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The deal that saw Manchester City sign Benjamin Mendy for £52 million in 2017 looks to have now backfired, with the Frenchman’s market value having significantly decreased during his time at the Etihad.

The left-back briefly became the world’s most expensive defender as he joined from AS Monaco in the summer of 2017 and after his first few appearances for the club, the fee looked to be justified, as he made an electric start to life under Pep Guardiola.

However, he then suffered his first serious injury, a cruciate ligament rupture, which ruled him out for much of his debut season.

When he made his return in the 2018/19 season, he briefly showcased exactly why sporting director Txiki Begiristain had paid so much to bring him to the Premier League, as he registered five assists in just 10 Premier League appearances, averaging a superb 7.29 rating in what was undoubtedly one of the best, albeit short, spells of his career.

Unfortunately for Mendy, things have been completely downhill since then, as a number of injury problems have prevented him from ever establishing himself as a regular at left-back under Guardiola.

This season, in particular, has emphasised that Mendy is nowhere near the player he once was, as he has managed just eight appearances in the Premier League, averaging a shocking 6.45 rating.

The 26-year-old is arguably the fourth choice at left-back behind Joao Cancelo, Oleksandr Zinchenko and Nathan Ake at City, two of whom aren’t even natural left-backs, so it seems fair to suggest that a Man City exit could be on the cards for Mendy in the near future.

However, City will unsurprisingly not be able to recoup much of the £52 million they paid for him four years ago, as his market value has fallen off a cliff as a result of his injuries and poor form in recent seasons.

Transfermarkt currently values the defender at just £19.8 million, which is the lowest of any point in his City career, with his decline clear to see in recent seasons.

Whilst nobody would have predicted the number of injury issues Mendy has had to deal with at City, they unfortunately mean that he is not the same player that they signed in 2017 and therefore, considering the excessive fee City paid for him, his transfer will have to go down as a rare error by Txiki.

And, in other news… Some City fans were ‘underwhelmed’ by £63m-rated gem, but Txiki has delivered again

Emil Krafth badly let Steve Bruce down as Newcastle United were held to a 1-1 draw at home to Wolverhampton Wanderers on Saturday night.

The Toon were desperate for a positive result with them creeping ever closer to the relegation zone and they may see their lead over 18th-placed Fulham be reduced to a single point on Sunday.

Scott Parker’s Craven Cottage natives visit Crystal Palace in the midday kick-off, striving to make what was once a 10-point gap to the Magpies a distant dream just three weeks on.

Krafth was given the run around by Wolves forward Adama Traore throughout the night at St. James’ Park, with the powerful Spaniard constantly showing the defender a clean pair of heels.

Traore often assumed centre-stage for the visiting side and came close to marking his first assist in the Premier League this season late in the first half, when Ruben Neves could only send the 25-year-old’s cutback wide.

The £36m-rated speedster also came within inches of his first goal of the top-flight campaign before the break, but saw the returning Martin Dubravka palm his header around the post.

Altogether, Traore accounted for three of Wolves’ 14 shots and provided a joint game-high four key passes – level with Newcastle’s Allan Saint-Maximin – to warrant WhoScored’s Man of the Match award with a 9.3 out of 10 rating.

No other player for either side scored above a 7.8 (Pedro Neto), while Krafth earned a 7.1 for his performance that ended in the 72nd-minute due to a shin issue.

Krafth was also given a 6.6 out of 10 by SofaScore, who similarly marked Traore (8.4) as their Man of the Match, representing the third-worst grade be a United player who started ahead of only Joe Willock (6.4) and Ciaran Clark (6.5).

But Willock was praised for his performance by Chronicle Live, who noted how the Arsenal loanee grasped the battle in the engine room and provided five interceptions – a game-high tally.

The Chronicle also criticised Jamal Lewis for his performance, noting how the £15m summer signing from Norwich City had failed to prevent the cross which led to Wolves’ equaliser while not being at his best offensively.

Yet the former Canaries full-back’s overall performance was better than Krafth’s, with the Sweden international dribbled past twice as often as the Northern Ireland international (2), per SofaScore. Only Willock (6) was dribbled past more often for either side.

Lewis also won three of his six ground duels to Krafth’s two from six, took 64 touches to the 26-year-old’s 38, completed 40 of his 45 passes (89%) to the right-back’s 21 of 26 (81%) and was successful with his only attempted dribble, while the £5m ex-Amiens SC defender failed to run with the ball at his feet on any occasions.

Krafth generally offers more for Newcastle than what he produced against Wolves, with the £58,000-per-week dud averaging 44.6 touches, a 58% ground duel success rate, and is dribbled past only the once compared to the four times versus Wolves.

