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A report from Spanish publication Don Balon has claimed that Manchester City are planning to launch an audacious bid for Kylian Mbappe next year.

According to Don Balon [via Sports Mole], the Premier League champions view the Paris Saint-Germain forward as a player around whom Pep Guardiola could build a team if Sergio Aguero and Gabriel Jesus depart, with David Silva’s exit next summer already confirmed.

Don Balon added that PSG value the 20-year-old France international at €300m (£268m), with @City_Chief on Twitter relaying the news to its followers.

Don Balon also claimed that Mbappe is open to the possibility of leaving the French capital if PSG again fail to win the Champions League this season.

The forward has only scored twice in six games for PSG so far in 2019/20, with a hamstring injury curtailing his recent involvement, but he has already scored 62 goals in just 93 games for the Ligue 1 champions.

Despite Mbappe’s excellent scoring record, these Manchester City fans on Twitter believe that he should not be a transfer priority at the Etihad Stadium and have instead called on the club to focus on other positions in identifying targets:

Do you think Manchester City are right to take an interest in Mbappe or should defensive signings be prioritised? Join in the discussion by commenting below!

This article is part of Football FanCast’s The Chalkboard series, which provides a tactical insight into teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…

And just as Barcelona feared, Ousmane Dembele has been officially charged with a two-game ban after insulting and arguing with the referee, Mateu Lahoz, in the clash against Sevilla last weekend. But not all is grim for the Catalans, however, since they still have their 16-year-old talisman who could get his big El Clasico debut at the end of the month.

On the chalkboard

Even though Barcelona have confirmed that they will indeed appeal both red cards handed out by Lahoz last Sunday – Ronald Araujo was also sent off – at the moment it seems that Dembele is sure to miss the clash against Real Madrid.

Blaugrana will travel to Eibar first after the international break and then, at the end of the month, will host Los Blancos at the Camp Nou for this season’s first El Clasico.

Watch Spanish Football Live Streams With StreamFootball.tv Below

And as things stand, Dembele’s two-game suspension would see him miss the big game in Catalonia.

But even if that happens, Fati will be there to embrace that opportunity with both hands.

History in the making

By this point, everyone knows who Barcelona’s 16-year-old prodigy is and how he has shattered multiple long-standing records in the first couple of outings he has had with the Catalan giants.

But making his El Clasico debut and potentially marking it with an excellent performance would surely be the cherry on the cake.

Watch Lionel Messi and Gareth Bale answer the internet’s weirdest questions in the video below…

And the stars seem to be fully aligned for Fati to actually participate in the clash, at the very least.

Recently, he wasn’t called up for Spain’s U17 squad, which means he will be available for Ernesto Valverde to pick if he so chooses.

But with Dembele potentially out of the picture due to that aforementioned suspension, Fati getting that call seems more than just likely and we’ve seen already that the coach is not afraid to throw the youngster into the fire when necessary.

He has, thus far, made five La Liga appearances, scoring twice and providing one assist.

And Fati himself seems ready to take on another challenge.

These are exciting times for both the teenager and Barca’s fans.

This article is part of Football FanCast’s Injury News series, which considers the impact of the latest updates on players’ fitness.

After scoring five goals and grabbing an assist in the first six Championship games of the season, Lyle Taylor was in fantastic form.

The Montserrat international didn’t taste defeat with Charlton in those first six games, helping the Addicks to four wins and two draws.

However, sadly for the 29-year-old, he was struck with a significant injury while on international duty that would see him ruled him out for around two months.

Upon that negative happening to the Addicks No.9, Tomer Hemed – a summer signing after leaving Brighton – could well have had a chance to shine in Taylor’s absence up top in Lee Bowyer’s XI.

The 6 foot forward did get a few chances to do just that, starting the games against Birmingham and Wigan while Taylor continued his recovery.

Disappointingly, however, the 32-year-old failed to find the net in either of those games, with some Charlton fans on Twitter being specifically unhappy with his efforts in the defeat to Wigan.

Hemed has not played since the defeat to the Latics, and after an update from Taylor himself on his personal Instagram account (via Football League World), the Israel international is running out of time to grab his chance with the main man out injured.

In Taylor’s Instagram update – which has now disappeared as it was via a temporary ‘story’ – it showed the five-goal man running on a treadmill as he steps up his recovery.

Hemed could have been the man to fill his boots due to his previous prolific form in the Championship, scoring 17 goals for Brighton in the 2015/16 campaign before notching 11 in the following season.

