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Crystal Palace have reportedly opened talks over a Bosman move for exciting young defender Radu Dragusin.

What’s the word?

According to The Evening Standard, Dragusin could yet be persuaded to leave Juventus with his representatives holding initial talks with Roy Hodgson’s side over a summer move.

The Romanian centre-back, 19, is out of contract at the end of this campaign, having made four appearances across all competitions this season thus far, per Transfermarkt.

Dragusin, who made his debut in Juventus’ 3-0 win over Dynamo Kyiv in the Champions League last year, has caught the eye in recent weeks, with Premier League rivals Newcastle and Tottenham also said to be interested in his services.

Planning for the future?

The highly-rated teenager certainly looks like a big prospect for the future, and he could be an exciting addition for Palace, with The Evening Standard claiming they’ve already started discussions about bringing him to Selhurst Park.

Despite his age, Dragusin cuts a tall and imposing figure, and has cited Liverpool defender Virgil van Dijk as a source of inspiration.

With interest in the Romania U19 international starting to heat up, it seems like Palace are starting to plan for the future, amid rampant speculation over Hodgson’s future.

It’s no secret that the Eagles have the oldest squad in the Premier League, with every single centre-back currently above the age of 30.

Whilst admittedly very little is known about the Romanian, his manager Andrea Pirlo has made no secret of his admiration of the young defender, saying:

“He’s physically very strong. He’s very young and must develop on a technical level, but he will have time to do it, training every day with great champions.”

This sort of physical strength would be most welcome in south London and to be able to nab a prospect with so much potential could be a shrewd bit of business by Steve Parish if he can beat other Premier League clubs to this up-and-coming talent.

Given his age, Dragusin could be Palace’s starting centre-back for years to come if Parish can bring him to Selhurst Park and he is able to hit the ground running.

AND in other news, Crystal Palace suffer significant injury setback with Roy Hodgson unsure when Wilfried Zaha will return…

Carlo Ancelotti has confirmed that Everton will be without midfielder Allan against Fulham on Sunday due to the Brazilian’s hamstring injury.

The Italian had hoped to see his £21m summer signing from Serie A side SSC Napoli be passed fit to face the Cottagers, after returning to training earlier in the month.

Allan has not featured for the Toffees since limping off the field away to Leicester City in December, but was expected to be declared available for Everton’s 5-4 FA Cup win over Tottenham Hotspur in midweek.

Allan has now missed more than two months of action, while Sunday’s Goodison Park encounter with Scott Parker’s Fulham will mark the 13th fixture across all competitions that he has played no role in.

The 30-year-old is not the only player unavailable for the Cottagers’ visit to Merseyside, with Ancelotti also ruling Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Jordan Pickford out.

“Both will not be available for the game on Sunday. We are looking for the next game on Wednesday where we think both of them will be available,” the Italian noted on Friday.

“We have back Andre Gomes, James [Rodriguez], Josh King, and in the next week we think Allan will be back, so the squad is ready for the next games.

“James is fine. He trained yesterday and today and is available for the game on Sunday. No problem.”

Allan had started all 13 of his appearances before sustaining a hamstring injury in the first half at the King Power Stadium on December 16, only sitting out two fixtures – once through a groin strain and once after being rested.

Tom Davies stood in for Allan against Tottenham in the FA Cup on Wednesday night and left Ancelotti impressed with his efforts.

“He’s doing really well, improved a lot,” the former Chelsea boss said, via quotes by the Liverpool Echo. “He’s a powerful midfielder, dynamic. He’s improved in managing the ball and possession. Tactically, he’s doing well.”

Davies was the driving force behind Everton’s performance in midweek as he constantly shouted for the ball, and never hid from a battle whenever Spurs were in possession.

It meant no Toffees player registered more touches than Davies (98), while only Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg (135) and Davinson Sanchez (104) saw more of the ball for the visitors, per WhoScored.

Hojbjerg (8) and Ben Davies (6) were also the only players who featured for either side to attempt a greater number of tackles than Davies (4), who further offered the second-most interceptions (2) while completing (67) and attempting (74) the most passes among all of Ancelotti’s 14 men who featured.

The 22-year-old should now get another shot at impressing the Everton boss against Fulham with Allan still on the sidelines, potentially in a similar role of that he occupied in last week’s 3-3 draw at Manchester United with Gomes available to join the engine room again.

AND in other news, Everton are monitoring an “exciting” teen prospect Carlo Ancelotti could sign for free…

In an exclusive interview with Football FanCast, former Newcastle United footballer Steve Howey has been discussing the lack of centre-back options at Liverpool.

