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According to Thursday’s print edition of Tuttosport (via Sport Witness), Emre Can will turn down Manchester United due to his previous Liverpool connections.

What’s the story?

The Germany international joined Juventus in the summer of 2018 on a free transfer, but he has struggled to nail down a place in the starting XI.

He has been linked with a switch to Old Trafford, but now it is being reported that he will decide against moving to Manchester due to the fact that he played for the Reds. A move could still happen elsewhere, though, with the Old Lady looking for offers of at least €30m (£25.5m).

Coming back to haunt United

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is currently in need of midfielders. Scott McTominay and Paul Pogba are both out injured, which leaves just Nemanja Matic and Fred as realistic options in the middle. Andrea Pereira and Juan Mata do play centrally, but further forward.

The big fat Liverpool quiz of 2019 – how much do you remember about the last year at Anfield?

Given the former Bayer Leverkusen man’s price tag, as well as his considerable experience both internationally and at club level, he would be a cost-effective addition to the 20-time English champions’ squad. Also, aged just 25, he has plenty of years ahead of him and would not represent just a short-term option.

The Norwegian, therefore, would no doubt be frustrated by this latest update. Can did spend considerable time at Anfield – he made 167 appearances for the Reds during the four years he was with the European champions. Whilst that may have been a barren period in terms of trophies, he was still part of a side that made it to two European finals, whilst his stunning acrobatic goal against Watford will live long in the memory of Liverpool and Premier League fans alike.

Right now, he is unlikely to be a player Jurgen Klopp would even consider targeting as he chose to leave the club. Therefore, the league leaders could very well derail their great rivals’ interest in the player without even making a bid. Things could not be much better for the supporters at the moment as their side lead the division by 13 points with a game in hand. This is just another bit of news that is likely to put a smile on their faces.

Elsewhere, Liverpool are interested in this man with a £64m release clause.

Just days after producing a wholly ineffective display against Norwich in the Premier League, Fred endured a similarly disappointing outing against Wolves in the FA Cup.

The Manchester United midfielder saw a lot of the ball against the Canaries at the weekend without making much of it, and that failing was once again in evidence against Nuno Espirito Santo’s side on Wednesday night.

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As per Sofascore, he provided just one key pass despite having 101 touches, was dribbled past six times (the most of any United player), and won just five of his 15 total ground duels.

Quickfire Quiz: How much do you know about Man Utd’s history in the January transfer window?

And after seeing his performance, United fans took to Twitter to voice their thoughts on the former Shakhtar Donetsk man.

A few fans took particular aim at his seeming inability to pass the ball forward, with him almost being caught out for trying to play it sideways in the first-half, only for Pedro Neto’s goal to be ruled out for a handball in the build-up to it.

A couple of supporters brought former United man Ander Herrera into the conversation, with one fan in particular insisting that they “should have never sold” him.

After having a disrupted pre-season due to his wedding, Fred found himself out of the match-day reckoning for the opening weeks of the campaign, not featuring in a single Premier League game until mid-September against Leicester. Since then, he has enjoyed far more opportunities, and has started and completed the full 90 minutes in United’s last 15 games in the top-flight.

Against Wolves, he looked short of ideas and was very lucky to not gift Wolves the opener when his first-half error was saved by VAR’s intervention. The display may just give Ole Gunnar Solskjaer some food for thought over potentially taking him out of the firing line for a couple of games, and simply recharging his batteries.

Meanwhile, Manchester United fans react to this major update on their pursuit of Bruno Fernandes.

Leeds’ dip in form has seen their promotion chances come under fire as their lead over third place is now down to just four points.

It seemed implausible that Leeds would throw this away when they were 11 points clear earlier in the season, but now it’s looking like a distinct possibility that the Whites could bottle promotion.

Fortunately, they have time to put their problems right as the January transfer window still has just under two weeks left to run.

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However, their performance on Saturday showed that they may have to do more than they originally planned if they want to reach the promised land of the Premier League.

At the beginning of this month, we were told that Leeds’ transfer plans wanted to bring in players for three positions, a winger, a striker and a goalkeeper.

