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Manchester United reached the semi-finals of the Europa League with a 4-0 aggregate victory against Granada at Old Trafford on Thursday.

In the end, the Red Devils’ 2-0 victory in Spain last week was more than enough to guide them through, with Edinson Cavani then adding to that advantage in the first half last night before Jesus Vallejo put through his own net late on.

Whilst the Uruguayan proved to be the match-winner for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s men on the night, it was actually a thoroughly disciplined defensive performance from right-back Aaron Wan-Bissaka which made it a relatively worry-free evening for Manchester United.

With Granada needing a handful of goals to progress at the Red Devils’ expense, the former Crystal Palace man proved a formidable wall for the Spaniards to get beyond.

According to WhoScored, Wan-Bissaka produced an impressive five tackles throughout the game. Only Paul Pogba, who was substituted at the break, matched that figure of all the players to take to the pitch.

[snack-amp-story url=”https://www.footballfancast.com/web-stories/the-latest-man-united-transfer-rumours-and-news-from-old-trafford-lingard-de-gea-pogba-bailly-johnstone” title=”The latest Man United transfer rumours and news from Old Trafford…”]

Meanwhile, the 23-year-old, who earns £90,000 per week at Old Trafford, also contributed two interceptions and a further two clearances as he continued to keep Granada at bay. His impressive performance did not end there, as Wan-Bissaka won eight of the 13 duels for which he competed, he won eight, only being beaten in the air once according to SofaScore.

Whilst the right-back’s normal assignment is to keep the ball out of the Manchester United net, he was also hugely effective going forwards. Throughout the game, the defender supplied one key pass and also completed two dribbles.

In all, it was a hugely impressive all-round display from Wan-Bissaka, even more so considering that was in a Red Devils’ defence which was missing the likes of first-choice pair Harry Maguire and Luke Shaw due to suspension.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer should certainly be thrilled with the 23-year-old’s performance.

AND in more news, read more about the huge boost that Manchester United have recently received in their pursuit of Rennes’ Eduardo Camavinga…

Charlton Athletic fell out of the playoff zone as they recorded their first defeat in 11 matches on Saturday afternoon.

Nigel Adkins’ side were beaten by fellow promotion hopefuls Peterborough United at The Valley but they will be left reeling in disappointment that they didn’t come away with at least a point.

The division’s top goalscorer, Jonson Clarke-Harris, fired Posh into an early lead in the ninth minute and right before the break, the Addicks had the perfect opportunity to square things up when Alex Gilbey was fouled inside the box.

Jayden Stockley confidently stepped up but saw his penalty saved by the goalkeeper and despite going on to dominate the second half with 68% possession, Charlton just couldn’t find a way back into the match.

Some could blame the Preston loanee for costing his side dearly but there were far more wasteful teammates that should take the brunt of the criticism first.

None more so than Liam Millar, who struggled to make the same sort of impact we saw in midweek.

After a goal and an assist against Plymouth Argyle, the Liverpool gem starved Stockley of decent service throughout the 90 minutes the pair were on the pitch.

As per SofaScore, the 21-year-old Canadian failed to deliver a single accurate cross from four attempts, leaving his target man striker to feed off scraps inside the box.

Furthermore, Millar could only pull off one successful dribble against the Posh’s right flank of Joe Ward and Nathan Thompson.

His struggle to combat the opposition was further seen by the fact that he made four fouls despite only recording one successful tackle. The 5 foot 11 dynamo even lost 14 of his 20 duels (70%) and was seen losing the ball 23 times – the most of anyone on the pitch, comfortably.

It meant the young winger handed possession back to Peterborough once every 3.9 minutes – or once every three touches – so for all his involvement, he was certainly rather disappointing in terms of end product and on the above evidence, was rather weak and ineffective.

Speaking after the match, Adkins claimed Millar was still “learning his way” but that’s not something they can afford to risk with so much on the line heading into May.

The Addicks are now two points adrift of the playoffs and will need to win that game in hand to rise back into contention this week.

