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Former Rangers player Alan Hutton has recently hailed the club for the expected capture of Bournemouth’s Nnamdi Ofoborh.

Hutton was talking to Football Insider, coming after Bournemouth boss Jason Tindall confirmed Steven Gerrard’s approach for the Nigerian player and for Jack Simpson too. Tindall also said that the deal hasn’t been finalised yet but the talks have been held.

Hutton hails Rangers’ ‘unbelievable’ scouting

Hutton was recently talking about the club’s chase of Ofoborh and he compared the potential signing to that of Calvin Bassey. He also feels that the Gers were tracking the Nigerian for quite a while and he fits the mould of the player that Gerrard is looking for.

The former Gers man said: “It is unbelievable when they’re coming out with these gems right, left and centre. It is very much like the Calvin Bassey one for me, they have obviously been tracking him for a while.

“I had to look him up, he obviously had a good time at Wycombe last season in their promotion campaign and just reading some things about him from past players that have played along with them, he is definitely one for the future.

“I mean he fits the mould of Rangers at the moment, they’re definitely building something and it’s not just for this season or the next, it’s for the next four, five, six which I really like. So he fits that mould just like a lot of other players that they are trying to bring in and he looks a good player. When you look at his clips, he is strong, he is physical, he can go past people, he’s got a good range of passing, so he ticks all the boxes.”

The 21-year-old Ofoborh is a central midfielder by trade but the former Wycombe man can also play as a defensive midfielder or as a centre-back. He has made five appearances in all competitions for the Cherries this season, playing two Championship games. For Wycombe in League One, he played 18 times in the league campaign, scoring once in their play-off games (as per Transfermarkt).

Bournemouth Under-23s boss Shaun Cooper recently praised Ofoborh, saying: “He was probably a bit more ready for it in that respect, but I still thought he did really well playing on the right of a back three. His passing in the first half was good and as a character he is solid and reliable.”

He has also been compared to Glen Kamara in recent days.

Ofoborh could be a useful signing for Gerrard

Kamara is Rangers’ only out-and-out defensive midfield option, while Ryan Jack can also play there. Ofoborh would add depth in that part of the pitch, and since he is only 21, one could expect him to develop rapidly under Gerrard and perhaps claim Kamara’s spot as his own.

Steven Davis isn’t getting any younger and Scott Arfield is also 32, so Ofoborh adds young blood to the team and may well prove an excellent signing for the future.

In other news, Rangers have received a boost in signing a Premier League player – read more here.

Said Benrahma was David Moyes’ unsung hero as Jesse Lingard scored a brace on his West Ham United debut to help his new side beat Aston Villa 3-1 on Wednesday night.

Lingard joined the Irons on loan until the end of the season late in the winter market, having failed to play a second of Premier League football for Manchestr United this term.

Moyes wasted no time in introducing the 24-cap England international into his starting line-up, with the decision returning the Hammers’ second and third goals against Dean Smith’s Villans after Tomas Soucek opened the scoring with his eighth strike of the league campaign.

After a scoreless first half, Soucek broke the deadlock in the 51st minute when the Czech Republic international drilled the ball into the far corner of Emiliano Martinez’s net following a piece of superb link-up play between Michail Antonio and Benrahma.

Lingard soon hit Moyes’ men’s second of the night to make the visitors’ pressure count after they’d been dominating play for long periods of the game, and he later restored West Ham’s two-goal lead after Ollie Watkins pulled one back for his ninth goal of the top-flight campaign.

But, despite Lingard rightly getting plenty of attention after netting a debut double, Benrahma also shone brightly at Villa Park having played a pivotal role in the Irons’ attacking moves throughout the night, to leave Birmingham with a third assist of the league season as his wait for a maiden goal continues.

Benrahma registered his assist with a precision first-time pass threaded through the Villans backline for Soucek to score, while his decoy run allowed Antonio to find Lingard open on the edge of the Aston Villa penalty area to score his first of the night five minutes later.

Benrahma’s threaded pass left Aston Villa’s backline helpless, with Tyrone Mings only able to watch the ball roll through to Soucek to score. The £23,000-per-week maestro could have ended the night with further assists in his pocket, too, after recording three key passes – only Jack Grealish (4) created more goalscoring opportunities on Wednesday night, per WhoScored.

Not only was Benrahma creative with the ball at his feet, but Moyes further saw the £20m winger prove safe in possession with a 93% pass accuracy rating thanks to completing 28 of his 30 passes. No player who stared for either side completed a higher percentage of their passes than the 25-year-old.

The Algerian additionally came close to finally ending his Premier League goal drought and would have done just that had his volley gone a few inches lower.

Moyes would surely have loved what he saw from Benrahma at Villa Park as he linked up well with Lingard, who slotted in seamlessly to West Ham’s starting line-up, as the London Stadium natives closed to within two points of Liverpool after Jurgen Klopp’s side fell to defeat at home to Brighton.