Sadly for him and for Charlton though, he is yet to score or even assist in red, and all the time that Taylor gets fitter and fitter, Hemed is running out of time to impress Bowyer and shine.

Newcastle United captain Jamaal Lascelles has claimed the Magpies are fancying their chances against Chelsea, as the Blues’ youth could hurt them on Saturday.

Frank Lampard has named the fifth-youngest starting line-up in the Premier League on average this season, with the Stamford Bridge natives holding an average age of 25.1 from the 21 players used thus far (TransferMarkt).

Among the Chelsea players named by Lampard for a league game this season, only 30-year-old Cesar Azpilicueta and 25-year-old Kepa Arrizabalaga have featured more heavily than 20-year-old Mason Mount, with the Blues youngster playing all bar ten minutes of what has been on offer thus far.

Tammy Abraham, 22, has played the fifth-most of any Blues player, and has returned a joint Premier League high of eight goals during his 576 minutes of top-flight action.

Lampard has matched his youth in attack with youth at the back, too, where 21-year-old Fikayo Tomori has featured in each of the West London outfit’s last five league games and made his Champions League debut against Valencia in September.

Tomori had only played once for Chelsea’s first-team heading into the 2019/20 campaign, but had spent the previous term on loan at Derby County under Lampard following a spell with Hull City, which returned a combined 81 appearances across all competitions (TransferMarkt).

Abraham also featured in 40 games across all competitions for Aston Villa last season as he helped the Birmingham-based outfit secure their return to the Premier League as play-off champions, in which he scored a total of 26 goals.

Chelsea’s youth has sparked slight confidence in Lascelles, who has told Newcastle’s official website that ‘there’s no reason’ the Toon cannot repeat their result against Manchester United when they travel to Stamford Bridge.

“They’re a young side with not much experience in there,” he said. “We’ve been working really hard this week and we’re looking forward to it. It’s going to be a tough game, but we do fancy our chances.

“We’re still going off the last game. We beat Man United at home and there’s no reason why we can’t beat Chelsea. We’ve still got the confidence from the last game and hopefully we can go and do the same job.”

Lampard has certainly called on a variety of young players this season, including 18-year-old Callum Hudson-Odoi following his return from injury, but Lascelles’ point of their lack of experience potentially being a weakness has not been backed up by some of their performances.

Abraham is, after all, the Premier League’s joint-leading goalscorer with a hit rate of one every 72 minutes, while Tomori ranks only second to Wolves’ Willy Boly for successful tackles per 90 minutes for centre-backs with an average of 3, per WhoScored data.

Performances may occasionally dip, but it is unlikely that Chelsea’s youth will be what offers Newcastle a chance to take a favourable result in West London, where the Magpies have not taken a point since 2012 (11v11).

Steve Bruce’s Toon also only have a marginally higher average age this term, with United holding an average of 25.7 from the 22 players used so far, including 19-year-old Matty Longstaff, 21-year-old Sean Longstaff, and 22-year-old Allan Saint-Maximin.

Newcastle fans, is Lascelles confidence well placed? Let us know in the comments below…

This article is part of Football FanCast’s Off the Bench series, which places in-game managerial decisions and squad selections under FFC’s microscope.

West Brom had to come from behind to keep their two-point advantage at the top of the Championship table on Tuesday evening.

The division’s basement boys Barnsley very nearly caused an upset as they went into half-time two goals to the good, thanks to a quickfire six-minute brace from Cauley Woodrow.

Albion found a way back into the match when Matheus Pereira’s inswinging corner went in off Tykes defender Bambo Diaby before the enigmatic Brazilian headed home an equaliser nine minutes from time.

Watch West Bromwich Albion Live Streams With StreamFootball.tv Below

Snapshot

It was Slaven Bilic’s half-time decision that inspired the comeback as he made the bold call to haul off one of this season’s stars in Nathan Ferguson for a more natural left-back in Conor Townsend while fellow academy graduate Kyle Edwards was also replaced with Filip Krovinovic coming on too.

The 19-year-old was recently linked with moves to Atletico Madrid, Juventus, and Tottenham, which is a reward for how impressive he has been to date, but during this match, he struggled to cope with Barnsley’s right wing-back.

Ferguson had been filling in just fine at left-back in Kieran Gibbs’ absence, so this shocker comes as a surprise.

Thankfully, Townsend stepped up to the mark and became a protagonist in changing the Baggies’ fortunes as he assisted Pereira’s late equaliser.

Off the Bench

The 26-year-old had played just 19 minutes of Championship action before his introduction, and that came on the opening day against Nottingham Forest.