It’s tough to dispute that those positions need addressing. Patrick Bamford hasn’t scored since the game against Fulham before Christmas and Eddie Nketiah has been recalled, Jack Clarke needs replacing and Kiko Casilla’s potential ban could leave Leeds short for keepers.

However, if United want to go all out for promotion they need to address more than just those three areas.

A new centre-back wouldn’t go amiss, Leeds have conceded 14 goals in their last seven league games, and fans have had their complaints about Liam Cooper’s recent performances.

The midfield could also do with some padding as well. There is still no timeframe on Adam Forshaw’s return from injury, and Mateusz Klich could do with a rest after starting every single league game for the past season and a half.

Of course, FFP is an issue, and the Whites may struggle in that department, but there are ways around it. If they want to give themselves the best chance at promotion, they must address more positions than the initial three they reportedly had in mind.

In other news, Noel Whelan has slated one of Leeds’ transfer strategies.

Having failed to hold on to a victory against Sheffield United, Arsenal head into Tuesday’s clash against London rivals Chelsea with a much more desperate need to pick up all three points.

Speaking ahead of the game against the Blues, Mikel Arteta even admitted that the Gunners face a must-win contest at Stamford Bridge – a fact exacerbated by how the north Londoners let go of a one-goal lead to slip to a 2-1 loss in the reverse contest in late December.

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Injuries and form heading into the match on Tuesday night certainly poses a few questions for Arteta in terms of his team selection, and with that in mind, below is a look at how the Spaniard might decide to go.

In front of number one Bernd Leno, much will depend on whether Sokratis can overcome an illness. If the Greek cannot recover in time, then the Gunners will have to rely on Shkodran Mustafi and David Luiz as their centre-back partnership, with academy products Ainsley Maitland-Niles and Bukayo Saka filling up the two full-back roles.

Granit Xhaka and Lucas Torreira will no doubt continue in the holding midfield positions, but it is further ahead where Arteta could seek to make some very important changes. Dani Ceballos was an unused substitute against the Blades on Saturday afternoon, and he could be given a major show of faith if given the nod to replace Mesut Ozil in the number ten role.

Can you name all of these obscure Arsenal signings? Give it a go now!

Out wide, Gabriel Martinelli and Nicolas Pepe will surely continue, whilst up front, Arteta could spring the biggest surprise of them all by finally dropping Alexandre Lacazette. The France international has failed to hit the back of the net in his last six games in the Premier League, and Eddie Nketiah’s availability means the former Lyon man could well be sitting on the bench on Tuesday night.

Meanwhile, Arsenal fans are buzzing with this former academy product’s goal.

It is no secret that Crystal Palace need younger players.

The south Londoners have the oldest squad in the Premier League – according to The Athletic’s Dominic Fifield – with only four players under the age of 27 at Selhurst Park in Connor Wickham, Max Meyer, Jairo Riedewald and academy graduate Brandon Pierrick.

Fifield has mentioned that there is an ‘acceptance’ to reduce the average age of the squad, and a recent transfer update serves to support that.

The Eagles have been linked with a move for 17-year-old Hearts left-back Aaron Hickey, who has attracted the attention of AC Milan and Manchester City as well.

The Sun report that Roy Hodgson’s side will outbid Celtic for the teenager’s services, before loaning him back to Hearts for the remainder of the campaign – these conditions would be sensible for one reason.

Jairo Riedewald’s emergence.

The Dutchman – who admitted to Hodgson that he didn’t think he could play left-back – has shone in the role during Patrick van Aanholt’s absence, with his recent form throwing up question marks as to why the 72-year-old turned a blind eye to him for months.

It is the former Ajax man’s wonderful displays of late that make the decision to sign Hickey, and then loan him back to Hearts, a sensible one, as keeping the youngster – who was described as “ambidextrous” by Hearts’ official site – would only hinder his development as he sits behind Riedewald and Patrick van Aanholt in the pecking order.

“As a player, he is comfortable on the ball and gets about the midfield area really well. He has a decent range of passing and is ambidextrous with his feet.”

It could also be deemed as unfair to add more competition to a position in which Riedewald has only just managed to get a handful of games in, having failed to make a single Premier League appearance.

He has only just broken into the XI, so for the 23-year-old and for Hickey’s sake, a loan move back to Hearts would be a sensible decision from Crystal Palace.

