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Antonio Conte has reportedly now identified his main transfer target for Tottenham Hotspur – Juventus midfielder Weston McKennie.

The Lowdown: Well-known

McKennie is a player that is well-known to both Conte and Fabio Paratici, given their connections to Serie A.

Of course, Conte thrived at Inter Milan last season, guiding them to the Serie A title ahead of McKennie’s Juventus, while Paratici used to be the managing director at the Old Lady before moving on to Spurs.

McKennie is a player that Paratici was particularly fond of during his time at Juve, claiming that he is ‘very exuberant’ and ‘very intelligent’, while adding that they had ‘high expectations’ of him (Juve FC).

Former Juventus manager Andrea Pirlo even went as far as to call him a ‘rock’ in his team earlier this year, so he is a player that is certainly generating excitement.

The Latest: Main target

As per Calciomercato, Conte will now look to sign McKennie for Spurs in the January transfer window, and he is the even ‘first name on his wish list’.

However, for the North London club to have any chance of securing his signature next month, they would need to cough up at least €30-35m (£25.3-29.6m).

The Verdict: Get it done

At just 23 years of age, McKennie is already playing at a high level, having shined at FC Schalke before he moved to Juventus.

He has already featured 18 times in the UEFA Champions League for both clubs combined, and clearly has a high ceiling given the lofty praise from those who have worked with him.

Nonetheless, he is already making a name for himself at international level as well, racking up no fewer than 28 senior caps for the United States, while he was also named their Footballer of the Year in 2020.

Harry Winks, Tanguy Ndombele and Dele Alli could all be leaving the Lilywhites soon, which would certainly open up a midfield slot for McKennie to grab with both arms.

In other news, find out which ‘undefendable’ beast Conte is now keen on here!

Everton appear to be closing in on the appointment of Nuno Santo as their new manager, but one other name tipped to replace Carlo Ancelotti is Graham Potter. However, Lawrie Sanchez believes that the Merseyside outfit might have been cautious of going for the Brighton boss because of how Marco Silva’s tenure went.

Potter and Silva have similarities in terms of how they started at smaller Premier League or foreign clubs before getting a move to a more established top-flight English club and now being linked with big clubs like Spurs and Everton, but Silva’s term at Everton did not go to plan.

The Brighton manager, who director of football Marcel Brands is reportedly especially keen on, has earned rave reviews from managers such as Pep Guardiola, and was widely tipped as a candidate for the Spurs job. However, despite all the praise he is still yet to guide the Seagulls to a higher finish than 15th in the Premier League.

This next appointment has to be spot on so Everton can plan for the long term future both on and off the pitch, and Sanchez believes that the Toffees could be a bit wary of appointing Potter because of his lack of experience, much like Silva, as he told Football FanCast exclusively:

“Clubs look at what they’ve done before and they went and got the new bright manager when they signed Marco Silva from Watford, and he had only just got there as he had just left Hull.

“They’ve been stung before with a young manager with the Silva situation and then they’ve ended up going for established names like Koeman, Ancelotti and Allardyce. So, I’m not saying he couldn’t do it at Everton but they seem like they want an established name.”

Everton are going to move into a new stadium in the coming years so they will be wanting to have the club in the best possible position on the pitch for that happening, and hopefully have European football in their debut season in their new ground.

Potter has managed to turn Brighton into a slick possession-based team in only two seasons and if they had a striker last season who was clinical in front of goal then they would have been pushing much higher up the league, as they had an xG of 51.6 compared to them actually only scoring 40 times.

Sunderland managed to rescue a point late on at home to Rotherham United as they drew 1-1 in League One on Tuesday night.

An own goal from Michael Ihiekwe spared their blushes after the central defender scored at the right end for the visitors in the first half, in a game that saw Alex Neil’s team dominate possession, but create very few chances (SofaScore).

As such, The Transfer Tavern have used statistical experts SofaScore to analyse who the three worst performers (to have played at least 45 minutes) were for the hosts on the night, as this trio lost the ball a combined 37 times from 123 touches, or roughly every three touches.

With such a crucial final game of the season coming up this weekend, could any of these men be fearing for their place in the XI?

Nathan Broadhead

Admittedly tied with second in terms of overall rating (6.4/10), Broadhead ranks in third here as he did not complete the full 90 minutes.

The Everton loanee lost out on four of his duels in total, and also failed to record a single shot, dribble or key pass, managing a mere 19 touches of the ball and giving it away with nine of those.

Callum Doyle

Also given a 6.4 rating, Doyle ranked as the Stadium of Light faithful’s second-worst player.

The central defender lost eight duels, more than any of his teammates, and also made no clearances, interceptions or key passes, while he was dribbled past once and lost the ball 13 times from 62 touches.

