All posts by rastrear-estafeta.com

A number of Sheffield Wednesday supporters have been praising Dennis Adeniran after he won the club’s Player of the Month award for September.

The Owls suffered a very disappointing day at the office on Saturday, losing 2-1 at home to Oxford United after another late goal was conceded.

It was a huge blow after the midweek win at Wigan Athletic, with question marks now starting to be asked of Darren Moore.

September was a largely below-par month for Wednesday, but one positive was the form of Adeniran, with the midfielder winning the Player of the Month award on Monday, as confirmed by the club’s official Twitter channel.

The 22-year-old earned 47% of supporters’ votes as his impressive start to life at Hillsborough continues following his summer move from Everton, netting in the recent draw against Ipswich.

He was once compared to French World Cup-winning midfielder N’Golo Kante by Wycombe Wanderers reporter James Richings for his midfield industry, summing up his vast potential as a player.

Sheff Wed fans laud Adeniran award win

These Owls fans took to Twitter to show their support for Adeniran, praising his individual triumph in the process after a “great month” for him.

“Fully deserved”

Credit: @WTIDPOD

“Well done Dennis, you had my vote, you richly deserved it”

Credit: @Enigma1867

“Well done mate. Great month”

Credit: @StevenW28575393

“Congratulations Dennis! Well deserved!”

Credit: @DPaggiossi

“My brudda”

Credit: @ED6ixx

“Deserved tbf, could’ve won it either month IMO, but what a player. Remarkable how he’s managed to stay under the radar and not be picked up by a Prem or Championship side”

Credit: @jackdoona

In other news, some Sheff Wed fans have slammed one player’s performance against Oxford. Find out who it is here.

West Ham shared footage of new summer signings Kurt Zouma and Nikola Vlasic on Thursday evening.

And, as to be expected, a number of Hammers supporters were quick to share their positive thoughts to their new recruits on social media.

The Hammers made two big-money additions late in the window, with Zouma penning a four-year deal from Chelsea costing £31.5m and Vlasic a five-year deal from CSKA Moscow at a price of £27m.

Both the centre-back and the attacking midfielder have been training ahead of this weekend’s clash with Southampton at St Mary’s and were all smiles at the club’s Rush Green complex.

West Ham posted a 43-second clip of the video of the pair on their official Twitter page, including a snippet of the duo in action alongside teammates on the training pitch.

Hammers fans react

These Hammers fans all interacted with the post, with a selection of positive responses available to view below.

“We’re winning the league”

Credit: @n_kalathakis

“ZOUMA is a perfect addition to the character of this team. Well done DM!”

Credit: @Nathanbi77

“So good let’s crack on then”

Credit: @ZaynafamilyMary

“Loving the team spirit on show”

Credit: @WestHamXtra

“Happy”

Credit: @lakey_21

“Start of something special let’s hope”

Credit: @Paul572669283

In other news: West Ham source: Moyes now eyeing ‘unbelievable’ attacker with behind-scenes talks ongoing.

Aston Villa look set to be without John McGinn for tonight’s Carabao Cup clash against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.

What’s the story?

The Scotland international was involved in an early collision with Michael Keane during the victory over Everton in the Premier League at the weekend, and despite receiving treatment, had to go off later in the first-half.

Speaking after the game, the Villa boss himself said: “He got a whack on the head after five minutes. He felt he was OK to continue. Around about the 26th minute mark, he got another whack on the head I think it was. There was a break in play and he came to alert us to it. Our doctor kept an eye on him but he called it then and went, ‘No, I’m too dizzy’ and went down. Our doctor was on it.”

And now, as confirmed by The Daily Mail, “McGinn will not play at Stamford Bridge under the FA’s ‘return to play’ guidelines that demand a six-day absence for a head injury.”

Dean Smith will be gutted

A mainstay of Smith’s side in the Premier League, the 26-year-old enjoyed a fine campaign last season, with Sky Sports and Match of the Day pundit Micah Richards raving about his influence.