AND in other news,  Adkins must resolve key Bowyer problem to bolster promotion hopes…

When Bjorn Engels joined Aston Villa in the summer of 2019, Dean Smith would no doubt have been hoping that the 6 foot 4 giant would help create a formidable back-line for the club at Premier League level.

Signed for a reported £9m from French side Reims, Engels was among a clutch of signings spearheaded by the influence of then sporting director, Suso.

Speaking after confirmation of his arrival at Villa Park, Smith said: “Björn is a player that I’ve been watching for the past 18 months. We’re very happy to have secured his services and look forward to working with him.”

But, sadly for both Engels and Villa, things just haven’t quite worked out for either party.

Injuries have played a considerable part in his lack of game-time for the club, but it’s been quite telling that even despite recovering from a couple of different problems this season, he’s still yet to make a single competitive appearance this campaign – the Belgian has either been an unnamed substitute or just completely out of the match-day squad.

And, earlier this calendar year, former Villa striker Gabby Agbonlahor urged the club to get rid of him, saying: “It’s time for him to move on. The problem with the Premier League now is you have to have pace in defence.

“Unless you’re an unbelievable defender and you can read the game unbelievably you need to have the pace at the back. That’s what Ezri Konsa, Tyrone Mings and Kortney Hause allow you. If they make a mistake they’ve got the pace to make up for it. If they’re left one-on-one they’ve got the pace to stop the attacker. The problem with Engels is that if he’s left one-on-one he hasn’t got that pace so he’s going to get found out a bit.”

 Now, CIES have him valued at just £1.7m, a real statement of just how far his stock has fallen during his time at Villa Park, and perhaps throwing even further weight behind why the club should simply cut their losses on him.

With Ezri Konsa and Tyrone Mings fully established as the club’s main centre-back partnership, there’s simply no room for Engels. While £9m may not sound like too much in the modern market, it’s still surely a transfer blunder that Villa regret making.

Meanwhile, this Villa man was shocking in the defeat to Spurs…

Liverpool have reportedly been joined by Juventus in the race for Lyon midfielder Houssem Aouar.

Jurgen Klopp’s Reds have been linked to the Frenchman on numerous occasions, with Klopp reportedly keen to add to his midfield ranks especially with the expected departure of Georginio Wijnaldum.

However, they are set to be in a battle with Serie A giants Juventus for his signature according to TuttoSport.

Liverpool need to make sure they are victorious in their pursuit of Aouar.

At just 22 years of age, the midfielder has forged a reputation as one of the most promising players in Europe.

He has accumulated plenty of experience despite his tender years, racking up 163 appearances for Lyon, scoring 30 goals and providing 31 assists.

The £45m-rated midfielder has also already been afforded opportunities on the international stage, making his international debut in a 7-1 thumping of Ukraine in October 2020 – a game in which he racked up two assists.

Aouar’s performances have not just earned him admirers in the recruitment departments of some of Europe’s biggest clubs though. Even his fellow professionals are taking notice.

Following Lyon’s 3-1 victory at the Etihad Stadium in the UEFA Champions League group stages this season, Manchester City creator Kevin De Bruyne hailed the Frenchman’s “fantastic” performance.

So with Georginio Wijnaldum seemingly set to depart Anfield and Aouar only having two years left to run on his current contract, there does not seem a better time for Michael Edwards to move for the midfielder.

It will not be easy to combat the likes of Juventus in the transfer market but he needs to make sure that the Reds secure Aouar sooner rather than later or miss out on him to a European rival.

AND in more news, take a look at which Liverpool starlet has been handed a devastating injury blow ahead of the latest round of international games…

David Moyes could land a defender more productive than Craig Dawson by sealing a bargain swoop for Celtic-owned centre-back Jack Hendry this summer.

What’s the word?

According to 90min, the Irons have joined the race for Hendry ahead of the next transfer window as interest continues to swell for his services.

