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Glasgow Rangers transfer target Jakub Jankto was one of the Czech Republic’s star players against Slovakia on Wednesday night in the UEFA Nations League.

Jankto excels

The Ibrox outfit were linked with a move for the 24-year-old during the summer. In fact, Fabrizio Romano said that the Gers were “so close” to completing a deal for the Sampdoria midfielder, so perhaps they could refresh their interest in the future.

On international duty, he was in top form this week. Playing on the left wing, he made three key passes, one of which was an assist, which helped his country prevail 2-0. The victory means that they will now be promoted to League A.

Showing why Gerrard was interested

It is this kind of display that will only intrigue Steven Gerrard and the 54-time Scottish champions even more. Jankto is naturally a central midfielder, but even on the left flank, he was able to have a strong say in the match. On a big night for the Czech Republic, he stood up and provided the creative spark.

Currently valued at £8.55m (Transfermarkt), this is a player who could be a fantastic acquisition for the Ibrox outfit if they are able to convince him to depart Serie A. Having scored twice in six matches in Serie A so far this term, it is unlikely that Sampdoria will be too eager to let him depart. Still, all Ross Wilson can do is try to capture his services.

In other news, Rangers fans laud this icon who “would’ve set the standards” for Messi.

Whilst Marc Albrighton may never have been the most high-profile of players in his time at Aston Villa, the club’s academy product did end up making over 100 appearances for them.

The winger notched nine goals and provided a further 19 assists, including scoring the Premier League’s 20,000th goal when he netted against Arsenal in 2011.

And whilst he was never the star of the show at Villa Park, it was still somewhat of a surprise when the club opted to release him in the summer of 2014 back when Paul Lambert was still in charge.

Since then, Albrighton has opened up on how his departure came about, and it’s clear there’s still a strong level of disbelief and disappointment at the way things turned out.

He said: “Two days after the season finished, my agent phoned me and said ‘There’s nothing on the table from Villa’. So I said, ‘What do you mean there’s nothing?’

“He was like ‘There’s literally not an offer, there’s not an offer there. You’ve got to go to another club. In my head, definitely naively, I trusted everything that they said. I don’t know whose decision it was, I still don’t know now.

“In my head it was, ‘Yeah my contract’s sorted, he said it would be sorted towards the end of the season, keep playing your football, keep doing what you’re doing, keep doing well’.

“So that’s what I was doing and I just expected a contract. I didn’t expect anything massive because I hadn’t been playing every game, I’d only played bit parts. But whatever was on the table for me I would have accepted. 100 per cent. I didn’t even think in my head that I would leave Villa.”

And whilst being released by his boyhood club may have come as a shock, there’s no doubt that since his exit, he’s continued to prove his former side wrong.

Hailed as an “underrated” player by ex-Liverpool ace Danny Murphy, Albrighton of course played a key role in Leicester’s miraculous Premier League title triumph in 2016 – that season saw him pick up an impressive seven assists in just the top-flight.

And even now at 31, the winger is still producing the goods for Leicester, delivering the assist for Jamie Vardy’s late equaliser in the Foxes’ 3-3 draw against Braga in the Europa League on Thursday.

He’s taken his experience with Villa and let it motivate him, and that’s full credit to him.

Takumi Minamino once again failed to impress when given a rare opportunity to start against FC Midtjylland on Wednesday night and those at the club should now admit their transfer mistake and let him go.

The Japanese international joined Liverpool from RB Salzburg in January but has struggled in his first year with the Reds, having made 27 appearances for the club, contributing just three goals and one assist (per Transfermarkt).

His performances this season have been less than impressive too, as in six Premier League appearances, he has averaged a shocking 6.10 rating, whilst his appearances in the Champions League have resulted in a poor 6.32 rating (per WhoScored).

However, Wednesday night’s performance should be the final nail in the coffin for the 25-year-old, as Jurgen Klopp would have been hoping to see him step up as one of the few senior players on the pitch but instead he was dominated by Midtjylland’s midfield.

As per SofaScore, Minamino picked up a 6.5 rating for his performance against the Danish side, which was better than just Leighton Clarkson and Trent Alexander-Arnold’s match ratings.

The former Salzburg man enjoyed just 42 touches of the ball during his time on the pitch, completing 20/25 of his passes, resulting in a pass accuracy rate of 80%.

He also won just 5/14 of his duels on Wednesday and was dribbled past on four occasions, suggesting that he was second best on a number of occasions.

Although he was unfortunate that his late goal was ruled out due to a baffling VAR call, the midfielder’s overall performance was far from good enough.

When you consider that Minamino earns £75k per week at Liverpool but struggles to impress on his rare starts, usually against inferior opposition, you wonder how much longer the Japanese international has at the Merseyside club, as it could definitely be argued that he is bleeding Michael Edwards dry at the moment.

