حالة من الاستياء أصيب بها مديرو نادي ريال مدريد، بسبب الطريقة التي أدار بها المدرب زين الدين زيدان، ملف صانع الألعاب المميز، خاميس رودريجيز، قبل رحيله إلى إيفرتون.

وانتقل خاميس إلى إيفرتون في الميركاتو الصيفي الماضي بدون أي مقابل، بعدما خرج الكولومبي الدولي من جميع خطط المدرب الفرنسي وقبل نهاية عقده بسنة واحدة.

ولكن أحدث تألق خاميس مع إيفرتون في بطولة الدوري الإنجليزي الممتاز حالة من الاستياء داخل ريال مدريد، خاصة بعد تسجيل اللاعب 3 أهداف وصنع مثلها، وهناك إشادة كبيرة بقدراته الفنية تحت قيادة المدرب كارلو أنشيلوتي.

اقرأ أيضًا.. أنشيلوتي يوضح حالة خاميس رودريجيز ومينا قبل مواجهة ليفربول

يشعر المديرون التنفيذيون بنادي ريال مدريد بالإحباط بسبب إدارة زيدان لهذا الملف، وهناك شكوك أيضًا حول كيفية إدارة ملفات أخرى مثل جاريث بيل وداني سيبايوس.

واعتبر المديرون أن هذا الثلاثي كان قادرًا على اللعب بصفوف ريال مدريد، لكن كان هنالك تعنت من طرف زيدان لرحيلهم عن صفوف الفريق الإسباني.

ووصفت الصحيفة الشهيرة انتقال خاميس إلى إيفرتون بأنه “سرقة القرن” حيث لم تكلف النادي الإنجليزي أي مقابل مادي، ولكن بعد مرور شهر واحد فقط في إنجلترا أصبح من أفضل اللاعبين هناك وتم ترشحيه لجائزة لاعب شهر سبتمبر.

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Tottenham Hotspur centre-back Toby Alderweireld has been speaking about his future to Sky Sports.

Alderweireld said that he is ‘very happy at Spurs’, but also admitted that he is not looking beyond the end of the current season.

It is perhaps dangerous to read too much into what the centre-back has said, but one thing is for certain; his current contract at Tottenham expires at the end of next season.

A £26m release clause will come into effect this summer, though, and Manchester United have been strongly linked with a move.

The Tottenham fans have been on Twitter offering their views on the 30-year-old’s words.

Pl>ymaker FC Exclusive: Jermaine Jenas reveals he would have snubbed Tottenham for Arsenal if they’d come knocking in 2005…

Whilst there are those who have been encouraged by the latest developments, others feel that the Belgium international will be moving on this summer.

It will be very, very interesting to see how this one plays out.

A selection of the best Twitter reaction can be seen below:

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Liverpool fans have taken to Twitter in disagreement after a mix-up between Alisson Becker and Virgil van Dijk allowed ex-Red Ryan Babel to steal in and grab an equaliser in the 2-1 win over Fulham on Sunday.

Of course, a late James Milner penalty earned Jurgen Klopp’s side all three points, but the defensive howler between the aforementioned pair had the away section inside Craven Cottage quaking with nerves.

Jurgen Klopp has gotten quite inventive with his excuses this season. FFC’s James Jones think he has no one but himself to blame for Liverpol’s poor form in the video below…

After a slice from Milner, Van Dijk attempted to head the ball back to Alisson with Babel lurking in search of an opportunity, and his luck was in after the Dutch international headed awkwardly towards the Brazilian stopper, who allowed the ball to squirm past him.

Whilst both were somewhat at fault, as well as Milner, the Reds fans on Twitter are undecided as to who was mostly to blame for the error.

Let’s see what the Liverpool fans are saying about the situation on Twitter…

Can anyone really trust Alfredo Morelos to keep his head? It’s time Rangers bought a reliable striker like Lawrence Shankland to rake in the goals instead.

Steven Gerrard mentioned he was being too soft with player discipline after the Old Firm derby, and that he’d toughen up. The ultimate way to keep his players in check is to bring in a player who won’t step out of line but will still produce the goods.

Shankland has scored 23 times and made five assists in 29 games for Ayr United in the Scottish Championship. He’s certainly got an eye for goal, so it’s time he took the step up into the top division, and the bright lights of Ibrox would be perfect. The Daily Star previously reported Rangers and Celtic are both interested.

