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A number of Liverpool supporters have been calling for Takumi Minamino to leave the club this summer following an update on his future.

The Reds could be set for a busy time of things in the next transfer window, with numerous incomings and outgoings expected at Anfield.

One player who has had a curious Liverpool career to date is Minamino, with the Japanese forward arriving from RB Salzburg in December 2019.

The 26-year-old has been limited to just 31 appearances for Jurgen Klopp’s side, having been loaned out to Southampton in January and not being considered a key part of the Reds’ plans. He has found the net just six times in 42 matches since moving to England, a far from encouraging return for a forward. He has also been questioned over his physicality, being deemed a “lightweight” by some pundits.

It remains to be seen whether Minamino has a future at Liverpool, but the Liverpool Echo claimed that the Merseysiders are open to the idea of selling him this summer.

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Liverpool fans want Minamino to leave

These Reds fans took to Twitter to provide their thoughts on Minamino’s future. with many believing that he doesn’t have the right attributes to succeed at Premier League level.

“Imagine signing a player for £7m and still getting ripped off. Wanted him to do well but he isn’t built for the Prem”

Credit: @RizAhmed98

“He’s good for 45 mins then goes missing in the 2nd half of games”

Credit: @Euphoria1983

“Minamino has proven he’s not good enough and would probably get more for him, we would get more than £15m for Origi, don’t underestimate Michael Edwards. I would prefer us to get Malen and Daka with an attacker and maybe Aouar or Renato Sanches if we are going into Ligue 1”

Credit: @GerWillzLFC

“Sell. We’re just wasting his talent”

Credit: @DpainTedRed

“Sell imo, he’s not good enough”

Credit: @kingcurtis100

“Sell”

Credit: @NPhillipsthe

In other news, one Liverpool star could reportedly extend his deal at Anfield. Find out who it is here.

Wolves want to extend midfielder Joao Moutinho’s contract at the club beyond its expiry date this summer, according to reliable journalist Liam Keen.

The Lowdown: Moutinho out of contract

The 35-year-old has been a fantastic servant for Wanderers since joining from Monaco in 2018, making a total of 170 appearances for the club.

Moutinho is out of contract at the end of the season, however, and there have been doubts over whether or not he would extend his stay at Molineux.

Now, a hugely promising update has emerged, in that respect.

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The Latest: Huge news emerges

Taking to Twitter on Friday, Keen confirmed that Wolves wants to extend Moutinho’s time at the club, with the Portuguese also happy to stay put in the Premier League:

“Lage confirms that Wolves want to keep Moutinho and that he also wants to stay. Talks ongoing.”

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The Verdict: Get that deal signed

This is a massive boost for Wolves, with Moutinho’s experience and class in the middle of the park still vital, despite his advancing years. He averaged a 95.8% pass completion rate in the Carabao Cup this season, which speaks volumes about his class in possession.

With Ruben Neves potentially leaving Wanderers in the summer, it is doubly important that his compatriot remains at Molineux – losing both at the same time would feel like a hammer blow.

Moutinho may have to accept that he won’t play every week moving forward, given his age, but the idea of him signing a new deal feels significant for Bruno Lage and everyone associated with Wolves.

In other news, one player has been tipped to start for Wolves next season. Find out who it is here.

Former Norwich City star Jon Newsome has told Football FanCast that Todd Cantwell must take the confidence from this Championship season into the 2021/22 Premier League campaign.

Cantwell endured a difficult 2019/20 as the Canaries were relegated to the second-tier.

In total, he made 37 appearances in the Premier League and scored six goals, while also providing two assists.

However, only two of those goals contributed to wins – over Manchester City and Everton – and he went 16 games at the end of the season without a goal contribution.

This season, though, Cantwell has been much more consistent, scoring six goals and laying on five assists in 29 games, despite an injury setback at the start of the season, as Norwich have sealed their promotion back to the top table.

And Newsome hopes that this season will have set the 23-year-old straight, and hopes he can become a top Premier League player from here.

Speaking exclusively to FFC, he said: “I think the key word there is what you’ve just touched on – confidence.

“The player’s got undoubted ability, we’ve seen that. But when you get into that Premier League, and you get thrown in at the deep end, and you might have one or two bad games and your confidence does get a knock.

“And it’s really, really difficult to pick that back up at times when you play at such an elite level. Whereas you’ve dropped down to the Championship, he will find it a little bit easier, although it’s a bit more frenetic, and there’s more games, and they come thick and fast and all the rest of it.

“But he’s obviously found his feet, and his confidence has blossomed and it would be really interesting to see how he develops next season. And if he can take that belief forward into the Premier League and do it on a bigger stage.”

Celtic have been dealt a late injury blow concerning Kyogo Furuhashi ahead of their upcoming Premiership clash on Monday evening.