It’s the dawn of a new decade in the Premier League, but how much do you know about the last 10 years?

In other news, these Crystal Palace fans have reacted after a transfer target’s price tag was revealed…

According to a report from the transfer guru Gianluca Di Marzio, Lazio have emerged as surprise suitors for Chelsea’s outcast veteran, Olivier Giroud, and may pounce on his signature.

What’s the word, then?

Not only does Di Marzio suggest that Lazio might be joining the race for the Frenchman’s services but he also claims that the Biancoceleste have already agreed terms with the Blues.

And this is with Tottenham Hotspur’s interest taken into account but there is another twist to this story that could make the transfer extremely complicated.

Where Are They Now: Chelsea edition. Do you know where all these Blues stars have ended up?

As the same source notes, Lazio will only sign Giroud if Chelsea manage to land Dries Mertens from Napoli, so the Italians are very much dependent on Frank Lampard first securing his new forward before parting with the old one.

Verdict

The 6ft 4 striker has somewhat fallen out of favour at Stamford Bridge, often being kept on the fringes as Lampard’s third-choice striker.

For that reason, his 282 minutes across all competitions in 2019/20 don’t really come as a surprise but Lazio’s interest surely does.

The Biancoceleste already have the likes of Ciro Immobile, Joaquin Correa and Felipe Caicedo in tow and ready to lead their forward line, so Giroud would seemingly struggle for extra game time following this mooted transfer.

In fact, if he truly wants to start playing more regularly, Lazio may not really be a good solution for him. The same goes for the buyers – why go for a player they don’t necessarily need?

At this point in time, Chelsea would end up being the only winner in this complicated dance.

Meanwhile, Chelsea were also linked with another striker from Serie A just recently…

After completing his loan from Aston Villa to Doncaster Rovers, Jacob Ramsey marked his debut with the League One outfit by bagging a brace against Tranmere Rovers.

The 18-year-old had not scored in any of his three senior appearances for Villa, so the fact that he has been able to get off the mark so quickly is definitely an encouraging sign.

It is safe to say that the return has got Villa fans excited about his prospects going forward.

His, and Doncaster’s, first goal of the evening came courtesy of a first-time left-footed effort from a low cross that gave the goalkeeper next-to-no chance of saving it.

That was then followed up by an intelligent run into the box that saw him beat the Tranmere defender in the air, which allowed him to fire a header into the top corner.

Did he really play for us?! No Villa fan has managed to name all of these obscure Villans….

He also impressed with his general play, completing the one tackle he attempted, maintaining a pass success rate of 86% and winning both of his aerial duels, which was enough to see him named Man of the Match by WhoScored.

There is excitement about Ramsey outside of this game as well, with one fan referring to him as “the next generation”.

In addition to his Doncaster debut, Ramsey has six goals and four assists from 12 Premier League 2 appearances this campaign.

One fan has even suggested that the teenager’s time could be similar to Jack Grealish’s at Notts County, in which the talisman got five goals and seven assists – we all know how things have ended up for him.

Meanwhile, a different Villa loanee posted an emotional message after their debut goal.

Everton defender Yerry Mina has been named in EA Sports’ FIFA 20 Team of the Week following his heroic display in the 3-2 win against Watford at Vicarage Road on Saturday.

The Toffees of course found themselves 2-0 down against the Hornets heading into first-half injury-time, before the Colombia twice scored from corners to level things up in dramatic fashion before the break.

The visitors went on to take a big three points when Theo Walcott scored a late winner, even though they were playing with 10 men at that stage following a red card for midfielder Fabian Delph.

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The recognition from EA Sports means that gamers can now get an enhanced version of the 25-year-old in one of their FIFA packs from Wednesday evening, with the South American defender having a rating of 84.

Former Toffee Romelu Lukaku – rated at 88 in comparison – was also included having netted both Inter Milan goals in a 2-0 win against Udinese on Sunday.

Did he really play for us?! No Everton fan has managed to name all of these obscure Toffees players….

Mina meanwhile will be looking to help Carlo Ancelotti’s men take another three points at home to Crystal Palace on Saturday before their two-week winter break.

