Dean Windass wants Kylian Mbappe to move to Premier League

Dean Windass is desperate to see Kylian Mbappe move to the Premier League – but he does not think he will be on Liverpool’s books by the time the transfer window slams shut.

Mbappe could be set for a big-money move from Paris Saint-Germain after turning down a number of contract extensions.

If the attacker refuses to commit his future to the French side, PSG would face the prospect of losing their star man as a free agent next summer, when his current deal is set to expire.

Mbappe, who failed to score at Euro 2020 and missed the decisive penalty in France’s last 16 shoot-out defeat to Switzerland, has been gaining interest from the likes of Real Madrid for some time.

Liverpool are also keen on Mbappe, who has scored 132 goals in 171 appearances since joining PSG from French rivals Monaco.

However, Windass is unsure as to whether Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp will be able to persuade the Parisians to part with their prized asset ahead of the new season.

Speaking exclusively to The Transfer Tavern, Windass said: “I’d love to see him play in the Premier League.

“Mbappe is the name on everybody’s lips. He can play anywhere in the front three. Firmino comes short for Liverpool and the two wide boys run in behind. He could play as a number nine, a seven or 11.

“How much would he be worth? That’s the biggest question. Maybe £150million. Would Liverpool pay that sort of money? Out of the three front players, I think Firmino would be the one to come out.”

Leeds eyeing Fulham’s Harrison Reed

Leeds United manager Marcelo Bielsa is eyeing a move for Fulham midfielder Harrison Reed in this summer transfer window.

What’s the story?

Despite Euro 2020 beginning tonight, Leeds look as though they have their transfer priorities all sorted, with a new central midfielder on the agenda for this summer.

Reports in recent days and weeks have linked them with a move for Cagliari dynamo Nahitan Nandez, and now the Daily Mail have thrown a new name into the equation.

They claim that the Whites tracked Fulham’s Reed last season with a view to a summer swoop, and with the Cottagers’ relegation from the Premier League, Leeds see the midfielder as an ‘excellent addition’.

Bielsa will love him

A regular presence for Scott Parker’s side last season, the £9m-rated Reed made 31 appearances in the Premier League, often starting at the base of midfield alongside Andre Zambo Anguissa. The tough-tackling 26-year-old was a shining light for the Cottagers despite their relegation, providing a superb shield to the back four.

As per Sofascore, Reed won four duels per game in the top-flight, as well as making an impressive two tackles and 1.6 interceptions per match while also winning back possession 0.6 times.

To put that into context, Chelsea star and recent Champions League winner N’Golo Kante averaged 3.7 duels won and made 2.6 tackles and two interceptions per game. He also won back possession just as often as Reed at 0.6 times per match.

It’s no surprise that the 26-year-old’s former boss Tony Mowbray has waxed lyrical about the kind of engine Reed possesses, and also the kind of attitude he has – all shades of Chelsea’s midfield dynamo.

The Blackburn manager said: “

Immense! He’s been fantastic playing in a wide position, working like a trojan, running forward, blocking off the wide play, helping his full-back, in to out, in to out, and yet playing centre-mid today, it shows you where his true position really is on the pitch.

“He’s a fantastic player, but beyond his playing ability, his personality fits in amazingly well with our group.”

Reed himself has modestly said: “I need to improve on influencing the game higher up. The work, the tackles, the interceptions, they give the team a foundation to go on and be competitive but I also want to have that side where I influence the game higher up the pitch with assists, creating chances and goals.”

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That relentless energy, hard work and tigerish attitude makes him a perfect fit as someone to slot into the engine room at Elland Road given Bielsa’s intense demands, and exactly why the Leeds manager must be buzzing at seeing his club target Reed this summer.

Meanwhile, Marcelo Bielsa will surely be buzzing with this latest Leeds update…

Rangers transfer update on Kamara

Transfer insider Gianluigi Longari has dropped a worrying update on Rangers star Glen Kamara’s future at Ibrox.

The Lowdown: Kamara impressing

Kamara has come off the back of a very successful 2020/21 season at Ibrox, playing in no fewer than 28 games in total in the Scottish Premiership to help them snatch the title off of the hands of Celtic.

Now representing Finland at Euro 2020, he will certainly have a spotlight on him amid the summer transfer window.

The Latest: Watford eye Kamara

According to Longari, who covers transfers for Sportitalia TV, Premier League newcomers Watford are currently in ‘ongoing dialogues’ with the Glasgow club over the potential signing of Kamara.

Their main focus is Seko Fofana of Lens, but Kamara is clearly still a target for the Hornets.