Jay Matete

Matete ranked as the Wearside club’s worst performer with a 6.2 rating.

The centre midfielder got off to a bad start with a booking inside the opening eight minutes, and struggled to really recover from that, as he was unsuccessful in five of his duels, and recorded no shots, dribbles, clearances, interceptions or key passes, making two fouls and giving possession away a total of 15 times from 42 touches.

In other news, find out what Black Cats update has Roker Report buzzing here!

Spurs youngster Alfie Devine has been tipped to earn more game time in the first-team next season by football.london reporter Alasdair Gold.

The 16-year-old prodigy was named among six other emerging prospects as players who could save Daniel Levy and the club millions in the transfer market, and it’s easy to see why.

Devine is already a record-breaker at the club, which should stand him in good stead.

He first became the youngest-ever player to feature in a competitive game, and then went one better when scoring on that senior debut, coming off the bench to find the net against Marine in the FA Cup.

Gold believes Devine is too young to send out on loan next season, so he’s likely to feature more next term, particularly in cup competitions.

The teenager’s chances of doing exactly that could be bolstered depending on the futures of some first-team players, including Harry Winks, who is thought to be wanting an exit from the club this summer.

According to Sport (via Sport Witness), the out-of-favour Englishman will insist on a summer departure, with La Liga a potential destination.

Whilst Dele Alli is another who could move on, according to the Telegraph. And Moussa Sissoko is getting no younger; he will be 32 at the start of next season.

In Devine, Spurs could unearth their next Michael Carrick, which would be a fine reward for their £300k investment in someone so young.

At his former club, Wigan, he was lauded as a “very talented” player with “huge potential” by academy manager Gregor Rioch and chief executive Jonathan Jackson.

Similarly, Sky Sports pundit Jamie Carragher was gutted to see him leave the League One outfit, dubbing him “top-class” on Twitter.

Devine has even already made his presence felt amongst the first-team, aside from scoring on debut, Japhet Tanganga has praised his impact in training. The fellow Spurs youngster told the Independent:

“He’s trained a few times with us and every time he’s come up he’s looked a real spark,” before adding: “He’s shown he can hustle, he’s shown what he can do, so hopefully from here he can kick on and get more appearances for the club.”

Carrick, albeit a little older at 23, didn’t come through the system at Hotspur Way. Instead, the club splashed out £3.5m to sign him from London rivals West Ham United.

And some similarities can be drawn here.

‘Imposing box-to-box style’ is how the Guardian described the 16-year-old gem in their ‘Next Generation’ list for 2020 and that’s how one could describe the former United midfielder. He was more defensively-minded and ‘imposing’ as his career went on, but could still get up the pitch when need be.

Carrick also played under the Special One at United (43 appearances), so that could help Devine in terms of playing style as he continues to develop at this quick rate.

If – and when – Mourinho unleashes Devine next season, Spurs could well unearth their next Carrick.

AND in other news, Imagine him & Ndombele: Levy must sanction £38m Spurs swoop for “breathtaking” dynamo…

Lots of Everton fans have been left to react to a transfer update on Moise Kean from Nicolo Schira.

As per a tweet from the sports journalist and transfer guru, Paris Saint Germain want to buy the Italy international on a permanent deal from the Goodison Park faithful, as Mauro Icardi could be leaving the 2019/20 UEFA Champions League finalists in the summer window.

Kean has settled into life at PSG very well ever since his loan spell from the Merseyside club, meaning Carlo Ancelotti’s team could be entitled to demand a rather large sum of money for them to sign him permanently.

This, coupled up with the fact that the 21-year-old did not adapt well to playing in English football, has meant that several Toffees supporters are happy with the idea of him leaving.

Everton fans on Kean transfer update

These Blues expressed their happiness to let Kean go on Twitter, with one EFC fan even going as far as to claim that the striker is ‘hopeless’:

“£40 odd million and he’s yours! Or £30 million and Areola, that wouldn’t be too bad!….”

Credit: @AidyDews

“Get rid. He’s hopeless. Even Joey Barton looked decent when playing in the French league”

Credit: @terry_aki1984

“Swap deal anyone??? #EFC”

Credit: @Stu_jones86

“You are the Italian version of Christian Falk but I hope you are right this time, Nico.”

Credit: @exiledtoffee

“Swap deal? Icardi for Kean?”

Credit: @karlriley_1997

“Sound….we’ll swap you!!!”

Credit: @sav4efc

In other news, find out what transfer update Toffees have been hailing here!

Aston Villa could sign a massive upgrade on Marvelous Nakamba in the form of Southampton midfielder Oriol Romeu.

What’s the story?