What’s the latest?

According to a report by The Scottish Sun, the 26-year-old centre-forward, who suffered a recurrence of a hamstring injury in Celtic’s 3-1 victory over St. Johnstone on Boxing Day, looks set to be ruled out of action until at least next month, missing tonight’s clash with Hibs as a result.

The report claims that the Japan international is a doubt for the Old Firm clash on February 2 – despite the fact that Ange Postecoglou claimed after the St. Johnstone win that the striker’s injury was “nothing major,” leading us to believe he could return after the break.

The report went on to state that Kyogo will not link up with the Japanese national team for their World Cup qualifiers against China on January 27 and Saudi Arabia on February 1 due to his fitness concerns, as well as revealing that the forward has not been training with Celtic upon their return to Lennoxtown after the winter break.

Postecoglou will be fuming

Considering just how important a part of the Celtic side Kyogo has become since his £4.6m move to Parkhead last summer, the news that the centre-forward looks set to miss the fixture against Hibernian, as well as a number of other extremely important games in the coming weeks, is sure to have left Postecoglu fuming.

Indeed, over his 14 Premiership outings so far this season, the £4.95m-rated man has already scored eight goals, registered two assists and created four big chances for his teammates, as well as taking an average of 2.1 shots and making 1.1 key passes per game.

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These returns have seen the £18k-per-week striker average a SofaScore match rating of 7.03, ranking him as Postecoglou’s 11th-best performer in the top flight of Scottish football – of the players who remain in the Greek-Australian manager’s first-team squad.

The Japan international has also bagged a further two goals and three assists over his five Europa League appearances, three goals over his four Europa League qualifying fixtures and three goals in three games in the League Cup – taking his total to 16 goals and five assists over just 26 appearances for the Hoops.

As such, being without Kyogo for any extended period of time will undoubtedly come as a huge blow to Postecoglou and his side, who will need to keep the 26-year-old fit and firing over the second half of the season if Celtic are to have any chance of going on to reclaim their Scottish Premiership crown come next May.

In other news: Ange must unleash Celtic’s £1.44m-rated “dream” on Hibs, he’ll give Maloney nightmares

Southampton’s hopes of signing Manchester United full-back Brandon Williams this summer appear to have suffered a blow after it was revealed that West Ham and Norwich City are both keen on adding him to their squads ahead of next season.

According to The Sun, the Hammers and the newly-promoted Canaries are both interested in the 20-year-old, who has been regularly linked with a move to Southampton since the January transfer window.

After a failed loan move for the youngster in January, which left Ralph Hasenhuttl extremely short of full-back options at Southampton for the second half of the campaign, it seems as if the Austrian is desperate to not make the same mistake this summer and wants to bring the £9m-rated defender in on loan.

The Athletic suggested that Southampton are likely to return for the Manchester United academy graduate, who has struggled for regular game-time in Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side this season, due to the impressive form of Luke Shaw and the signing of Brazilian left-back Alex Telles in last summer’s transfer window.

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Southampton’s need for a left-back this summer will arguably be even greater than in January, as it now looks as if Ryan Bertrand will leave at the end of the season when his contract expires. It has also been suggested that Sam McQueen might never play football again, which currently leaves just Jake Vokins available as a left-back in the Austrian’s squad for next season.

Considering the 20-year-old has struggled to get game-time on loan with Sunderland in League One this season, it seems clear that the Saints will need to strengthen in that position this summer.

However, it looks as if they will face a battle for Williams’ signing this summer and Manchester United may well prefer to send him to West Ham, who look set to be playing European football next season and were boosted by the loan signing of Red Devils midfielder Jesse Lingard in the winter, which will surely have strengthened the relationship between the two clubs.

The 20-year-old, who was dubbed an “exciting young English talent” by Gary Lineker last year, looks as if he will be spoilt for choice of a loan club this summer, and it would be quite a blow for Hasenhuttl if Southampton were to miss out on him again.

In other news… Semmens drops huge claim on £20m Saints beast, Hasenhuttl must be buzzing

Andros Townsend has made a major admission, regarding his thoughts on a potential transfer to Rangers.

What’s the talk?

Crystal Palace winger Andros Townsend has admitted that he would be open to signing for Steven Gerrard’s Rangers side this summer following his exit from the Premier League. Townsend is out of contract at the end of the month and is set to leave Palace on a free transfer.

The winger was recently asked if he would consider signing for Rangers or Celtic in Scotland and opened himself up to the idea. He told TalkSPORT, as transcribed by Glasgow Live:

“I’m open to everything.

“If there’s an option that presents itself and it’s the best one for me and fulfils my needs, I wouldn’t turn it down just because it’s in another country.”

