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Just when you thought Everton’s day couldn’t get any better, the Toffees look set to make their latest major signing of this summer transfer window.

The Toffees sealed a comfortable victory over Brighton at Goodison Park on Saturday afternoon, taking them back to the top of the Premier League table for the time being.

And now, according to FootballFanCast sources, Carlo Ancelotti’s side are ready to welcome Norwich City defender Ben Godfrey to Merseyside, with a move for the 22-year-old all but done.

Indeed, our sources say that the centre-back has been spotted at the Toffees’ training complex at Finch Farm today, taking several photos ahead of the big online reveal.

The England U21 international was a key figure for the Canaries in the top-flight last season, and was one of the shining lights in a team that suffered relegation back to the Championship.

Godfrey made 33 appearances across all competitions, and had started the opening three Championship fixtures this time around, before being absent from the squad all together for Norwich’s defeat to Derby County earlier on Saturday.

Having been linked with numerous centre-backs in recent weeks, including Chelsea’s Fikayo Tomori, it looks like Everton have made Godfrey their latest high-profile signing to follow the likes of James Rodriguez, Abdoulaye Doucoure and Allan.

He certainly adds more competition in that area and will be battling against Yerry Mina, Mason Holgate and Michael Keane for a start.

What a few weeks it’s been for Toffees fans.

This season has certainly been one to remember for Liverpool.

The Reds won the league for the first time in 30 years, and while they won’t want to change a winning formula too much, it seems as though there is still some fat to trim in their squad as some players seem to be on their way out of the door at Anfield.

Adam Lallana will be going once his contract expires at the end of the season, and it seems as though another player will follow him out of the door in the summer if a reasonable offer comes in.

What’s been said then?

It’s been almost a month since the Premier League restarted, and we still haven’t seen Xherdan Shaqiri play a single minute for Liverpool since football came back.

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With the new five substitutes rule, you’d think that this would be prime time for the Swiss international to get a game, but it seems there is more to it than that.

Indeed, James Pearce was once again the man with the scoop, not only explaining why Shaqiri hadn’t played but also giving an update on his future.

“He’s not been fully fit until the past week or so. Plus yeah he’s likely to move on this summer if a suitable offer arrives.” The journalist said when asked about Shaqiri in his post-match Q&A.

Chance for youth

Shaqiri moving on from Anfield may provide a chance for some of the Reds’ younger players, namely Takumi Minamino and Harvey Elliott.

The 28-year-old has done a commendable job as a backup for Liverpool, but one has to imagine he won’t be missed too much if he departs this summer, having played just 1,234 minutes over the past two seasons, and it has to be said that those minutes could become incredibly valuable if they’re used to help develop the likes of Elliott and Minamino.

Now all that needs to happen is for a team to come in for the former Bayern Munich man, and if he were to return to a side with similar ambitions to his former club Stoke City, it could be a bargain waiting to be picked up for any mid-table Premier League outfit, after all, this is a two-time Champions League winner with 82 international caps to his name.

Tottenham defender Jan Vertonghen has emerged as a surprising contender to join Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City in the summer. 

Man City have set aside a sizeable transfer kitty worth £200m for new signings after the Court of Arbitration overturned their European ban, although Vertonghen will not cost a penny as he is out of contract.

As a forewarning to Spurs fans, this might come across as a bit of a shock.

According to The Telegraph, Guardiola believes Vertonghen could become a short-term solution in the defence.

He has bags of experience at all levels of the game and is expected to adapt to Pep’s style.

The Spaniard plans to improve his defence in the summer, as City have conceded more goals than Sheffield United and Premier League champions Liverpool this season.

Guardiola is considering the veteran as a possible candidate for his summer rebuild after eight years with Spurs.

The Belgium international, 33, plays mainly as a central defender, but can also play as a left-back.

Vertonghen, who was a firm favourite of his former boss Mauricio Pochettino, is expected to leave Spurs this summer.

He has formed a formidable partnership with Toby Alderweireld over the years, but this has been broken up by Mourinho, who has chopped and changed his preferred pairing in recent weeks.

The Belgian signed an extension until the end of the season, even though he has hardly featured at all since the Premier League restart.

For whatever reason, Mourinho seems reluctant to use him, although he did play the full 90 minutes in the 0-0 draw with Bournemouth.

As it stands, it is unlikely he will be offered a new deal by Daniel Levy, amid interest from clubs home and abroad.

Tottenham fans, do you think Levy should let Jan Vertonghen leave? Let us know down below!

Tottenham Hotspur boss Jose Mourinho will have to work with a reduced transfer budget this summer, according to reports, as the north London side try to financially cope post-pandemic.

