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This article is part of Football FanCast’s Pundit View series, which provides opinion and analysis on recent quotes from journalists, pundits, players and managers…

Sky Sports pundit Jamie Carragher, via The Daily Mail, has stated that Christian Eriksen isn’t good enough for Real Madrid.

What’s he said?

The Denmark international has struggled for form thus far this season.

In 12 appearances in all competitions, Eriksen has scored one goal, in the 2-2 draw with Arsenal, and laid on one assist, in the 2-1 win over Southampton.

Eriksen was linked with a move to Real throughout the summer but no move materialised; his contract is set to expire at the end of the season and he could leave on a free transfer if he does not agree a new deal with Spurs.

Carragher, though, does not believe that he would improve Real Madrid if he were to move and has insisted he does not have the talent to play for Los Blancos.

He said: “Eriksen for me is a really good player for Tottenham, but he keeps getting talked about as this player who could play for Real Madrid. He’s not good enough.

“If he’s that good, he’s got a year to go in his contract, you’d pay money for him. People keep saying maybe on a free transfer… you’d have anyone on a free transfer.

“This summer he wanted to go, he made it known, he said it publicly, and no one came in for him.

“I think Eriksen has been fantastic for Spurs but he’s not better than Spurs. He might go to PSG, he might go to another club, but he won’t make any of them better.”

A question of motivation

Eriksen has the potential to be a world-class attacking midfielder and he has been previously.

In 2016/17, he laid on 15 assists in the Premier League alone, along with eight goals, while scoring 10 and providing 10 in 2017/18.

Even last season, he scored eight and laid on 12; the question is more about his motivation.

It does not appear like he really wants to stay at Spurs after declaring his desire to find a new challenge in the summer and his performance against Liverpool – he failed to register a key pass and had a pass completion rate of just 62% – was yet more evidence of this.

Carragher, though, is guilty of recency bias; just because he is not performing this season does not mean that Eriksen isn’t a genuinely excellent attacking midfielder.

The sad fact is that he may have lost the motivation to be one for Spurs.

It was a great day out at Hampden Park for Rangers against Hearts.

With minimum fuss, the Gers beat the Jam Tarts 3-0 at the home of Scottish football thanks to a dominating display. They will now face perennial rivals Celtic in the final of the League Cup as they look to end the Bhoys’ dominance of the domestic trophies.

Sweden international Filip Helander opened the scoring before Alfredo Morelos grabbed a brace in the second half. However, it was the Colombian’s assist for Helander’s finish that got the club’s supporters talking.

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The 23-year-old, who signed for the Ibrox outfit for £1m in 2017, put in a wonderful cross for the centre-back, who was then able to easily slot past the goalkeeper and put his side ahead.

The club’s supporters were clearly impressed, and they took to Twitter to share their thoughts.

You can see some of the best comments from the social media platform below.

This article is part of Football FanCast’s Pundit View series, which provides opinion and analysis on recent quotes from journalists, pundits, players and managers…

Harry Kane believes that Tottenham Hotspur can win the Champions League this season, per The Daily Star.

What’s the word?

Spurs defied the odds to reach the final last season, though they fell at the final hurdle as they were beaten by Liverpool in Madrid.

This season, they have been in poor form, however, and have won just three times in the Premier League, along with once in Europe.

Nevertheless, they lie second in Group B, having thumped Red Star Belgrade 5-0 in north London, drawn 2-2 with Olympiacos and been beaten 7-2 by Bayern Munich.

A win in Serbia on Wednesday would go a long way to helping the club reach the knockout stages and Kane is confident that Spurs have the ability to top their run to the final in 2018/19.

He said: “Obviously, the Champions League campaign last year was so good for us. We got further than a lot of people thought we would.

“We’ve got to try to find a way of consistently winning games. We’re here to win trophies. If we can win one of the trophies we are still in, we will see that as a success.

“Can we still go all the way? I think so. You look at where we started in the group stage last year and where we got to, we proved a lot of people wrong. We’re in a better position now.