In 216 career games at clubs including Aberdeen and St Mirren, he’s only ever had one red card. That’s quite a contrast to the five Morelos has racked up, and that’ll be music to Gerrard’s ears, who likes passion but surely prefers his main striker on the pitch rather than down the tunnel.

He’s developing a no-nonsense approach to the media and it seems he wants to do the same with his squad, so why not bring in the 23-year-old to prove he won’t be a pushover. Shankland would also make a great partner for Jermain Defoe if he’s still at Ibrox next season.

He deserves a chance to prove himself at the highest level, and with his contract running out in May, he’ll be available for free. There’d be no risk attached to this signing. The biggest risk is not having a player to compete with Morelos and replace his goals when his head falls off every now and again.

Rangers fans, who do you think Steven Gerrard should bring in to challenge Alfredo Morelos? Join the discussion by commenting below…

Barnsley supporters must have thought that their side were about to take a huge step to promotion from League One on Saturday when they took the lead against Coventry City.

With Sunderland and Portsmouth facing off in the Checkatrade trophy final, the Tykes could have moved seven points clear with a victory at Oakwell yet instead they had to settle for a draw which has left the door slightly ajar for their rivals.

Goals from Cauley Woodrow and Alex Mowatt for Barnsley were cancelled out by Luke Thomas and Jordy Hiwula who just about kept the Sky Blues’ hopes of a play-off place at the end of the season alive.

Although Daniel Stendel will have been disappointed that his side didn’t secure victory at the weekend, they are still in a superb position to secure an immediate return to the Championship in May. The Tykes’ run-in is arguably easier than both Sunderland and Portsmouth as they only have to face one side who are currently in the top eight in League One. In contrast, the Black Cats have to face four whilst Pompey have three tough fixtures to overcome.

Furthermore, the two sides face each other on April 27th in a clash which could benefit Barnsley depending on the result. With just six games to go for the Tykes, they know that a strong end to the season should see them get over the line, especially when you consider that already have the points on the board in the league.

Indeed Sunderland may have three games in hand over Stendel’s side but they will have to win at least two of these to leapfrog them in the table, a feat which will be made tougher by the fact that they face having to play eight games in just 27 days in League One. In what should be a barnstorming end to the season, the Tykes will still be confident that they can achieve automatic promotion despite their recent setback.

What do you think Barnsley fans? Are you confident that your side can beat Sunderland and Portsmouth to promotion? Would you rather have points on the board rather than games in hand at this stage of the season? Get in touch below.

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With Antonio Conte’s demise nearing completion, a familiar nemesis popped up to slam home an equaliser for West Ham at Stamford Bridge last season. Exactly one year on from that day, the Irons will once again make the short journey from east to west London on Monday night to face Chelsea on their home turf A freakish fixture list anomaly has thrown up an identical clash on the same day in back-to-back seasons.

Roman Abramovich resisted the seemingly insatiable urge to pull the trigger on Maurizio Sarri’s predecessor and delayed until July 2018 after months of speculation, but the writing was firmly sprayed on the wall three months earlier when West Ham exposed the frailties in Conte’s tactical system.

Hernandez, who made it nine goals from 14 appearances against the Blues last season, scored a deserved equaliser to salvage a 1-1 draw for the relegation-threatened visitors.

It took just one aimless long ball over the top to unpick Chelsea’s defensive unit. Marko Arnautovic reacted first to a feeble attempt to clear the ball, swivelled his hips and struck a perfectly weighted half-volley into Hernandez’s path, before the beady-eyed forward emphatically dispatched from the right of the penalty spot.

His appetite to find the net against Chelsea is underlined by the regularity of his goal-scoring exploits. He has scored in nine different fixtures and, with Maurizio Sarri facing a level of uncertainty over his future which Conte was also haunted by this time last year, fate and history are willing the little pea to continue his prolific run.

In the Premier League alone he has managed to notch five goals from eight appearances, including three at Stamford Bridge. The Hammers supporters may have their reservations about his effectiveness at the spearhead of the attack but you cannot argue with his form against Monday’s opponents.

Marko Arnautovic is a doubt for the clash and Lucas Perez was underwhelming alongside the Austrian against Everton last time out. With that said, Manuel Pellegrini will naturally be turning his focus towards the diminutive forward, using his pedigree in this fixture as a tool for his selection policy.

