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According to a report by Cadena Ser (via Sport Witness), Real Sociedad have made contact with Tottenham to ask about the possibility of signing Bryan Gil on a loan until the end of the season.

This follows previous reports which indicated that Valencia are also hopeful of completing a loan deal with Spurs for the 20-year-old before the end of the January transfer window.

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The Lowdown: Struggling for game-time

Gil arrived at Hotspur Way six months ago in a deal worth £21.6m. However, due to a number of factors including a hamstring injury and a viral infection, he has made just nine appearances for Tottenham in the Premier League, all of which have come as a substitute.

Disappointingly, in the 20 games he has played for the club, the winger is yet to score, while his top-flight game-time under Conte amounts to four substitute outings totalling half an hour, with a token appearance at the end of Sunday’s 2-0 loss at Chelsea.

As a result, numerous clubs have enquired about the attacker’s availability, as the possibility of a loan deal this week looks increasingly feasible.

The Latest: La Liga clubs pursuing Gil on loan

According to reports by Cadena Ser (via SportWitness), Real Sociedad have made an enquiry into the possibility of signing Gil on a loan deal until the end of the season, and Valencia have also expressed a desire to secure the winger on loan.

It is believed that Sociedad were interested in the 20-year-old whilst he was at Sevilla last year, but Tottenham put that interest to bed when they signed him on a permanent deal in July.

The Verdict: A loan move would be beneficial

Spanish sports daily Marca showered Gil with the highest of praise when he was called up to the senior national team, likening him to a ‘little Cruyff’. With such admiration for the youngster in his homeland, it seems that a loan move back to La Liga would make perfect sense for all parties involved.

Gaining first-team minutes would be invaluable for the winger, and this would allow Conte to assess the situation before bringing him back in to Spurs’ senior setup next season. Ideally, a loan arrangement can be struck before Monday’s deadline, as otherwise Gil could continue to be feeding off scraps under the Italian in N17.

In other news – ‘Open to joining’: Journalist drops huge Tottenham transfer news as Spurs prepare double swoop

With just one win in their past 13 Premier League games and a dismal 2-1 defeat against relegation strugglers Norwich City at the weekend, Rafa Benitez’s time in charge of Everton was brought to an end, leaving the Toffees in 16th place in the league table and on the hunt for a new manager.

In terms of who could come in as the next figure to try and steady the ship, it seems as though Everton owner Farhad Moshiri has one name in mind to come in and replace Benitez and try and get the Toffees’ season back on the rails.

What’s the news?

According to a recent report from The Athletic by Everton journalist Patrick Boyland and Greg O’Keeffe, the Merseyside club have identified former Borussia Dortmund manager Lucien Favre as a potential candidate to take the reins at Goodison Park.

During his stint in charge of Dortmund between July 2018 and December 2020, Favre took charge of 110 matches across all competitions, winning 68, drawing 17 and losing 25, which is an impressive record to have.

The 64-year-old has had spells at other German clubs such as Hertha BSC and Borussia Monchengladbach as well as having a period in charge of French club OGC Nice and FC Zurich in his native country of Switzerland, highlighting the experience he has in management.

Even though he hasn’t had a job since leaving Dortmund, this would give Everton the opportunity to get him to Goodison quicker than potentially any other manager they see as a possible candidate for the job that is currently working at another club.

In his own words, Favre has said in the past that his players “have to be ready to suffer in training,” suggesting just how much he expects from them. That could be just what Everton need to get the right attitude and work ethic in the squad that can deliver strong performances and positive results on the pitch.

After all, Benitez clearly didn’t get the most from his players but a stern coach such as Favre appears to fit the bill.

Moving forward, Everton should definitely make an approach to the Swiss boss in the coming days and weeks if they haven’t already to see if he would be willing to test his managerial abilities in the Premier League with a side that need a big change in fortunes before the end of the current campaign.

In other news: “As things stand”: Fabrizio Romano drops fresh EFC manager claim, fans surely relieved – opinion

Everton have had a busy transfer window securing three signings early into the window and with Rafa Benitez recently sacked, no further signings have been made or attempted with the Everton board distracted by finding the next manager to lead the side at Goodison Park, but the Toffees have now been linked to a huge player.

What’s the word?

Bundesliga journalist, Christian Falks, has confirmed that Everton are interested in signing Bayern Munich player, Thomas Muller, alongside Newcastle United.

Falks tweeted; “TRUE @Everton and @NUFC want @esmuellert_ (contract til 2023 at @FCBayern).”

It has not been confirmed as to whether this interest is for an immediate move in the last days of the January transfer window or if they are looking to the summer window to snatch the World Cup winner from Bayern Munich.

