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Celtic’s hunt for a new left-sided player continues to rumble on and time is running out rather quickly…

What’s the word?

According to The Sun, Neil Lennon is plotting a move for Bristol City wing-back Niclas Eliasson before next Monday’s transfer deadline.

It’s claimed that if the Hoops fail with a third bid for young Charlton Athletic starlet Alfie Doughty, then their attention will turn to the 24-year-old Swede instead.

Eliasson is out of contract next summer and has fallen down the pecking order at Ashton Gate since the sacking of Lee Johnson, so he could well be available for a move.

He’s valued at just £3.6m by Transfermarkt.

Who is he?

Well, it’s not the first time that the Scottish champions have been linked with a move for the Robins winger with reports first emerging back in the January transfer window, as per the Daily Record.

He’s only been able to feature in the League Cup this term, but last season, Eliasson provided three goals and 12 assists also averaging 1.7 crosses, 1.5 key passes and 1.2 dribbles per game, via WhoScored.

Johnson believed that the Swedish wizard was “one of the best” in the division whilst also claiming that he’d was “going to be amazing” in a few years time, adding: “He’s always had that USP of the amazing delivery but now he’s starting to get into better areas in terms of goalscoring and upgrading crosses.”

With Lennon changing to a three-at-the-back system again, Eliasson could well be the perfect threat from the wing – almost Patrick Roberts or Scott Sinclair like but with the need to defend too.

The PFSA laud his unique skillset, singling out his “crafty movement” as one key to his success. This is very much what you’d associate with the former Man City loanee.

Perhaps Eliasson would be the better option over a relatively raw Doughty and whilst it remains to be seen how much he’d cost, Nick Hammond could press ahead with the signing.

AND in other news, Lennon must unleash Celtic’s “special talent” over Scott Brown…

GSB have made another mockery of West Ham United fans by targeting a late window swoop for Rangers captain James Tavernier.

What’s the word?

According to TEAMtalk, West Ham are considering making a late bid to lure Tavernier to the London Stadium as the Irons strive to acquire defensive reinforcements ahead of Monday’s Deadline Day.

It is thought Tavernier is one candidate who could strengthen David Moyes’ options at right-back beyond Ryan Fredericks, and that an official offer is on the cards in an attempt to beat Brighton and Burnley to the 28-year-old’s signature.

Tavernier may not be the only player currently under consideration, though, as reports have claimed Slavia Prague right-back Vladimir Coufal will undergo a medical on Thursday.

Coufal’s move could spell the end to any interest in Tavernier, however the Gers captain was likely never an option as the Daily Record understand Steven Gerrard’s side would issue a clear ‘not for sale’ message should they receive any approach.

Gerrard is focusing on strengthening his side rather than depriving himself of a free-scoring full-back, who is a key figure under the Liverpool icon and is happy at Ibrox.

Latest GSB mockery

Reports suggesting the West Ham ownership of David Gold, David Sullivan and Karren Brady were considering funding a swoop for Tavernier days before the summer window closes makes yet another mockery of an already enraged West Ham fanbase.

The Irons have spent the summer being tirelessly linked with potential incomings, but have thus far failed to see any new arrivals welcomed to the club beyond the option to land Tomas Soucek following his initial loan spell.

They have also watched as academy graduate Grady Diangana joined West Bromwich Albion rather than being given a chance to impress at the London Stadium, the funds from which sit idle rather than be used to land Brentford’s Said Benrahma as first thought due to the Algerian being deemed too expensive.

What the Hammers faithful would now have been expecting to be see approaching Deadline Day are done deals, not further claims of interest in a player like Tavernier who is happy at his current side who also have no intentions of selling.

If the summer transfer window slams shut next Monday without West Ham welcoming any reinforcements, the angst aimed toward GSB will only continue to grow – as likely will the support for the GSB out campaign.

AND in other news, West Ham have submitted an offer to sign David Moyes’ top striker target.

Michael Keane must look to use his remaining time with the England national side to take a lesson in leadership from Conor Coady, after the Wolverhampton Wanderers captain upstaged the Everton defender against Wales on Thursday.