AND in other news, West Ham eye future swoop for prolific £30m striker with “absolutely superb” movement…

Celtic have been dealt a lot of curveballs this 2020/21 season. In what they hoped would be their tenth consecutive Scottish Premiership title, they have instead been constantly in their neighbours’ shadow. Rangers are running away with the league this season and lead the reigning champions by 18 points.

The Hoops also suffered a huge blow in their Europa League run, crashing out of the competition in the group stages after finishing rock bottom of Group H. They managed to tally just four points from six games and conceded the joint most amount of goals (19). Only Ludogorets and Dundalk shipped the same amount, which reflects very poorly on the Scottish giants.

Since then however, Neil Lennon has been throwing wild cards at his squad in hopes to resurrect their poor form. David Turnbull has been a star in Celtic’s midfield, popping up with six goals and five assists in the Premiership since his emergence into the first team.

Similarly, the boss took a punt on promoting Stephen Welsh, who has also hugely impressed in his centre-back role.

Ismaila Soro was handed some big chances to operate in the Celtic midfield too, but hasn’t become a nailed-on starter like Turnbull. The £12,500 per week 22-year-old has featured just 13 times in the Premiership this season and despite starting ten matches on the bounce, Soro was left on the bench for the last two fixtures, according to Transfermarkt.

Since his emergence onto the scene, he has nudged Scott Brown out of the limelight, save for the last couple of matches. On paper, the younger midfield dynamo comes out better than the Celtic skipper in several of his statistics. According to WhoScored, Soro has a higher passing accuracy on average (90.3%) than Brown (88.8%) this season, suggesting he’s got that extra bit of composure and control on the ball.

He also averages more tackles (2) and long balls (2.4) per game than his captain with 1.4 and 2 respectively. His fine balance between picking out long passes and defending the Celtic backline makes him a solid option at Lennon’s disposal, and someone who wouldn’t just be there to gain experience.

He’s already shown he can play at this level, producing some stand-out displays in the time that he’s been on the pitch, not least after a masterclass against Hamilton just last month.

Frank McAvennie also believes that Brown should be axed in favour of the up and coming Soro. He recently admitted to Football Insider that he believes the midfield and Turnbull are “the future” of Celtic, adding: “I am a massive fan of Scott Brown but he should be playing less. They need to let Soro play more. He should be given a rest and let Soro play the majority of games. Sometimes they should take Brown off and save his legs.”

Starting with the game against Aberdeen on Wednesday night, Lennon must bring Soro straight back into the starting line-up at the expense of Celtic’s veteran midfielder.

The Hoops’ dismal campaign this season is calling out for a rebuild, and playing the 22-year-old Soro and giving him more first-team opportunities is one big way of doing that.

In other news, Shane Duffy put in unexpected positive display vs St Johnstone…

Many Liverpool fans are fuming with the performance of Ozan Kabak despite the Reds picking up a crucial victory over Sheffield United on Sunday night.

The Turkish international has not had the easiest of starts to his career in Merseyside since joining in the January transfer window as he has had been heavily relied on due to the defensive injury crisis at the club.

In the 2-0 win against the Blades, Kabak made four clearances and three tackles, but was clearly struggling in the physical battles as he lost six aerial duels and two ground duels (SofaScore). He also lost possession 15 times, the fourth-most of any Liverpool player, which led to one fan calling him a ‘liability’.

The central defender is still very young at only 20, and the criticism he is receiving is slightly unfair as he is adapting to a new division. He is valued at £22.5m on Transfermarkt, and Liverpool have picked him up on a loan-to-buy basis, which emphasises that they believe he has the potential to succeed in England.

However, that didn’t spare him a caning from these Reds fans on Twitter during Sunday’s match.

Here is what Liverpool fans had to say about Kabak:

“Kabak is shocking”

Credit: @lfcj_

“Kabak is shocking”

Credit: @stevejames8

“Kabak is actually rubbish”

Credit: @JoyChils”Kabak was awful”Credit: @TomMora66205190″Philips and Fabinho on Thursday! I know Kabak is young but a potential £26 millions pounds on him is WRONG! He’s a liability and his positioning is awful, he can’t read the game and gets caught out too often. Keep Phillips and invest in better, FSG OPEN THE PURSE!”Credit: @Enanmix”Fab in defence. Kabak looks awful”Credit: @Okotb22

In other news, find out what transfer update has been lauded by Liverpool fans here!

Manchester United were frustrated in their attempts to cut the gap at the top of the Premier League table as they were held to a 0-0 draw by Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park.

The Red Devils stuttered throughout the game, struggling to get any real attacking rhythm going.

One of the main culprits of that was Uruguayan striker Edinson Cavani, who returned to the starting lineup having missed the last four matches with a muscular injury.