Imagine him & DCL

Dominic Calvert-Lewin is having a slow start in his return to the side since he endured a long term injury for the majority of this season so far and is yet to score since after missing a penalty in his first game back, with fans surely hoping he can find his form as soon as possible to help Everton climb the Premier League table back into a safe place from their current position just four points shy of the relegation zone.

Muller, who was hailed “world-class” by his former teammate Mario Gomez, has been instrumental to the success of both Bayern Munich and his German national team, winning ten Bundesliga titles, two Champions Leagues and one World Cup to name just 13 of his 30 trophies won throughout his career so far, and that kind of winning experience is something Everton are desperate for.

The £22.5m-rated star is the third-highest scoring player ever for Bayern Munich, bagging 223 goals and registering 238 assists in his time at the club, with an astonishing goal involvement every 98 minutes he has played.

This phenomenal attacking output could definitely provide Calvert-Lewin with a fierce attacking partner who can change the trajectory massively for Everton’s future in the Premier League.

If the interest is genuine, it is a no brainer for Farhad Moshiri to make a move for the 32-year-old who is still having a huge impact this season with nine goals and 20 assists already in just 29 appearances.

That means Everton should not be put off by his age and should seize the opportunity if it arises to bring Muller to Goodison Park either this month or in the summer, as he’s exactly what Duncan Ferguson needs if he is to remain in charge.

In other news: Alan Myers drops two-word update on Everton manager search

Tottenham Hotspur could yet move for a centre-back on deadline day…

What’s the word?

The north London outfit are closing in on the double swoop for Juventus duo Rodrigo Bentancur and Dejan Kulusevski but it appears they may not be done just yet with hours left to go in the window.

That’s according to reliable Daily Express journalist Ryan Taylor, who delivered an exciting claim to GIVEMESPORT today. He said:

“At centre-back, I believe – effectively – we could see a rabbit out of the hat. But that could hinge on outgoings.”

Much-needed addition

Spurs manager Antonio Conte is adding some solid depth to his Spurs squad in the aforementioned signings  – the Uruguay international adds a better option in the engine room with club-record flop Tanguy Ndombele on his way out, whilst the Swede offers a hugely versatile presence in the attack.

However, that isn’t enough if he’s to truly get the north London outfit back in the top four. The Italian head coach has already worked his magic, losing only one league game since his arrival in November, so just imagine what he could do with a couple more additions.

It’s thought that he requested signings in three priority positions, whilst there has always been suggestions of a desire to bolster his backline, where the likes of Davinson Sanchez and Japhet Tanganga have struggled to look the part in recent months.

Spurs have been linked to a number of options in the role, including Conte’s ex-Inter beast Stefan de Vrij, Milan’s arch-rival captain Alessio Romagnoli and sensationally, Juventus star Matthijs de Ligt, who sporting director Fabio Paratici has signed before.

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All three would be outstanding additions to Spurs’ squad but time is running out if they are to secure any one of them, if not any other central defender.

If the Lilywhites can land Conte a new colossus late on in the January transfer window, then both he and the fanbase will surely be absolutely buzzing.

AND in other news, Spurs eye club-record swoop BEFORE deadline, it’s Conte’s dream signing…

Laurens De Bock is still on the books at Leeds United, some four years after joining the club…

Christiansen flop

You could be forgiven for forgetting that name but the Belgian left-back was signed for £3m by Thomas Christiansen back in January 2018, his third arrival of the January transfer window.

The 29-year-old would only go onto play seven times for the Yorkshire outfit, including a particularly nightmare display against Derby County before he lost his place to 19-year-old Tom Pearce.

Ever since then, he’s been out on loan time and time again and appears to be set to finally depart Elland Road at the expiration of his £15k-per-week contract this summer.

Still under contract

By the time Marcelo Bielsa arrived, De Bock was deemed surplus to requirements but finding a permanent exit for him since then has proven a very difficult task.

The former Belgium U21 international has been out on loan to four different clubs, featuring for Oostende, Sunderland, ADO Den Haag and finally Zulte Waregem, where he has been since July 2020.

And they are getting fair service from the Leeds loanee, having made 54 appearances over the last year-and-a-half, including 22 matches this season where he has often taken the armband.

At least they are getting their money’s worth, right?

It remains to be seen exactly how much of his wages – if any – the Whites are covering, especially given the fact that he’s not been seen on the pitch for the club since March 2018 but either way, he has been robbing chairman Andrea Radrizzani dry for a whopping 213 weeks – and counting.

If, for instance, Leeds were paying his salary in full, then he would’ve cost around £6.2m in total – nearly £1m per game and £9,841 per minute of game time.

De Bock has been one absolutely disastrous signing for Leeds regardless of how much they paid overall.