Three Lions boss Gareth Southgate opted to tackle the international friendly against rivals Wales at Wembley Stadium with Keane and Coady partnered by Liverpool’s Joe Gomez in a three-man backline, which kept Ryan Giggs’ visitors scoreless in a 3-0 win.

Coady provided the second of England’s three goals with a perfectly timed volley at the back post to meet Kieran Trippier’s free-kick unchallenged, in what was only the 27-year-old’s second international match following his debut against Denmark in August.

Keane, likewise, has one goal to his name for England but from 11 senior appearances dating back to his debut in 2017, but cannot let his greater experience cloud his judgment and ought to use his time wisely to benefit from Coady’s greater qualities.

Keane found himself upstaged on Thursday as Coady led from the back against Wales, barking instructions to his teammates throughout the affair to keep England in check – something the Everton man has often been at fault for at Goodison Park by not organising a difunctional line.

Coady, on the other hand, has often been lauded for his worthiness as Wolves’ captain since the Molineux outfit were promoted to the Premier League, with the Liverpool-born ace’s voice a constant echo being heard around the Black Country whenever Nuno Espirito Santo’s side take to the field.

Teammates and staff repeatedly praise Coady for his organisation and leadership as one of the only voices constantly communicating messages on the pitch, keeping his colleagues in check to ensure no one is left red-faced and opposition attacks are quickly snuffed out.

Coady knows when to push the team forward and when to drop back, he is a true field general in ways Keane can only imagine. But working alongside the Wolves captain can guide the £65,000-per-week 27-year-old to one day take on greater responsibilities under Carlo Ancelotti in a side that has previously been compared to a puppy rolling over and asking for its belly to be tickled.

If Everton are to capitalise on their unbeaten start to the 2020/21 Premier League season and secure their return to a UEFA competition for the first time since the 2017/18 Europa League Group Stage, keeping a solid defence in check over the full campaign will be crucial.

AND in other news, Everton are in need of drastic action with a forgotten player after failing to deal with his situation over the summer.

Leeds United did a lot right in the summer transfer window, but there is one thing that they got horribly wrong that is impossible to ignore.

The Whites spent almost £100m on new talent, but very few of their current players left the club, and there is one man who certainly should have been on the chopping block.

Of course, we’re talking about Kiko Casilla.

The Spaniard has lost his place in United’s first team to Illan Meslier, and these days he doesn’t even make the bench with Elia Caprile the preferred deputy to the Frenchman, but despite his limited involvement, he remains one of Leeds’ highest-earning players.

A weekly wage of just over £32k-a-week isn’t a drop in the ocean for Leeds, and according to Spotrac he’s earning more than the likes of Luke Ayling, Stuart Dallas and Mateusz Klich, three players who have started every single league game this season.

Casilla quite simply isn’t good enough to play a part at Leeds, he made a string of errors last season and he was branded as ‘an accident waiting to happen’ during a scathing attack from Noel Whelan.

“He’s an accident waiting to happen at the moment,” The pundit told Football Insider. “His body language is terrible and you can see the defence are losing confidence in him, they’re fearful and thinking, ‘can we trust him anymore?’.”

Away from football, there is another reason why Leeds will have wanted to cut all ties with Casilla.

It shouldn’t be forgotten that the Spaniard was found guilty of racially abusing Jonathan Leko last season, yet, there has been radio silence from Leeds on how they’ve dealt with this issue in-house, no word on an internal investigation, no fine handed out and seemingly no intention of cutting ties with him.

Instead, he remains at the club, picking up huge money for doing very little work, and it makes no sense why Leeds didn’t ship him out in the summer, from both a footballing standpoint and an ethical stance.

In other news… £17m man could be benched for Leeds’ game against Wolves!

Everton have joined the growing list of European clubs said to be interested in signing Villarreal sensation Samuel Chukwueze.

What’s the word?

According to 90min, the Toffees have joined an ever-increasing clutch of sides from around Europe in monitoring Chukwueze’s situation in Spain as the vastly talented stalwart begins considering his future with Villarreal.