With Traore ranking first in the Premier League for successful dribbles (105) and second to Aston Villa’s Jack Grealish (187) for ground duels won (179) throughout the 2020/21 season to date, Bruce knew Krafth would have his work cut out trying to restrict the Spaniard.

Yet Krafth failed to keep the five-time international quiet, and he was lucky to not be punished to cost Newcastle the solitary, but potentially vital, point they were able to attain.

AND in other news, Newcastle have joined the race for a sought-after “real talent” capable of “outstanding” displays…

Speaking exclusively to Football FanCast, former Leeds United player Carlton Palmer gave his verdict on the duel currently taking place between Helder Costa and Jack Harrison to get into Marcelo Bielsa’s starting XI.

In the recent 1-0 defeat to Aston Villa, it was Costa who started on the opposite flank to man of the moment Raphinha. Prior, however, Harrison was the player to be given the nod against Wolves in a match that also saw Leeds lose to a single goal.

It remains to be seen who out of Costa and Harrison will start in the Yorkshire club’s upcoming fixtures, and Palmer expects such a theme to continue in the long run as Bielsa adapts on a game-by-game basis.

In an exclusive interview with FFC, where Palmer discussed the two players, the retired England international said:

“That all depends [Costa v Harrison], doesn’t it? The way Bielsa plays, you know, sometimes you play certain players because you want to play a certain system, you’re playing a certain team, you think one player might be more effective than the other.

“So I think a lot of that will just depend on the opposition that they’re playing, simple as. Teams do that, Man City do that, they play certain players for certain oppositions, and some players have to sit out. That’s just the way it is.

“It’s tactical. The manager might look at that player and think he might be more effective against that team playing in that system.”

Whatever the case, each player will bring his own qualities, with Harrison, in particular, likely to be pleased with what he has brought to the table in his debut Premier League campaign.

In Leeds’ squad, his six goals are only bettered by the 13 top scorer Patrick Bamford has dispatched. The 24-year-old has also racked up four assists along the way, a tally only Bamford, Raphinha and Mateusz Klich have surpassed (all five, per WhoScored).

Once considered to be the future of his boyhood club by legendary Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson, Jesse Lingard has endured a rather difficult start to the season.

The former England international has yet to feature for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side in the Premier League this season, let alone score a goal or supply an assist, and his poor performance against Watford in the FA Cup typified his poor slump in form.

Speaking after the game, Solskjaer said: “he’s been out for a while but he started brightly and then he tired as you’d expect.”

But his comments did little to disguise the fact Lingard’s first start in almost five months was largely disappointing.

Per SofaScore, the lightweight lost possession 14 times in 80 minutes, which was even worse than Daniel James, who also had a night to forget at Old Trafford. He committed two fouls and made no clearances or interceptions whatsoever, and lost five out of his nine duels overall as well.

It’s safe to say that his career has not panned out the way Lingard would have predicted and his latest display will have no doubt raised further questions about his future at the club as well.

Lingard, who reportedly earns £75,000-a-week, lacked any real sense of composure and almost looked lost for ideas on the very few occasions he actually strayed into the final third.

Since the arrival of Bruno Fernandes, chances have been hard to come by for the 28-year-old, and it looks like time has almost run out for him to stake his claim.

Barring an injury or coronavirus crisis, it’s hard to imagine Solskjaer will give Lingard much more playing time, as he simply has better options in the midfield.

His display against Watford will have done little to silence the critics as it was a sub-par performance by his standards, which was perhaps best summed up by Samuel Luckhurst of The Manchester Evening News, who added it’s ‘difficult to remember a standout contribution.’

AND in other news, Man United must bite the bullet and sell Phil Jones in January…

Tottenham Hotspur have been linked with a move for LA Galaxy right-back Julian Araujo in recent weeks and if he were to join the North London club, it could spell trouble for Matt Doherty.

It has been suggested recently that Spurs are readying a €5 million (£4.45 million) offer for the 19-year-old defender, who has impressed with his performances in the MLS over the past couple of seasons, ahead of the summer transfer window.

The report from AS describes the youngster as one of the top young talents in the MLS and considering he has one goal and two assists for LA Galaxy in the American top-flight so far this season, helping him to a 6.87 average match rating, it is easy to see why.

If he were to join Spurs in the summer, it would only increase the competition Jose Mourinho has at right-back and based on current form, that could prove to be bad news for Doherty.

The Republic of Ireland international has not lived up to expectations since joining from Wolves in the summer and has fallen behind Serge Aurier in the pecking order at the Lilywhites.

He arrived with the reputation of being an attacking full-back who could contribute goals and assists, as he had consistently done with the Old Gold during their time in the Premier League, but he has no goals and just one assist in 17 appearances for the Lilywhites thus far.