Since then, Townsend has only been named in the matchday squad six times, but that may well shift in the near future after his game-changing impact on Tuesday night.

Per SofaScore, the former Scunthorpe United defender recorded two successful dribbles, two key passes, and won three of his five aerial duels.

He was able to deal with the threat of Dimitri Cavare more efficiently than the young Ferguson, who lost possession six times and was dribbled past on one occasion.

Given that Gibbs wasn’t in the matchday squad for this fixture, Townsend may have just played himself into the starting line up when the west Midlands side host Charlton Athletic at the Hawthorns this weekend.

The rarely-seen left-back can now kick on from his equalising assist with Ferguson moving back across to his more natural right side.

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…

It’s like we’re playing a big game of Cluedo.

Everyone is trying to work out exactly what is going wrong at Nottingham Forest as they came crashing down to earth from their ten-game unbeaten run to now losing two matches in a row.

Former Forest man Kenny Burns has had his say on the matter and he thinks that it’s down to the absence of one man.

What’s he said?

Speaking to Nottinghamshire Live, Burns believes that it’s in fact captain Michael Dawson that the cub have been missing the most, and that his partnership with Joe Worrall was one of the bedrocks of the club’s unbeaten run:

“Michael Dawson has been a big miss for Nottingham Forest. If he does come back from injury this week, it will be a huge boost for us. Dawson and Joe Worrall had been really good together as a partnership.

“They’d developed a strong relationship in the centre of the defence. I think we’d looked more solid when those two were playing together – and keeping more clean-sheets is something we need to do. I think we’ve missed Dawson’s leadership as well. He’s a proper captain.”

Watch Nottingham Forest Live Streams With StreamFootball.tv Below

Time for someone else to step up?

There have been many factors that you can blame on Nottingham Forest’s recent slump, and the injuries that have hit the squad are certainly one of them.

But it’s the point about captaincy that raises a bit of a concern.

If they really are missing his captaincy and leadership skills on the pitch, isn’t that a little bit of an indictment on the rest of the players in the squad?

Does it suggest there is nobody there who is up to marshalling the troops? Isn’t one of the clichés in football that you want ‘eleven captains on the pitch’?

Indeed Burns himself said last month that he saw Dawson’s centre-back partner Worrall as a future captain of the club, but if he hasn’t managed to step up in the central defender’s absence, what sort of standard is he setting if he wants to get the job on a permanent basis in the future?

Check out Matchday with Max’s latest Nottingham Forest vlog in the video below…

So whilst the armband might be with 34-year-old Ben Watson when Dawson is missing, perhaps it’s time Worrall stepped forward and showed us what he’s made of because it’s not just the results that are on the line, but also his candidacy for the job next season.

Having arrived in the summer for a fee in the region of £50m, Aaron Wan-Bissaka has well and truly established himself as part of the Manchester United furniture in his debut campaign at the club.

Already this season, the 21-year-old has featured in ten games across all competitions, and has appeared to make the right-back position his own under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.

Against Norwich in the Premier League on Sunday afternoon, Wan-Bissaka put in a defensive masterclass, as he completely overwhelmed the Canaries’ attackers.

As per Sofascore, he registered an incredible 11 tackles over the course of the 90 minutes, and made a further three interceptions and two clearances.

After seeing his display, United fans flooded to Twitter to voice their thoughts about their summer signing dominating the game.

Watch Manchester United Live Streams With StreamFootball.tv Below

Many supporters of the Manchester side insisted he was “absolutely incredible” against Daniel Farke’s side, although one fan in particular suggested that even that would be an “understatement” to describe his performance.

Check out some of the reaction of United fans 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…

As quoted by The Evening Standard, Eddie Howe has given Ole Gunnar Solskjaer a glowing endorsement for the work he has done at Manchester United.

What did he say?

Following a difficult start to the campaign, the Red Devils have bounced back in style in recent games, and look to be finding their feet once more.

Solskjaer’s men halted Liverpool’s flawless run in the Premier League with a battling draw at Old Trafford, before racking up three consecutive away victories in quick succession.

And now, Bournemouth boss Howe has given his seal of approval to what the Norwegian has achieved at United, and insisted he has done an “excellent job” so far.

Watch Manchester United Live Streams With StreamFootball.tv Below

He said: “There’s positive signs for them. They’ve got quality players, a very good manager who has given them real stability. He’s working to the future to build a new Manchester United. I imagine it is (hard under that level of pressure). I think he’s handled himself really well and done an excellent job to this point.

“Certainly looking at their last few games, which I have in great detail, I think they have played very well. The game against Chelsea was a very strong performance. They’ll be pleased with their attacking play and defensive structures.”