AND in other news, Bielsa could have a new Jansson in Leeds’ 18 y/o “massive talent” who’s shades of Van Dijk…

Despite having a difficult season as a whole, Leeds United have once again had one player, in particular, stand head and shoulders above the rest of his teammates at Elland Road in terms of his quality on the pitch and what he has delivered for the team.

With 21 Premier League appearances under his belt in this campaign, winger Raphinha, who is currently picking up a weekly wage of £63k-per-week according to Salary Sport, has scored more goals than any of his teammates, having found the back of the net on eight occasions with two assists to his name as well.

In addition to his goals and assists this season, the attacker’s overall performances for Marcelo Bielsa’s side have shown how crucial he is for the club, with WhoScored currently listing him as Leeds’ highest-rated player with a rating of 7.13.

The Yorkshire giants signed the winger back in October 2020 in a deal worth a reported fee of £17m from French club Rennes. Since then, the 25-year-old has made 53 appearances for the Whites across all competitions, scoring 14 goals and providing 11 assists along the way.

Shortly after he made the move to Elland Road, Transfermarkt had Raphinha’s market value listed at £16.2m, whereas it now stands at £36m, highlighting the impressive rise he’s been on since taking the Premier League by storm with Leeds.

The increase in his market value in addition to his goals and assists just goes to show how much of a great bit of business it was from the Yorkshire club to bring the Brazil international, who has been described as a “magician” in the past by his fellow teammate Dan James, to England.

Moving forward, with the winger having been linked with a move away from Leeds during the previous summer transfer window after spending just one season with the Whites, there’s a possibility that there could be more interest in him from other clubs this time around, especially if he continues playing well and adds some more goals and assists to his tally before the end of the campaign.

With that in mind, it could be worth Leeds trying to extend Raphinha’s contract at Elland Road and tie him down for the foreseeable future to see if he can help push the side forward and put their poor season behind them.

In other news: Big boost: Leeds receive fresh injury update this week that’ll leave fans delighted – opinion

Celtic were left frustrated as the first leg of their Europa Conference League knockout tie ended in a defeat at Parkhead on Thursday night.

The Hoops were beaten 3-1 by Bodo/Glimt on their own turf and they have left themselves with a mountain to climb heading into the reverse fixture in Norway.

Daizen Maeda had managed to pull it back to 2-1 in the 79th minute with a sublime glancing header into the far corner, but their opponents responded instantly to restore their two-goal lead with a deflected effort from distance.

Ange Postecoglou’s side dominated the ball with 63% possession and ended the match with 16 efforts on goal in comparison to the visitors’ seven, with the away side scoring three goals from their four shots on target.

Whilst a number of players were disappointing in green and white, one player who let his boss down badly was midfielder Matt O’Riley.

The summer signing from MK Dons struggled on Thursday night and his performance left plenty to be desired from his play on and off the ball.

Defensively, he was a lightweight for the Hoops. As per SofaScore, he lost six of his eight duels (75%) and only completed one tackle in the match, whilst being dribbled past twice in his 74 minutes on the pitch.

He did make three interceptions, but his lack of strength in his individual duels and his poor positional play allowed him to be taken out of the game at times. This shows that he was a liability against the ball as he was far too weak in physical battles, allowing the opposition to get the better of him too often.

The £405k-rated dud had a mixed evening on the ball. As per SofaScore, he managed two key passes and completed 86% of his passes. However, he was only successful with one of his three attempted dribbles (33.3%) and had the same completion rate with his crosses (1/3). This suggests that he was inconsistent in possession and was caught lacking on the ball at times, which may have frustrated Postecoglou.

Therefore, the 21-year-old let the Australian down badly, as he allowed himself to lose control of the game in the middle of the park. He was not strong enough off the ball and did not produce enough quality on it to make up for his lightweight defensive display.

AND in other news,  Forget Taylor: Celtic “wizard” who had 39 touches proved Ange got it wrong vs Bodo…

Leeds United have been credited with an interest in Paulo Fonseca as a possible replacement for Marcelo Bielsa, according to Gianluigi Longari.

The Lowdown: Fonseca profiled

Fonseca has been without a club since last summer after leaving Roma. He has been linked with moves to Crystal Palace and Tottenham during that time, with the 48-year-old described as ‘similar’ to Thomas Tuchel by Henrikh Mkhitaryan.

The Portuguese coach likes to use a 3-4-2-1 system and has won nine major honours during his career with Braga, FC Porto and Shakhtar Donetsk.

The Latest: Leeds links

Longari took to Twitter late on Wednesday night following Leeds’ heavy 6-0 defeat to Liverpool. The journalist described Bielsa’s position at Elland Road as ‘complicated’ and name-checked Fonseca as a possible target for Andrea Radrizzani and co, stating:

“The position of Bielsa at Leeds is complicated after the hard knockout against Liverpool. Among the names evaluated if things precipitate there is also Fonseca.”