Hendry is currently on loan with KV Oostende and is expected to join the Belgian Pro League outfit permanently at the end of the season, owing to a £2m purchase clause in his contract.

But Oostende may look to make a quick profit, as scouts from West Ham, Leicester City, Crystal Palace and Newcastle United are all keeping tabs on his situation, while Burnley saw a bid rejected in January for the centre-back now excepted to be rated at around £10m.

Several Premier League and Championship clubs, along with Bundesliga duo SV Werder Bremen and SC Freiburg, plus AZ Alkmaar, Brondby IF and KRC Genk have also been touted as potential destinations for the 25-year-old previously.

Hendry has not ruled out a return to Celtic, either, with reports by the Mirror over the weekend claiming the three-cap international could chase a second chance at Parkhead while he eyes a return to the Scotland national side.

The centre-half has not represented his country since 2018 but has seen his profile grow this season, having helped Oostende go from a side that narrowly avoided relegation last term to one with a chance of qualifying for the Champions League at the end of the campaign.

Should West Ham sign Hendry?

West Ham are expected to be in the market for a new central defender at the end of the season, with Moyes said to be on the lookout for at least one or two senior options who can supplement the current group assembled at the London Stadium.

Whether Hendry is in the running remains to be seen, but the Celtic-owned enforcer could represent a cheaper option than most and is currently performing at a more productive level than the Irons are seeing from Dawson – who Moyes has confirmed he wants to retain.

The Hammers were not afraid to submit big bids for defenders last summer, with Sky Sports claiming that a £30m offer was made for Burnley’s James Tarkowski. The Sun also suggested a £25m bid was on the cards for Olympique de Marseille’s Duje Caleta-Car, who would have been presented with a £150,000-per-week contract.

Hendry could come at a fraction of those sums and has been lauded by Oostende boss Alexander Blessin, who noted in November: “He’s a great talker in defence. He makes the people he’s playing with better. You can see them listening to him.

“He’s been a tower of experience for us. Jack’s the most important member of the team this season and he’s one of the best defenders in the league. When you get signed by a club the size of Celtic at such a young age, then you obviously must have a lot of qualities.”

Dawson is likewise often lauded for his leadership for West Ham, yet has offered Moyes fewer successful tackles per game (0.5) in the Premier League this season than Hendry has averaged in the Pro League (1.2) to date, per SofaScore.

Hendry also averages more clearances (4.5) than Dawson (4.0), wins possession in the air more often (2.9, 76% to 2.6, 70%) and is yet to make an error that leads to a shot, while the Watford-loanee has committed two thus far.

Moyes may not install Hendry as a starting option next season but if the West Ham boss is looking for depth and does not want to spend excessively, winning the European-wide race may be a reasonable route to go.

AND in other news, David Moyes has confirmed his intent for West Ham to sign a £42k-p/w brute this summer…

Manchester City eased into the quarter-finals of the Champions League thanks to a 2-0 victory against Borussia Monchengladbach at the Puskas Arena on Tuesday night.

It was always going to be tough for Marco Rose’s side to get back into the tie, having also suffered a 2-0 defeat in the first leg but Pep Guardiola’s side were in complete control for the entire 90 minutes.

Kevin De Bruyne scored a superb opener as his left-footed shot from outside the box flew in off the bar, before Ilkay Gundogan quickly added another as he slid the ball past Yan Sommer following good work from Phil Foden.

Whilst City’s attacking play was a joy to behold at times, their defence deserves a lot of credit for securing yet another clean sheet in the Champions League, with John Stones excellent at the back once again.

As per SofaScore, the former Everton man would earn an impressive 7.6 rating for his display, with only Riyad Mahrez (7.7) and Kevin De Bruyne (7.9) earning higher.

The centre-back made three tackles and four clearances during the 90 minutes, which far exceeds the one tackle and the 1.8 clearances he has averaged per game in the Champions League this season.

Stones, who is currently valued at £22.5 million by Transfermarkt, was also involved in five duels with Monchengladbach players during the game and wonn every single one of them, which emphasises just how in control he was at the back.

