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Everton prospect Ryan Astley is leaving Marcel Brands with an easy call to make on his Goodison Park future, with the teenage prospect’s current contract due to expire next summer.

What’s the word?

According to the Liverpool Echo, Everton chiefs will soon be forced to decide on whether or not Astley and his Under 23s teammate Con Ouzounidis have futures on Merseyside with their current deals set to expire at the end of the campaign.

Astley has previously trained with the senior side during Marco Silva’s tenure, having been promoted from the youth ranks during what proved to be the Portuguese coach’s final pre-season with the Toffees in 2019 prior to his sacking.

The 19-year-old also earned interest from Belgian side KV Kortrijk that summer but did not depart David Unsworth’s ranks, where he earned regular game time in the Premier League 2 with 14 appearances from a possible 18, of which he started 11.

Unsworth has continued to rely on the Wales U21 international this term with Astley starting all five of Everton’s youth league fixtures, and he impressed the Blues coach with his performance last time out in a goalless draw with Tottenham Hotspur.

“Ryan Astley was our best player tonight,” Unsworth told the Echo. “He was immense, not just defensively but so composed on the ball and he was a class apart.”

A no brainer

Astley’s efforts in the youth ranks at Finch Farm will be leaving Brands and Unsworth confident of his potential to further develop, and making it a no brainer that the 19-year-old is awarded new terms before his current contract expires.

Unsworth has had plenty of time with the 19-year-old since his graduation to the U23s in 2018, with Astley making 36 appearances for the young Blues side including games at right-back and his preferred centre-half position.

But Brands does not have months to decide on whether or not to keep the young talent, as the approaching January market will offer Astley his first window to exploring life away from Everton as he – and Ouzounidis – will be able to discuss potential free transfers with clubs outside of England.

While Astley did not feature for Wales in their UEFA European U21 Championship qualifier with Belgium earlier this month, greater exposure on the international stage will also have further showcased the defender’s worth to potential suitors after 14 outings for his national side’s U19s.

AND in other news, Everton will be in heaven over a 29-year-old whose causing his former side to regret accepting a summer transfer.

With Kalvin Phillips ruled out for the season with a knee injury last week, Leeds boss Marcelo Bielsa was surely looking around his squad to see who could fill the boots of the Yorkshire Pirlo.

And in a monstrous game against Derby County in the Championship on Sunday afternoon, 20-year-old Pascal Struijk showed just why he could be the man to do just that.

Before coming on as a second-half substitute against Barnsley, the youngster had played just seven minutes of league football all season, and even that came back in December.

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But against the Rams on Sunday, Struijk looked every bit like the kind of talent that Bielsa can build his future midfield from if ever there was a scenario that Phillips left the club – reports in recent months have suggested that even rivals Manchester United are interested in him.

Struijk dominated the midfield battle, and with his 6 foot 3 frame, looked physically imposing as the anchor man in front of the defence. As per Sofascore, he made an impressive four interceptions in the time that he was on the pitch, which was actually just one less than what the rest of his teammates combined for.

And aside from reading the game well and coming out on top in the 50/50s (he won five total duels), Struijk showed he has another string to his bow when he has the ball at his feet too.

He completed 35 of his 40 passes, found his target with four out of the five long balls he attempted, and also showed he can take a man on by having an 100% dribble success rate.

It was the kind of break-out performance that would have left Bielsa nodding his head in approval, and why in the short-term at least, Struijk is someone he can rely upon to fill in for Phillips when needed.

But in the longer-term, if ever Leeds’ talisman does depart, then they may already have someone ready to step up to the plate.

West Ham United are yet to complete any form of transfer business this summer but murmurs in the press give some hope that David Moyes could bolster his side soon.

But might it all come at the expense of losing one of their star players?

Here’s how the Hammers could line up when the window slams shut in early October…

A lot has been made of Declan Rice’s future in east London with his former youth club Chelsea keen on adding him this summer.

According to The Sun, Frank Lampard is set to make a ‘firm bid’ for the English defensive midfielder and it’s claimed the Irons will need to sell before they buy this summer, so selling Rice for eight figures would certainly give room to do that.

He could be sold for around £80m.

It means GSB can splash the money on a new defensive option in Matty Cash, who Nottingham Forest will let go for £15m whilst Morgan Sanson may be the man to succeed Rice, albeit in a slightly more advanced position.

Therefore Thomas Soucek and Mark Noble can drop slightly deeper to accommodate the £25m playmaker.

West Ham, Premier League, David Moyes, Declan Rice, Hammers, Michail Antonio

There’s also hope around the London Stadium that the likes of Felipe Anderson and Andriy Yarmolenko can be offloaded, which would surely open the door for Grady Diangana to take centre stage at long last.