Crystal Palace boss Roy Hodgson hailed Townsend for his versatility and defensive work rate, whilst also being a “flying” winger for the club. He told Sky Sports:

“With England, he was just a flying winger, wasn’t he?

“He has shown this season that he can do a lot more than be a flying winger. He can play as one of two wide forwards playing much more centrally.

“He has also shown defensive aspects to his play that perhaps were not quite so eminent. All I am concerned about is that he does what we would like him to do every day on the training ground and every matchday.”

Wilson must swoop

Ross Wilson must swoop to snap Townsend up following this major admission by the former England international winger. Townsend is a proven Premier League performer and could be an excellent addition to Steven Gerrard’s squad next season, offering another impressive wide option to compete with the likes of Ryan Kent and Iannis Hagi in the Scottish Premiership.

With his contract expiring this month, it could also be an ideal opportunity for Rangers as they would avoid having to pay a transfer fee for his services and that could make it a bargain deal for Wilson.

Townsend is vastly experienced at the Premier League level. He has played 243 games in the English top-flight, producing a respectable 22 goals and 33 assists playing for Tottenham, QPR, Newcastle and Crystal Palace. This suggests that he has the quality to come in at Ibrox and make an instant impact next season, as he has been able to consistently perform in the Premier League and is still at a good age at 29.

The £80k-per-week dynamo provided five assists for Palace in the Premier League last season. Only three players bettered that for Rangers in the Scottish Premiership, with Kent managing seven and two players – James Tavernier and Hagi – locked on nine.

This shows that he could add further creativity to Gerrard’s squad and provide more service for a player like Alfredo Morelos to help the forward score more goals next season. This is why Wilson needs to pounce on the chance to sign Townsend after his admission.

AND in other news, Wilson must ruthlessly axe “deceptive” £33k-p/w Rangers star, it’s time for him to go…

Tottenham Hotspur winger Steven Bergwijn has emerged as a transfer target for Dutch side Ajax according to a recent report from The Daily Mail as they prepare for the upcoming 2021/22 campaign. 

THE LOWDOWN: BERGWIJN’S FUTURE LOOKS BLEAK….

Bergwijn has found regular game-time in the Spurs first team hard to come by since moving from PSV Eindhoven nearly 18 months ago, and that is likely to be frustrating for the 23-year-old.

He was once labelled as ‘very good’ by Noel Whelan in an interview with Football Insider, but that verdict doesn’t seem to have changed his fortunes at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in recent months.

The Spurs winger made 21 league appearances for Spurs last season, although just 13 of those were starts under the management of both Jose Mourinho and Ryan Mason at different stages in the campaign.

THE LATEST: HE LOOKS SET TO DEPART, BUT NOT ON THE CHEAP….

The Daily Mail have reported that Ajax are looking to offer Bergwijn ‘an escape route’ out of Spurs this summer, although the Premier League side aren’t prepared to let the winger depart on the cheap.

The north Londoners will demand a fee of £27m for the 23-year-old’s services, and it remains to be seen as to whether the Dutch champions will match that valuation anytime soon.

Bergwijn ‘looks set to leave’ Tottenham this summer, having found regular minutes hard to come by since signing from PSV back in 2020.

THE VERDICT: IT’S NOT A SURPRISE, BUT THE TIMING WOULD BE STRANGE…

It wouldn’t come as much of a surprise to see Spurs look at potentially cashing in on the £73,000-per-week winger this summer, as he hasn’t been a regular in their starting XI in recent months.

He has impressed in flashes whenever he’s been involved – that debut goal against Manchester City springs to mind – but with only three further goals to his name since then, he’s unlikely to be in front of the likes of Son Heung-min heading into the new Premier League season, so it might be best for him to move on in the near future.

If Spurs can get a sizeable fee for his services, they could potentially reinvest those funds in other areas of the squad as they look to strengthen ahead of the new league campaign, which is set to get underway in August.

However, with no permanent manager in place as of yet at Spurs, it would be a surprise to see them sell any players before a new boss is in place, as the new manager might yet decide to give Bergwijn a few more chances to prove his worth.

In other news, Paul Robinson doesn’t want one exit-linked player to leave Tottenham.

When Steven Gerrard was handed the Rangers job back in 2018 there was one question that is bound to have popped up in the minds of supporters… how can he use his Liverpool connections to improve the side?

The answer to that question came fairly quickly as he landed Ryan Kent on loan from Anfield in his first transfer window in charge at Ibrox. Kent joined on a season-long loan and quickly caught the eye before earning a permanent deal with the Scottish giants the following summer.

Transfermarkt valued him at £1.58m at the time of the move, having scored six goals and provided six assists in 23 Premiership matches for the club on loan. This showed an immediate impact from Gerrard in terms of what he offered off the pitch with his notability within the game and links to Premier League side Liverpool allowing the Gers to strike gold on this occasion.