Chukwueze is deliberating whether now is the time to take the next step in his budding career or not, with fierce interest particularly coming from Premier League sides including Manchester United, Leicester City, Chelsea, Liverpool and Wolverhampton Wanderers.

Jurgen Klopp’s title-holders are said to have had scouts observe the 21-year-old for more than year, while Wolves consider the Nigerian to be a potential Adama Traore successor, but face paying in excess of £80million as Villarreal intend to hold firm in demanding the winger’s full release clause.

The La Liga outfit have frequently increased the value of the clause through a series of new contracts, with two new deals penned in the past 16-months seeing the value more than double amid his continued climb at the Estadio de la Ceramica.

Chukwueze made his first-team debut in September 2018 against Rangers in a Europa League Group Stage tie, and has since been involved in 24 goals (13 scored, 11 assisted) in 89 senior appearances across all competitions.

Villarreal boss Unai Emery has started the young gem in five of his side’s eight La Liga fixtures this term, and saw the forward open his account with the first goal of the night after 21-minutes against Real Valladolid on Monday.

Ancelotti’s new Robben

Coaches have previously been awestruck by Chukwueze’s abilities, with his electric pace, terrifying dribbling potential and lethal end product when cutting in onto his left-foot from the right-wing reminiscent of Bayern Munich great Arjen Robben – a player Ancelotti worked with whilst in Germany.

“He’s the king, to me,” Chukwueze told Goal when asked about the comparisons with the Dutchman. “He’s the perfect player. I watch so many YouTube clips of him, and there are so many things I can learn from watching him.

“On the way to games, even now, I will still stick on clips of Robben and watch his goals, his dribbling. He’s my inspiration, one of the greatest. I like to be me and of course, you have to be yourself, but you need to learn from people like him. What a player!”

Victor Apugo, who is a part of Chukwueze’s management team, also doubts his client will ever find an obstacle too big to overcome in football, having told the Independent: “I don’t think he will be finding anything difficult because he’s mentally strong. It can’t be worse than what he’s been through growing up.”

Chukwueze grew up in Umuahia, an area of dereliction, poverty and little hope, but is now seen as one of La Liga’s best prospects, one of Europe’s most exciting young talents and a future star for Nigeria. But he will only leave Villarreal for the right side.

“Any club that wants to sign me will have to give me the assurance that I am going to be playing,” Chukwueze told TheCable. “As long as I am fit, I need to be playing and that’s the only option.”

Everton Director of Football Marcel Brands winning the ever-increasing race for Chukwueze’s signature could see the Dutchman secure Ancelotti his new Robben, as the Italian enjoyed a trophy-laden spell in Germany with the player who the Nigerian idolises.

Robben played 45 times under Ancelotti during the Everton boss’ time in Bavaria, in which he scored 18 goals, penned 15 assists and won two Bundesliga titles and two German Super Cups.

AND in other news, Marcel Brands can build Everton’s dream unit with a gem who Carlo Ancelotti calls “one of the best”.

The winter transfer window will re-open in just a few weeks’ time which means that Crystal Palace boss Roy Hodgson will have started writing his Christmas wish list to prioritise his wants and needs.

Whether he will tread the traditional route of astute, cost-effective signings, or go out in a blaze of glory with a rather sizeable cheque to spend on new recruits for the first time since his days at Anfield, the former Liverpool manager will be keen to avoid making a similar mistake to the one that he made with infamous Palace flop Alexander Sorloth, which is why it’s quite surprising he is reportedly considering a swoop for Marcos Alonso.

That’s right folks, Palace are interested in signing the Chelsea left-back as a potential Patrick van Aanholt alternative.

According to The Daily Mail, Alonso is one of several options being considered to replace Van Aanholt if the popular Dutchman does depart Selhurst Park, with the Eagles also keeping tabs on Marseille’s Jordan Amavi.

However, the Palace gaffer should steer clear of signing the total liability, as he already has the perfect replacement in Tyrick Mitchell.

The Spaniard hasn’t featured for Frank Lampard’s side since the start of the season, as he has fallen out of favour at Stamford Bridge, whilst he is averaging just 0.3 tackles and 0.3 blocks per game in the Premier League so far, via WhoScored.