After signing the defender in the summer, Mourinho suggested that he was “so happy” with the signing of Doherty but following his sending off against Leeds in the Premier League recently, it seemed clear that the Portuguese manager was far from happy with the 29-year-old defender, and if his performances don’t improve, he may end up making way for Araujo next season, with Spurs perhaps looking to cut their losses after just one year.

The USA international has also featured as a right-winger during his time in the MLS, which suggests that he could prove to be effective in a right-wing back role, similar to the one we saw Mourinho utilise Aurier in during the 3-1 win against Sheffield United last weekend.

So, if Daniel Levy does swoop for the teenage defender during the summer transfer window, it will be interesting to see how much first-team football he will get under Mourinho, and whether he will do enough to displace the £18 million-rated Doherty entirely as Aurier’s understudy.

And, in other news… Jose can sign Lucas Moura upgrade in £25.2m-rated wizard; he wouldn’t cost a penny

Glasgow Rangers travel to Ross County looking to cement their place at the top of the Scottish Premiership on Sunday afternoon.

Steven Gerrard is expected to name a largely-unchanged starting XI to the team that staged a comeback to beat Standard Liege, with some slight tweaks to the formation.

Rangers return to Premiership action for the first time since they fought back to beat the Brussels club in the Europa League at Ibrox on Thursday night.

Ryan Jack remains a major doubt due to injury, whilst Filip Helander, George Edmundson and Nathan Patterson are currently self-isolating, and are therefore unavailable for selection.

Here is our predicted starting line-up for this afternoon’s fixture, with Gerrard making three changes to the team that stunned the Belgians.

Jon McLaughlin may be chomping at the bit, but Allan McGregor will most likely keep the gloves, as the veteran stopper is the trusted man for the big occasions.

In defence, Gerrard is expected to name a relatively unchanged back four to the one which started against the Belgian giants, as Connor Goldson and Leon Balogun will probably continue their partnership at centre-back, but Calvin Bassey could get the nod at left-back after his heroics in the Betfred Cup last weekend.

Ahead of the defence, 28-year-old summer signing Bongani Zungu could come in at the base of the midfield to replace Steven Davis as the Ibrox boss looks to rotate his squad ahead of a busy schedule in the build-up to Christmas, with Scott Arfield and Glen Kamara keeping their places in the starting line-up.

It would be Zungu’s first start in the SPFL and just his third since joining the club.

Upfront, things may get a little bit more interesting, as Gerrard must make a decision over whether to include Alfredo Morelos against the Staggies or drop the Colombian given his lack of form through the middle.

As we mentioned earlier, we believe that the boss will go with the latter, with Jermain Defoe pushing for a recall to the starting line-up.

The 38-year-old will most likely be flanked by the ever-reliable left winger Ryan Kent and Kemar Roofe on the right flank, who has bagged five goals and an assist in his past eight games in the Premiership so far this season, via Transfermarkt.

AND in other news, Glasgow Rangers can’t afford to lose Glen Kamara amid interest from abroad…

Wilfried Zaha scored the decider as Crystal Palace somewhat stopped the rot from spreading further by drawing with Leicester City in the Premier League at Selhurst Park.

Following back-to-back defeats to Liverpool and Aston Villa respectively, Roy Hodgson will have had every right to feel a little bit anxious about his position.

After failing to score against ten-man Villa, Hodgson’s side rediscovered some of their attacking edge as they picked up a vital point.

Zaha gave the Eagles the lead in the second half after Vicente Guaita saved a pathetic penalty attempt from Kelechi Iheanacho, only for Harvey Barnes to level the score.

While Zaha will most likely receive much of the plaudits, Jairo Riedewald deserves the spotlight after he put in such a solid defensive shift against the Foxes.

The Palace defensive-minded midfielder has earned his stripes so far this season and really seems to have embraced the challenge, causing all sorts of mischief in the midfield. He’s already scored one goal in the Premier League this season but even though he couldn’t get himself on the scoresheet on Monday afternoon, this was easily one of his best performances yet.

Riedewald, who earns roughly £55,000-per-week at SE25, was a constant nuisance for Brendan Rodgers’ side as he took delight in breaking up attacks at almost free will.

The 24-year-old was involved in most of the action in the midfield as he made one clearance, one interception, two tackles – more than his teammate James Tomkins – and blocked one shot.

Despite his best efforts, he couldn’t help Palace keep their first clean sheet since the 1-0 win over Southampton at the start of the season, although it’s worth pointing out he had already been replaced by James McArthur by the time Barnes found the bottom corner.

However, this will do little to take the shine off his impressive shift, as Riedewald made the most of his sixth start of the season with a dominant display shielding the defence.