Earlier in Liverpool’s Champions League campaign, Klopp praised the 25-year-old for his performance against Ajax, saying:

“Taki is a machine. He’s everywhere, he defends like a devil and then offensively he’s really involved. Nice one-twos together with Diogo on the side where they came into the box.”

However, Minamino was clearly not at his best again on Wednesday and at times it is difficult to see what he really offers to this Liverpool side, so it will be interesting to see how long the German manager continues to keep faith in him.

And, in other news… 11 duels won: “Incredible” LFC beast was Klopp’s surprise star man on Wednesday

The Bundesliga currently houses some of the best young talent in European football.

Think of Jadon Sancho, Erling Haaland, Giovanni Reyna and Jude Bellingham – they all ply their trades for Borussia Dortmund.

However, powerhouses Bayern Munich also have a glittering array of talent. For starters, they have defensive sensation Alphonso Davies but they also have 17-year-old Jamal Musiala, someone who was at Chelsea.

But speaking of the Londoners, there is another former young Blue in their squad. That happens to be Bright Akwo Arrey-Mbi, someone who had a trial with Wolves and played five times for their U18 side.

However, why is there a fuss surrounding the 17-year-old? Well, quite incredibly, he started for Bayern against Atletico Madrid in the Champions League on Tuesday evening.

It was his senior debut for the German giants and what a stage to make it on.

The versatile defender played just over an hour in Madrid this week and kept hold of the ball securely, registering an 89% pass success rate and losing the ball just four times.

For a wing-back, that’s a phenomenal tally and it only goes to show why Wolves should be tearing their hair out at letting him slip through their grasp. Someone who can play on the right or the left, and even in the middle, he would have been perfect for Wolves’ defensive shape.

Add that to the fact that he’s been compared to a certain Jerome Boateng and the alarm bells start to ring even more about their decision making.

Speaking about the teenager earlier this year, Joshua Kimmich said: “Bright is already a beast. You can tell that he uses every muscle on his body. It surprised me in training that he’s not shy at all. He really goes into challenges and has a certain calmness on the ball.”

The worrying thing is that this isn’t the first time it’s happened to Wolves. Another player to slip through the net and now thrive on the continent is Pedro Goncalves.

The 22-year-old central midfielder has been superb for Sporting Lisbon this term and has nine goals in just seven league outings. It’s fair to say the Wolves hierarchy should probably do some more thinking before selling players.

You only need to look at Diogo Jota at Liverpool too.

Meanwhile, check out how Wolves can find their PERFECT heir for Raul Jimenez… 

Tottenham Hotspur slipped to a second Premier League defeat in five days earlier this afternoon.Jose Mourinho’s struggling side were well-beaten by Leicester City in north London as they sunk six points adrift of the league leaders.Jamie Vardy opened the scoring for the visitors from the spot after Serge Aurier brought down Wesley Fofana on the stroke of half-time before Toby Alderweireld made matters worse by turning the ball into his own net on the hour mark.Both Serge Aurier and Moussa Sissoko were the key disappointments from a Spurs perspective, but so was Eric Dier, who is usually a player that the ‘Special One’ has been able to hugely rely on this term.Journalist Alasdair Gold was particularly critical in his post-match ratings for football.london, grading his performance a five out of ten, he said:”Would have been caught out for Maddison’s ruled-out goal. Again some really sloppy moments in possession and dithering on the ball, including gifting Leicester a chance late on.”Indeed the England colossus, who earns around £85k-per-week in N17, was wasteful to the point of costing Spurs dearly.The 26-year-old lost possession a whopping 24 times, which was more than any other player on the pitch, via SofaScore.Dier also made just 75% of his 92 passes, had 103 touches without any positive influence, and made just three of 14 of his 12 long ball attempts (21%) – that practically handed the possession back to the Foxes.Despite Brendan Rodgers’s side registering 12 of their 17 shots from inside the box, the long-serving Spurs defender could only muster up one tackle and two blocks all game.The £27m-rated powerhouse truly let his manager down, especially as he struggled to thwart a player he should know all too well in Jamie Vardy.

Dier was rather lucky that it was only a two-goal defeat, as had James Maddison’s finish counted, the spotlight would quite rightly have been thrust onto him, instead of Sissoko, Aurier or even Alderweireld.

He was abysmal today.

AND in other news,ÂSpurs exclusive: Pundit baffled by latest contract update…

According to Football Insider, RB Leipzig have made an approach to sign Aston Villa starlet Jaden Philogene-Bidace in the January transfer window.

Nightmare for Dean Smith

The 18-year-old has yet to make a single senior appearance for Dean Smith’s side, spending all of his career thus far with both the U18s and U23s.