The 22-year-old and Bowen on either wing could be quite the force to be reckoned with whilst Seb Haller gets the nod over Michail Antonio.

It does also mean that Aaron Cresswell remains as first-choice left-back.

AND in other news, West Ham fans slam FLOP after Brentford display…

Darren Bent believes a number of Tottenham stars will make a “massive difference” in the Premier League clash with Manchester United tomorrow night. 

Speaking exclusively to Football Insider, the former Spurs striker feels that Harry Kane, Son Heung-min, Steven Bergwijn and Moussa Sissoko are all in contention to start against Man United. Last month, Jose Mourinho told Sky Sports that the Lilywhites quartet have recovered from injury and returned to first team training at the Hotspur Way.

It is worth noting their absences were keenly felt, as the North London club slumped to a string of poor results before the season was suspended.

Bent told Football Insider’s Russell Edge: “When you get those kinds of players back in Heung-min Son, Sissoko and Harry Kane, it makes a massive difference because all of a sudden the firepower – you’d probably have to say 80 per cent of their firepower is coming back.

“I’m going Harry Kane down the middle, I’d probably go Kane, Bergwijn and Son, they’d probably be my front three – electric. I know Bergwijn likes to play from the left but on this particular occasion he might have to play from the right.

“Dele Alli’s got the game ban so he can’t play. I like Lo Celso, I’d probably go with Sissoko and then you need one more holder, you need someone in there that’s not going to wander. Against Man United, you’re talking about a lot of firepower.”

It is difficult to disagree with Bent here, as their return will no doubt be a major boost for Mourinho. Kane is the club’s top scorer this season, despite the fact he has been out of action since the defeat to Southampton on New Year’s Day after sustaining a hamstring injury.

Following successful surgery, he has now been declared fully fit ahead of a return behind closed doors later this week. The England international has previously scored two goals against the Red Devils ahead of tomorrow’s clash.

The Spurs talisman has scored 11 goals in just 20 games in the Premier League so far. Furthermore, Mourinho’s side won just three games in the league in his absence.

Moreover, Son is the team’s second-highest goalscorer, bagging nine goals in the English top flight, taking three shots per game, averaging more than one key pass and successfully completing at least two dribbles per match on average (via WhoScored).

As it stands, the Lilywhites are eighth in the table and are heading into the game with United knowing they must win if they are to realistically keep their chances of Champions League qualification alive. Their fans will be hoping that the attacking duo can fire on all cylinders as Spurs look to attain European football next season.

Tottenham fans, are you excited to see Son Heung-min and Harry Kane linking up again? Let us know in the comments below!

Loads of Everton fans have been slamming Paolo Di Canio as he made some remarks to Il Mattino (via The Gwladys Street)  that suggest that Carlo Ancelotti is overrated.

As per the former Sunderland boss, he claims that the Merseyside club are Ancelotti’s level despite the sheer number of big European giants that the 61-year old has managed at before.

Di Canio also claimed that Ancelotti only took advantage of the mechanisms left by former Chelsea coach Maurizio Sarri at Napoli and failed with the Italian team in his second season.

Indeed, Ancelotti was sacked by Napoli earlier on in this campaign as they had not won in nine games in all competitions until a 4-0 home win versus Genk in the UEFA Champions League and left them in seventh place in the Serie A table (via BBC).

However, it is fair to say that the now manager at Goodison Park has had a very successful career in management with the likes of AC Milan, Bayern Munich, Chelsea, Paris Saint Germain and Real Madrid, winning the Champions League three times and having a Premier League and FA Cup under his belt as examples (per Transfermarkt).

Given also that the Toffees have not won a senior men’s major trophy since 1995, and are still able to attract Ancelotti with the kind of CV that he has, these EFC supporters slammed the remarks from Di Canio on Twitter:

Evertonians, are you lucky to have Ancelotti as manager? Comment below!

Speaking to Football Insider, Michael Brown has backed Everton to make a sensational move for Barcelona star Philippe Coutinho.

What did he say?

The Brazilian has endured a difficult time of things since leaving Liverpool a few years ago, and has spent this season on loan at Bundesliga side Bayern Munich.

Reports in recent weeks have claimed that Barcelona are willing to cut their losses on Coutinho, and that Everton have been told via intermediaries that he could be available for a fee of around £80m this summer.

Now, Brown has thrown his backing behind a potential move, suggesting that he is the type of high-profile player that Carlo Ancelotti would want at Goodison Park.

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He said: “What a story that would be, wouldn’t it? I think it’s always, when you’re at big clubs, you go to their rivals, we’ve seen it before and it’s not always welcome from different sets of supporters here and there.

“He’s a great talent and Everton, you would expect Ancelotti to be going for some big players. He’s one of those.”

Ambition

Putting aside Coutinho’s ties to Liverpool, there’s no doubting the Brazilian still remains a top-class player on his day.

