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Tottenham Hotspur have seen many big names come through their academy at some point, ranging from England superstar Harry Kane to surprisingly David Beckham.

But they may have missed out on a big opportunity with a more unknown talent in Yuri Berchiche.

Back in 2007, the north London outfit poached the then 17-year-old defender from Athletic Bilbao, though it’s the LaLiga side who may have had the last laugh as that’s where the left-back now resides once more.

It took only three years for former Spurs boss Harry Redknapp to wield his axe on the Spaniard, having been sent out on loan to the likes of Cheltenham Town and Real Valladolid.

“The Spaniard Berchiche is technically a product of Real Sociedad’s academy before moving at 16 to Athletic Bilbao. Spurs then snapped him up a year later and brought him into their academy,” once wrote football.london reporter Alasdair Gold.

“He impressed in the youth sides, but never made the breakthrough into the senior set-up. A loan to Cheltenham Town in League One, where he made just seven appearances, did nothing to convince Harry Redknapp to give him a shot.”

Berchiche subsequently left N17 on a free transfer in 2010, where he joined Segunda B outfit Real Union. His form there then caught the eye of Real Sociedad as a replacement for club legend Alberto de la Bella.

The now 32-year-old would go onto play for Paris Saint-Germain as well and during his one-season stint there, he clinched the league and cup double before finally returning to his boyhood club, Bilbao, in an £18m transfer.

Upon signing for Los Leones, Berchiche’s contract contained a whopping €100m (£89m) release clause – something that has since been excluded due to the veteran signing a new extension back in October 2021.

With 185 of his 383 appearances coming in the Spanish top-flight, you can’t help but feel that Tottenham missed a trick with the Zarautz-born machine, particularly as he once garnered a seven-figure transfer fee and was valued at a whopping £89m by Bilbao, despite leaving north London for absolutely nothing.

You could say both chairman Daniel Levy and Redknapp had a mare with the Basque talent.

AND in other news, Spurs are “long-term admirers” of £50m “magician”, he could finally replace Eriksen…

Tottenham Hotspur star Harry Kane remains ‘open-minded about the future’ amid speculation of a move to Bayern Munich, according to journalist Dean Jones.

The Lowdown: Bayern’s interest

As per a Sky Italia report relayed by talkSPORT, the German giants are plotting a blockbuster deal to sign the 29-year-old next summer.

This follows keen interest deriving from the previous transfer window, in which Robert Lewandowski left Bayern to join La Liga outfit Barcelona.

It was said the Bundesliga club had identified the England international as the perfect replacement, but Spurs refused to enter negotiations over a potential move.

The Latest: Jones shares what he knows

Whilst Jones believes Kane will continue to focus on his football with the north London outfit, he also thinks he will be doing no harm if he were to speak to representatives from other clubs over potential transfers.

Speaking with GiveMeSport, the journalist said:

“Kane is open-minded about the future, but first and foremost, he is focused on Spurs.

“It’s certainly not out of the question that he would sign new contract with Spurs, but at the same time, there is no harm for his representatives to be in touch with other clubs like Bayern, in case that time suddenly comes when he needs a transfer.”

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The Verdict: Huge loss

With Kane’s contract set to expire in the summer of 2024, it is imperative Daniel Levy and co convince their star man to extend his stay with the Lilywhites.

In 395 appearances for Tottenham, the striker has bagged an incredible 254 goals. He sits in the 90th percentile for non-penalty expected goals amongst positional peers across Europe over the past year and also in the 93rd for xG assisted. (via FBRef).

Matching up statistically to the likes of Real Madrid’s Karim Benzema and Manchester City’s Erling Haaland, it would not be unfair to suggest he is quite literally irreplaceable.

Glasgow Rangers must cash in on midfielder Glen Kamara in January, with Giovanni van Bronckhorst willing to sell the player during the winter transfer window.

What’s the word?

That’s according to Football Insider, who claims that the Light Blues are willing to sell Kamara following a collapsed move to Ligue 1 side Nice in the summer.

The French club were looking to sign Kamara for £10m on deadline day, but a move didn’t materialise, although this could change in January.

Football Insider state that an agreement is in place that he can leave at a certain price, with that being £10m.

Rangers must cash in

The 26-year-old hasn’t performed well this season and has struggled for game time under Van Bronckhorst. He ranks a lowly 23rd in the Gers squad with a WhoScored rating of just 6.02 for his Premiership performances so far, starting only twice in the league.