It means Spurs could see themselves restricted to free transfers and swap deals just one year after the club broke their record transfer fee to land French midfielder Tanguy Ndombele in a £55m coup.

One target that fans seem to be pleased with is Ryan Fraser – the AFC Bournemouth winger is set to leave the Cherries at the end of the season following the expiry of his contract.

The 26-year-old hasn’t had the best of campaigns, scoring just once in 32 appearances albeit with four assists, too but the south coasters have endured a tough season overall.

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Although last term, Fraser enjoyed a fruitful spell, bagging eight goals and 15 assists, via Transfermarkt.

Which is why many in north London appear to be happy over the thought of clinching the Scotsman on a free, especially instead of Willian and even over Erik Lamela.

Here’s what the Spurs faithful have been saying about the potential move…

AND in other news, Spurs fans react to fresh Milinkovic-Savic reports…

Loads of Everton fans have been slamming the Merseyside club’s former boss Marco Silva as he is reportedly the favourite to take over at Benfica from current coach Bruno Lage, who is set to leave the Portuguese outfit, according to A Bola, Record and O Jogo (via Sport Witness).

As per the outlet, all of the newspapers in Portugal have been saying that Lage should soon leave Benfica, whether it would be now or if he was to be sacked at the end of the 2019/20 season following some recently poor results.

Since the restart following the global pandemic outbreak, the Portuguese giants have only won one game out of four, drawing two and losing their most recent match at home 4-3 against Santa Clara, leaving them three points behind FC Porto in the race for the Primeira Liga title.

Indeed, Silva is being lined up, but several members of the Goodison Park faithful remember the relatively poor time he had managing the Toffees.

The 42-year old only manged a table in his final full campaign, missing out on the automatic European spots.

These EFC supporters slammed their ex-manager on Twitter amid speculation he could takeover at Benfica:

Evertonians, will Silva do well at Benfica? Comment 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… 

Gaetano Berardi started against Luton on Saturday and his performance showed that he is a dependable figure for Marcelo Bielsa to call upon in times of need.

On the chalkboard

Leeds are short on defensive numbers currently and have typically relied on Ben White and captain Liam Cooper to start this season, though with the latter not fully fit on Saturday it was the Swiss who got the call.

Berardi is a player who causes uproar amongst the Leeds fanbase. He can be as erratic as he is reliable, with a red card always a potential outcome for the man who has been sent off more times for the Whites than any other player.

Him starting games is a risk for some supporters who oppose him playing, but he repaid his manager with an astute defensive display last time out, helping to limit the opposition to just one goal with four tackles in the hour he spent on the pitch.

The centre-back also managed one clearance and one block, but it is also worth noting that Leeds have lost just one match out of the ten league games he has appeared in – away at Millwall when he only played 14 minutes.

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Reliable back-up?

This term Bielsa seems to have preferred quality over quantity, and that means there is a lack of depth in the striking and defensive positions.

That could act as a concern for a team who need to be at their best for a full season if they are to win promotion, particularly if the first-choice personnel are unavailable.

In defence, it is of concern because Berardi is viewed as an unreliable option, but he is beginning to prove that the Argentine was right to stand by him after his red card against Millwall.

He kept a tight grasp on James Collins and Harry Cornick for most of the game, limiting them to a combined three shots on target, and therefore the knock he picked up in the second half is an issue for the management.

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It means that unless Cooper is deemed fit enough to start, Leeds’ only natural fit centre-back available will be a 22-year-old, and Bielsa may have to draft in Luke Ayling to deal with the threat of Reading on Tuesday.

That shows that Berardi is a more important member of the team than some give him credit for, and if he can continue acting as a solid back-up then he will most likely be appreciated by the end of the campaign.

Ayling, too, has been underperforming recently. Here we discuss whether he deserves to start against Reading and the decision Bielsa should make.

With the restart of the Premier League still up in the air at the moment, one area of major concern for all sides is no doubt how things will impact the transfer window.

Clubs are set to lose big money over these coming weeks and months, and despite being the current league leaders, and the reigning Champions League holders too, Liverpool are seemingly not going to escape any financial consequences.

Spot the fact from the fib: Are these Premier League records true or false?

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According to The Daily Mirror’s Northern football correspondent, David Maddock, the Reds “now look virtually certain to do no transfer spending this summer” and that “they will look to cut their spending as much as possible in light of dramatically reduced incomes”.

Maddock further reveals how proposed moves for the likes of Timo Werner are now likely to be shelved as they adjust to the economic impact of the current climate.

After hearing the journalist’s update, Liverpool fans took to Twitter to voice their thoughts on the situation.