To label Sarri a dead man walking would be a gross exaggeration of his diminishing security but Chelsea’s infamous tradition of dismissing managers for simply having the audacity to set foot in the dugout doesn’t bode well for his long-term future.

A place in the top-four is on the line, just as it was when West Ham arrived at this time last year, and the Italian will be acutely aware of the need to clinch all three points with four teams tightly-knitted together in a multi-million pound race for just two spots.

Conte failed to usurp the likes of Manchester United and Tottenham into the top-four last season, and it became clear that their top-four ambitions were left in a cloud of Mexican smoke when Hernandez’s strike left them 10-points adrift of Spurs.

Another moment of decisive, dead-eyed prowess from Hernandez wouldn’t leave Sarri in such a dire position, but with just a handful of points left to play for it could be a decisive slice in history that bears remarkable resemblance to events which unfolded exactly 365 days ago.

The stage is set for history to repeat itself in a bizarre injection of Déjà vu with Chicharito in town.

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Arsenal are considering selling Henrikh Mkhitaryan this summer, per the Daily Mirror.

The Gunners need to raise funds for the summer and are weighing up the possibility of cashing in on the Armenia international.

What’s the word?

Mkhitaryan, who joined the club from Manchester United in a part-exchange deal that saw Alexis Sanchez move to Old Trafford, is one of the highest earners at the club.

Per the aforementioned report, the 30-year-old currently earns a wage of £180,000-per-week, with his contract set to expire in 2021.

Manager Unai Emery is said to believe that the money could be better used elsewhere, with the club’s wage bill causing problems.

Arsenal, of course, did not make a permanent signing in the January transfer window, instead signing Denis Suarez on loan from Barcelona.

Emery, it is said, could be given a transfer budget of just £45million in the summer before sales are taken into account and both Mkhitaryan and Mesut Ozil, who earns £350,000-per-week, being moved on would have a positive effect on the club’s finances.

Mkhitaryan has made 18 Premier League appearances this season, scoring six goals and providing four assists.

A dismal new reality

Having put Arsenal on course for a top four finish, Emery should be rewarded with considerable backing in the summer, but the gaffer is paying the price for years of financial mismanagement at the Emirates.

Mkhitaryan and Ozil swallow up over half a million pounds in wages per week and yet neither of them are all that important to the way Arsenal currently play.

It is little wonder, then, that Arsenal’s budget is so tight.

If the club are to move forward and become genuine Premier League title challengers, something which Emery appears capable of guiding them towards, they have to spend to keep up with the likes of Manchester City and Liverpool.

As it is, they are also-rans in the title race, being forced to settle for qualification for the Champions League as a crowning achievement yet again.

We have, of course, been here before, and Emery will have been aware of the club’s history before his appointment.

Now, though, his potential is being capped by the club’s finances. As it stands, don’t expect much improvement next season, even if Emery has proved himself a shrewd operator thus far.

Duncan Watmore experienced the high and low of football within a frantic few minutes at the end of the Black Cats draw at Wycombe Wanderers two weeks ago.

He scored his first goal for the Wearsiders for over three years deep into stoppage time, before being crudely fouled, suffering ligament damage and being ruled out for at least two months.

It is not new for flame-haired winger, having suffered two ACL injuries in as many years, but this latest setback will see him miss Sunderland’s Wembley outing in the EFL Trophy final on Sunday.

Watmore’s dad, Ian, the thought of missing that game, as well as his belief that he had finally found a run of form, were the two things that “dawned on him” after the extent of the injury was confirmed.

Ian told the Sunderland Echo: “What really annoyed him about it was he’d just had his high. You can imagine scoring that goal in front of the fans, the equaliser in the 94th minute is the sort of high that you dream of when you’re doing those endless hours of rehab.

“He’s had two years of that and then he finally comes out and does it and then it’s two minutes later and he didn’t really get the chance to enjoy the moment.

“The second thing that dawned on him was he wasn’t going to be able to play at Wembley which is one of the things he’s never actually done.

“Much more importantly he really thought he was just coming into a bit of form and that goal would have spurred him on just at a critical time with games coming up to get to automatic promotion.”

Ian went on to describe the “unbelievable” support of manager, Jack Ross, who has challenged him to regain his fitness by the end of May.

“The club has had a good couple of games and the manager has given him a target to get himself playing fit again by the end of May so he can have a proper pre-season.