His Champions League displays haven’t been much better either, averaging a shocking rating of 4.95 in defeats to Ajax and Napoli.

This is an alarming slump, and miles away from his best campaign in 2020/2021, where he was an integral part of the Ibrox side as they claimed league title number 55, and the first in a decade.

Indeed, during that campaign, he registered four goal involvements while starting on a regular basis in the middle of the park while averaging a 6.99 match rating courtesy of SofaScore.

Thus, his recent showings mark a disappointing decline for the Finland international, and one that means he is likely to leave in January, just a year after signing a new contract until 2025.

Gerrard brought him to Glasgow for a fee of just £50k in January 2019 and it proved to be one of his greatest signings as Light Blues manager, with Scott Arfield labelling it as the “steal of the century.”

If Kamara did leave the club in January for the £10m fee that has been mentioned, it would mark a staggering 19900% profit made by the Ibrox side.

This would be an excellent piece of business by the Gers and although once described as a “monster” by Gerrard not long after joining the club, it appears he has downgraded from this praise.

A year ago, this news would come as a shock to the Rangers faithful, but following a poor start to the campaign, it’s doubtful many supporters will lose sleep over Kamara moving on to pastures new. After a string of sub-par displays, it’s time to cut him loose from Ibrox.

Nottingham Forest are currently struggling in the Premier League after five straight defeats and as a result, are at the bottom of the table at the moment.

With just four points taken from their first eight outings in the top flight, Steve Cooper’s side are struggling to make their presence known which will need to improve drastically over the coming weeks and months if they are to have any chance of retaining their status in the Premier League.

Although the problems are mounting at The City Ground, some of the young players who are waiting for their golden opportunity to feature in the senior Forest team are thriving out on loan, with striker Will Swan proving his worth whilst at Mansfield Town.

The talented 21-year-old is making his mark in League Two and could become the next prodigy that Cooper could unearth when he returns next summer, with the player possessing “lovely” ability in the words of journalist Josh Bunting.

Swan has scored three goals and delivered one assist over his 12 appearances, with a goal contribution every 140 minutes so far which will surely catch the eye of the Forest boss as his side struggle back in Nottingham.

More recently, the talented centre-forward featured in the starting line-up against Derby County in the EFL trophy, with the game going down to a penalty shoot-out last night.

Swan scored his spot kick, had six shots on goal, completed 100% of his crosses and made two tackles and two interceptions over the course of the game, proving that he is a positive presence in the team, both from an offensive and defensive point of view.

The centre-forward was lavished with praise by his current manager Nigel Clough who hailed Swan a upon his arrival at Field Mill, saying:

“He’ll bring youth and energy to the team. He’s a good all-round striker and a good finisher, given the opportunity.”

If Swan did get the chance to play for Forest in the Premier League it wouldn’t be the first time he has been promoted to the senior team. He impressed for Forest U21s, scoring 12 goals in 22 appearances which saw Chris Houghton give him a chance in the Championship over the 2020/21 season.

However, the opportunity may have come too soon for the young striker as he failed to make an impact on the side and was quickly replaced after just two appearances.

With that being said, if Swan can continue to develop his talents and abilities with Mansfield over the season ahead it could finally be the perfect time for Cooper to unleash the young talent in his team when he returns from loan.

After a summer in which they added a plethora of new signings, a talented player such as Swan could well save them millions in forthcoming windows.

Glasgow Rangers endured one of their greatest moments of modern times under their former manager Steven Gerrard, with the Ibrox club winning their first Premiership title in ten years in 2020/21.

The Englishman broke their Glasgow arch-rivals dominance of Scottish football while also raising the Light Blues’ standing in European competition during his near three-and-a-half-year stay in Scotland.

However, he did make some mistakes in his time at Rangers, with a few of his early signings never making an imprint at Ibrox.

One move on which Gerrard had a nightmare was for a winger who cost the club £2m back in 2018…

Rangers endured a nightmare over Grezda

Albanian winger Eros Grezda joined the Ibrox club from Croatian side Osijek, who Rangers had just defeated in Europa League qualifying. Given the transfer fee spent, he was expected to make a big impression in Glasgow.

In fact, Albanian journalist Ermal Kuka predicted that the Light Blues would make a fortune on the winger, saying: “I was surprised they were able to get him for such a low price. I think that is a real steal.

“In two years, I can easily see them selling him for £20 million, because it is different when you buy from Croatia or you buy from a club like Rangers.”