“If we win this game, we’d be in a great spot to qualify and then in the knock-out stage, as you saw last year, it can go anyone’s way so that’s the thing we’ve got to take.”

Stranger things have happened

Spurs qualified from their Champions League group last season despite taking just one point from their opening three games and they even got a point in the Camp Nou against Barcelona to progress.

Already this season, they are in a better position, as Kane says.

Now, of course, Spurs did not get thumped 7-2 last year in an utterly humiliating result but even so, this team have shown that they can turn it on in Europe.

Few expected them to beat Borussia Dortmund, Manchester City and Ajax last term but Spurs managed it and Kane is right: getting out of the group is half the battle.

Manage that, and anything could happen.

With Kane fit and firing – he has 10 goals in 13 appearances already this season – the England international could well get his hands on some silverware after all.

As the international break takes place, many young English talents have a rare chance to shine and play 90 minutes of football. The likes of Callum Hudson-Odoi and Mason Greenwood, who would not typically start on a regular basis in the Premier League, now have a chance to really show what they can do.

One man in particular who will be heading into the international fixtures full of motivation and intent is Phil Foden. The young Manchester City star has established himself as one of the brightest young talents in the country under the guidance of Pep Guardiola.

Now, as he is likely to start for England U21s against Albania, Foden has a real chance to stake a claim for a starting role under the Spaniard. The 19-year-old is yet to start a league game for City this season and has had to settle for EFL Cup games for his chance to shine.

Foden has, however, played in two Champions League games, where he has scored and assisted for the Citizens. If the academy graduate can replicate the type of performance that saw him thrive in the 5-1 win over Atalanta, where he created four big chances, Boothroyd’s side will have a great chance of collecting a victory.

City’s playmaker-in-chief, David Silva, was back in the squad for the defeat to Liverpool, although a solid performance from Foden could put him in contention for a starting berth against Chelsea. Up next for the champions is the visit of the Blues before they face off with Shakhtar Donetsk, where a win would see them qualify for the next stage of the Champions League.

After this City face trips to Newcastle United and Burnley, where the youngster should certainly be considered.

In truth, with a positive performance on Friday, Foden should be chosen for the Shakhtar clash, as City already have some breathing space in Group C.

There is also the inevitable departure of Silva, who stated in June that he will leave the Etihad Stadium after ten glorious years in Manchester.

Now, Guardiola has the chance to see Foden get plenty of action for England and the City boss, and the supporters, would be wise to keep an eye on his performance.

Many football fans have given their thoughts on Micah Richards’ belief that Jordan Henderson is world-class.

The England international has been the Liverpool captain for a number of years now, but it seems he hasn’t convinced everyone of his quality.

Richards was speaking on BBC 5 Live Sport when he said: “Henderson is world-class & a lot of his work goes unnoticed”.

Henderson, 29, lifted the Champions League back in June and was the first Liverpool man to do so since Steven Gerrard. However, a Manchester City fan has alluded to the idea that Gareth Barry was never thought of as world-class, whilst another fan believes he is at the same level as Mark Noble.

Many other supporters have touched on how the Englishman can’t be in the category of world-class if he does not start every game. Indeed, despite wearing the armband, Henderson only started 21 Premier League games and eight Champions League ties last year.

The midfielder is certainly a player that splits opinions and here’s what the fans have had to say in response to Richards’ claim…

This article is part of Football FanCast’s Transfer Focus series, which provides opinion and analysis on recent transfer news…

According to the newest reports coming from The Sun, Real Madrid are planning a swap deal with Manchester United that would see Gareth Bale go one way and Paul Pogba the other.

What’s the word, then?

It seems that Real Madrid have decided – Bale needs to go and it’s no longer a question of “if”, but rather a question of “when”.

The Sun claim that Los Blancos will try and offload the Welshman in January already but failing that, they will try again come the summer transfer window.