“I think probably in the back of his head, he hopes he doesn’t have to play again this season because it means automatic promotion, but if there was a need to go to Wembley for the play-off final, he might just be fit for that.”

It is unlikely that the player will feature again this season, with managers and medical departments preferring to err on the side of caution regarding major injuries nowadays, but setting himself a target like that can only help him in his rehabilitation.

If it turns out that Watmore is being considered for a play-off final appearance, then it would mean that Sunderland’s finish to the season has not panned out as planned.

The play-offs will be the last thing anyone at the club is hoping for, or even thinking about, with automatic promotion the sole focus on everyone’s mind.

Failure to go up in one of those two spots would still be considered a failure by many within, and associated with, the club.

To endure a nightmare scenario that involves the lottery that is the play-offs would be an impending disaster for the club that must go up at the first time of asking.

A club like Sunderland should not end up in a position where they are one bad performance away from staying in League One.

What are your thoughts on the luckless Sunderland winger? Would you see promotion via the play-offs as something of a failure this season? Let us know below…

Celtic fans will be jubilant now that the news has been confirmed that Kieran Tierney has pulled out of the Scotland squad. The young left-back didn’t feature in yesterday’s embarrassing 3-0 away defeat to Kazakhstan and after watching that game you can’t blame him for wanting out, and he’ll be on the first plane back to Glasgow.

As far as the Hoops are concerned, whilst the Scottish National Team continues the way it’s going there really is no point in letting their Scottish players go and play. Risking an injury whilst playing on a plastic pitch in obscure Eastern European countries is not the way to go, and the Bhoys will now just be hoping that the likes of James Forrest, Scott Bain and Callum McGregor will follow suit.

Tierney is one of Scotland’s brightest young talents and when he plays for the Hoops they are a much better side, and the same usually goes for Scotland too. However, injury problems have already haunted the young full-back this season and the last thing that the Bhoys want to have to deal with is a game against Rangers after the international break without young KT because he suffered an injury whilst playing against a team of teachers, plumbers and firefighters from San Marino.

You can read the Hoops’ thoughts on Tierney’s Scotland drop out here:

The Hoops are all pleased to see that Tierney has dropped out and will be hoping the youngster is fit for their next game against Rangers on March 31st.

ذكرت تقارير صحفية، أنّ نادي ليفربول الإنجليزي، يتطلع إلى التعاقد مع مدافع جديد، في نافذة الانتقالات الشتوية، لتعويض غياب نجمه الهولندي، فيرجيل فان دايك.

موسم المدافع الهولندي انتهي مع الريدز، حيث سيخضع لعملية جراحية بعد إصابته في أربطة الركبة اليسرى.

ليفربول بعد إصابة فان دايك، أصبح يرغب في ضم الإنجليزي بن وايت، والذي يُجيد اللعب في قلب الدفاع ومركز الظهير الأيمن وكذلك الارتكاز.

ليفربول كان يرغب في ضم بن وايت، الصيف المُنصرم، ولكن قرر تأجيل الصفقة حتى صيف عام 2021، والآن بعد إصابة فان دايك، سيتجه لضم صاحب الـ”22″ عامًا، في نافذة الانتقالات الشتوية الجارية.

وبحسب صحيفة “ميرور” البريطانية، فإن برايتون أخبر بطل الدوري الإنجليزي الممتاز، إنه يريد الحصول على 50 مليون جنيه إسترليني للموافقة على بيع بن وايت.

اقرأ أيضًا.. فينالدوم: سنتعامل مع إصابة فان دايك مثلما فعلنا عندما غاب محمد صلاح عن ليفربول

بن وايت صاحب الـ 22 عامًا، قضى موسم 2019/2020 على سبيل الإعارة من برايتون مع ليدز يونايتد.

ليفربول كان حاول التعاقد مع بن وايت في الصيف المُنصرم، مقابل 30 مليون باوند، ولكن إدارة برايتون رفضت العرض.

بن وايت كان أحد الركائز الأساسية في ليدز، حيث شارك في 49 مُباراة بمُختلف المُسابقات في موسم 2019/2020، وسجل هدفًا وصنع هدفين.

يُذكر أن برايتون أعلن في سبتمبر الماضي، عن تجديد عقد بن وايت لمدة أربع سنوات، ومنحه عقدًا حتى عام 2024.