It’s safe to say that it didn’t exactly turn out like that for Grezda at Rangers, with the player featuring just 17 times for the club and scoring only twice, a brace against Motherwell in November 2018.

He cost the club £1m per goal, and following an alleged spitting incident while playing for the Rangers Colts team against Ballymena United in the Scottish Challenge Cup in September 2019, Gerrard made it clear that the Albanian’s Rangers career was over.

Grezda left Glasgow in January 2020 to rejoin his former club Osijek, and it marked a giant waste of money by the Ibrox side.

Gerrard had a nightmare with the winger, and although the 42-year-old didn’t make mistakes like that on a player too often, when he did it often turned out far worse than he could have originally imagined.

Wolves’ decision to sell Nouha Dicko in 2017 has proven to be a masterstroke, as the 30-year-old is now struggling in Greece after seeing his career decline after leaving Molineux.

The Malian forward was signed from Wigan Athletic in January 2014 for an undisclosed fee and enjoyed the best spell of his career at Molineux.

Dicko would hit 13 goals in his first season at the club, helping the Old Gold earn promotion from League One to the Championship, before starring again in the second tier the following season, notching 14 goals.

The 2015/16 season was a difficult one for Dicko as he ruptured his cruciate ligament, making just four appearances in the Championship for the Molineux outfit.

He was sadly never the same after this, managing just three goals in 30 appearances in the 2016/17 season before Wolves decided to cash in, with Hull City paying £3.5m for his services.

That was an excellent fee for Wolves to receive at the time given Dicko’s form and injury history, but his performances since suggest that it was an even better deal than first thought.

After managing just seven goals in 54 appearances for the Tigers, the Malian striker would have spells in the Netherlands and Turkey with Vitesse Arnhem, Gaziantep FK and Yemi Malatyaspor, where he managed 14 goals in a combined 84 appearances.

Last summer saw Dicko move on once again, this time signing for Greek side OFI Crete FC, where he has so far struggled to impress, failing to score in his first seven appearances with his new club.

Considering Dicko is only 30, it is a surprise to see him struggling at that level of football, as he will be fondly remembered by Wolves fans for his performances in League One and the Championship less than a decade ago.

Sadly, it seems as if that cruciate ligament injury ruined his chances of progressing as a footballer and making a career for himself as a solid Championship option, so the Wolves board did extremely well to sell him for as much as £3.5m in 2017.

Everton podcaster and football scout Ryan Williams was left fuming over an incident involving Jordan Ayew in the Toffees’ 3-0 win at home to Crystal Palace.

The Lowdown: Three points

Frank Lampard’s team earned themselves an emphatic three points at Goodison Park this afternoon thanks to goals from Dominic Calvert-Lewin, Anthony Gordon and Dwight McNeil.

It lifts them up to 11th in the Premier League table, and they can now start to look up instead of down, having ended a run of three straight defeats.

The Latest: ‘Absurd’ incident

Despite the win, Williams took to Twitter fuming over the decision from referee Simon Hooper not to give Ayew a yellow card in the second half, despite his persistent fouling, even going as far as to call it ‘absurd’.

The podcaster raged: “This is absurd. The refereeing is just completely one-sided at this point. Ayew with another aggressive play that was a foul, no call, no card, and then a foul on DCL.”

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The Verdict: Result most important

Although Everton can feel aggrieved by some of the decisions which went against them, the result is the most important thing.

That said, The Athletic reporter Patrick Boyland was also critical of Hooper’s refereeing performance and called Ayew a ‘repeat offender’.

Palace picked up four bookings in total, including three in the 68th minute, showing how overly aggressive they were at times in the second half, but that should be a compliment to how well the hosts were playing that their opponents felt they had to resort to such heavy-handed play.

Nonetheless, Lampard will not worry too much about the standard of officiating today as his side got an emphatic win in front of their home supporters.

Manchester City forward Riyad Mahrez ‘needs to prove his worth’ after a lack of Premier League game time this season, according to Sky Sports pundit Kevin Campbell.

The Lowdown: Out of favour

The Algerian has had an underwhelming opening to the new campaign, making just three league starts, and was most recently an unused substitute during last weekend’s 1-0 defeat to Liverpool.

Having slightly fallen down Pep Guardiola’s pecking order, the 31-year-old finished in 12th place in this year’s Ballon d’Or awards, and will no doubt be keen to get back out onto the Etihad pitch as soon as possible to show what he can do.