Platform

For someone like Howe to deliver an encouraging verdict on Solskjaer’s time at Old Trafford, should act as a ringing endorsement for what the Norwegian has done. The pressure and the spotlight at United is second-to-none in the Premier League, and with his only previous managerial experience including Cardiff and Molde, the step-up to taking the reins at one of English football’s most dominant sides would have been intimidating.

And with speculation surrounding his long-term future at the club appearing to intensity earlier this season, the writing may have been on the wall. But, Solskjaer has kept cool, calm and composed in the face of adversity, and looks to have guided his stumbling United side around the corner. A win against Howe’s Bournemouth on Saturday lunch-time would firmly give them the platform to keep improving.

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…

Back to winning ways, but it looks as if not everybody is happy with how things are going.

And by not everybody, there’s only really one man in particular, and that’s former Nottingham Forest player Kenny Burns.

He made some rather bemusing comments when it comes to Forest’s make-shift right-back Matty Cash in the wake of the victory over Luton Town

Cash, a winger by trade, has had to fill in as a defender this season due to injuries to the likes of Tendayi Darikwa and Carl Jenkinson.

What’s he said?

Speaking to Nottinghamshire Live, Burns believes that although Cash has done a great job up to now, that going forward, Forest need to get him out of that position as soon as possible.

“One thing which continues to worry me is Matty Cash playing at right-back. That’s in no way intended as a criticism to Cash, who gives nothing less than 100 percent each and every week, and is getting better game after game. He’s just not a right-back and going forward, I’m not sure how long Lamouchi can persist with it.

“Take Hull for example, they probably have two of the best wingers in the league in Kamil Grosicki and Jarrod Bowen, and both enjoyed a profitable night a couple of weeks ago. As much as I like and respect Cash, the sooner Forest can get Carl Jenkinson fit the better.”

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A bit harsh

The best way you could describe those comments would be ‘damning with faint praise’. Last weekend, Cash set a Championship record this season for most tackles in a match, making a mighty 11 successful challenges.

So for Burns to essentially be calling for the 22-year-old to be dropped as soon as Jenkinson gets fit feels a little bit extreme, especially when he’s been doing so well not just over the weekend, but throughout the season as well.

In fact, if you take a look at WhoScored’s ratings for the Championship this season, he’s actually down as the best right-back in the division.

Therefore, it’s harsh for Burns to be saying that they essentially need to find a solution when overall he’s been doing a fine job.

There may be some inconsistencies to his game but you can give the youngster a little bit of leeway because at the end of the day, he is out of position.

Forest don’t need to fix the position unless it gets absolutely drastic and Cash starts producing errors on a continual basis. There’s enough chopping and changing going on at Forest right now, so rotating for the sake of it won’t make things better.

This article is part of Football FanCast’s In Numbers series, which takes a statistical look at performances, season-long form and reported transfer targets… 

Ryan Manning has been in great form for the most part this season, but the worrying aspects of his game were evident against Middlesbrough, and tell him where he must improve.

Mark Warburton has shown he likes to operate with 3-5-2, and it could be his desired formation moving forward despite not winning when it was deployed in the last two games.

The style is useful as it allows Lee Wallace to support Manning in defending the wide areas, but a lack of communication between the pair against Boro allowed Jonny Howson to take up possession – with the latter in no man’s land – and Britt Assombalonga was able to head in from the cross.

That goal, along with the Nahki Wells’ backpass which played through Assomabalonga to score his second, is evidence that it is often individual mistakes letting down this QPR team, and until they rid that their defensive record will continue to paint a poor picture – having now conceded 30 goals in 16 league games.

Manning has recently enjoyed a call-up to the Republic of Ireland national team for the first time, as well as reported interest from Newcastle and West Ham, but to continue making strides he has to improve.

He can’t afford to let complacency or a lack of concentration affect him when defending, and while he continues to contribute going forward, it is of little use if he gives goals away.

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As per WhoScored, he made three key passes for his side, including one which led to Wells’ goal, but he was too often a hindrance in defence, and his performance should tell him that he must constantly be trying to better himself.

Being dribbled past can happen as a full-back, but more concerning is the fact he made zero tackles and just one interception.

That indicates that his mind is focused more on attacking, and whether that is by his manager’s instruction or his own decision, it is making QPR more vulnerable at the back, which means they are likely to concede even playing five defenders.

As a result, their current style is unsustainable if they want to place anywhere higher than mid-table, so Warburton must instruct Manning to improve his awareness, even if it stifles him a little going forward at first.