Some Liverpool fans took aim at FSG over the report, and seemed to be stunned that the club would not be looking to strengthen this summer.

So any dreams of Werner wearing Liverpool colours for next season seem to be dead in the water now.

Even despite being in the incredible footballing position Liverpool are in, even the Reds realise the need to be shrewd and smart about their business in the transfer market.

So whilst there may not be any big-money signings, that can only be a good thing for their long-term future.

This article is part of Football FanCast’s Loan Watch series, which takes a closer look at those players who are aiming to galvanise their careers away from the spotlight of their parent club.

When Eddie Nketiah signed on loan for Leeds United from Arsenal in the summer, there was no guarantee that he would be starting every week.

Patrick Bamford scored 9 goals in 16 league starts and 7 substitute appearances last season, so it would have been a huge call for Marcelo Bielsa to drop him in favour of the unproven youngster.

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However, the former Chelsea striker has scored 5 from the same number of starts this time around, yet Nketiah is still yet to start a single league game the Whites.

His only two appearances from the starting whistle have come in the Carabao Cup against Salford City and Stoke City, and the 20-year-old scored in both of those games.

In addition to those finishes, he has 3 goals in the league, despite having played just 265 minutes of Championship football this campaign – that tally including the header that rescued a point against Preston North End after coming on with just 13 minutes left.

All of this makes it difficult to understand why the England U21 international has not been trusted by Bielsa to start games yet.

It also gives Arsenal a dilemma as to whether they should leave the striker at Elland Road for the season’s entirety or recall him to send him out to a new club where opportunities will be easier to come by.

This comes after The Athletic reported that if Nketiah doesn’t hit a certain amount of game time, the Gunners have the right to recall him, with Bristol City waiting in the wings to come in and nab him for the second half of the campaign, having missed out the first time around.

There are certainly options for both Arsenal and Nketiah if Bielsa persists to not use him adequately, so there could be a big decision to be made when the January window reopens for business.

Tottenham Hotspur fans have been reacting on Twitter after Mauricio Pochettino’s former assistant at the club, Jesus Perez, posted a snap of a message the Argentine manager left on a board for the players to see after he was sacked this week.

The 47-year-old was relieved of his duties on Tuesday night and was quickly replaced by Jose Mourinho less than 12 hours later, in what was a quick turnaround for the north London outfit.

The message from the former Southampton boss thanked the players for their hard work during his five-and-a-half years in charge, as well as saying that they will forever be in the hearts of the coaching team.

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Losing Pochettino has already been a tough moment for fans given some of the moments they have enjoyed together – including numerous top-four finishes in the Premier League and reaching a Champions League final in May – making this latest gesture from him even more heartbreaking.

While one supporter responded saying “I didn’t want to believe this was true”, another labelled it as an “absolute horrible thing to see”.

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Here is just a selection of the Twitter reaction…

In other news, one Tottenham player could surprisingly commit his future to the club following Jose Mourinho’s appointment…

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

West Brom somehow remain atop the Championship table after a week where they failed to record a victory.

Slaven Bilic’s men currently sit two points ahead of second-placed Preston North End after 14 matches in the league while also keeping the accolade of being the only side with just the one defeat.

Saturday’s game against Charlton Athletic was marred by controversy as the visitors were handed a 94th-minute penalty to salvage a draw at the Hawthorns, not before the referee almost sent off the wrong Baggies player earlier in the match.

Charlie Austin’s struggles in front of goal continued as it is now the ten appearances with only one goal to show for it while Hal Robson-Kanu netted a scorcher off the bench for the second time in three games.

On the Chalkboard

Getting the best from his strikers has been Bilic’s biggest issue of the season so far, which seems hard to believe, considering only one team has scored more goals than they have.

The Baggies have netted 26 this term, with their strikers contributing to less than 20% of that figure – Robson-Kanu (two), Kenneth Zohore (two), Austin (one), per WhoScored.

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Their biggest threat has come from their number ten Matheus Pereira and winger Matty Phillips, so why doesn’t the Croatian utilise one of these two in the forward position.

Instead of being an out-and-out sole striker, a role that isn’t naturally suited to a winger’s frame, they can play as a false nine in what would appear to be a deadly formation.

Albion are practically playing without a main forward anyway as Austin’s contribution has been few and far between for so long.

The aforementioned duo and Grady Diangana as your main three in attack is a scary prospect, considering they account for 12 goals and nine assists between them.

Let’s face it not having a significant presence upfront is going to make too much, if any, of a difference as Austin only has one assist on top of that, meaning he has failed to contribute in that area also.