It was certainly not the glorious return that he might have envisaged.

The former Paris Saint-Germain man struggled to really threaten the home side’s defence all evening, eventually having just 23 touches of the ball according to WhoScored – just six more than United goalkeeper Dean Henderson.

When he did receive the ball, he was not able to do much with it. The striker, rated at £10.8m, only managed to complete 16 passes, the lowest of the entire starting XI, with just one of those passes being classed as a key pass.

As a matter of fact, his pass accuracy was worse than any other Manchester United player who managed to get on the pitch during the entire match.

Whilst he did manage to have two shots on goal, neither of them were on target or forced Palace stopper Vicente Guaita into any kind of strenuous work.

Cavani was eventually withdrawn in the 75th minute for Daniel James, having endured a fruitless evening in front of goal.

Prior to his injury, has was in a rich vein of goalscoring form in the Premier League having netted crucial strikes against Fulham and Everton, whilst also managing to find the net in the 9-0 demolition of Southampton.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer will hope that the Uruguayan turns in better displays as he recovers his match fitness following his time out of the team.

And in other news, take a look at how Manchester United could look to offload Phil Jones…

In an exclusive interview with Football FanCast, former Leeds United player Carlton Palmer revealed his surprise over Marcelo Bielsa’s contract situation at Elland Road.

Bielsa, who guided the Yorkshire club back to the Premier League after a 16-year absence, is out of contract in the summer and does not yet appear to be any closer to putting pen to paper on a new deal.

Currently on 35 points, Leeds look set to retain their status as an outfit in English football’s top flight, a further display of just how well the Argentinian has done since succeeding Paul Heckingbottom back in 2018.

Given that success, Bielsa’s contract dilemma has left Palmer scratching his head. Speaking on the matter exclusively with FFC, the ex-Leeds midfielder said:

“I’m a little bit surprised given he’s got them promotion – and, you know, they’re 11th in the Premier League – that he hasn’t been tied down to a longer contract. I’m a little bit surprised.

“But maybe on both parts, you know, I would think that Bielsa would be looking and saying this – if he’s going to kick on, he’s going to need funds available to do that. And maybe they’ve said to him, listen, or both parties have said, listen, let’s wait and see where we are at the end of the season.”

Bielsa appears settled at Leeds, with his time at Elland Road being his longest reign at a club. Considering that, and how well he has done in the dugout overall, a contract extension looks to be in everyone’s interest.

And under the former Lille boss, there is no reason why Leeds cannot continue to grow. The Whites have really impressed in the Premier League this season with him at the helm, boasting a very good record in front of goal.

Tottenham Hotspur legend Gary Mabbutt has told Football FanCast that Spurs could still finish as high as second in the Premier League table.

Spurs had fallen as low as ninth under manager Jose Mourinho but have enjoyed a three-game winning run that has seen them beat Burnley, Fulham, and Crystal Palace.

That has left Mourinho’s men in seventh, five points behind fourth-placed Chelsea but with a game in hand.

Such is the congested nature of the Premier League table, Spurs are nine points behind Manchester United in second but, again, they have a game in hand.

Both West Ham United and Everton, in fifth and sixth respectively, have played the same amount of games as Tottenham, but Mabbutt is quietly optimistic that the north London club can still force their way into the top four.

Spurs have an interesting run-in and they still have to play both United and Everton, while they also meet Leicester City on the final day.

Those three games could well define how Spurs finish the season.

Speaking to FFC, Mabbutt was asked if this was the tightest top-four race he’d seen and whether he could see Spurs potentially being able to finish third.

He replied: “Absolutely, if not higher. We have a game in hand on Manchester United, if we win that game in hand, I think we’re only six points behind them.

“People were talking about Spurs, three or four weeks ago, crikey, a dip in form and look at them lying in eighth place in the table. They were top of the table in December.”

The weekend’s set of Premier League fixtures only served to spotlight how crazy results have been this season, as United beat Manchester City and Liverpool lost at home to relegation-threatened Fulham.

Mabbutt added: “I can’t talk about results anymore, because it’s totally bizarre. The results that we are seeing, I think probably over the weekend, the only result that went as you’d expect was the Spurs result.

“All the other results, Man City will have expected to beat United, Liverpool at home to Fulham. Liverpool, six straight defeats after 68 games unbeaten. It’s a totally bizarre season that we’ll probably never see again.”

Celtic are set to lose defender Jack Hendry this summer, with Belgian side KV Oostende planning to make his move permanent.

That’s according to an exclusive report from Football Insider, who claimed that Oostende will activate their £1.75m clause to sign Hendry long-term.

Premier League interest in Hendry

The likes of Aston Villa, Brighton, Burnley, Crystal Palace, Leicester City, Newcastle United, West Ham and Wolves have all been credited with an interest in the 25-year-old recently, with a £10m fee being touted.

