All posts by z3u9t.icu

Mikael Lustig will be remembered fondly for his time at Celtic but it could have ended so differently.

The Swede’s debut for the Hoops didn’t go according to plan as he was blamed for a goal against Aberdeen.

However, in typical Lustig fashion, the defender bounced back and became an imperious, consistent figure.

Injuries often got the better of him but he became a fan favourite on his way to making 276 Celtic appearances and winning eight Premiership titles in a row.

Lustig eventually departed in 2019 as he moved to Gent in Belgium. With a lack of first-team right-backs now in their ranks, you could argue that the Bhoys miss his experience.

Well, fortunately, they could sign a like-minded player this summer in the form of Carl Starfelt.

Celtic have been linked with a £4m switch for the 26-year-old who also hails from Sweden.

Starfelt is a centre-half by trade, an area of the pitch that Lustig has featured in on the odd occasion. Appearing on 67 Hail Hail, journalist Anel Avdic made the following connection: “If he joins Celtic, I see a little bit of potential in him to be a new Mikael Lustig.”

Avdic made that point with a wry smile but it’s hard to ignore the comparisons, especially from a personality viewpoint.

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The reporter hailed his work rate and attitude, commenting: “He’s a fantastic man. I only have positive things to say about Carl.”

Lustig’s work rate was second to none as well but in terms of their defensive duels and distribution, they’re fairly similar.

Starfelt won 1.6 aerial duels per match last term, just 0.1 fewer than Celtic’s former Swede in terms of his career average.

Their reading of the play is also vastly similar with the Rubin Kazan defender registering 1.4 interceptions per game, a number that replicates Lustig’s average.

Both reliable and consistent performers, it was perhaps surprising that the latter made Sweden’s European Championship squad at the age of 34, rather than Starfelt.

Either way, the pair are reliable and consistent. You also have to go a long way to find a Swede that’s disappointed while donning the green and white hoops.

All being well, he should be as big a success as Lustig was in Paradise. Ange Postecoglou must ensure the defender becomes a Celtic player.

AND in other news, Celtic open talks to sign “unbelievable” 13-goal gem, he may end Christie’s Hoops stay…

Some West Ham United fans are far from happy with a picture of four of the club’s players showing off a new range of Hammers merchandise.

The 2020/21 campaign was a magnificent one for the Irons as they finished in sixth place in the Premier League table, meaning they will be competing in the Europa League group stages next term. As such, preparations for the next season are already underway, both on and off the pitch.

As David Moyes and the board look to bring in new players, a new line of what appears to be West Ham training merchandise has been released. A photo including Aaron Cresswell, Declan Rice, Jarrod Bowen and Mark Noble has emerged sporting the new gear, and it has not gone down well with some supporters.

The image was shared on Twitter by @WestHam_Central with the caption “These are awful”, and it attracted plenty of attention from supporters. These took to the social media platform to share their thoughts on the photo.

Let’s see what these West Ham fans had to say about the image

“certainly are #horrid.”

Credit: @bolyenjohnny

“Nobes is fuming”

Credit: @MHoldgate93

“Yikes”

Credit: @GotHammered1895

“Nope”

Credit: @CooperfectUTB

“We all support England as well as our own teams but it’s embarrassing we only have two players that are possible selections…and they come up with this. Lol”

Credit: @freyaanne

“That couldn’t look more plastic if they tried”

Credit: @JackPar78026231

In other news, many West Ham fans want the club to sign this striker.

Graham Roberts was hugely impressed with the performance of Milan Skriniar for Slovakia against Poland amid links with the Inter Milan defender.

Spurs attempted to sign Skriniar last summer as they looked to reshape their defence.

Transfer supremo Steve Hitchen was even spotted in Italy negotiating with the Italian club as they looked to ensure that the central defender became a Spurs player.

A deal was not done, though, and Skriniar has already impressed during his time at Euro 2020 with Slovakia. He is valued at £54m by Transfermarkt and has been linked again ahead of the summer window.

He scored in the 2-1 win over Poland to kick off their tournament, a shock result that left them in a fine position to reach the knockout stages ahead of the clash with Sweden on Friday.

Roberts believes that the 26-year-old will cost a lot more than he would have if the club had been able to bring him in last year, but he was left in awe of his display, as Bayern Munich striker Robert Lewandowski was left struggling to find his way into the game.