He said: “This season he’s been absolutely incredible, back to the John McGinn I know. A lot of shine goes off of him because of Grealish because Grealish does the little bits that make people stand up on their chairs, but in terms of hard work, putting in tackles, goals and assists, John McGinn is a top, top player. Villa have been a successful side largely down to him as well and his work-rate in there.”

In fact, in the 3-0 defeat to Chelsea in the Premier League just a couple of weeks ago, McGinn was arguably one of Villa’s more impressive performers, with The Birmingham Mail’s Ashley Preece giving him an eight in his post-match player ratings and saying: “Very, very lively. In fact, McGinn was everywhere and forced Chelsea into a string of errors as he pressed and pressed and pressed in that opening 45 minutes.

“The Scot loves playing at Stamford Bridge after three back-to-back impressive displays here in west London. McGinn faded a little in the second half but always looked to rally the troops. He’s had a fine start to the season. Booked and was incredibly irate at the end as he flew into Jorginho late on. McGinn was fantastic.”

The fact he’ll now be missing from tonight’s game against the Blues again is sure to have Smith gutted.

Meanwhile, Dean Smith must start this Villa “warrior” vs Chelsea…

Leicester City will be aiming to build on their Community Shield victory last weekend by picking up three points against Wolves this afternoon.

The Foxes suffered late heartbreak for the second consecutive season last term, missing out on a Champions League qualification spot on the final day following defeat to Tottenham Hotspur.

However, the Midlands outfit will not be disheartened. They have continually punched above their weight under Brendan Rodgers, and their maiden FA Cup triumph in May capped an outstanding two-and-a-half years under the Northern Irishman.

However, following several astute purchases in the transfer window, Leicester will be hoping to go one better and finish in the top four next May.

Rodgers will have to cope without several first-team players in the opening weeks, though, with James Justin, Wesley Fofana, Jonny Evans and Nampalys Mendy all currently sidelined.

With that in mind, here’s how Football Fan Cast thinks the 48-year-old will line up his team at the King Power Stadium today…

New club captain Kasper Schmeichel is a certainty to start between the sticks for the Foxes, although there’s set to be a couple of fresh faces ahead of the Denmark international.

His compatriot and international teammate Jannik Vestergaard has completed his move from Southampton in time to be registered for this one, so he should make his club debut after his transfer was announced yesterday evening, partnering Caglar Soyuncu in the heart of defence.

That means the £4.5m-rated Daniel Amartey is set to drop to the bench after starting at Wembley a week ago, with Ricardo Pereira and Vestergaard’s former Saints team-mate Ryan Bertrand occupying the full-back positions.

In midfield, the dependable trio of Wilfried Ndidi, Youri Tielemans and James Maddison will take up their usual residency in the Leicester engine room.

Up top, talismanic striker Jamie Vardy is expected to be partnered by the returning Harvey Barnes and Ayoze Perez as they look to supply the goals on the Premier League’s return. The veteran’s 15 top-flight goals last season make him too difficult to drop, despite the summer arrival of Patson Daka.

In other news… Journalist drops transfer update that’ll leave Leicester fans buzzing 

Valerien Ismael is expecting his West Bromwich Albion side to make further additions in the transfer market prior to deadline day at the beginning of next week.

What’s been said?

In recent comments cited by the Express & Star, the Frenchman revealed that he is relaxed regarding his search for a new centre-forward over what remains of the summer transfer window, and that he is confident Ken Xu Ke and Ian Pearce will be able to complete at least one more deal before next Tuesday’s deadline.

Discussing Albion’s potential signings, the 45-year-old said: “We know behind the scenes what we have to do. We try and we have some more days. We are calm. We don’t need to rush as we know exactly what we want.

“My expectation is that we can do something until the end. You never know because it’s always a difficult situation, but, behind the scenes, Ken and Ian Pearce have done a great job so far. We try to do everything to make sure we can get the right players.”