The Verdict: Only sell for right price

Given that Watford will now enjoy the riches of the Premier League, Steven Gerrard’s men could demand a huge fee if they were willing to let Kamara go.

At 25 years of age, and bearing in mind that they bought him for a mere £50,000 from Dundee FC back in January 2019, there is potential to yield a massive profit from a sale.

Yes, Kamara is clearly very important for the Gers – former Ibrox star now pundit Alan Hutton rightfully labelled him as ‘outstanding’ for his efforts this season.

That said, the club may never get another chance to cash in big if the midfielder enjoys an impressive Euro 2020 campaign.

In other news, find out what big blow RFC have been dealt in their pursuit of this ‘dangerous’ ace here!

Gers’ Roofe wins UEFA award

Kemar Roofe’s strike for Glasgow Rangers against Standard Liege has received the Europa League’s Goal of the Season award.

The Lowdown: Roofe scores stunning strike

The Gers were 1-0 up against Belgian outfit Liege in their Europa League group stage match going into the final minute.

Then, Roofe produced a moment of magic, scoring a remarkable lob from his own half after skipping past a couple of players.

The Latest: Roofe wins Goal of the Season

As such, Roofe has won the Goal of the Tournament from UEFA.

He beat the likes of Bruno Fernandes and Dele Alli to the accolade – Alli’s stunning bicycle kick against Wolfsburg was only good enough for second place.

The Verdict: Deserved

It is hard to argue with the outcome of the award, no matter who you support. It was a truly wonderful moment from the £5.4m-valued 28-year-old (Transfermarkt), and it displayed the ability and skill the former Leeds United forward possesses. He will likely never score a better goal.

It was the icing on the cake for what has been a successful first season for Roofe at Ibrox. He netted 18 goals in 36 games in all competitions (Transfermarkt), helping the Gers win the Premiership along the way. He will be hoping for plenty more memorable European strikes as the 55-time Scottish champions embark on a Champions League campaign next time out.

In other news, Rangers are interested in this striker.

Ipswich interested in Guy Melamed

Ipswich must seal a swoop for “tremendous” St Johnstone striker Guy Melamed after a major update on the attacker’s future.

What’s the talk?

The Scottish Premiership side have confirmed, via the East Anglian Daily Press, that the 28-year-old will be leaving the club at the end of the month. Melamed’s contract at St Johnstone expires at the end of June and the forward has opted against extending his spell in Scotland.

The East Anglian Daily Press has reacted to this by revealing that he is one of three strikers Ipswich are monitoring heading into the transfer window. Sunderland’s Charlie Wyke and Accrington Stanley’s Colby Bishop are also said to be players who Paul Cook would like at Portman Road.

Speaking about Melamed earlier this year, St Johnstone manager Callum Davidson lauded the “tremendous” impact the Israeli forward has had at the club. He told the Daily Record: “His contribution to the team over the last couple of months has been tremendous.

“He has that quality so we are talking and hopefully something can be done. I’m just pleased we have given Guy a platform to come and play his football.

“I think he has had to realise what he has to do to get there but all credit to him.

“He has been here on his own. His girlfriend has been back in Israel and he has been stuck in his flat.

“But he always comes in with a smile on his face, wants to work and play games.

Fans would be buzzing

Ipswich fans would surely be buzzing if the club are able to snap up Melamed on a free transfer. Cook’s side found goals incredibly difficult to come by in the 2020/21 League One season and that makes signing a striker a top priority for the Blues this summer.

James Norwood was Ipswich’s top goalscorer in League One with nine goals, with Gwion Edwards (six) the only other player with more than four league goals for Ipswich throughout the campaign. This suggests that Cook needs additional firepower in his squad, and Melamed could provide that for him.

The £360,000-rated beast managed seven goals in 23 appearances for St Johnstone, including 11 league starts, during the season. He averaged a goal every 142 minutes in the Scottish Premiership, whilst Norwood averaged one every 174 minutes in League One for Ipswich.

Melamed could prove to be an upgrade on the 30-year-old in the centre-forward position, or he could be viewed as valuable competition with both players chipping in with goals to help Ipswich fight for promotion to the Championship.

The Israeli could be an excellent addition to Cook’s squad ahead of next season and prove to be a bargain addition given that he is set to leave St Johnstone on a free transfer. Ipswich could add a reliable goalscorer, as shown by his minutes-per-goal ratio, without spending a penny on transfer fees, and the competition could help Norwood to up his own game knowing that a quality player is coming through the door to potentially take his spot.