Speaking exclusively to Football FanCast, Roberts said: “I saw Skriniar, he was brilliant on TV, absolutely brilliant but we never went and got him, now he’ll be worth a lot more.

“Lewandowski didn’t get a kick so there’s your answer.”

For two long, arduous months, it appeared that Eddie Howe would become the new manager of Celtic.However, we should know by now that, when it comes to the Hoops, things are never done the easy way.The Bhoys had been in advanced talks with the 43-year-old and a deal was already done according to reports, but on Friday, a move collapsed at the 11thÂhour.

What’s the word?

Celtic have wasted no time in assessing their alternatives. Their plan B is to lure Australian boss Ange Postecoglou to Parkhead instead.

The 55-year-old is currently managing in Japan and is believed to be in advanced talks with the Bhoys over moving to Scotland.

Considering that he’s never managed in Europe, it would be a gamble from Dermot Desmond and co to hire him. That being said, it would appear that Celtic have performed their due diligence on the manager.

According to the Daily Record, the Bhoys have been tracking Postecoglou ever since Neil Lennon resigned back in February. The Yokohama F Marinos boss is reportedly very keen on becoming the Hoops’ new manager and Dominic McKay is now treating the matter with great urgency.

A good appointment?

Although Postecoglou has never ventured onto European shores, it’s hard to deny his outstanding qualities.

When he won the Japanese top flight back in 2019, Marinos’ wage budget was one-seventh of the richest team in the division. In Scottish terms, that would be the equivalent of an Aberdeen taking home the Premiership.

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Effective on a shoestring budget, his football is also particularly eye-catching. During the course of the current campaign, his team have registered the most possession of anyone in the division, with a tally of 64.7%.

Celtic are a team used to dominating possession but even the Hoops enjoyed less of the ball than Marinos in 2020/21, averaging 61.9%. Already you can start to work out why Postecoglou is so highly coveted by the Bhoys.

Another impressive aspect is the way he gets his teams to press from the front. Marinos are relentless in the way they hound and hassle the opposition, leading a pressing charge of several players.

Postecoglou seems to thrive on that modern style of football and it has proven incredibly successful for him.

Described as “infectious†by former Everton star Tim Cahill, he has caught the eye of both Pep Guardiola and Raheem Sterling.

Following a match against Manchester City, Guardiola was left impressed, saying: “Yokohama played some incredible football and they were an incredible test for us.”

After a friendly between England and Australia, Sterling echoed his club manager’s thoughts, commenting: “They’re probably one of the best teams I’ve seen play out from the back and they played some great football so it was a great test for us.”

Adept at getting from one pitch to the other with quick passing and relentless pressing, there are huge positives to agreeing a deal with Postecoglou.

It’s a gamble from the Celtic board but, if his brand of football comes off, they should undoubtedly look a more impressive outfit next season, assuming he is handed the reins.

AND in other news, Celtic must sign 49-goal gem who left a “huge impression” on Neil Lennon…

Queens Park Rangers have been dealt a blow in their bid to bring Chuks Aneke to the Kiyan Prince Foundation Stadium this summer.

What’s the talk?

That’s according to a report by London News Online, who claim that the 27-year-old Charlton Athletic forward has not turned down the offer of a new contract from Nigel Adkins’ side.

This latest development comes following a recent report by TEAMtalk, who claimed the £360k-rated attacker – who is said to have received offers from the likes of Queens Park Rangers, Middlesbrough, Reading, Coventry City and Bristol City – had indeed rejected a new deal at The Valley.

The former England U19 international’s current deal at the League One side is set to expire at the end of this month, meaning that if a new contract is not agreed with Charlton, he will become available on a free transfer.

Fans will be gutted

Considering just how impressive Aneke has been for the Addicks this season, the fact the striker has not rejected a new deal with his current side is likely to come as a huge blow to Mark Warburton’s side, as well as leaving fans of the club gutted.

Over his 38 League One appearances for Nigel Adkins’ side this year, the £5.4k-per-week striker bagged 15 goals, provided two assists and created three big chances, as well as winning an average of 4.9 duels and taking 2.3 shots per game.

These metrics saw the 27-year-old earn an average SofaScore match rating of 7.03, ranking him as Charlton’s fifth-best performer in the league – something that is no mean feat when taking into account he started only 11 of his 38 fixtures in the third tier.