Whilst Barcelona were seemingly happy enough to join up with Bayern Munich for this season on a loan deal, he has still produced some fairly impressive numbers in Germany. As per Transfermarkt, in his 32 games for the club, he has scored nine times and provided a further eight assists, and a return to the Premier League could see him hit top form again.

In fact, the very nature of him signing with Everton could give him that added chip on his shoulder of trying to prove Liverpool wrong. It could lead him to greater performances, and splashing out £80m on him would also be a major statement of intent that the Toffees mean business in the transfer market this summer.

So often you hear stories of the players Arsene Wenger could have brought to Arsenal.

Yaya Toure is one of them – a midfielder who played on trial for the Gunners before eventually failing to earn a contract in north London, primarily because of passport issues. There are others, too. Cristiano Ronaldo is one of the most famous.

However, a further missed opportunity came in the form of Zlatan Ibrahivomic – someone who rejected a trial with the Gunners.

Whatever you think about the Swede who proclaims this is his earth we’re all living on, it was a player now closely linked to the striker that became one of Wenger’s biggest failures.

The Frenchman is one of the greatest managers of our time but he has made mistakes, certainly with Carlos Vela’s development, or lack of during his time in England.

In 2019, the tricky Mexican forward lit up North America by ousting Zlatan not only to the MLS top scorer award, but also to the accolade of being the league’s Most Valuable Player.

For Los Angeles FC, Vela scored 36 goals in only 33 appearances. Now aged, 31, he is one of a fair few that got away from the Gunners.

Take Serge Gnabry for example. The German walked out the exit door all too easily after being given infrequent opportunities by Wenger. Since then, he has now become a powerhouse for Bayern Munich. He single handily demolished Tottenham in the Champions League this season by scoring four goals in their 7-2 romp.

Like Vela, he was cast aside to West Bromwich Albion for a season loan – neither were able to truly profit or benefit from spells away from Islington – neither did they prosper under the stewardship of one of the best coaches to live and breathe.

Supporters at the Emirates Stadium still talk of the Mexican’s ability to dink the ball over the ‘keeper with supreme confidence – it was a trademark.

Once he was left one on one with the man between the posts, it was never a simple finish for the Cancun born striker. He’d sit the goalkeeper down and delicately lift it over them in tormenting fashion as though he were the great Lionel Messi.

Left-footed, he was a player who earned comparisons to another unfortunate Arsenal forward, but for a man who made Wenger smile, it was baffling that he never got a fair chance in N5.

The boss once declared: “He’s an Eduardo basically. He is left-footed with intelligent moves and a good finisher.”

Though, in total, Vela played just 64 times for Arsenal after arriving in 2005. Only 19 appearances of those were starts – he scored 11 goals. Now starring in the MLS, a league flourishing with players both at the start and ends of their career, he’s finally living up to his billing. It is no longer a retirement league – Miguel Almiron moving to Newcastle is fine evidence of that.

Maybe, just maybe, had Vela been given a chance at the Emirates, he would have succeeded at the elite level. However, he was a player emerging out of the shadow of Thierry Henry, Robin van Persie and co. – he had to deliver there and then, not when he was 31.

He is the definition of a late bloomer, arguably because he paid the price under Wenger at a young age. The talent was there, but not until the later stages was he able to deliver it on a consistent basis – perhaps it’s because he’s finally earning regular football.

The Frenchman certainly could have treated him better – something Vela’s inability to start football matches in England attests too.

On multiple occasions, the legendary manager would show his stubbornness. He had a loyalty to certain players and refused to change his ways. That was all too clear in the latter years of his Arsenal reign.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing but the 72 cap forward is now better than he’s ever been. He’s tearing defences to shreds on a regular basis with ruthless finishing and stunning artistry, he couldn’t be more of a Wenger player if he tried.

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

Southampton travel to north London this Saturday to take on an Arsenal side who are still struggling under Unai Emery.

The Gunners find themselves sixth in the Premier League table, eight points off the top four having won just four of their 12 games this season.

However, they are performing nowhere near as poorly as Southampton are.

Ralph Hasenhuttl’s side are 19th – just one point off the bottom – and have also conceded the most goals in the division with 29 let in in 12 games.

Despite the odds seemingly in favour of an Arsenal win, there is one thing that Hasenhuttl can do to cause the Gunners some problems.

What is it?

The former RB Leipzig boss must start Sofiane Boufal on the left wing, and allow him to run at Arsenal right-back Calum Chambers.

Boufal – who has made nine Premier League appearances this season – has recorded two assists for the Saints this term as well as three dribbles per game – he is undoubtedly one of the most talented players in Hasenhuttl’s squad in terms of ball control, skill and dribbling.