Reports in recent weeks have suggested that the Dean Smith’s side are keen on the Spaniard’s teammate at St Mary’s, James Ward-Prowse, but it appears Smith is also keen on signing Romeu too.

According to The Telegraph, Villa have identified the holding midfield position as something that needs reinforcing over the summer, with Romeu now featuring on the shortlist.

Upgrade on Nakamba

The 6 foot ace would represent a major upgrade on Nakamba in that anchorman role – in fact, as per Whoscored, the Saint’s man impressive average of 3.3 tackles per game in the Premier League last season ranked him joint-third in the entire division.

Romeu also averaged 1.4 interceptions per game, numbers which are far better than any of Smith’s current options at Villa Park – Nakamba being the closest Villa player to the Spaniard, managing just 1.7 tackles and 1.3 interceptions per match.

And, when asked about Romeu’s performance against West Brom in a 2-0 victory last season, Southampton boss Ralph Hasenhuttl said: “When you see him as a professional, how he reacts when he is not first-choice, he’s one of the most professional guys I’ve ever seen.

“Sometimes he is under the radar because he makes the work nobody wants to do – closing the gaps, closing the space, winning duels, being everywhere and when he is in the moment when he can score, it is unbelievable for him.”

Given his ability to cover the ground and break up opposition attacks, and the fact that he’s Premier League proven, the £65k-a-week earning Romeu is someone who would be a massive improvement on Nakamba in the middle of the park.

Villa should push to complete a move for the Spaniard.

Meanwhile, Villa make their first approach for this Premier League star…

Manchester United were left frustrated at Elland Road on Sunday afternoon as they could only draw 0-0 with Leeds.

After a 6-2 thriller at Old Trafford between the two earlier in the campaign, the same could have been expected of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s troops but that kind of game did not transpire at all, with the defences eventually coming out on top.

One of the main culprits of the Red Devils’ woeful attacking play was Daniel James who was surprisingly granted his first Premier League start in over a month in Yorkshire.

Ironically playing against a side who he could potentially have represented, the 19-cap Welsh international might as well have actually been wearing a white shirt.

He did not have a single shot throughout the entire game (according to WhoScored) and even when presented with the opportunity to find the net in the second half, he dallied for far too long, giving Ezgjan Alioski the chance to get back and produce a vital challenge.

[snack-amp-story url= “https://www.footballfancast.com/web-stories/the-latest-man-united-transfer-rumours-and-news-from-old-trafford-fofana-solskjaer-van-de-beek-wwodward” title=”The latest Man United transfer rumours and news from Old Trafford…”]

James’ underwhelming contributions did not improve from there as he did not contribute a key pass, whilst providing only one cross for his teammates. His pass completion rate of 75% was only worsened by Marcus Rashford in terms of the players who started the game for the Red Devils.

As a matter of fact, the 23-year-old only contributed 24 passes in all throughout the entire game which was one less than the total United goalkeeper Dean Henderson managed to accumulate throughout his personal display.

The only real positive that James could be awarded was the fact that he managed to complete three dribbles against Leeds, only Aaron Wan-Bissaka beating that number in the Manchester United side.

His bitterly disappointing afternoon was eventually brought to an end in the 75th minute of the game as he was replaced by midfielder Paul Pogba and it was no shock to see him hooked.

AND in more news, take a look at how we rated the rest of the Manchester United team at Elland Road…

Wolves won’t have a great deal of money to spend this summer. It’s an unfortunate eventuality but ultimately one which cost Nuno Santo his job in the Midlands.

It would appear that the only way to spend big this summer will be to sell some of their prized assets.

What’s the word?

One player who has been on the radar of the Old Gold for a while now is Sporting Lisbon midfielder Joao Palhinha. They’ve been interested in the 25-year-old since last year but, despite winning Liga NOS with Sporting this term, he could be heading for the exit door.

According to Record (via Sport Witness), Wolves are the strongest candidates for his signature but a concrete proposal is yet to be made.

A separate report stated that Everton are also chasing his signature, which means that his agent, a certain Jorge Mendes, could be key in luring him to Molineux instead.

Ideal Neves replacement

Palhinha may not possess the long-range shooting of Ruben Neves, but he’d be a stellar replacement for the 24-year-old in the middle of the park.

The Wolves midfielder looks likely to leave this summer, with the Old Gold needing to sell before they can spend this summer. The Athletic claimed that a fee of £35m will be enough to tempt the Molineux hierarchy into selling the Portugal international.

[snack-amp-story url= “https://www.footballfancast.com/web-stories/read-the-latest-wolves-transfer-news-guedes-toney-shaqiri-neves” title=”Read the latest Wolves transfer news!”]

If Neves does move on, it would be a huge blow. He has been the glue holding Wolves together for a number of years now, thriving in English football after becoming the most expensive signing in Championship history.