As such, it would very much appear as if the former Arsenal man – whom Lee Bowyer dubbed an “immense” player – would have been a fantastic addition to Warburton’s attacking arsenal at QPR ahead of next season, with the 58-year-old looking to build a side capable of mounting a push for a top-six finish in the league.

However, with it not being confirmed that Aneke has put pen to paper on a new deal at The Valley just yet, the Rs’ hopes of landing the forward do not appear to be completely dead in the water, for now.

In other news: Get him gone: Bhatia must ruthlessly axe £13k-p/w QPR dud who’s “trouble” this summer

Daniel James was signed as a 21-year old from Swansea City in 2019 but he has seen first-team opportunities severely limited this season and former Man United midfielder, Keith Gillespie, has exclusively told The Transfer Tavern, that the winger must step up his game.

James enjoyed a run of four starts in six games in February and March, but since the emergence of Amad Diallo and Mason Greenwood’s upturn in form, the Wales international has made one appearance since April 4th.

There were reports back in January that the winger was set to leave Old Trafford but with no form of deal materialising, he remains on the outskirts of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s regular starting lineup.

Speaking on how James has a big summer ahead of him as he has failed to perform on a consistent basis for Man United, Gillespie spoke exclusively to The Transfer Tavern:

“He’s nowhere near the starting XI at the minute so he needs to really step up because he’s been very disappointing for me.

“I liked him when he first arrived but he doesn’t perform often enough so he’s got a big summer coming up.”

Back in 2019, James expected to be signing for Leeds United but after Swansea did not trust Leeds to pay the full amount for James, the Welsh club pulled the plug on a potential deal and the winger ended up signing for Man United the following summer.

The £45,000 per week attacked has failed to nail down a regular spot at Old Trafford as he has been handed just 14 appearances in the Premier League this season with 10 of them being starts.

Graham Roberts has told Football FanCast that Ryan Mason does not have any chance of winning the Tottenham Hotspur job permanently despite taking over as interim coach.

The former Spurs captain, who won the UEFA Cup with the club, does not believe that the former midfielder will be in the running to replace Jose Mourinho permanently, following the sacking of the Portuguese earlier this week.

Mason has been appointed on an interim basis, the club confirmed last Tuesday, and will be assisted by Chris Powell and Nigel Gibbs, along with Michel Vorm and Ledley King. King is the only member of Mourinho’s coaching staff to survive his sacking.

There have been numerous reports linking Spurs with various managers, foremost of all being RB Leipzig coach Julian Nagelsmann.

Mason, though, will be out to make an impression, having won his first game in charge – a 2-1 home win against Southampton – before narrowly losing the Carabao Cup Final to Man City.

Mason only returned to the club in 2018 and was previously the manager of the club’s Under-18s.

And Roberts, though he believes Mason will enjoy the experience, does not think he will be in the conversation to replace Mourinho permanently.

He told FFC: “No. He’s only been a coach for eight months, nine months? He asked to go back in there and they took him in, he’s been with the youth.

“Running a football club is totally different to youth. I’m sure he’s going to enjoy it, I’m sure Tim Sherwood enjoyed it when he did it but for him to get the job full-time, no, I don’t see it at all.”

Former Tottenham captain Graham Roberts has exclusively told The Transfer Tavern that reappointing Mauricio Pochettino would be the best way to get the Spurs faithful back on side.

The club have come under serious scrutiny this season following the wretched run of results under Jose Mourinho which culminated in his sacking last month.

But the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium fans have pointed their anger towards to Daniel Levy, with protests scheduled for outside the ground this Saturday, 24 hours before Spurs host Wolves in their penultimate home game.

Tottenham are yet to appoint a replacement for Mourinho having missed out on their top three targets.

Their priority, Julian Nagelsmann, ended up taking the Bayern Munich job, Brendan Rodgers rejected any approach from Spurs, whilst Ajax manager Erik ten Hag committed his long-term future to the Dutch champions by penning a new deal.

Scott Parker and Graham Potter have both been strongly linked, but Roberts thinks that the most sensible move to reunite the club would be the return of Pochettino.

When asked if re-appointing the Argentine would help Levy build bridges with Spurs fans after the Super League debacle, Roberts told The Transfer Tavern:

“100%. I think that would be the best thing he could do.”