AND in other news, Ipswich must act to land “competitive” £3.4k-p/w beast after major transfer update… 

Nixon drops Derby points deduction update

Despite a potential impending points deduction, Wayne Rooney’s Derby County side look likely to be spared relegation from the Championship this season.

What’s the latest?

That’s according to The Sun journalist Alan Nixon, who claimed in a post on Twitter that, despite recent reports suggesting that the Rams could yet still be relegated from the second tier following their dramatic final day 3-3 draw with Sheffield Wednesday due to a breach of financial fair play rules, any points deduction will be imposed on the club as of next season, rather than the campaign just past.

He said: “Hear EFL will reveal findings of their appeal in the next 24 hours. Then it goes to charges and any appeal. Any points penalties will next season. As was the case with Sheffield Wednesday. Interesting to see the details… [they will be] key to all this and how hard they will be hit.”

Fans will be buzzing

Following what has been a rather disastrous 2020/21 campaign for Derby fans to endure, with their side only narrowing avoiding relegation to the third tier of English football due to, ultimately, Sheffield Wednesday incurring their own six-point penalty, the news that the club look set to avoid any deductions to this season’s points total will leave the Pride Park faithful buzzing.

Having said that, if Derby do not buck up their ideas next season, both in terms of the way the club is run from a financial perspective as well as the performances of Rooney’s players on the pitch, then the joy of avoiding relegation this season could well be short-lived.

However, with a summer transfer window ahead of him, the 35-year-old manager has plenty of time to put a team together that is capable of a much more respectable league position than their 21st placed finish this term, be that with or without a points deduction.

In other news: Get him gone: Rooney must ruthlessly axe Lampard’s £20k-p/w Derby flop this summer – opinion

Wolves need to chase Ivan Toney signing

Wolverhampton Wanderers have an exciting summer in store.

For once, they won’t target the next generation and instead, they’ll look towards building a more impressive first-team squad.

The plan, according to those close to the club, is that they’ll bring greater numbers to improve the depth in the senior set-up.

One area they simply have to bolster is their attack.

Raul Jimenez will be back in time for the new season but if this term has told them anything, it’s that they struggle when he’s absent.

Willian Jose has one goal to his name and Fabio Silva has endured a sluggish start to life in the Midlands, beating the goalkeeper on four occasions.

If Wolves have desires of improving their firepower they should look no further than the stellar Ivan Toney.

The Brentford striker has been electrifying in the Championship this season and as a result, has caught the eye of plenty in the Premier League.

Speaking exclusively to Football FanCast earlier this year, Barry Fry, who worked with Toney at Peterborough, said: “If Brentford don’t go up half of the Premier League will want Ivan. Even if they do go up, some of the biggest clubs in the Premier League will want Ivan Toney.”

According to TEAMtalk, one of the teams monitoring his situation in London are Wolves.

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They will have to part ways with £30m in order to lure him to Molineux but it would certainly be worth it.

The 25-year-old has scored a marvellous 31 times this term; that’s the highest number of goals a player has ever mustered in a single Championship season.

He might be playing at a level below the Premier League but you’d back him to do it in the top-flight.

In a separate interview with Peterborough Today, Fry commented: “He’s turned into a tremendous all-round footballer. It’s important to remember Ivan is not just an exceptional goal-scoring forward, he’s also an outstanding defender.”

A threat in both boxes, his ability to bully opponents is incredibly similar to Jimenez.

Wolves haven’t totally got their recruitment right in recent years but this would be an astute signing, possibly their best one since Pedro Neto joined the club in 2019.

Last summer they signed the inconsistent Silva and Nelson Semedo but Jeff Shi deserves credit for the deal to bring Neto to English football.

He’s enjoyed a breakthrough campaign this term, scoring five goals and registering six assists with some eye-catching displays where he’s created moments of magic from nowhere.

With Wolves aiming to secure European football again, then a duo of Toney and Neto would be truly mouth-watering.

In the words of Brentford boss Thomas Frank, Toney is a “special player.” He’s hit 57 goals in the last two seasons alone; this would be a hard situation for Wolves to turn down.

AND in other news, 21x possession lost: £100k-p/w Wolves dud massively let Nuno Santo down last night…

Everton fans laud Coutinho transfer update

Many Everton fans have been left to laud a transfer update on Philippe Coutinho as Tz (via Marca) have reported that they are interested in signing him.As per the news outlet, the Goodison Park faithful are willing to make an offer of €40m (£34.8m), and the current financial pressures at FC Barcelona at the moment may mean that they will be forced to sell.Of course, the deal would have its own complications, given that Coutinho used to play for the Merseyside club’s local rivals Liverpool, but given how he excelled with the Reds, with whom he scored no fewer than 54 goals and made a further 45 assists in 201 games in total over all competitions across six consecutive seasons at Anfield (Transfermarkt), it would be one that several Toffees supporters would welcome with open arms. Everton fans on Coutinho transfer update

These Blues lauded the transfer update on Coutinho after it was shared on Twitter, with supporters saying ‘buy buy buy’ and another joking that the Brazilian would certainly be an upgrade on Fabian Delph.

