcastle’s attack, Calvert-Lewin’s outstanding average of 7.2 duels won per league game in 2021/22 would further endear the Magpies manager to the possibility of bringing him to St James’ Park.

In other news: Newcastle now eyeing move for ‘great talent’ from Serie A, read more here

Rangers boss Giovanni van Bronkhorst and Ross Wilson have been hit with a setback over Nikola Katic’s future at Ibrox heading into the summer transfer window…

What’s the talk?

According to Football Scotland, his loan club are unlikely to sign him on a permanent deal despite having a £3m option to do so in their loan agreement.

The report claims that the defender will now return to the Premiership club for pre-season in an attempt to impress van Bronckhorst and break back into the Rangers squad.

Supporters will be frustrated

This is a huge blow for Wilson and is one that will surely leave the supporters frustrated as it leaves the club £3m short of what they could have had and with an injury-plagued player remaining on the books.

Since joining the club, Katic has missed 58 competitive matches for the Gers and was ruled out for a whopping 358 days after suffering a cruciate ligament rupture in 2020.

Transfermarkt have no injury updates on his time in the Croatian top-flight in 2021/22 but the centre-back only managed 17 starts and 21 appearances for Split in the league. His statistics in the division do not suggest that his limited game time was down to form as he averaged an excellent SofaScore rating of 7.01 and won 64% of his duels in the 1. HNL.

After spending an extraordinary amount of time out injured, it is not a surprise to see that Katic did not rack up 30+ starts in Croatia. However, that does not take away from the fact that he is not a reliable option for van Bronckhorst to call upon.

His injury record means that he cannot start the season expecting to be a regular in the team as he is yet to prove that he can remain fit throughout the campaign.

This is why Split’s decision is a setback for Wilson as he would have been able to use the £3m fee to bring in a centre-back with a proven track record of fitness to bolster the team. Therefore, this update is a huge blow for the club, as it stands, and is one that will frustrate supporters who will surely want reliable options in the squad.

Of course, if Katic can come back and prove his fitness and enjoy a stellar season for the Light Blues next term then no one will be worrying about £3m. For now, though, his record suggests that he has a long way to go to get back on track with his availability.

AND in other news, Rangers can land dream Kent heir in deal for £1.5m “asset” who can “affect the game”…

West Ham responded to their Europa League disappointment on Thursday evening against Eintracht Frankfurt by defeating Norwich 4-0 which boosts their top seven ambitions and a return to European competition next season.

A double from Said Benrahma and further efforts by Michail Antonio and Manuel Lanzini eased the Hammers to another three points, although there were a few injury scares during the match.

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Both Antonio and Benrahma had to come off during the contest and there were initial fears of their involvement in the next few Premier League matches.

David Moyes reveals injury update

Moyes spoke after the routine victory and revealed some good news that will much give the supporters a boost.

“Mick’s got a bit of a knock on his hip. Dawson took one in the calf, and Saïd’s could have been his ankle – I’ve not had the chance to see it yet,” said Moyes

“So hopefully they’ll all be okay. I don’t think they looked that serious.”

With the news that nothing look too serious on the injury front, it could be massive as Moyes and his side currently sit just three points behind Manchester United in sixth place, with a game in hand, so they have an excellent chance to secure Europa League football again.

Benrahma has arguably been one of the side’s key performers this season, scoring 11 goals and producing a further six assists in all competitions.

The winger has an average score of 6.87 on WhoScored which ranks him fifth in the West Ham squad, proving his importance to the team.

His performance against already relegate Norwich drew him praise from the Athletic’s West Ham correspondent Roshane Thomas, who declared that the Algerian winger has “definitely improved this season” when talking about his goal involvement stats.

The 26-year-old only bagged three times last season and this rapid increase in offensive productivity this campaign will have done his confidence the world of good.

Hopefully, he can feature in the last two matches of the season and propel West Ham to sixth place.