However, Football Insider believe that the fee would likely be half that sum at £5m, still resulting in a nice profit for the Belgian side.

Transfer Tavern talk

The Hoops signed Hendry for £1.44m back in 2018 from Dundee. It seems as if they’ll make a £310,000 profit on the central defender, but it could have been so much more for the Parkhead club.

It appears as if a £5m move to England could materialise ahead of the 2021/22 campaign, meaning Celtic will have to watch on and miss out on a potential £3.56m profit had they shown more patience with him.

Hendry, who has made 23 Jupiler Pro League appearances this season, was still under contract at Celtic until 2022. However, due to the inclusion of the aforementioned clause, it looks as if he’ll be moving on for good over the coming months.

In other news: Former Celtic director makes bold Desmond ownership claim, find out more here.

Celtic had a real opportunity this weekend to give their fiercest rivals a reminder that they’re still here.

This has been a torrid campaign for the Hoops and it didn’t get much better on Sunday afternoon, as they drew 1-1 at Parkhead.

It’s not often an Old Firm derby has little on it but because of the circumstances, this was one that was lacking in drama and ferociousness. Scott Brown wasn’t his usual bullish self and Alfredo Morelos’s discipline was near perfect.

It was a tale of two headers as Mohamed Elyounoussi’s diving leap opened the scoring before Morelos netted a tap in for the equaliser.

Elyounoussi was particularly vibrant and deserved his goal. He was playing off the wing but found himself in a central position to score a clinical header from a few yards out.

It was an inch-perfect assist from Odsonne Edouard, who delivered the cross, but besides the Frenchman and Elyounoussi, they lacked much in terms of attacking threat from other sources.

Unfortunately, it was yet another defensive mishap that cost Celtic. It’s been the story of their season to date and on this occasion, it was Jonjoe Kenny at fault.

His back pass went out for a corner from which Morelos scored and he didn’t cover himself in too much glory with his marking either.

Yet, if we are searching for positives we need to look no further than Stephen Welsh. When Christopher Jullien was ruled out for nine months, the Bhoys needed someone to step up.

Welsh has been that man. He is still relatively inexperienced but he’s struck up a fantastic partnership with Kristoffer Ajer that provides hope for the future. He has rarely put a foot wrong during his Celtic career and he was convincing once more on Sunday.

The 21-year-old was near flawless defensively, winning 85.7% of the duels he competed in. That meant the centre-back prevailed in two tackles, one interception and three clearances.

[snack-amp-story url=”https://www.footballfancast.com/web-stories/latest-celtic-manager-and-transfer-news-boupendza-mcgeady-marsch-mccarthy” title=”Latest Celtic manager and transfer news!”]

On top of that, Welsh didn’t make a single foul, nor was he dribbled past by a Rangers player. On a day where his partner to the right, Kenny, looked out of sorts, the young centre-back managed to keep things watertight from his perspective.

Welsh was assured in possession, completing 90% of his passes while he even found room to make one of them a key pass which led to a shooting opportunity.

The central defender has only recently come into the team this year but he rose to the task of an Old Firm derby with ease. Long may his form continue.

AND in other news, Celtic must ruthlessly axe £15k-p/w “enigma” this summer, Lenny hated him…

Sunderland fans are delighted after the club’s official Twitter account appeared to insinuate Jordan Jones will be available again very soon.

Jones made the move to the Black Cats on loan in January from Glasgow Rangers and has impressed so far at the Stadium of Light, scoring two goals and providing three assists in 10 matches (Transfermarkt). He has brought plenty of pace and threat to the Sunderland attack, and he appears to have given them a fresh impetus.

Unfortunately, he picked up a muscle injury earlier this month (Football Insider), which kept him out of the action for a short while. However, there appears to be good news both for the 26-year-old and the Wearside outfit. On Friday, the club’s official Twitter account shared a photo of him with an emoji saying “Back Soon”, ahead of their clash against Bristol Rovers.

The Sunderland fans reacted to the photo in their droves and were absolutely delighted. They took to the social media platform to share their thoughts.

Let’s see what the fans had to say about the Jones news below

“Oh yesss”

Credit: @bamjboyeolu

“This is great news and timing is perfect . Stating the obvious I know, but the Lads are a far better attacking threat when JJ is in the starting 11. 11 to go! Let’s get the job done. Ha’way the Lads”

Credit: @anicecold143

“We’ve missed his pace/movement for sure. Defences can’t cope when he gets on the run.”

Credit: @dunn_outdoors

“Positivity in moving the ball forward.. a welcoming come back.”

Credit: @DaveyW90612711

“YESSSS”

Credit: @SAFCLJ2

“YESSSS”

Credit: @KINGMAGUIRE1

In other news, Sunderland fans react to these Lee Johnson comments.