This season has seen the left-winger start off the campaign superbly, bagging four goals and providing a further two assists in just eight Premier League 2 level games.

Now, Football Insider claim that Leipzig are keen to take advantage of the fact he has just six months remaining on his current contract, and that the Bundesliga side have been alerted to the fact they could sign him on the cheap next month, and that will be a nightmare for Smith.

Unforgivable from Lange

As Jack Grealish has shown over the past few years, giving a young rising talent the chance to shine in the first-team can see a pretty big risk pay off spectacularly.

And in Philogene-Bidace, they have got someone who has got considerable talent, and is very similar in his style of play to the club captain. His former coach, Ahmed Abdulla, said: “He can come inside or go on the outside. The model winger.

“He hugs the touchline and can beat his man. (He’s) Very confident and very light on his feet and skips past tackles, not one of them that gets hit and goes down. He bounces off tackles. He’s very strong and outstanding in one-v-ones.”

It would be unforgivable from Villa’s sporting director, Johan Lange, to just let Philogene-Bidace walk away without first seeing how he might perform in the first-team. The fact he has just six months left on his contract and can leave on the cheap makes the whole situation that much more ridiculous.

Lange is heading for a inexcusable nightmare unless he intervenes.

Kevin Campbell has claimed that he can see Leeds United being ‘interested’ in signing Diego Costa along with Wolves.

The former Everton and West Brom striker was reacting to an update from the Italian football journalist and transfer guru Fabrizio Romano, who told  Sky Sports earlier this week that the former Chelsea ace wants to return to the Premier League.

Speaking to Football Insider, Campbell claimed that he can only see the Elland Road faithful as well as Nuno Espirito Santo’s team being ‘interested’ in signing him:

“Wolves or Leeds. Those are the two clubs in the Premier League that I can see being interested in Diego Costa.

“I do not think the top clubs would be interested because he is not the same Diego Costa that was at Chelsea. While he is still a handful he has had his fair share of injury problems of late. It is a case of when you can get him out on the pitch.

“You would have to pay quite a significant price to sign him and I also think there are only a couple of clubs who need a striker like him. I think Wolves are one and the other is Leeds.

“If Patrick Bamford loses form or suffers an injury, Leeds are stumped. Signing Diego Costa could be a good move for them.” 

Costa could be a good signing for Leeds

Costa could well be a good signing for Marcelo Bielsa’s side as Campbell points out. Although his wage demands may be a stumbling block for the Whites, he would not cost them a penny in transfer fees being s free agent, and so may well be an ideal low-cost option.

The Spain international still has a lot that he can offer too despite being 32 years of age now. Previously labelled as a ‘beast’ by his old Atletico Madrid coach in Diego Simeone, he certainly has a physical presence and could be a good alternative to Patrick Bamford if Bielsa would like to go a bit more direct if the Peacocks are chasing the game.

The striker would also give valuable top flight experience to the newly-promoted Yorkshire club, having scored no fewer than 52 goals and supplied a further 18 assists in 89 matches over three consecutive terms in England’s highest division at Stamford Bridge (Transfermarkt).

In other news, find out what Romano has said about one LUFC target here!

For a considerable period of time it looked as though Wolves would fail to bring a striker to Molineux.However, that changed on Wednesday afternoon after news emerged from Spain.

What’s the word?

According to news from Ser Deportivos, relayed by journalist Tim Spiers, Wolves are on the verge of signing Willian Jose from Real Sociedad.

He claims that Wolves have acted quickly after losing their last two games and are now trying to bring the 29-year-old to Molineux on loan.

The deal is set to include an option to buy the striker in the summer but according to Fabrizio Romano, there are still terms to be agreed.

He reveals that the loan fee and option to buy price is to be negotiated over the coming days.

Perfect Jimenez replacement

If you could cherry-pick the best Raul Jimenez replacements from around Europe then it is incredibly likely that Jose would appear high up on the list.

Jimenez, of course, has been missing for a while now after sustaining a fractured skull against Arsenal and since he’s been absent, the club have won just two of their last ten games.

Signing a new forward, especially one who matches the qualities of Jimenez, was absolutely imperative.

Jose is a natural goal scorer and he proved as much just hours after being linked with Wolves on Wednesday. The Brazilian netted two goals in a 2-0 victory over Cordoba in the Copa del Rey, one of which included a lovely crisp strike from the edge of the area.

Spiers describes Jose as a “Giroud-type striker†and it’s clear to see why based on the stats, a set of numbers that make him comparable to Jimenez.

For starters, there is just an inch in height between them, while they win a similar number of aerial duels per game. Wolves’ Mexican sensation has won 1.5 aerial battles a match in the Premier League this term compared to Jose’s tally of 1.1.