The Latest: Campbell’s support for Mahrez

Asked by Football Insider whether Mahrez not starting games more frequently was a surprise, Campbell said:

“It is a slight surprise but he is coming off the bench a lot.

“We tend to see him more in the second half of the season.

“Mahrez is a quality player. He will get his games this season. It is just a case of when you get them with Pep Guardiola.

“If Mahrez was upset with his game time he would address the situation, I’m sure. I do not think he feels that way though. Sometimes you don’t get picked, that is the reality of football.

“Mahrez needs to prove his worth on the training ground. Managers want players that are hungry.

“Mahrez will get his game time. Listen, how are the rich ever going to survive? It is embarrassing how many good players they have got.”

The Verdict: Deserves an opportunity

City haven’t been giving Mahrez a fair run in the team, and it’s what he deserves given his previous track record in the final third.

The winger has clocked up a remarkable 112 goal contributions in 202 appearances for the Sky Blues, and already has a goal and assist to his name in just four Champions League outings this term (WhoScored).

Guardiola will need squad depth with the increased amount of fixtures after the World Cup break, and that could provide Mahrez with the perfect opportunity to stake his claim in the starting XI.

Sheffield Wednesday defender Ben Heneghan is set to be ruled out of the League One game vs Bristol Rovers this evening through injury, according to reports.

The Lowdown: Moore’s concern

The Owls suffered a blow when the 29-year-old was forced off the pitch inside the final 20 minutes of the 1-1 draw against Lincoln last weekend and looked to be in some discomfort.

Darren Moore later admitted that he was ‘concerned’ by the centre-back’s situation, and he is now likely to be sidelined when Joey Barton’s side make the trip to Hillsborough.

The Latest: Heneghan to miss Bristol game

According to Yorkshire Post, Heneghan is ‘expected to miss’ the Bristol clash, though the severity of the injury he’s sustained is currently ‘unknown’.

Dominic Iorfa, or even Liam Palmer, could take his place alongside Mark McGuinness who has now returned to full fitness.

The 6 foot 2 star won’t be the only Wednesday player absent, with Akin Famewo and Reece James both still unavailable for selection.

The Verdict: Setback for Moore

The Owls not having Heneghan at their disposal is a setback for Moore, who will have seen the huge impact the colossus has had on his starting XI this season.

The ‘threat’ from set pieces, as labelled by journalist Josh Bunting, was averaging 6.2 successful aerial duels and 5.2 clearances per league game prior to his injury, making himself a rock at the heart of the backline (WhoScored).

Wednesday securing victory tonight would keep them third in the table and close the gap at the top to just five points, as the boss looks to continue his push for promotion.

Manchester City midfielder Bernardo Silva could make a move away from the Etihad Stadium in the summer, according to talkSPORT pundit Gabby Agbonlahor. 

The Lowdown: Previous interest in Silva

The previous summer transfer window saw the midfielder be heavily linked with a move to Barcelona, with City putting a reported price tag of €100m (£86m) on him.

A report in August then revealed that the City star was focused on staying at the Etihad Stadium for the current season.

Recently, it was claimed that the Manchester club are keen on getting Silva to sign a new deal with them, although it seems Agbonlahor thinks this could be a wasted exercise from the Blues.

The Latest: A potential summer exit

Speaking to Football Insider, former Aston Villa striker turned pundit Agbonlahor, had this to say about Silva and what the future could hold for him.

“As players, you only get one career, you only get one life. Bernardo Silva might have it in his head ‘I want to play for Barcelona, I want to play for such an iconic club’. A manager like Pep [Guardiola] will not want to stand in his way.

“It might be a case that Bernardo leaves in the summer and they grant him his wish to go to Barcelona. They can recoup some money and use that towards a signing.

“Maybe he doesn’t want to sign a new contract, he’s won the Premier League with Man City so he might want to try a different league.”

The Verdict: A big blow for City

To highlight how much of a key figure the Portuguese international is for City and Guardiola, only four other outfield players at the club have racked up more minutes in the Premier League this season than Silva.

Across the 12 league appearances he’s made, only Kevin De Bruyne (9) has supplied more assists than the 28-year-old (5), who has been hailed by Sam Lee for his “magic” attacking play in the past.

Taking into account how much of a prominent and effective attacking figure Silva is for Guardiola’s side, it would undoubtedly be a massive blow for them to see him leave the club in the summer.

Moving forward, as recent reports have claimed, City should do all they can to get the Portuguese international to put pen to paper on a new deal at the Etihad and put to bed any speculation about his future.