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Of course, Bale was close to leaving the Santiago Bernabeu in the summer of 2019, but he ended up staying and is playing a small role in the ongoing 2019/20 campaign for Zinedine Zidane’s troops.

But the player’s relationship with the club is seemingly not really ideal and separation is inevitable.

Real, however, could use Pogba’s similar situation over at Old Trafford to finally seal the deal with a rather “simple” swap of superstars.

A soul for a soul

On the face of it, this deal really does sound like a win-win scenario for all parties involved.

After all, both clubs are currently dealing with superstars who are not really satisfied with their situations at their respective clubs.

Pogba, for all his obvious qualities, has not seen much of the pitch this season with only 540 minutes under his belt.

Of course, a lot of it has to do with his constant injury issues but in reality, the problems go deeper than that, which is an old story by this point in time as the Frenchman was adamant he wanted to leave last summer already.

And interestingly enough, Bale is very much in a similar position.

With only 597 minutes in the ongoing season – also filled with injuries and irregular game time – and a failed transfer project behind him, we could even go as far as saying their situations are nigh-on identical.

A simple swap could, in theory, solve both clubs’ and both players’ problems – the teams would replace an unhappy superstar with one willing to reignite his career while the players themselves would finally get their second chance and actually play for a club they seemingly like.

All that remains is sorting out the “details”.

Let’s see if something comes out of this situation in the New Year.

Former Liverpool captain Jamie Carragher has insisted that Mauricio Pochettino will be back in the Premier League “sooner rather than later”.On Tuesday night, it was announced that Tottenham Hotspur had sacked Pochettino as head coach with immediate effect.The Argentine had been in charge of the London club since 2014, and heÂleaves with a win record of just over 54% from 293 matches at the helm.Perhaps his finest achievement was leading Spurs to last season’s Champions League final, where they actually played well in a 2-0 defeat to Liverpool.For now, Pochettino is without a job.However, Carragher has insisted that the “brilliant manager” will not be out of the English game for too long.That said, the pundit has also claimed that he felt a change was coming due to the fact that the “project” at the club “had run its course”.It will be fascinating to see Pochettino’s next move.Carragher’s reaction in the aftermath of the announcement can be seen below…

Sunderland’s form has been on a downward spiral ever since Phil Parkinson took over and unfortunately for the Black Cats there is still no light at the end of the tunnel.

The former Bolton boss has looked to address the critical situation and the latest step from the coaching staff has been to stick up a sign around the dressing room to instruct players on the mindset to take.

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It reads “forward runs forward passes”, which directly gets at the heart of the matter – Sunderland’s lack of goals and powderpuff attack, which has been somewhat of a problem since relegation from the Championship.

Under Parkinson they have scored just 13 goals in 11 games – scoring twice or more on only one occasion – and with a record like that it is little surprise that such signs exist.

However, fans have chosen to ridicule the notice and criticise Parkinson if that’s the best he can offer in the way of tactics. Here are some of the reactions from Sunderland supporters.

Parkinson isn’t the only one feeling the wrath of Sunderland fans, however, with Joel Lynch also criticised for his performance against Burton.

Former England defender Danny Mills has said that Leeds should not look to sign Cameron Brannagan this summer, in an interview with Football Insider.

What did he say?

Brannagan has had an excellent season in League One for Oxford United this term, managing five goals and seven assists from his 30 league appearances so far.

However, due to the season suspension, Oxford could be forced to sell one of their prized assets at a cut-price, with Football Insider reporting that he could become available for as little as £3m.

Leeds are said to be one of the clubs keeping a close eye on the former Liverpool man, but Mills cast doubt over whether he is ready to make such a step up.

“If they get into the Premier League they need to look a little bit higher, he told Football Insider.

“Maybe this could be one for the future.

“Oxford are doing very well at the moment and look like they are going to get promoted from League One and he may want to stay there.

“Is he going to go to Leeds and play every week? I do not see that scenario happening. I think he would be better staying another season at Oxford and playing week in week out.