The England international also had 129 touches of the ball on Tuesday night, which was comfortably the most of any player from both sides, with Kyle Walker’s 99 touches the closest to him.

He used the ball extremely well too, as 115/119 of his passes would find a Manchester City shirt, resulting in an incredible 97% pass accuracy, which again is higher than the 93.1% pass accuracy he has averaged so far in the competition.

Considering Stones lost possession just four times during the game and wasn’t dribbled past once, it is clear that he produced a near-perfect display for Guardiola’s side, and the Spanish manager will surely be delighted with just how confident his team looked at the back once again.

And, in other news… Txiki may end up regretting £25m City transfer call with “phenomenal” gem

Alasdair Gold has criticised the display of Dele Alli despite Tottenham Hotspur beating Dinamo Zagreb 2-0 in the UEFA Europa League on Thursday night.

Harry Kane got himself on the scoresheet twice to give Spurs a decent home lead going into the away leg in Croatia, but while there were some very good performances for Jose Mourinho’s team, Gold was critical of Alli’s.

Writing in his latest ratings piece for football.london, the journalist claimed that the former MK Dons star looked “rusty” and gave him a mere 5/10 overall rating, the worst out of any Lilywhites player to have started the game in North London.

Alli looked rusty

Alli did look quite rusty throughout the match in what was not one of his best by his usual high standards.

The attacking midfield player failed to record a single shot on goal, successful dribble or key pass, and also lost possession of the ball no fewer than on 10 separate occasions in total throughout the clash (Sofascore).

The performance will certainly put question marks over whether he should be starting in the derby away at local rivals Arsenal on Sunday afternoon, as THFC will surely be looking to stamp their authority on the fixture and continue their climb up the Premier League table.

In other news, find out who Mourinho is planning to start ‘virtually every game’ here!

MatériaMais Notícias

Antes do clássico contra o São Paulo no domingo de Páscoa, dia 27, o Santos ainda enfrenta o Rio Claro neste fim de semana pela 10ª rodada do Paulistão. Entretanto, o duelo com o rival do Morumbi já tira o sono do técnico Dorival Júnior.

Com cinco titulares convocados para a Seleção Brasileira, o Peixe se viu obrigado a antecipar o duelo com o XV de Piracicaba, válido pela 11ª rodada, para esta terça-feira. O clássico, porém, teve a data mantida pela FPF e o Alvinegro sofrerá sem os “selecionáveis” Ricardo Oliveira, Lucas Lima, Zeca, Thiago Maia e Gabigol.

O técnico Dorival Júnior, além de lamentar a ausência de seus principais jogadores pada o clássico, ainda atenta para o fato de uma possível lesão ou suspensão, como é o caso do lateral Victor Ferraz, que recebeu o terceiro cartão amarelo diante do XV e não encara o Rio Claro.

– É ruim. No ano passado perdemos quatro jogadores no momento mais importante do campeonato. Até pedi levantamento de todo nosso grupo de apoio para vermos a quantidade de jogos que ficaremos sem esses elementos ao longo do ano. Não serão poucas. E justamente em um momento importante. Já são cinco desfalques, e com uma lesão e outra suspensão, viram sete. É ruim – lamentou Dorival.

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No ano passado, por conta de amistosos e Eliminatórias para a Copa do Mundo, o Santos também sofreu com os desfalques de Lucas Lima e Ricardo Oliveira, convocados por Dunga, e de Gabigol, chamado para defender a Seleção Olímpica.

Pundit Kevin Campbell has recently talked about Kiko Casilla’s future at Leeds United and has talked about interest from other clubs.

Casilla had joined Leeds from Real Madrid in January of 2019 on a free transfer, when the goalkeeper had penned a four-and-a-half-year deal with the Whites. Campbell though, seems to have provided an update about his future.