By comparison, Mitchell is managing 4 tackles per game in the top flight so far this season, as per WhoScored.

Rio Ferdinand recently criticised Alonso for his “silly” mistake, whilst former Blues midfielder Joe Cole was equally scathing in his assessment after he saw red during the 3-0 defeat to Bayern Munich in the Champions League last season.

The Eagles shouldn’t even touch Alonso with a barge pole, let alone when you consider the fact that his market value is currently estimated at £16.2m via Transfermarkt, which implies that he won’t come cheap as his contract is set to expire in 2023. At 29 years of age, it wouldn’t make much sense, especially with Mitchell waiting in the wings.

Hodgson has been full of praise for the young prospect, saying he could become the next Aaron Wan-Bissaka. He told Sky Sports:

“Tyrick got his chance last season when Patrick dislocated his shoulder and he has taken that chance well and really continued it since the start of the new season.

“I hope he will continue to improve and I hope people won’t start to put exceptional pressure on him because he’s still a very young man and he’s still in the absolute nursery in terms of his career.

“Aaron [Wan-Bissaka] looked very much like Tyrick when he came in and took the game by storm, and he made the position his own very quickly.

“I wouldn’t disagree that in terms of being thrown in with no-one knowing much about him, I think there’s a direct parallel between the two players.”

Mitchell, who first burst onto the scene towards the closing stages of last season, is one of several players with deals set to expire in 2021. But the 21-year-old has established himself as the club’s first-choice left-back in recent weeks.  If that hasn’t earned the academy graduate a new deal, we don’t know what will.

AND in other news, Crystal Palace got rid of Aaron Wan-Bissaka at the perfect time…

Liverpool produced a near-perfect display to see off Leicester City 3-0 at Anfield on Sunday night and although Andy Robertson will pick up a lot of plaudits for his part in the win, the Scottish international’s display wasn’t as good as you might think.

Although he picked up an 8/10 rating for his performance from SofaScore after contributing an assist for Diogo Jota’s goal in the first half, as well as helping Jurgen Klopp’s side to a clean sheet, his passing was sloppy throughout the 90 minutes.

As per SofaScore, the former Hull City man lost possession 24 times the night, which was the most of any Liverpool player on the pitch.

The 26-year-old also won just four out of eight of his ground duels and had a pass success rate of just 77%, with 15 of his 65 attempted passes going astray, whilst he was also dribbled past by Leicester players on two occasions during the game.

Although he was impressive at times going forward, playing three key passes during the game, he also struggled to find the mark with his long balls, with only one out of seven attempted long balls finding their mark.

His crossing was also arguably not as consistent as usual, as only four out of 11 of his crosses were accurate against the Foxes.

Fortunately for Klopp, Leicester were unable to make the most of the Scottish defender’s sloppy passing on the evening, although this may be a cause for concern in the future if teams are able to capitalise on his slack passing.

The Scotsman earned a lot of praise from former Liverpool left-back Fabio Aurelio earlier this year, with the Brazilian suggesting that:

“He’s kind of the complete player because physically he’s well capable of going forward and going back he defends very well.

“He’s quick, so his one-v-one is good and defensively that’s very important in the scheme Klopp plays. He goes forward very easily.

“One thing that calls my attention is that he’s always improving, he’s not comfortable in his situation being first choice. You will see that in every game he plays as his last one, so that’s courage.

“The two full-backs of Liverpool right now are unbelievable. We can contest in any kind of way.” (per Liverpool FC)

Overall though, it was another solid display from the left-back, who continues his impressive start to the 2020/21 Premier League season, with his season average rating now standing at a solid 6.79/10 (per WhoScored).

It will be interesting to see if Robertson is rested for Liverpool’s next game, as they face Atalanta at home in the Champions League, with summer signing Kostas Tsimikas perhaps pushing for a starting spot after recovering from injury.

Leeds United have gotten themselves back on track after suffering two heavy defeats before the international break. Both Leicester and Crystal Palace hit the Whites for four goals each, putting a huge dampener on their returning season in the Premier League.