The Reds are currently without Virgil van Dijk and Joe Gomez due to long-term injuries, with Fabinho having filled in at centre-back for much of the season.

Whilst Joel Matip made his return from injury in the defeat against Burnley on earlier this week, the Cameroonian international has been terribly injury-prone throughout his time in the Premier League, so it would be something of a surprise if he was to stay fit for the rest of the season.

When asked about potential options for Jurgen Klopp’s side in the January transfer window, Howey suggested Brighton centre-back Lewis Dunk as someone who could help to fill a gap at the Merseyside club.

“Jurgen Klopp says he’s not 100% sure whether he’s going to go in [to the transfer window]. I’ve always liked the lad Dunk at Brighton. I think he’s decent, he’s got good distribution, he’s a big lad. He’s a unit.

“I’ve always liked the two centre-halves at Brighton to be quite honest.”

Dunk has been with Brighton throughout their time in League One and the Championship and has established himself as a solid centre-back with the Seagulls in the top-flight.

In total, the 29-year-old has made 324 appearances for Brighton, in which he has contributed 21 goals and 14 assists.

In that time, he has seen his value soar, and he is now valued at £24.3 million by Transfermarkt, suggesting that any move to Liverpool would presumably not come cheap, especially as he is contracted until 2025.

He is also captain of Graham Potter’s side, and they would therefore not be keen to let him go mid-season, especially when they are in a relegation battle.

Therefore, whilst the six foot four Dunk might have been a good short-term option for Liverpool this season, evidenced by his solid performances in the top-flight in recent seasons, he would not be a cheap solution for Klopp in the January window, so it would arguably be a surprise if Liverpool did bid for the Englishman.

And, in other news… Forget Origi: £99m-rated LFC star who lost possession 39x badly betrayed Klopp

Manchester United were outfoxed by Manchester City on their own home turf on Wednesday night, leaving Ole Gunnar Solskjaer with a lot of work to do as the club’s wait for silverware continues.

Goals from City duo John Stones and Fernandinho dumped the Red Devils out of the Carabao Cup semi-final, as Pep Guardiola’s side set up a Wembley clash with Tottenham Hotspur.

Hunting their first trophy since 2017, Solskjaer’s side seemed to have shrugged off early pressure from City after Bruno Fernandes and Marcus Rashford both squandered chances. But poor set-piece defending ultimately proved to be their undoing when Harry Maguire failed to deal with a free-kick from Phil Foden – Stones bundling home from close range to give City the lead.

And their suspect defence came back to haunt them after Anthony Martial and Aaron Wan-Bissaka combined only to clear the ball as far as the edge of the box for Fernandinho to hit the ball first time into the back of the net.

Several players were at fault for the sub-par performance, none more so than United left-back Luke Shaw, who arrived at Old Trafford from Southampton for £27m in 2014. He reportedly earns around £150,000-per-week, as per Spotrac.

SofaScore graded the 25-year-old as the worst player on the pitch by a country mile with a miserable 6.2 rating – he lost possession 16 times, failed to win any of his duels from six attempts, was dribbled past once and committed two fouls.

The Manchester Evening News gave Shaw a low grade of 5/10 and claimed he ‘let Stones go for the goal,’ while The Sun were equally scathing in their assessment, insisting ‘he found himself tucked in centrally and was often a passenger on the break.’

Not only did he look lethargic, but he was also uncharacteristically lightweight as well with his teammates Fernandes and Paul Pogba managing more tackles between them, as per SofaScore.

After Alex Telles’ arrival in the summer, Shaw may have been forgiven for feeling a little threatened. But his latest shocking display may have given him more reason to do so and he ought to be nervously looking over his shoulder after he suffered a horror show against Guardiola’s side.

United have now lost four cup semi-finals in the past 12 months following yet another semi-final defeat at the hands of City in the Carabao Cup. With a trip to Liverpool on the horizon, this could be Shaw’s last start for quite some time after this latest showing.

AND in other news, Manchester United could find their next Nemanja Vidic…

Many Aston Villa fans are fuming following the latest reports surrounding their game against Newcastle United.

The Premier League have opted to postpone Friday night’s match between the Magpies and Aston Villa. According to Luke Edwards, and tweeted out by @villareport, the Tyneside club believe that as many as ten of their players are infected with COVID-19.