Wonderfully composed in possession of the ball, Palhinha is also a tough-tackling general in the middle of the park.

Those are two attributes synonymous with Neves. During this season, the 24-year-old completed 84.4% of his passes and registered 2.4 tackles per match.

Comparing those numbers to Palhinha, the Sporting stalwart was successful with just over 83% of his passes in Portugal, winning 3.3 tackles per game.

Neves is more productive in the final third but, if the club’s new manager requires someone who can win the ball back on a more regular basis, then Palhinha is their man.

Standing at 6 foot 3, the £35m midfielder’s game is well suited to the Premier League. His physical qualities are outstanding, bullying opponents to one side and then starting attacks.

The Portugal international’s 1.3 shots per game indicate he can also still get forward, which is important when considering how he can replace Neves.

A destructive force, Palhinha would come at a high cost. However, if they are going to lose one of their best players from the Nuno era, they will have to spend.

AND in other news, Wolves eye swoop for “outstanding” 25 G/A beast, he could be their new Traore…

Aston Villa could be heading for another Charles N’Zogbia disaster amid reports linking them with a move for Bordeaux’s Mehdi Zerkane.

What’s the story?

In recent days, French publication L’Equipe (via Get French Football News) has claimed that Dean Smith’s side have made contact with Zerkane over a potential move in the summer transfer window.

It was added that: “Zerkane, who scored a goal last night vs Lens in a crucial win in FCGB’s relegation battle, was watched again by Aston Villa scouts who were in the stands – they have been tracking Zerkane for at least 3 months and have made contact with the player’s entourage.”

Another N’Zogbia disaster

Villa fans will, of course, know all about N’Zogbia and the kind of hype that came with him after some starring performances with Wigan, but the exciting winger never ended up delivering at Villa Park.

And, in a piece done by The Birmingham Mail, they wrote: “Quick, agile, athletic and an eye for a goal! What arrived was a massive anti-climax having cost little over £10m. He was not helped by the dour football of Alex McLeish. He could hardly utilise his expertise in a team playing route one football.

“He did suffer an Achilles injury during Paul Lambert’s tenure that kept him out for a season. But, with a £50-60k wage heading into his bank account each week, the Frenchman has simply not justified it. He had offered nothing in all honesty to this team, even during Tim Sherwood’s short-lived spell last season where he was in the starting-XI more often that not but was just a passenger if anything else.”

Zerkane is in that similar mould, being someone who can play on either flank with a bit of pace, but there are already some signs that he would be a massive flop at Villa.

[snack-amp-story url=”https://www.footballfancast.com/web-stories/villa-dean-smith-transfer-gossip-rumours-news-premier-league-buendia-berge-mcneil-trezeguet-villa-park” title=”Read the latest Villa transfer rumours and news!”]

This season has seen him score just one goal in 28 games in all competitions, the kind of record that even favours poorly compared to N’Zogbia’s tally of five in 93 for Villa.

And like the Frenchman, Zerkane has also suffered from injuries in his fledgling career, and has already missed a decent chunk of the campaign just gone by with a leg issue.

This has all the hallmarks of going down the route that N’Zogbia’s career did at Villa, and if that’s the case, it’s a move that won’t have fans happy at all.

Meanwhile, Villa are interested in this South American star; it’s not Buendia…

Everton fans are livid after it was revealed the Toffees are willing to pay some of James Rodriguez’s wages for him to leave the club before the Turkish window slams shut.

When Rodriguez made the move to Goodison Park from Real Madrid last summer, there was shock around the footballing world. He showed signs of his ability on Merseyside, scoring six goals and providing five assists (Transfermarkt), but the departure of Carlo Ancelotti appears to have left the 29-year-old without much desire to stay put (talkSPORT).

It seems there may be a way out for the Colombia international. As per Pipe Sierra, Istanbul Basaksehir are interested in signing the attacking midfielder and, in a bid to push through the deal, Everton would be willing to pay part of his wages. This has angered the club’s supporters, who believe there is no point in letting him go if that is the case.

The news was shared on Twitter by @ToffeeTVEFC, and it attracted plenty of attention from the Gers supporters. They took to the social media platform to share their thoughts.

Let’s see what the fans had to say about the Rodriguez news below

“Absolutely pathetic.”

Credit: @UTFT_1878

“Awful deal for us if true.”

Credit: @paulmomber

“Will be fuming if we do this deal”

Credit: @simoncooper107

“Whats the point in that?”

Credit: @Tony_willow86

“Ridiculous from the club. Just play him while he’s here!”

Credit: @johnjon69972607

“Not a good deal sell or we keep and play would make more sense to offload tosen”

Credit: @johnsonk62

In other news, Everton fans are livid with this injury news.