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Liverpool are set to launch a bid for AC Milan star Ismael Bennacer in the coming days, according to Italian outlet Calciomercato (via Liverpool Echo)

The Lowdown: Thiago’s injury

The Reds suffered a tough start to the Premier League season on Saturday as they drew 2-2 to newly-promoted Fulham, twice having to come from behind.

To make matters worse, Thiago Alcantara limped off the pitch just six minutes into the second half after what appeared to be an innocuous incident.

This adds to Liverpool’s extensive injury list, which includes the likes of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Curtis Jones, Diogo Jota, Kostas Tsimikas and Ibrahima Konate.

The Latest: Interest in Bennacer

According to a report by Calciomercato (via Liverpool Echo), the Reds will launch a €40m (£33.75m) bid for Bennacer in the coming days after Thiago suffered his hamstring injury against Fulham.

It is reported that the 24-year-old Algeria international has a £42.2m release clause in his Milan contract.

This contradicts the widespread news which claims that Jurgen Klopp is holding out until the summer of 2023 to bolster his options in midfield.

The Verdict: Ideal target

Bennacer’s underlying statistics illustrate why Klopp could be interested in bringing the player to Anfield this summer.

As per FBRef, compared with positional peers across Europe’s top five leagues over the past year, the 24-year-old ranks in the 99th percentile for dribbles completed, the 94th percentile for interceptions and the 93rd percentile for tackles.

Former Milan star Giuseppe Bergomi has been full of praise for the midfielder in the past, having proclaimed: “Bennacer dominates in the middle on the pitch due to his personality and technical qualities. He finds his team-mates in perfect positions.”

Therefore, with Klopp’s team short of options in midfield, Bennacer – who has been dubbed an ‘absolutely unbelievable’ player by journalist Sam Tighe – could be the man to solve Liverpool’s issues in the middle of the park if he can be lured to Anfield.

Newcastle United midfielder Matty Longstaff looks set for a departure from St James’ Park this summer, with his long-term future at the club also under threat.

What’s the word?

That’s according to journalist Chris Waugh – in a Q and A for The Athletic – who revealed that it is “looking unlikely” that the academy graduate will have a role to play under manager Eddie Howe moving forward.

Asked whether the 22-year-old has a future on Tyneside, the respected insider revealed that: “I think it’s looking unlikely. Howe admitted a couple of weeks ago that Matty Longstaff is likely to go out on loan. Whether he signs a new contract, given he is into the final 12 months of his, before he goes, is unclear”.

The Englishman spent the first half of last season on loan at Scottish Premiership side Aberdeen, before joining League Two outfit Mansfield Town on another temporary deal in January.

Sad decline

As Waugh suggested, with just a year remaining on his existing deal with the northeast side, it appears seemingly inevitable that young Longstaff will be leaving the club permanently once that contract expires, having fallen way down the pecking order in recent times.

That fact represents what is a sad decline for a player who had burst onto the scene just under three years ago, enjoying a dream Premier League debut after netting a stunning winner against Manchester United back in October 2019.

Since then, however, the central midfielder has made just 14 top-flight appearances in total, including just five during the 2020/21 campaign under former boss Steve Bruce.

While older brother Sean has remained a permanent fixture of the first team in recent times, the less experienced Longstaff has struggled to force his way back into the reckoning, having also endured difficult stints out on loan last term.

A switch to Pittodrie last summer resulted in the former England U20 international making just five league outings in total, with Newcastle ultimately opting to recall him midway through the season due to his lack of involvement.

His subsequent stint at Mansfield was far more fruitful as he netted six goals and provided two assists in just 18 games for Nigel Clough’s side, albeit with his drop into the fourth tier of English football a marker of just how far he has fallen of late.

As Waugh alluded to, another loan move has been mooted this summer, with the hope being that he can attempt to kickstart his career for his own sake, even if his long-term future looks to be away from St James’ Park.

Manchester City are reportedly in talks to sign RSC Anderlecht defender Sergio Gomez.

What’s the news?

According to a recent report from Nieuwsblad.be, the Premier League champions are negotiating with the Belgian club over a potential deal for the left-back.

After working his way through Barcelona’s youth ranks, the 21-year-old joined Borussia Dortmund in 2018 before leaving Germany last summer to sign for his current club.

David Ornstein added to the story by saying on Twitter: “Man City working on deal to sign Anderlecht left-back Sergio Gomez. 21yo Spain youth int’l seen as development talent; move is irrespective of 1st team targets.”

Guardiola should be thrilled

With City in conversations to secure a deal for the young full-back, the Manchester City boss will surely be thrilled.