This will understandably frustrate Villa as they already have a game in hand in the league due to their game being postponed at the start of the season (SofaScore). To have two games in hand could see the fixture list become very congested for Dean Smith’s side down the line and could cause fatigue and injury issues.

Smith will not be happy – having lost their last two games 2-1 against Brighton and Hove Albion and West Ham, an up and down Newcastle side presented the Villains with a chance to get back on track, but instead they will now be left with a ‘huge disadvantage’ later in the season, as the postponed was confirmed on Tuesday evening.

Here is what Villa fans had to say following the update:

In other Villa news, many fans are praising one defender following his start to the season. Have a read who it is here!

Harry Wilson starred for Wales in Wednesday’s Nations League clash against Finland as Ryan Giggs’ men rode out a comfortable 3-1 win. The Liverpool ace – currently on loan with Cardiff City – struck first to give his country the opener just before the half hour mark.

According to Sofascore, Wilson also contributed a key pass, one tackle and drew three fouls as the Finnish struggled to deal with his attacking threat. Shrewsbury Town midfielder and former Wales international Dave Edwards took to Twitter to praise the 23-year-old, branding his performance as “unplayable”.

The Whites were linked to a move for the winger over the summer, but no move materialised as several other clubs also eyed up his services. However, now he appears to be completely out of favour at Liverpool, Leeds could have an opening to reignite their interest.

Should Leeds sign Harry Wilson?

Wilson was originally part of a £40million plan devised by Michael Edwards to raise cash for their spending during the transfer window. The attacker was named alongside Marko Grujic, seemingly valuing each player at £20million each as the Reds looked to fund moves for big targets.

Neither men left the Merseyside permanently outfit though, and Wilson returned to his native to represent Cardiff for the remainder of the season on loan. He has already gotten off the mark for the Bluebirds, bagging two goals and an assist in five Championship appearances. His spell with Cardiff could become another club he shines for.

Wilson’s best loan stint came during his time with Derby during the 2018/19 season. The versatile attacker scored 15 Championship goals for the Rams and contributed a further three assists – totalling 18 goals and six assists for the season (via Transfermarkt).

Wilson also has a mean long-range shot and could certainly add a whole new attacking dynamic to Leeds’ team. Rather than playing short passes to target man Patrick Bamford, the Welshman’s ability to pull the trigger from outside the box could catch the opposition off-guard and make the Whites all the more lethal.

The Liverpool man’s current £60,000 per week contract runs out next summer, which could be very attractive to Victor Orta and co.

In other news, Signing Dele Alli would be a huge boost to Patrick Bamford’s game…

Loads of Everton fans have reacted as former Toffees player Ademola Lookman missed a penalty for Fulham versus West Ham United in the Premier League.

Indeed, the England U21 international decided to take the spot-kick away from the usual taker for Scott Parker’s team, Aleksandar Mitrovic, and his effort was comfortably saved by Lukasz Fabianski.

Lookman attempted a Panenka penalty in the last minute of the game and a goal would have made the score 1-1 and earned a precious point for the Cottagers, but instead, he was made to look rather embarrassed.

Supporters of the Goodison Park faithful will remember Lookman’s pretty barren spell at the Merseyside club, in which he only managed to score a mere four goals and make just two assists in a total of 48 matches in all competitions over three consecutive seasons (Transfermarkt).

Everton fan reaction to Lookman miss

These EFC supporters reacted to the miss from Lookman on Twitter, with one Blue even claiming that it was ‘terrible’:

In other news, find out which Everton player must do better according to an ex-Toffee here!

Glasgow Rangers ace Bongani Zungu has arrived at the Ibrox outfit with the burden of expectations on his shoulders. Steven Gerrard recently described him as a “dominant” midfielder. And the Rangers boss told the club’s website “Bongani fits the profile of player that adds further strength and depth to our midfield.”

He added “we wanted a dominant midfielder with the right profile who can enhance the team and compliment other players we have.”

Gerrard is hardly short of midfield options at the moment, as Scott Arfield, Steven Davis, Ryan Jack and Glen Kamara have all impressed in recent weeks. But he must unleash Zungu when his side travel to Parkhead to face Celtic on Saturday.

Whilst some may argue that it is far too early for him to make his first-team debut in the Old Firm derby, do not allow yourself to be fooled so easily. In fact, far from it, as Amiens official John Williams insisted “his skill level is very high. He is a hard worker and technically good. He can do everything.”

Similarly, former Rangers man Dean Furman has backed Zungu to succeed in Scotland. The South African believes his countryman can cope with the rigorous demands of life as a professional footballer at the Ibrox outfit. He told The Daily Record “I don’t know how Bongani is fitness-wise but it would be really amazing if he was ready and thrown into the Old Firm game.”