AND in other news, Imagine him & Said: West Ham set to move for 22 y/o “hurricane”, he won’t cost a penny…

The success of England’s new recruits in recent months can be attributed in part to the groundwork laid by the ECB’s Mo Bobat

Jon Culley13-Nov-2018It is probably fair to say that even among the more well-informed England cricket fans, the name of Mo Bobat might not be particularly familiar.Yet the 36-year-old former PE teacher from Leicester has become such an important member of the behind-the-scenes team at the ECB that whenever England selectors Ed Smith and James Taylor sit down with head coach Trevor Bayliss to weigh up the shape of the next Test or ODI squad, Bobat will be in the room with them.As the ECB’s Player Identification Lead, Bobat is there to provide Smith and company with data and information on any player they might wish to discuss at a level of detail – and compiled at a level of rigour – that their predecessors in that crucial role could only dream about.”I have to stress that I’m not there as a decision-maker,” Bobat said. “That is their role. Mine is to provide information, whether from scouting reports, performance analysis or whatever, to check and challenge in terms of the selection process to ensure it is robust, and to share insight, if the selectors request it, around the options that might be suggested by our player pathway system.”It has all come about as a result of a revolution in the England selection system in which Bobat has been a key figure, having been appointed to his current job in 2016 after Andrew Strauss, in his role of director of England cricket, had identified selection as an area that needed a complete overhaul – although the first seeds of this revolution had been planted soon after Bobat joined the ECB.A sports science and management graduate who was a teacher for seven years but who had experience of cricket as an age-group coach at Leicestershire, Bobat started work at the National Cricket Performance Centre on the university campus at Loughborough in 2011.”Although I started with the under-17s, much of my time with the ECB has been with the under-19 programme and the genesis of where we are now with player ID, much of it came from what we did at that level,” he said.”We were quite fortunate that Ed Barney, who is now the performance director at UK Hockey, was studying at Loughborough for a PhD in talent identification and what he was doing prompted a lot of thought and consideration.”Debutant Ben Foakes was handed his Test cap by Bruce French•Getty ImagesWith the encouragement of Simon Timson, now performance director of the Lawn Tennis Association and then head of the England development programme, Bobat took some of Barney’s research and ideas and looked at ways in which he could apply them to cricket.”We did some work around our Under-19 programme in terms of how we identify and select players and we made some enhancements and formalised a few things and I guess that had a bit of an impact,” he said.”In 2016 Straussy and David Parsons [ECB performance director] asked me to extend some of that thinking over to how we recruit players for the Lions programme, and in the winter of 2017 Straussy said he would like me to extend this to the senior England team.”Bobat’s work has only emphasised that the manner in which England teams were picked in the past belongs to the dark ages in sporting terms.Whereas selection came with a large element of randomness, dependent on which selector had been where or spoken to whom, and in which some players got lucky and others did not in finding their best form at the right moment, nothing now is left to chance.A comprehensive network of county informants has been put in place and ECB scouts are assigned to watch players several times over – “multiple eyes, multiple times” is something of a mantra – in order to file tailored reports designed to answer key questions. Once players are in the England system, detailed information on every performance is added to the database, with that information in particular helping the selectors decide who needs to be tested in which environment.Bobat believes it is no coincidence, for example, that Ben Foakes made such a successful England debut in Galle, in what is traditionally a difficult venue, having already played in Sri Lanka several times for the Under-19s and the Lions.

I’m not there as a decision-maker. My role is to provide information and insight

Underpinning the whole process is a carefully designed set of principles, setting out clearly defined goals and a process for achieving them, which Bobat drew up based on his research, including an ongoing study of the methods employed by other sports both at home and abroad – the England football team and Premier League clubs, Olympic sports, and particularly sports in the United States – seeking to add their best ideas to his own.”You try to beg and borrow from a number of environments,” he said. “In the States, for example, they are really smart with their analytics and they have a formalised process because they’ve been doing this in a more professional way for longer.”At Chelsea I was impressed with the level of time they spent training their scouts, all of whom have their own personal development plan and go through an appraisals process, while a club like Manchester City has got some really sophisticated performance analytics and predictive metrics, and Arsenal have done a lot of work around depth analysis and shadow teams.”What we are doing in cricket, particularly in this country, is still quite embryonic if you compare us to sports like football, but there are areas of our decision-making and thinking that I think are well ahead of some of those environments.”I think we have a real opportunity in England cricket, in terms of having someone fulfilling this role around talent ID and player identification, although I must emphasise that although I’ve led the direction of this, without the scouts we would not have the information, without the analysts there would be no data.”But there are not many equivalents across the world and there is a real opportunity for us here to get the march on a few other countries and I think we are starting to do that in a few areas.”The proof of the effectiveness of all this will be results, of course. Next year’s World Cup and home Ashes series are currently at the top of the clear priorities required in Bobat’s guiding principles – but winning away from home is another in that category, so England’s victory in the first Test in Galle – their first away from home in 14 Tests – can only be seen as encouraging.