His debut season in Belgium saw only one other outfield player rack up more minutes than Gomez, who ended the campaign with five goals and 11 assists to his name in 34 appearances as he demonstrated sublime skills in the final third.

To further highlight his attacking talent, no other Anderlecht player even came close to matching the number of crosses the Spaniard delivered (284).

In fact, no other player in the entire league provided more crosses than the full-back, showing just how useful he is in an attacking sense.

From a defensive point of view, Gomez, who has an apparent release clause of €15m (£12.5m) made 53 interceptions and won 32 tackles in total, placing him in the top five for each statistic at Anderlecht.

This shows how significant he can be without the ball as well as how dangerous he can be on it.

It also makes it easy to see why City are keen on adding the left-back, who has been dubbed the “king of assists” by football talent scout, Jacek Kulig, on Twitter, to their side.

The Citizens have seen Oleksandr Zinchenko leave the club this summer and recent reports meanwhile claim that they have all but walked away from securing a potential deal for Marc Cucurella. Thus, a deal for Gomez should definitely have Guardiola thrilled.

With Ornstein claimeding that the Manchester club see the Anderlecht defender as a “development talent” and that City remain in the market for senior recruits at left-back, it bodes particularly well for the management who are so keen on adding new options to the team in defence.

While Gomez has proved himself to be a very capable attacking full-back, which Guardiola would surely love to have another one of next to the likes of Joao Cancelo, who ended his previous league campaign with one goal and seven assists, the prospect of having the Spaniard and another more senior left-back brought in would definitely set City up to attack their next league campaign.

Liverpool are reportedly making strong progress regarding the potential signing of Borussia Dortmund star Jude Bellingham in the summer of 2023.

The Lowdown: Bellingham staying put

The midfielder is arguably one of the most exciting English players of his generation, already growing into a key figure for Dortmund at the age of just 19.

Bellingham has 90 appearances to his name for the Bundesliga giants and has been strongly linked with a move to Liverpool in recent months, but to no avail as of yet.

The 19-year-old will instead remain at Dortmund for another season before almost certainly moving on next summer.

The Latest: Exciting update emerges

According to Football Insider, Liverpool are ‘putting in place an agreement’ to sign Bellingham in 2023 as they attempt to acquire his signature 12 months in advance, as was the case with Naby Keita.

The England gem has been ‘identified’ by the Reds’ recruitment team as someone who can take Jurgen Klopp’s side up another level, such is his quality.

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The Verdict: Makes complete sense

This is fantastic news for Liverpool if true, with Bellingham someone who looks like a prototype of a Klopp midfielder, possessing technical ability, power, intelligence and versatility. He averaged 1.6 tackles and 1.7 dribbles per game in the league last season.

With Jordan Henderson 33 by the time the 2023/24 season starts and doubts still surrounding Keita’s consistency, the Dortmund gem could be the ideal player to come in and fill the right-sided central midfield role at Anfield for many years to come.

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While it would have been exciting to see Bellingham arriving at Liverpool this summer, Klopp has enough options in midfield currently, so snapping up the 19-year-old in advance is the next best thing, with the Reds seemingly closing in on an agreement for the teenager.

Southampton are plotting a move for highly-rated Chelsea defender Levi Colwill this summer and a journalist has dropped a huge update on their interest.

What’s the latest?

Speaking to GIVEMESPORT, talkSPORT journalist Alex Crook said: “He’s got a lot of interest. Southampton, Bournemouth, Brighton as well down on the south coast, they’d all take him.”

The update comes after Fabrizio Romano said that it was “likely” the player would leave on a permanent deal in this window with the Blues prioritising signing three new centre-backs.

However, Saints will face a battle for his signature with the fellow south coast clubs also willing to try their best to persuade Colwill to move.

Supporters will be buzzing

It’s no surprise that supporters at St Mary’s will be buzzing to hear the news of their interest given the recent success the club has had in signing players who have come through Chelsea’s famed Cobham academy.

All the signs point toward Colwill repeating that trend too after a successful loan spell in the Championship with Huddersfield Town last season where he produced some good performances.

The 19-year-old made 32 appearances for the Terriers in 2021/22 and was key in helping them reach the play-off final. It ended in defeat with Colwill scoring an own-goal on the day, but everyone makes mistakes and it will be a moment he will surely learn from.

When you look at his statistics you can see just how much he impressed, averaging 1.8 tackles per game and winning 65% of his total duels overall.

He certainly hasn’t gone unnoticed and has been described as a “rising talent” by the Athletic’s Simon Johnson.