“Give me Coutinho this instant omg”Credit: @Yaboiholo”Buy buy buy!”Credit: @miltyt”Take him any day of the week”Credit: @TiarnanEFC32″Should snap him up. Creativity we need”Credit: @JimMcCaffery6″Love this! Get him in!”Credit: @TalkBackEverton”All over this!!!.. we watched Delph come on at the weekend…..surely we can’t be saying no to this?”Credit: @fayemac_xIn other news, find out what EFC loanee was hailed for a recent display here!

Sheffield Wed handed double injury boost

Darren Moore’s Sheffield Wednesday side have been handed a massive injury boost ahead of their crucial final game of the season on Saturday.

What’s the latest?

According to Jamie Smith, speaking in his pre-match press conference, both Chey Dunkley and Massimo Luongo could return to the matchday squad for the crunch match with Derby County this lunchtime.

Centre-back Dunkley has not played a minute of action since February because of a series of knocks, while midfielder Luongo has also been out since February due to separate muscle and knee injuries.

When discussing the current state of the Wednesday squad, the assistant manager said: “Joost [van Aken] will be out but there is a chance for Chey and Massimo to be involved. We don’t want to rush them back and put pressure on them, we’ll see how they react. We have no fresh injury worries.”

Double boost

Considering the magnitude of the fixture against Derby, with a defeat consigning the Owls to the third tier of English football, the news that two previously unavailable Wednesday players could be fit enough to feature in the match could come as a welcome fillip to Moore.

Despite having only played in 12 Championship fixtures this season, Luongo’s average SofaScore match rating of 6.75 is enough to rank him as the Owls’ 10th-best performer in the league. Meanwhile, the return of Dunkley could potentially allow Sam Hutchinson, who has been operating from centre-back in recent weeks, to return to his more natural central midfield role.

As such, regardless of whether or not the returning duo start the game, their presence on the bench would immediately provide Moore with more options, something which would appear to bode well ahead of such an important game this afternoon.

In other news: Encouraging update emerges on “excellent” SWFC star, Moore and fans will be buzzing – opinion

Celtic: Marsch now in the frame for Gladbach job

Celtic are still no closer to discovering their new manager. They have been without Neil Lennon for a number of weeks now but John Kennedy remains in temporary charge.

Roy Keane has been the favourite over the last few days. He is reportedly in talks with the Hoops hierarchy and an interview has taken place.

Though, there are still plenty of twists and turns that could take place.

What’s the word?

Another manager in the frame to become the new Celtic boss is Jesse Marsch.

The RB Salzburg boss admitted last week that it was an honour to be linked with the role. However, just a day later it was revealed that he is unlikely to move to Glasgow in the summer but Celtic were still apparently intereted in him.

However, they have now been dealt a further blow in their pursuit of Marsch.

That’s because he has now emerged as one of the frontrunners to become the new manager of Borussia Monchengladbach.

It looked like former Liverpool and Real Madrid star Xabi Alonso would take over at the German side but he signed a new deal a matter of days ago with Real Sociedad.

Consequently, Marsch is now back in the running to head to Gladbach instead of the Bhoys.

Gutting for Desmond

To be dealt another blow regarding Marsch should come as a major disappointment to majority shareholder Dermot Desmond.

The 70-year-old has had a difficult week where he was questioned over his role on the Celtic board. He issued a defiant response, however, claiming he wouldn’t sell his shares.

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Failure to appoint the right manager, though, could lead to even more cries for him to sell up and move on from Glasgow.

The idea of Keane being hired as the new manager has gone down like a led balloon among the Green Brigade according to podcaster Paul John Dykes and thus, other options should be considered.

Marsch had to be up there as one of the most eye-catching names in the frame. He has done great things with Salzburg, establishing them in Europe and winning the double last term.

Since moving from DC United to Austria, he has a remarkable win rate of 66.27%.

Compare that to Keane who has only won 38.7% of his games as a manager and there is night and day between him and Marsch.

You can see why this piece of news comes as a blow to Celtic.

AND in other news, Celtic could finally axe Christie by signing “outstanding” beast with 28 assists…

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