Kent has established himself as one of the best players in Scotland over the past few seasons since joining the club. He has been nominated for the PFA Player of the Year award in two separate campaigns, whilst also winning the PFA Young Player of the Year award in 2019.

Former Gers attacker Kris Boyd previously heralded Kent as being phenomenal and praised the way he excites supporters with his style of play.

He said: “There’s Ryan Kent who is phenomenal – he gets you off your seat. His numbers have increased season after season. Even if the team are not at the level we saw at the start of the campaign, he is still a threat. He is so comfortable with the ball – it is like he has superglue in his boots!”

Last season, Kent averaged a sublime SofaScore rating of 7.23 in the Premiership as Rangers won the title. He racked up an impressive ten goals and nine assists to help the Gers claim the crown ahead of Celtic, proving that he has the quality to be a difference-maker for the club.

This has led to the 24-year-old’s reputation and profile improving considerably since he joined the club permanently in 2019. At the time of writing (06/10/21), Kent is valued at £12.60m by Transfermarkt. This is a stunning 697% value increase in two years since the move became official.

Gerrard hit the jackpot with Kent and Rangers have benefitted from his quality on the pitch ever since. His exponential rise in value could also see the club benefit from a financial standpoint. If they ever decide to cash in on him, which could provide a huge boost to the coffers if a Premier League side, for example, comes in with a big-money offer.

Therefore, the signing of Kent was a masterstroke by Gerrard. Hopefully, he will continue to grow and improve as a player, with his market value following him on an upwards trajectory.

AND in other news, Davis 2.0: Rangers must swoop for £4.1k-p/w “exciting talent”, he won’t cost a penny…

According to RMC Sport, West Ham United are in a strong position to sign Paris-Saint Germain shot stopper Alphonse Areola as talks continue between the two clubs.

The Lowdown: West Ham in keeper hunt…

David Moyes, as per recent reports, certainly has his sights set on strengthening between the sticks this summer.

West Ham have apparently lodged an £11 million bid to sign West Bromwich Albion ace Sam Johnstone (Football Insider) alongside the talks for Areola.

Reports of negotiations for the Frenchman emerged as far back as two weeks ago, with RMC now providing the latest.

The Latest: West Ham in strong position…

As per the French news outlet, West Ham are in fact still negotiating with PSG over the player but there’s also a bit of encouraging news.

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The Irons believe they are in a ‘strong position’ to sign him this summer and are taking their time over details as a result.

It is claimed an agreement ‘would probably work out for PSG’ and Areola could ‘return to the Premier League’ after spending last season on loan at Fulham.

The Verdict: Not a priority…

Given Lukasz Fabianski recently penned a new deal, keeping him at the London Stadium until the end of 2022, we believe snapping Areola up shouldn’t exactly be a priority for Moyes.

The deadline looms at the end of next month and West Ham are still arguably short of striking options, with Michail Antonio’s injury record certainly proving a concern.

That being said, if West Ham manage to tie up a deal for Areola soon, he could be a really shrewd acquisition as a ‘very aggressive’ keeper who commands his area well – as explained by Scott Parker last campaign (BT Sport).

In other news: ‘Beyond a joke’…West Ham fans fume in reply to official club post, find out more here.

Many West Ham United fans have been airing their frustration on Twitter, after it emerged that the Hammers are in no hurry to submit a formal offer for CSKA Moscow attacker Nikola Vlasic’s services [Eurostavka via Inside Futbol].

Enjoying a productive 2020/21 campaign, the Croatian registered 18 goal contributions from 34 appearances in all competitions; 12 goals and six assists [Transfermarkt].

Vlasic has been at the centre of rhetoric within West Ham United circles in recent weeks, after being identified as a reported target for David Moyes’ men [Eurostavka via Inside Futbol].

His agents are now allegedly applying pressure on to his current club, CSKA Moscow, to sanction his exit.

West Ham United are rumoured to be ready to pay a base value of €20m plus add-ons for his signature, however, are in no rush to formalise an offer.

In light of this news, lots of West Ham fans took to Twitter to protest what seems like yet another unsuccessful transfer saga.

West Ham fans react:

Replying to multiple outlets on Twitter, here is what some Irons fans had to say about the update:

““In no hurry” Other than the window closes Tuesday and it takes us about 20 years to complete a medical.”

Credit: @JoshuaHearne

“West ham are in no hurry lol”

Credit: @IanCulleyMorga2

 “No hurry only 100 hours left”

Credit: @WHUemployee””No rush” * 4 days left on the market *”Credit: @WestHargm”In no Hurry to Complete a Deal, Despite the Window About to Close FC”Credit: @WestHamRambles”why are we in no hurry there is 4 days left”Credit: @dajwhufcIn other news, West Ham United fans react to their Europa League draw. Find out more here.