Colwill has also earned praise from his teammates at Huddersfield, with midfielder Lewis O’Brien saying he’s “going to have a fantastic career ahead of him at the highest level.”

He’s also been capped twice at U21 level for England despite having never made a top-flight appearance.

Given his impressive displays last season it’s clear he’s ready to step up to the Premier League, it’s unlikely he will get that opportunity at Stamford Bridge, so we think he should make the move elsewhere in order to push on.

AND in other news: Saints can land big Broja upgrade with bid for £10m dynamo, he’d be a “great signing”

The Rangers Review journalist Derek Clark has now revealed some Glasgow Rangers transfer news on reported Ibrox target Cameron Congreve.

The Lowdown: Offer made

According to Football Insider, Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s side have had a loan offer rejected by Swansea City for the 18-year-old, who has now agreed a new deal with the English Championship club.

He is said to be part of their first-team plans for the new season, and the Swans are ‘excited’ about what they see as the teenager’s ‘huge potential’.

The Latest: ‘Nonsense’

Taking to Twitter, Clark has now revealed that reports of Rangers wanting to loan in Congreve were ‘nonsense’, adding that there has been ‘no contact’ with Swansea.

He outlined: “Regarding earlier reports that Rangers wanted to loan Cameron Congreve. I’m told this is nonsense, there has been no contact with Swansea.”

The Verdict: It’s a shame

Whether the Light Blues were interested in signing Congreve on loan or not, it is a shame that they look set to miss out on a deal given his contract extension.

The Wales under-18 international broke into the Swans’ first team last season, making five appearances in the Championship, including a short cameo against fierce rivals Cardiff City in a 4-0 away win in April and starts in their final two matches of the campaign (Transfermarkt).

Nonetheless, he would’ve given Van Bronckhorst another handy option in the middle of the park, but it now looks as if the Rangers manager will have to look at other targets ahead of the start of the new Premiership campaign.

Manchester United have reached a full agreement with Barcelona for midfielder Frenkie de Jong, according to Fabrizio Romano.

The Lowdown: Moves coming thick and fast

The Red Devils made left-back Tyrell Malacia the first signing of the Erik ten Hag era earlier this month, and United chief Richard Arnold appears to be making progress on further likely arrivals.

Ajax defender Lisandro Martinez appears to be on the verge of a move to Old Trafford, with a deal thought to be ‘imminent’, while free agent Christian Eriksen also looks set to pen terms with the Premier League giants.

De Jong, who has been labelled as a ‘genius’ by his manager Xavi Hernandez, could also now be on the way to England for a reunion with Ten Hag following a breakthrough in talks with Barcelona.

The Latest: Agreement reached over De Jong

Romano took to Twitter on Thursday morning to provide a significant update on De Jong’s future.

He revealed that, ‘after further talks’, a ‘full agreement’ has been reached between the two clubs worth a total €85m (£71.9m), with a guaranteed fee around €75m (£63.5m).

However, the transfer expert did add that personal terms are ‘still the issue’ which needs to be resolved for a transfer to go through.

The Verdict: Huge news

De Jong has been the man on United’s radar ever since Ten Hag was announced as manager at the end of April.

Therefore, agreeing on a fee is a big step in the Red Devils’ pursuit to bring the Dutchman to Manchester, and hopefully personal terms can be finalised soon.

The 25-year-old is still owed £17m in deferred salary payments by Barcelona, so that could be an issue which means that the saga could still drag on over the coming days and possibly weeks despite a fee being agreed.

Manchester United may already be planning for life without Cristiano Ronaldo after the Portuguese striker made it clear he wants to leave Old Trafford, but Erik ten Hag could sign an upgrade in Robert Lewandowski.

ESPN reporter Mark Ogden has suggested that Ronaldo’s time at United is up and that the Red Devils could look to beat Barcelona to the signing of £40.5m-rated Lewandowski as his replacement.

Although the legendary forward was United’s top scorer in all competitions last season, finishing with 24 goals in all competitions, he will turn 38 next season and simply cannot offer the pressing ability that Erik ten Hag will demand of his frontman.

While a 34-year-old Lewandowski is also unlikely to exert too much energy on pressing defenders, the Poland international averaged 9.68 pressures per 90 last season, in comparison to Ronaldo’s 6.54.

The Bayern Munich man also vastly outperformed Ronaldo in his performances in the Bundesliga, as the graphic below emphasises.

While Lewandowski was playing in a significantly better team, in an arguably weaker league, his goal record in recent seasons suggests that he would be a success in the Premier League.

When Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp was asked who the best player he had ever coached was last year, he replied Lewandowski, saying:

“What he has made out of his potential, how he pushed himself to become the player he is today, that’s extraordinary.

“He has immersed himself in the game, he just knows in every situation what he has to do, where he has to go. Lewy is an absolute machine.”

With the likes of Bruno Fernandes, Jadon Sancho and Christian Eriksen behind him, Lewandowski would surely be a hit under ten Hag, and would arguably be a better fit than Ronaldo, who clearly feels United is beneath him after the club’s failure to secure Champions League football last season.

The Polish forward’s influence at Bayern Munich has previously been compared to that of Lionel Messi at Barcelona, and if he could lead the line at Old Trafford in a similar manner to his time at the Allianz Arena, he would undoubtedly be an upgrade on the version of Ronaldo we saw at United last season.

And, in other news… Bid made: Man United submit offer for “wonderful” £68m target, he’s Ten Hag’s dream…

Nottingham Forest are reportedly eyeing a move for Manchester City right-back Issa Kabore, according to The Guardian.

The lowdown: Career so far

Signed from Belgian outfit KV Mechelen in 2020, Kabore was immediately sent back on a season-long loan deal before spending the 2021/22 campaign at Ligue 1 side Troyes.

The 21-year-old Burkina Faso international, named the best young player at AFCON earlier this year, has been a long-standing target at the City Ground and could be the alternative option to the seemingly Tottenham-bound Djed Spence.

Now, it appears as though the Forest hierarchy have stepped up their pursuit of Kabore as Steve Cooper’s squad begins to take shape…

The latest: ‘In talks’

As per The Guardian, Nottingham Forest are believed to be ‘in talks’ with the 27-cap star regarding a potential move.

It’s claimed that Kabore has ‘attracted interest from several Premier League clubs’, as well as Ligue 1 outfit Nice.

The report confirms that the two clubs are ‘yet to reach an agreement’ over a transfer fee for the youngster hailed as a ‘fantastic talent’ by journalist Zach Lowy earlier this year.

The verdict: Make it happen

Under contract at Man City until 2025 (Transfermarkt), if the Reds were able to reach a permanent transfer for Kabore then it would be a superb piece of business instead of using up another loan spot on the talented full-back.

Last season, the marauding sensation – who is equally adept as either a conventional right-back or as a right-sided midfielder – earned a 6.60 Sofascore rating whilst winning 4.7 duels and completing 1.5 successful dribbles on average per game in the French top-flight.

With the likelihood of a move for Spence scuppered by the admiration from Tottenham and a swoop for Liverpool starlet Neco Williams seemingly some way off, bringing Kabore to Trentside is certainly a viable option for Forest.

Sky Sports reporter Michael Bridge has now made a Tottenham Hotspur transfer claim involving sporting director Fabio Paratici amid the club’s hunt for new additions.

The Lowdown: Paratici busy…

Having already completed three major signings in Ivan Perisic, Fraser Forster and Yves Bissouma on permanent deals, the Lilywhites transfer chief hasn’t exactly stopped there.

Paratici also visited his native Italy last week and is believed to have conducted a meeting with Roma over potential player sales and getting information on their star playmaker Nicolo Zaniolo (Sky Sports).

Closer to home, Spurs remain heavily linked with the likes of Leeds United star Raphinha, among others.

The Latest: Michael Bridge makes Spurs claim…

Sharing an update on Paratici’s plans for the north Londoners, Sky journalist Bridge has some news for supporters.

Indeed, he claims that the sporting director personally has his eyes on Everton star Richarlison, although no bid has been made yet for the 25-year-old.

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Also sharing news on a possible exit agreement for midfielder Harry Winks, Bridge explained (via Twitter): “Tottenham & Everton still in talks over Harry Winks transfer. Tottenham want a permanent deal. Everton want loan deal with permanent obligation. Winks aware he’s not in Conte’s plans. #THFC keen to do deal with Everton. Richarlison is admired by Fabio Paratici but no bids so far.”

The Verdict: Advance…

Richarlison, who once boasted an asking price of £100m, could move on for much less than that this summer, as some reports suggest that he is now valued at £50m.

After this seismic drop in value, Spurs would be foolish not to take full advantage given that the Brazil international was statistically Everton’s best-performing player last season (WhoScored).

Having averaged the Toffees’ most attempts at goal per 90 in the Premier League whilst also finishing the 2021/22 campaign as their top scorer (10), Richarlison would undoubtedly strengthen Tottenham’s attacking options.

He is also apparently ‘open’ to joining manager Antonio Conte in N17, as reported by reliable journalist Fabrizio Romano.