Spanish clubs could be interested in Casilla

Campbell was recently talking to Football Insider and he talked about Casilla’s situation. Campbell believes that the Spaniard is still a ‘good goalkeeper’ but things ended up going ‘sour’ when an incident involving him had seen the veteran get banned from playing football temporarily.

Campbell also believes that moving back to Spain could be the right move for the former Los Blancos man, as there are clubs who are looking at him there.

He said:

“I am sure there are clubs in Spain interested in signing Kiko Casilla.  He is a good goalkeeper but I things went sour with what happened last year, the situation and the issue for which he was reprimanded.

“I just think it is the right move for him, to go back to Spain, and I am sure there are clubs there that would take him.”

Casilla hasn’t played too much for Marcelo Bielsa’s men this season and has made just one senior-team appearance in the League Cup. He has even been relegated to playing with the Under-23s in Premier League 2 and in the EFL Trophy (as per Transfermarkt).

Last season in the Championship though, the 34-year-old had made 36 appearances for the Whites while keeping 15 clean sheets.

Following a win over Hull last season, journalist Phil Hay had praised Casilla and even said the shot-stopper showed his “Champions League credentials.”

Replacement might be needed for Casilla

Considering how often Casilla had played last season and the fact that he was a regular for the Whites before that, he perhaps still carries some influence in the club’s first-team and could yet step in if an injury issue arises.

Having said that, the veteran may need first-team football and that is something that Leeds can’t quite offer. So while it may be time to let him leave, the club absolutely must replace him.

In other news, a Premier League star has been tipped to sign for Leeds – read more here.

Grady Diangana has found life tough since making his permanent switch to West Brom this summer.

Indeed, the enigmatic winger has struggled to replicate the lucrative returns that saw him help the Baggies to promotion last season.

On Albion’s way to the Championship runner-up spot, the then on-loan Diangana delivered eight goals and seven assists from just 23 starts, via Transfermarkt.

Everyone at the Hawthorns got a glimpse of what was to come when he bagged himself a brace on debut against Luton Town, so it’s no wonder that sporting and technical director Luke Dowling pulled the trigger on signing him for the long-term.

The 22-year-old cost the Midlands outfit an initial £12m, which could rise to £18m in add-ons, according to the Express & Star.

That sum was a considerable chunk of their summer transfer budget. Karlan Grant cost the exact same fee, but one that is spread out in £2m instalments over six years, whilst they accounted for the permanent £9m addition of Matheus Pereira.

As a result of such an outlay, you’d want a huge bang for your buck – well, Diangana’s just not delivered in the big time.

Despite featuring in 15 of their 17 league outings this term, the 5 foot 11 attacker has contributed just one goal and has certainly struggled to repeat his attacking output from the second-tier.

Per WhoScored, Diangana has regressed from 2.4 dribbles, 1.6 shots and 1.4 key passes per game in 2019/20 to a pathetic 1.5 dribbles, 0.8 shot and 0.3 key passes per match.

This suggests that he’s struggling to combat the rise in quality of opposition as he’s clearly not been able to beat his man with his dribbling ability and as a result, he simply has not bee able to get near the goal to fire off chances.

Once dubbed an “explosive” threat who’s a “total nightmare” to play against by Sky Sports pundits Lee Hendrie and Keith Andrews, the young wide man has been wholly ineffective and is now bordering on becoming one expensive flop.

In some ways, it draws serious comparisons to that of Nacer Chadli, whose spell at the Hawthorns was disastrous – the irony being that he was once voted the ‘Flop of the Year.’

After splashing out a club-record £13m to Premier League rivals Spurs for his signature, the Belgian winger scored only six goals in 38 appearances before being relegated. An all too familiar position to that of Diangana and Albion right now.

The £10.8m-rated former Hammers ace is in grave danger of becoming another Chadli as a rate of two goal contributions in 32 top-flight appearances is currently way worse than even the ex-Baggies disaster achieved.

AND in other news, WBA must OFFLOAD £50k-p/w flop once dubbed a “manager’s dream”…