Southampton’s official website described the Moroccan as a “roaming midfielder with dizzying footwork” back in the summer – dizzy is exactly what the former Lille man needs to make Chambers, and there is evidence to suggest that will be possible.

Chambers’ recent struggles

It goes without saying that the Arsenal man – who came through Southampton’s academy – isn’t exactly the quickest, nor does he possess great balance.

In a recent outing against Crystal Palace, Chambers found himself up against another mesmeric wide-man in Wilfried Zaha, struggling tremendously to cope with the Ivorian.

Chambers gave away a penalty for a clumsy foul on Zaha following a tidy step-over from the Ivorian, while the Arsenal defender also went home with a yellow card to his name and the worst WhoScored match rating out of all of his Gunners teammates – in fact, his 5.98 rating was the lowest out of all 22 players to have started the game.

It really doesn’t seem as if Chambers enjoys facing tricky wingers, nor does he have the attributes needed to shackle them – this should encourage Boufal, and also force Hasenhuttl into getting his skilful Moroccan isolated against the nervy Arsenal man who used to be one of Southampton’s own.

Speaking on the latest episode of The Last Word on Spurs podcast (March 29, 14:03pm), former Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Darren Anderton says he is “disappointed” that Mauricio Pochettino is no longer in charge of the club.

What did he say?

Well, host Ricky Sacks asked the ex-England international about the current situation at the north London outfit and to predict what is going to happen.

Speaking on the podcast, Anderton replied (1:15:25): “I think it’s difficult to predict [what is going to happen], to be honest. There’s a lot of negativity around. I’m disappointed that Poch isn’t there to be honest.

“I think what he did at the club, his spell there and the football that the club had played, bringing us into the new stadium. The players, every single one of them improved under him.”

Missing football!? There’s still plenty of Spurs discussion going on in the Vital Tottenham Forum! Click here to get involved!

Did Levy get it right?

Following a really poor start to the 2019/20 season in which they sat 14th in the Premier League standings, were knocked out of the Carabao Cup by Colchester United and beaten 7-2 at home by Bayern Munich in the Champions League, it was no real surprise that chairman Daniel Levy eventually wielded the axe on Pochettino in November.

The players looked to have given up fighting for the Argentine, and he looked to have run out of ideas and motivation himself during what was a difficult spell.

In appointing a serial winner in Jose Mourinho, Levy probably thought he was getting Tottenham back on the right track.

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There has been little evidence of that to date given Spurs lie 41 points behind Liverpool in the top flight and have been knocked out of the FA Cup and the Champions League under the Portuguese, but we do have to remember that this is still largely Pochettino’s team, and that strengthening is clearly required – especially in defensive areas.

Anderton’s disappointment is understandable, but perhaps the decision to get rid of Pochettino could prove to be the right one long-term if Mourinho eventually delivers success and silverware.

In other Tottenham news, loads of Spurs fans have identified the 6 ft 4 colossus they want to replace Harry Kane if he leaves…

Sheffield United manager Chris Wilder has revealed that striker Lys Mousset is still not ready to play a full 90 minutes (via @mikemccarthy).

He made the admission in his pre-match press conference ahead of their upcoming Premier League fixture against Burnley.

Mousset has been grabbing the headlines for the Blades in recent weeks with his goals.

The Frenchman made his first Premier League start for the South Yorkshire club against Arsenal, scoring what was ultimately the winning goal in the first half before being substituted after 55 minutes (TransferMarkt).

Despite his match-winning goal against the Gunners, he was subsequently dropped from the starting 11 in their next game against West Ham, with Wilder admitting that the club still need to work on the ex-Bournemouth striker’s physical condition (via BBC Sport).

He did come on as a substitute at the London Stadium and once again made a significant contribution, netting the equalising goal for the Blades (via BBC Sport).

When asked whether Mousset is ready to play for 90 minutes ahead of their game against Burnley, Wilder said: “Possibly a little bit off. But when you look at our forwards, not many of them play 90 minutes. We’ve got a group of forwards that we can change.” (via @FFScout)

There is no doubt that in his limited appearances so far, Mousset has made a massive impact for Sheffield United.

He has scored three league goals despite playing for just 198 minutes in the division (TransferMarkt), making him the Blades’ leading goalscorer (BBC Sport).

It also means that he has scored exactly one third of their goals in the Premier League so far as they have netted just nine times (BBC Sport), and with stats like that it is surely only a matter of time before he becomes a regular starter.

As Wilder said, they do have a lot of strikers, with Oliver McBurnie, Billy Sharp, David McGoldrick, Callum Robinson and Leon Clarke also at the club.

Even if Mousset isn’t ready for 90 minutes just yet, they do have the option of starting him and then bringing him off for one of their other forwards when he runs out of gas.

Sheffield United fans, would you like to see Lys Mousset start against Burnley? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below…