West Ham United are likely to try and tempt Olivier Giroud into a move this summer…

What’s the word?

That’s according to Eurosport’s Dean Jones, who claims the Irons have a long-term interest in the Chelsea forward and are set to make a move for him when his contract expires next month.

The East Londoners were said to be keen on the 34-year-old during the January transfer window, via the Mirror, as David Moyes looked to bolster his options following the departure of club-record flop Sebastian Haller.

Giroud has been at Chelsea since joining from Arsenal in January 2018 but his £110k-per-week deal comes to an end this summer, with the Blues unlikely to renew it.

Shades of Cole

It’s no secret that Moyes needs fresh additions in the striker department ahead of next season, especially with a Europa League campaign on the horizon.

Giroud would be an interesting option to consider, even more so as he’d cost GSB absolutely nothing in terms of splashing out a transfer fee. Effectively, they could bring him in as well as another striker.

The World Cup winner has vast experience in the Premier League, where he has featured 255 times and scored 90 goals, as per Transfermarkt. He has also picked up 107 caps for France, and won a whopping four FA Cups.

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West Ham also lack players with a history in these European competitions, another positive factor behind signing Giroud, as he won the competition with Chelsea in 2019.

Valued at just £4.5m by Transfermarkt, the French veteran has previously been described as “an extremely underrated player” by former top-flight talisman Gary Lineker, who also added: “His intelligent movement and finishing are exceptional. He’ll always score plenty of goals.”

The Hammers have long lacked a proper target man as Haller clearly failed to live up to expectations, so perhaps Moyes can finally find the club their next Carlton Cole in Giroud.

After all, both would have arrived from their west London rivals and both are over 6 foot 3 in stature.

Furthermore, the former West Ham legend was always a mystery on the pitch. In other words, he was either absolute quality or just shocking.

Giroud, you could argue, has been very similar throughout his career in England. Back in 2015, the Daily Star lambasted his goalscoring record, claiming that even Steven Fletcher had been performing better but then we’ve seen him score some phenomenal strikes too.

That scorpion kick against Crystal Palace in 2017 springs to mind – that won him the Puskas award that year – as does his bicycle kick against Atletico Madrid earlier this campaign.

He’s certainly still got it and considering he won’t cost a thing, the Irons must make a swoop for the 6 foot 4 beast this summer.

AND in other news, Benrahma 2.0: West Ham must land “magic” 17-goal monster who’s “got a lot of ability”…

Keith Hackett has dropped his view on the VAR official not drawing lines for Harry Kane’s second goal for Tottenham Hotspur against Newcastle United.

The England international captain was put through by Tanguy Ndombele before striking the ball into the bottom corner to put Spurs 2-1 up at St. James’ Park before half-time in a game which eventually finished 2-2 thanks to a late equalizing goal from Arsenal loanee Joe Willock.

While the call to see whether Kane was offside was quickly checked by VAR, there was no sign of the usual incessant frame-by-frame line-drawing that has often occurred, and thus the goal was given.

Speaking to Football Insider, Hackett, who is a former referee in the Premier League, claimed that it was the right decision in the end and that he is not a fan of the lines being drawn for tight offside calls:

“I thought that was a good goal.

“There were screams of ‘Where’s the lines on this one?’ but I’m against the lines anyway.

“Therefore I think, actually, it underpins the fact that the match official, the assistant referee has made a good decision. They are capable of doing that at the Premier League level.

“We might have some iffy referees but in the main, we’ve got some outstanding assistant referees.

“There’s an expectation that every scenario should be checked. Ok, fine, if that’s what you want. But I think this is how football should be played and VAR should come in on what is a clear and obvious error and this wasn’t a clear and obvious error.

“I’ve been complaining about the lines all season so I was quite happy with that goal.”

More VAR controversy

Even though Hackett claims that the right decision was made in the end, the lines should have been drawn and visible in the context of the consistency of what has been happening for the rest of the 2020/21 term.

Kane may well have been found not to be offside, but the lines are drawn to make sure that he is either shown to be onside or offside and thus the correct call can be made.

Nonetheless, Steve Bruce’s team will not be too bothered by the incident as the Toon Army grabbed what could turn out to be a big point in their hopes of avoiding being relegated down to the EFL Championship.

In other news, find out what claim on the potential takeover Mark Douglas has dropped after comments from James Pallotta emerged here!