Per SofaScore, the 27-year-old made 21 appearances in Ligue 1 for Amiens last season, whilst he averaged 1.3 tackles, at least 1 clearance and 1 big chance created per game, which implies that he is a wrecking ball in all parts of the pitch.

And a look at his heatmaps last term reveals that he is both confident on the ball and comfortable under pressure, which is exactly the type of character who can adapt to a game that is notorious for its physical demands. He is used to dealing with public scrutiny after playing for Mamelodi Sundowns, who are one of the biggest teams in South Africa, so he should be able to handle a baptism of fire.

Gerrard can catch Celtic by surprise if Zungu is given the opportunity to prove himself as the attacking box-to-box midfielder could exploit gaps at the back.

He has already admitted he can’t wait to get started with the Gers. And the South Africa international will want to make a good impression if and when the chance arises.

AND in other news, Steven Gerrard should start Rangers ace Ianis Hagi in Old Firm derby…

Since joining from Nottingham Forest a few years ago, Henri Lansbury hasn’t exactly established himself as a starter for Aston Villa.

The former England U21 international has found himself in and out of the team, and last season played just 15 times across all competitions for Dean Smith’s side.

But having been thrown into the starting line-up for the Carabao Cup third round clash against Bristol City on Thursday night, Lansbury delivered a timely reminder of the quality that he has.

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

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Villa eased to a comfortable 3-0 win at Ashton Gate, and whilst Bertrand Traore may be the name on everybody’s lips following his first goal for the club, Lansbury’s midfield masterclass would surely have left Smith purring in the dug-out.

As per Sofascore, despite not scoring or even getting himself an assist, he recorded an 8.0 match rating – higher than the likes of Traore, Ollie Watkins and Anwar El Ghazi, who all found themselves on the score-sheet.

Lansbury helped run the game from the middle of the park, boasting an 88% pass accuracy and delivering a game-high six key passes on the night – to put that latter stat into context, the Villa players in joint-second (Keinan Davis and Jacob Ramsey) provided exactly half that.

The 29-year-old also created two official big chances, delivered six crosses into the box, and found his target with five out of the eight long balls that he attempted.

Having come in from the cold like he did – it was his first competitive outing of the season – it was a performance of the highest order. And with Villa making movies in the transfer market and competition for places hotting up, Lansbury’s display would have left Smith raving.

Tottenham Hotspur have been linked to many a centre-back this summer but none seem more apt than the latest name hitting the headlines…

What’s the word?

According to The Sun, Spurs have entered the race to land highly-rated Brighton sensation Ben White following an impressive loan spell at Championship-winning Leeds United.

They are joined by the likes of Manchester United, Liverpool and Chelsea but the Seagulls have slapped a fee in excess of £50m on his head.

Marcelo Bielsa’s side have already had three bids rejected by the south coast side, the latest of which was around £35m.

Next John Terry?

Following the departure of Jan Vertonghen to Benfica, Jose Mourinho could well be in need of a new centre-back with Eric Dier likely to remain in the role alongside Davinson Sanchez and Toby Alderweireld.

The Portuguese has been blessed with many elite defenders over his long and industrious managerial career, ranging from Ricardo Carvalho, William Gallas and John Terry at Chelsea to Sergio Ramos and Pepe at Real Madrid.

And in White, Mourinho could land himself a player fit to fill the boots of his former Stamford Bridge skipper.

Sky Sports’ FL pundit Andy Hinchcliffe believes the 22-year-old is a “bit of John Terry or Gary Cahill” whilst Keith Andrews was impressed by his “elegant way they have of stepping out from the back and picking the right passes more often than not.”

Terry was never a man-mountain of a centre-back, but what he lacked in height he more than made up for in his physical, aggressive, tough-tackling and ball-playing nature.

White, who has been tipped for Three Lions stardom, is only one inch shorter than the Chelsea legend and proved his defensive credentials as a regular figure in Bielsa’s league-leading backline.

Per WhoScored, the “special” talent averaged 2.8 aerial duels won, 2.7 clearances, 1.6 tackles and 56 passes per appearance in the Championship last term.

£50m might seem like a lot of money, but Daniel Levy could land Spurs their future at the back and there’s no one better than Mourinho to transform White into the next Terry.

AND in other news, Levy could kill two birds with one stone in £90m swoop for “magical” superstar Poch wanted…