But after clinging on against Arsenal to ride out a 0-0 draw, the Whites went on to scrape a hard-earned win over Everton on Saturday.

Raphinha shone for Leeds with his goal banking all three points, but Marcelo Bielsa highlighted the team’s defensive issues. The Argentinian admitted that Liam Cooper, Mateusz Klich and Stuart Dallas had a tough time dealing with the threat of James Rodriguez.

Similarly, former Aston Villa striker Marlon Harewood believes that Leeds must strengthen their defence in January.

“I would say if they’re looking to stay in the Premier League, they would need an experienced centre-half in their back four, just to steady the ship if they’re leaking goals,” the 41-year-old told Football FanCast. “To be fair, defensively they’ve been doing really well, but it doesn’t always work when they’re playing top-class players.”

Indeed, Leeds have conceded 17 goals so far this season, with the likes of Liverpool and Fulham taking advantage of their backline.

The Whites boast one of the most clinical strikers in the league with Patrick Bamford, but they must turn attention to their defence if they want to avoid the drop at the end of the season. Whilst they signed Diego Llorente to strengthen their centre-back options, he is yet to feature for his new club due to injury.

Harewood believed that Bielsa will already be considering his options and will be analysing his team now that domestic football has returned.

In other news, Mateusz Klich was Bielsa’s star man against Everton…

Many Liverpool fans have been discussing some comments that 22-year-old Herbie Kane has recently made about the Anfield-based side.

The former Liverpool youngster is currently at Barnsley and was talking to the club’s official programme (via The72.co.uk) when he talked about his time at Anfield. He said that his time at the club wasn’t the best and while a lot of things were promised to him when he joined Liverpool, nothing really came of those promises later on.

He described the feeling of playing at Liverpool like playing football as kids and being the last one picked. He also revealed that being at Anfield wasn’t the best feeling for him.

The central midfielder had joined Liverpool from Bristol City’s academy. He was loaned out to Doncaster in 2018 and was later loaned out to Hull City in January 2020 as well. In October earlier this year, the 22-year-old left the club permanently to join Barnsley (as per Transfermarkt).

He made only two appearances for the Liverpool first-team and both of those appearances came in the League Cup. He has made 13 appearances for Barnsley this season.

Some of these comments from Kane were relayed on Twitter by Anfield Edition recently and many Liverpool fans gave their opinion about the 22-year-old, with one fan who is clearly fed up of Naby Keita’s injuries saying Kane is better.

What did Liverpool fans make of Herbie Kane’s comments?

In other news, many Liverpool fans have reacted to the club’s interest in a Premier League defender – read more about it here!

Aston Villa could clinch a dream signing if they were to bring in Rico Henry from Championship side Brentford.

Johan Lange masterclass

After replacing Suso as the Midland club’s sporting director in the summer, there’s no questioning that Johan Lange has done an incredible job in his first transfer window in charge.

The recruitment at Villa Park has been superb, and it’s led them to some impressive results this season, including thumping victories against the likes of Liverpool and Arsenal.

Now, The Athletic’s Gregg Evans claim that long-term target, Henry, could come back into consideration for Villa if fellow Premier League side West Brom don’t come in first.

Dean Smith loves him

With his time at Brentford, Henry’s a familiar name to Dean Smith, and the Villa boss has gone on record multiple times to wax lyrical about the flying left-back.

Speaking after he initially brought him to Brentford, he said: “Rico is a player I worked with at Walsall and threw him into the first team at 16 in pre-season friendlies and he more than held his own in those games, he had no fear, and was playing in League One shortly afterwards. He’s a talented player, fearless, and likes to bring the ball to opponents.”

And then, after describing him as “something special”, Smith even likened him to Chelsea and England stalwart Ashley Cole – high praise for an up-and-coming left-back.

The fact Smith has this previous working relationship with Henry makes the defender a dream signing for Villa, and someone who could hit the ground running like Ollie Watkins has done.

Meanwhile, Villa could make a foolish mistake by snubbing this “special talent”.