In other Everton news, Toffees fans would be keen on the club to sign a 25-year-old attacker who left in 2017…

Crystal Palace fans have taken to Twitter to react to ex-Eagles chairman Simon Jordan’s comments to talkSPORT.

The 52-year-old occupied the hotseat at Selhurst Park from 2000 to 2010, when the Eagles entered administration and were saved by a consortium named ‘CPFC2010’ led by Steve Parish, who is still at the club alongside American investors David Harris and Josh Blitzer.

Jordan was speaking about Roy Hodgson and the former England manager’s style of play, saying that it seems as if the 72-year-old sets his side up to not lose the game instead of going out to win it.

The former chairman also added that the ex-Liverpool manager is a safe pair of hands, although he finds it hard to see the Eagles making any sort of progress under him, especially if Wilfried Zaha leaves in the summer.

Hodgson will be out of contract at Selhurst Park come the end of the season, and he is believed to be in talks to sign a one-year extension – however, Premier League survival is still not secured with the south Londoners only six points above the drop zone.

Let’s see what the Crystal Palace fans on Twitter have said about his comments…

To kick off the reaction, Stan simply said that Jordan was “speaking facts” – in truth, it is difficult to disagree with his comments seeing as Hodgson’s side have scored the fewest goals in the Premier League this season, and always seem to set up negatively.

Elsewhere, these two supporters both said that the ex-Eagles supremo was “absolutely spot on”.

Tom Curtis also referred to the club’s recent form, in which Palace have won only three of their last 19 outings – he also mentioned that the “Roy lovers won’t have any” of Jordan’s comments.

Meanwhile, Ross and Phil were also in agreement with the talkSPORT pundit’s views, with Ross saying that Jordan “does actually talk some sense sometimes”.

Phil then added that the fact Palace have barely spent any money in the last few windows also shows their level of ambition – the Eagles only signed Cenk Tosun on loan last month, and spent less than £5m in the summer.

Lastly, Kev simply said that he “can’t help but agree”.

It certainly will be interesting to see where the south Londoners end up this season if Hodgson sticks to his current tactics.

Someone’s got to own them: Who do these incredibly unwanted PL records belong to?

In other news, a journalist has hinted at good news for the Crystal Palace academy…

Sunderland fans were left gutted earlier in the week after Bailey Wright was ruled out for the rest of the season.

What happens to the Australian’s future remains to be seen. The defender is out of contract at Bristol City at the end of the campaign so could make the move to the Stadium of Light on a free transfer if they were interested in doing so.

However, despite signing Tommy Smith today, it appears as though the Mackems have someone else lined up as cover.

According to an exclusive story from Roker Report, the Black Cats have brought in Dutch defender Wouter Verstraaten for a trial period from South Shields.

A source close to his current club describes the 23-year-old as a “Rolls-Royce of a defender” but he has been plying his trade in non-league football.

The step-up would be huge and it appears as though some Sunderland fans weren’t overly convinced as they compared him to flops of the past. One went as far as making reference to Laurens De Bock, someone who played just ten times earlier this season before moving onto pastures new.

Other supporters decided to focus on the younger players at the Stadium of Light, suggesting they deserved a chance over someone who would potentially arrive permanently from a non-league outfit.

Two fans made reference to Brandon Taylor who had been linked with surprising moves to Leicester, Everton, Bournemouth and Southampton during the January transfer window.

Aged just 20, he is yet to play for the Sunderland senior team and judging by the club’s record at U23 level, dipping their toes into the academy for a replacement for Wright might not be the best of ideas.

They sit bottom of Premier League 2 Division 2 and have won just one league match since February 2019.

That being said, bringing someone through from the academy is surely more worthwhile than a completely unknown quantity.

More reaction was centred around how Verstraaten had been compared to a Rolls-Royce in Roker Report’s story. One particular fan claimed that Glenn Loovens had picked up a similar comparison before going onto have a poor spell in the north-east.

Life after football: Do you know what all of these former players did next?

He appeared on only 13 occasions for the Black Cats after moving from Sheffield Wednesday.

Whether or not Phil Parkinson’s men bring in the 23-year-old defender permanently remains to be seen, but there is certainly a huge amount of scepticism from the fan base over doing so.

Meanwhile, Sunderland should have HUGE regrets after missing out on a “ruthless” January transfer target…