Fans will be excited

While West Brom have started the season in incredibly impressive form under the leadership of Ismael, with the Baggies scoring a league-high 11 goals and picking up 10 points from their opening four Championship fixtures, these results should not mask the fact that the Frenchman is indeed lacking in depth in the centre-forward role.

At present, the 45-year-old can call upon Karlan Grant, Callum Robinson or Kenneth Zohore to play through the middle, however, with Grant and Robinson more suited to the wider attacking positions, and Zohore having bagged a less than impressive two Championship goals while on loan at Millwall last season, Ismael is hardly blessed with a wealth of talent up top.

As such, it would very much appear a necessity for Ismael to bring in a new striker this summer, as his current options are simply not enough to last what is sure to be a long and arduous Championship campaign, let alone to fire Albion to automatic promotion.

So, the fact that the Frenchman appears confident about getting a deal over the line for an incoming player before next Tuesday is sure to get West Brom fans excited, as, on the condition that the potential new signing is a proven goalscorer, it could well be the final piece of the 45-year-old’s Baggies jigsaw.

In other news: Ismael must unleash “quality” 6ft 4 West Brom colossus tonight, he’d terrify Arsenal

David Moyes risks uproar amongst the West Ham United faithful if he makes a move for Phil Jones this month…

What’s the word?

The Irons have been left frustrated by their search for a new centre-back over the past few days after Chelsea’s Kurt Zouma rejected the chance to join the club.

It’s believed that the addition of a new central defender is currently Moyes’ top priority, with Angelo Ogbonna dealing with a pre-season injury problem.

According to the ever-reliable ExWHUemployee, the Hammers’ hunt is nearly getting to the point of them considering free transfers, in which forgotten Manchester United outcast Phil Jones could be a target, even if slightly unlikely.

It’s not the first time that the 29-year-old colossus has been mooted with a switch to the London Stadium. Last month, Eurosport reported of Moyes’ interest in working with the centre-back once again.

Massively uninspiring

If West Ham’s options go from the likes of Zouma and James Tarkowski to Jones, then the Scot risks causing fury amongst the Irons faithful and that is the last thing he needs, with supporters group Hammers United already planning to protest before their game against the Red Devils next month.

Whilst Moyes may well think that he could repeat the theatrics of Jesse Lingard’s comeback, it seems unlikely that he can do the same with the 27-time England international.

[snack-amp-story url= “https://www.footballfancast.com/web-stories/read-the-latest-west-ham-news-transfer-rumours-the-latest-gossip-and-more” title= “Read the latest West Ham news, transfer rumours, gossip and much more!”]

Jones has not played a competitive match for United – or anyone – in more than 18 months after falling out of favour under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer before he picked up a serious long-term knee injury.

The Manchester Evening News claim that the 5 foot 11 defender is effectively ‘unsellable’, and that goes to show just how low the East Londoners would be sinking with a move for him.

It would be one mighty risk to take a punt on someone who has not played at the elite level for so long, especially considering that he is thought to be earning around £110k-per-week at Old Trafford.

Furthermore, when he was in action, he was far from impressive.

Jones was once described as a player who “looks like he’s on roller-skates” and “sometimes he looks like the stunt-man of the team” by Martin Keown to talkSPORT.

Now valued at just £4.5m by Transfermarkt, Moyes would certainly be playing with fire with a move for his former starting centre-back. The Irons faithful will surely be furious if he signs.

AND in other news, West Ham insiders drop major takeover claim, fans will be fuming…

Harry Kane and Lautaro Martinez could play together according to former Tottenham player Graham Roberts.

Lautaro Martinez has been linked with Tottenham in recent days with journalist Fabrizio Romano reporting that Tottenham opened talks with Inter Milan and offered €70m for the striker, but the Italian giants have said they have no intention of selling the striker this summer.

That is because they have already sold Romelu Lukaku to Chelsea in a move that was confirmed on Thursday, with Edin Dzeko looking set to replace him according to reports in Italy.