“The younger players are becoming a bit savvier and realising playing games is more important. One more year playing every week can get him a better move in 12 months’ time.”

Leeds’ last Premier League campaign: How much do you remember?

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Growing influence

Brannagan has been excellent since arriving at the Kassam Stadium in 2018 and has become increasingly influential this season.

After not quite making the grade with Liverpool, he appears to have found a home with Oxford and it is no surprise that there are clubs interested.

The step up to Leeds would be steep, but given his price tag he could prove an interesting addition if he is able to continue his development.

As the football world tries to adapt to the current global crisis, we can take a more detailed look into how Everton’s transfer intentions in the summer may have been affected from a financial point of view.

In a recent report, it was declared that as a result of current events, Transfermarkt values on the majority of worldwide players has dropped significantly. For those born after 1998, the decrease has been capped at 10%, but others have seen their value drop by up to 20% in other cases.

English clubs have suffered an overall €2billion (£871.5m) deficit, with Manchester City and Liverpool being hit the hardest worldwide. But what do these price drops mean for clubs further down the table? Could we see summer deals altered or even funds exhausted? Football FanCast has taken a look at what this current situation could mean for Everton’s business.

Allan (-£9m)

The Blues have been linked to several big Series A names since Carlo Ancelotti took the reins, including Andrea Belotti according to Tuttosport via Daily Mail. A recent report from Corriere dello Sport (via Sports Witness) has now claimed that Everton have offered ‘more or less €50m’ (£43.6m) for Napoli’s Allan.

The Brazilian’s stats leave a lot to be desired though, accumulating just two goals and three assists across all competitions in his last two seasons. However, amid the current market decline, Allan’s Transfermarkt value has dropped to just £28.8m, which could reflect in deals moving forward if these links are to come to fruition.

Italy has been on a national lockdown for more than a month now and the Serie A season hiatus has been further extended to May 3 (via ESPN). If the league continues to progress into uncertainty, Italian sides may be looking to panic sell in the summer in order to keeps books balanced. Therefore, a move for Allan for a lower price could potentially be an option for Everton if they have made their minds up on him. But they must consider difficulties of their own and whether his recent form is worth the monetary risk.

Cenk Tosun (-£2.7m)

Everton’s Turkish striker has had a rollercoaster of a season. After being sent out to Crystal Palace on loan where he scored just one goal, he has returned to his parent club due to a ruptured ACL injury. The Eagles were reportedly keen on making Tosun’s deal permanent, but amid the current financial worries, Everton may have to find him a new home after his recovery.

Since December, the 28-year-old’s Transfermarkt value has dropped by £2.7m (£13.5m to £10.8m) which isn’t an overly damaging decline to his potential transfer status. With the rise of Dominic Calvert-Lewin, it’s likely the Blues will take whatever they can get for a player that has been phased out of the team.

Particularly if Wilfried Zaha gets his wish of a move away from Selhurst Park, Palace will be in need of another attacker and that could be enough to twist their arm into signing Tosun permanently.

Jordan Pickford (-£6.3m)

It seems Ancelotti is willing to really take the next transfer window by the throat and kit out this Everton side as well as overhauling the deadwood. Jordan Pickford – once the most expensive British goalkeeper – has done nothing but disappoint fans lately and reportedly, Chelsea are interested in the shot-stopper.

According to a report by Tuttomercatoweb (via HITC), Frank Lampard is unconvinced by Kepa Arizzabalaga and has set his sights on Everton’s No.1. Despite his Transfermarkt value taking a hit of £6.3m (£31.5m down to £25.2m), Pickford’s price tag is reportedly over €50m (£43.5m) and Chelsea have initiated contact.

If the London outfit’s interest increases, Everton could face a difficult decision over whether to cash in on their first-choice goalkeeper in order to steady the bank. Ancelotti has stated he will not be letting the Englishman go, but in these unexpected circumstances, will Pickford be sacrificed to help ease the club’s financial worries?