Per SofaScore, he won four out of his five duels overall (80%), showing his strength by winning the majority of his individual battles with Leicester midfielder Nampalys Mendy.

It feels like we’ve said this before, but this is just the latest example of impressive performances from the former Netherlands international. You do have to wonder why he hasn’t started more often after his latest showing.

AND in other news, Lightweight: Crystal Palace defender Cheikhou Kouyate was shocking vs Aston Villa…

Nottingham Forest are still unbeaten in the league under Chris Hughton, but three draws in four games under their new manager doesn’t make for the most inspiring start imaginable.

As frustrating as these continuous draws have been, Forest have to feel lucky to have escaped with a point against Luton on Wednesday evening as they navigated half of the match with 10-men.

To make matters worse, the Reds were behind for the majority of the match, falling behind in the 22nd minute before Nicolas Ioannou’s dismissal in the 44th minute left them with a real mountain to climb.

Fortunately, they were able to climb that mountain and one man was responsible for their resilient fight back.

Of course, we’re talking about Ryan Yates.

The midfielder made sure that Forest weren’t affected by the red card as he covered every blade of grass during this game, making four interceptions and winning seven duels throughout the match.

Yates then played a part in the Reds’ equaliser arriving at the back post attempting a diving header that put the Luton Town defender under enough pressure to force him to put it into his own net.

It shouldn’t come as much of a shock to see Yates forcing the issue like this, he has been described by Sabri Lamouchi as one of the Reds’ most important players in the past and commended for his workrate.

“He is strong and he can make a difference. He scored important goals last season — he is always on the move and he can be like a bulldozer,” His former manager said.

The bulldozer analogy is certainly a fitting one after his acrobatic header attempt forced Glen Rea into a mistake that cost the Hatters all three points.

Forest do need to pick up more wins in the coming weeks if they’re going to move up the table, but if Yates keeps playing like that, it shouldn’t be too difficult a task.

After playing a grand total of just 112 minutes of league football before last Saturday, Will Grigg no doubt would have been champing at the bit when he heard he’d be starting from the off against MK Dons.

Sadly for him, the 29-year-old failed to repay Phil Parkinson’s faith, with Sunderland going down 2-1. The game will be remembered for his frankly incredible miss from close range, and the Black Cats boss admitted after the game that it was a costly one.

He said: “Firstly, he worked his socks off for the team. He needed the game (against Mansfield) last week.There had been a couple of times where he was going to play but had just picked up little niggles. Physically I thought he was better today than he was last week.

“He knows it was a bad miss. He is the first one to hold his hand up in the dressing room because he knows those chances have to be made to count.”

Whilst it’s all well and good that Grigg is prepared to own up to his huge gaffe, that surely shouldn’t cut it for a side trying to hunt down a promotion place this season in League One.

The 29-year-old was given his chance to shine against the Dons, and he failed to take it, and Parkinson really has to make a ruthless call on his misfiring striker.

It was no surprise that after the game, some Sunderland fans were particularly frustrated with Griggs’ performance, with some even calling for him to never play for the club again.

With a game against Doncaster on the horizon, Parkinson can appease some of the Black Cats’ fans by dropping Griggs from the starting line-up. There are no excuses.

It was way back in 2014, when Rolando Aarons was seen as the next big thing to come out of Newcastle’s academy.

The club’s former football development manager, Peter Beardsley, waxed lyrical about his abilities, and tipped him to reach the top. He said: “He’s like a flying left winger with good ability – really good ability. He’s one that we’ve got high hopes for in the first team. He’s probably the main one. We expect him to do good things.”

Unfortunately for the Magpies or even Aarons himself, things haven’t quite gone to plan since he burst onto the scene as an exciting youngster at St James’ Park.

The former England U20 international is now 24, and has completely fallen off the radar at Newcastle. Since playing in the Premier League in the 2014/2015 campaign, he has featured just 27 times for the first-team, and has had several indifferent spells out on loan at various different clubs.

The kinds of teams he’s been with since making his breakthrough feels like a who’s who, with Hellas Verona, FC Slovan Liberec, Sheffield Wednesday, Wycombe Wanderers and Motherwell all seeing him come and go without making any significant impression – he has scored just four goals in his last four years.

Now, with his contract at St James’ Park set to run out in the summer of 2021, Newcastle will have to make a ruthless decision about their former academy starlet.

Aarons has shown nothing to in recent times that he’s deserving of a new long-term deal to remain at the club, and sadly, is just wasting away his career by going out on loan constantly.

Letting him leave on a permanent basis would be an admission that his career hasn’t worked out, but it’s an outcome that would be best for all parties.