Though, he brings further elements of power according to Terry Gibson who said the following a few years ago: “WillianÂJose is the type of striker who could flourish in the Premier League. He’s been linked with Premier League clubs in the past. He’s physical, very fast, is improving season-by-season and is now an accomplished centre forward.”

When signing a striker, supporters will often look towards their goal record and they needn’t fear about the Sociedad forward’s record in that regard.

He has scored 62 in 170 for the Spanish club – six of which have come in 2020/21. It’s not the most eye-catching number this term, but the £34k-per-week earner is a very capable and physical striker.

AND in other news, Time’s up: Wolves must wield the axe on £62.9k-p/w flop, he’s ransacked Shi’s pockets…

Liverpool travel to Old Trafford to face Manchester United in the FA Cup on Sunday afternoon and after some recent poor displays, Jurgen Klopp should axe Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.

The Reds continued their shocking start to the new year by losing 1-0 at home to Burnley on Thursday evening –  a result which ended their unbeaten Anfield run.

Klopp started Oxlade-Chamberlain against Sean Dyche’s side, in the hope that he could help to unlock the Lancashire side’s defence but in truth, the former Arsenal man was up there with the worst players on the pitch.

As per SofaScore, the 27-year-old midfielder would pick up a 6.4 rating for his display, which was the joint-worst of any player who featured at Anfield.

During his time on the pitch the Englishman would contribute just 22 passes, the second-lowest of any Liverpool player.

He would also win just one of his six duels during the game, which suggests that the Burnley midfielders and defenders regularly had the better of him throughout the game, so it was no surprise that Klopp decided to bring him off shortly before the hour mark.

Following the game, the Athletic writer James Pearce had this to say about Oxlade-Chamberlain’s performance:

“Oxlade-Chamberlain’s form is a real concern. He was a passenger and struggled badly once again.”

The midfielder, who earns £120k per week at Anfield, has worked extremely hard to get back to full fitness after the knee injury that kept him out earlier in the season, so it would perhaps be something of a ruthless decision to axe the former Southampton youngster after what was just his second Premier League start of the season.

However, he has struggled to impress in all of his recent performances, and if the Reds want to progress past their old rivals in the FA Cup fourth round on Sunday, then Klopp will surely be better served by selecting another midfielder in his place, considering only Divock Origi and Adrian have averaged lower ratings in the top-flight so far this season.

And, in other news… Liverpool can sign their dream Henderson heir in £50m beast tipped to become a real leader

For West Brom, the next few weeks could prove pivotal in their bid for Premier League survival.

Sam Allardyce’s men face five of their relegation rivals, starting with Fulham, who they welcome to the Hawthorns this afternoon.

The Cottagers sit merely two points above Albion in the standings and could go five clear with a victory in this crunch match.

If the Midlands side doesn’t pick up points in these sorts of matches, then the writing might as well already be on the wall as it’s hard to envisage any way back.

Today’s game is that cliched six-pointer – a must-win. Even in January, so it’s important for Big Sam to get his team selection spot on.

Here’s the starting Baggies XI we’re predicting…

There could be as many as four changes from the side that was walloped 5-0 by league leaders Manchester City in midweek.

Those five goals took West Brom’s home defensive record under Allardyce to a woeful zero goals scored and 17 goals conceded, at least the supporters haven’t been in attendance to witness that.

It would be wise to shore up that backline, so we may well see the inclusion of Sam Field in a defensive midfield role.

That’s one of two changes in the engine room as 20-year-old Chelsea loanee Conor Gallagher returns to the side having not featured against City at all.

The pair will partner Matheus Pereira, who is deployed in a slightly more advanced position through the middle.

It means that both Romaine Sawyers and skipper Jake Livermore are axed as they probably should be, considering the duo rank as the worst two players per WhoScored average ratings.

[snack-amp-story url=”https://www.footballfancast.com/web-stories/read-this-weeks-latest-west-brom-news-and-transfer-rumours” title=”Read this week’s latest West Brom news, transfer rumours and more…”]

Defensively, there isn’t much Big Sam can do given his options but after a disappointing showing from young Dara O’Shea, we could see Kyle Bartley return.

He was potentially rested with this fixture in mind having only just returned from injury in the last couple of weeks.

He’ll partner Semi Ajayi with Kieran Gibbs and Darnell Furlong keeping their places on either flank.

Whilst in the attack, both Robert Snodgrass and Karlan Grant survive, though Allardyce may want to bring the experience of Matty Phillips back into the fold over Callum Robinson, who has failed to score or assist since September.

AND in other news, West Brom could create a lethal duo by signing 51-cap “complete package”…