The Verdict: Stick with Bielsa

Bielsa knows this Leeds squad like the back of his hand, so making a change in the dugout with just 13 games left in the season could be extremely risky.

Their recent run of marches was always going to be tricky, and looking at Bielsa’s squad, you could say that he is actually doing a good job with the resources available to him. However, making Leeds harder to break down appears to be a necessity as we enter the crunch stage of the season.

He has been without captain Liam Cooper, star midfielder Kalvin Phillips and last season’s top scorer Patrick Bamford in recent months, and getting those three back fit may well be crucial to the club’s hopes of top-flight survival.

March looks set to be a key month for the Whites and there’s no guarantee that Fonseca would turn things around straight away, so we believe the board should stick with Bielsa until the end of the season at least.

In other news: ‘Exciting’ Leeds attacker now set for March return after months out as reporter relays news

Wolves have started to make a habit of moving some of their key players out of the club over the past few years.

Diogo Jota headed to Liverpool in 2020, followed more recently by Adama Traore’s loan switch to Barcelona during the previous January transfer window.

With the upcoming summer transfer window in mind, it seems as though the Old Gold will look to take some precautions in making sure one of their current key figures doesn’t follow in Jota and Traore’s footsteps with a Molineux exit.

What’s the talk?

Speaking to GIVEMESPORT, journalist Pete O’Rourke had this to say about Max Kilman’s immediate future at Molineux and what Wolves could do to keep him at the club amid recent transfer links with fellow Premier League club Chelsea.

He said: “I’m sure there will be contract talks, maybe in the summer, just to improve his terms and bring him more in line with the other top earners at Molineux.

“It would show his reward for the progress that he’s made for the club as well.”

Fans will be buzzing

Since arriving at the Midlands club back in the 2018 summer window on a free transfer from Maidenhead United, the 24-year-old has gone on to make himself a pivotal figure for the Old Gold.

He has amassed 63 senior appearances in a Wolves shirt across all competitions, chipping in with one goal and two assists along the way.

Taking into account how the Englishman has managed to tackle more opposition players (49) this season than any other Wolves centre-back and make more blocks (48) than any player in Bruno Lage’s squad, it’s safe to say that the £8.1m-rated man has played a big part in the Old Gold’s decent defensive record in this campaign.

Additionally, with Kilman being younger than his fellow centre-backs Conor Coady, Romain Saiss and Willy Boly, it would make sense that the club would be desperate to keep hold of him as he has the potential longevity ahead of him to be a long-term feature at Molineux for the foreseeable future.

With all of that in mind, it’s safe to suggest that a lot of fans connected with the Midlands club would be delighted to see the defender put pen to paper on a new deal that would ward off any potential interest from elsewhere.

In other news: 49 tackles won: “Phenomenal” Wolves gem has been Lage’s “standout” player this season – opinion

Manchester United transfer target Antonio Rudiger is edging closer to a move to Real Madrid, according to Fabrizio Romano.

The Lowdown: Man United interest in Rudiger

The Red Devils could make up to 10 signings under new manager Erik ten Hag this summer, with the 29-year-old emerging as a target earlier this month.

Ten Hag was reportedly eyeing the Chelsea centre-back, who is out of contract at the end of June, to replace captain Harry Maguire.

Blues manager Thomas Tuchel confirmed at the weekend that the German is set to leave Stamford Bridge at the end of the season, but it doesn’t look as if a move to Old Trafford will materialise for the player.

The Latest: Romano’s update on Rudiger

Transfer expert Romano took to Twitter on Monday morning to share a major update on Rudiger’s future.

He revealed that Real Madrid have reached a verbal agreement with the 29-year-old ahead of a free transfer to the Bernabeu, stating:

“Real Madrid have reached verbal agreement with Antonio Rudiger. Contract not signed yet – but Real Madrid are now closing on Rudiger deal on a free: here we go soon! #Real Madrid

“It’s gonna be a long-term deal. Final details to be discussed soon, before signing the contract.”

The Verdict: Blow for Man Utd

United have kept just one clean sheet in their last 11 games in all competitions, so defensive reinforcements appear to be needed ahead of Ten Hag’s first season in charge at Old Trafford.

Landing a £31.5m-rated defender in Rudiger for nothing would have been a shrewd move, especially as he has plenty of Premier League experience under his belt.

However, it looks as if Ten Hag and United will unfortunately have to move on from their pursuit of Rudiger, but you’d expect that a centre-back will still be high on the new manager’s summer wish list.

In other news: Ten Hag now wants Man Utd chiefs to sign ‘superstar’ attacker for free