Despite Inter appearing to not want to sell Lautaro this summer, if there is U-turn at some point and he does end up at Spurs, Roberts believes that he could play up front with Kane, telling Football FanCast: “I think Kane drops a little bit and he can play them through to him. If you’ve got a top, top player you can play with anybody.  

“Nuno’s got pace in the team – Son, Moura, Bergwijn’s got pace, so we’ve got pace in the team so now it’s really just sort of getting another striker, getting another centre-half and right-back and I think we are made for the season then.”

Nuno Espirito Santo has been active in the transfer market already this summer signing Bryan Gil, Pierluigi Gollini and Cristian Romero. With over two weeks left in the transfer window, will there be any further incomings at Tottenham?

Luke Hatfield from the Express and Star believes that Sam Johnstone is better than Bernd Leno and would be Arsenal’s first-choice goalkeeper.

Despite the German being the Gunners number one since joining from Bayer Leverkusen three years ago, Mikel Arteta is looking to add another keeper to his ranks this summer.

David Ornstein has revealed that Johnstone, fresh from his European Championships campaign with England, is being tracked by Arsenal.

Arteta remains in the market for another goalkeeper after Mathew Ryan joined Real Sociedad following his brief spell on loan during the second half of last season, whilst his other senior stopper Runar Alex Runarsson is set to leave after featuring just six times.

But following Johnstone’s outstanding form for West Brom last season, which saw him make more saves than anyone else, even though it allowed him to keep just six clean sheets, Hatfield reckons that he would be targeting the number one spot at the Emirates.

He told The Transfer Tavern:

“He won’t want to be a number two, but I suppose the question is, would he be a number two at Arsenal?

“It seems now that Arsenal made a big mistake when they sold Emi Martinez to Villa because Leno is a player that I was always impressed by, but if Sam Johnstone was there last season, would he be ahead of him in the pecking order? I would say yes, Johnstone is a better keeper than Leno now. He has impressed for West Brom and at England level as well.”

An update has emerged on Jack Grealish, regarding Aston Villa’s attempts to keep him at the club.

What’s the talk?

According to The Sun, Aston Villa are ready to make Jack Grealish the highest-paid player in the history of the club by offering him £200k-per-week. The report claims Villa are prepared to make him one of the highest earners in the Premier League to tie him down to a new deal.

Manchester City are keen on signing him this summer and are willing to offer a British record £100m bid for his services, with the champions said to be hopeful of securing an agreement with the Villans.

Fans will surely be buzzing

Villa fans will surely be buzzing following this big update. The club are showing that they are serious about keeping Grealish at the club and are not going to be bullied by Manchester City into parting ways with him. They are set to flex their financial muscle with this record contract offer and, hopefully, it will be enough to convince the local lad to commit his future to Villa Park.

If Johan Lange and Dean Smith harbour any ambitions of challenging for Europa League or Champions League football next season then keeping hold of the mercurial midfielder could hold the key. He was sensational for the club last term in the Premier League, providing six goals and 10 assists from out wide despite only starting 24 matches.

Ex-Villa midfielder Kieran Richardson once lauded the “phenomenal” wizard and highlighted the size of his legs as something that caught his eye training with him. 

He said: “Jack Grealish, he’s a phenomenal talent. When I was there (Villa) playing he was coming through and you could see from the get-go he was a top, top player. The way he can just ghost past players, he’s so strong, he rides challenges. Even if you knock him down he’ll get back up and keep going, he won’t shy away from anything.

“He’s very confident on the ball, he’ll take the ball whenever he can. He’s a top player and the way he’s built as well, he’s massive, his legs are absolutely massive. Even when I first saw him I was like ‘This guy’s a unit’.”

The England international averaged a sublime WhoScored rating of 7.56 for Villa in the Premier League. Ollie Watkins’ score of 7.18 was the closest any other claret and blue player came to him, which emphasises just how important he is to the team.

This is why fans will be over the moon with the club’s perseverance over a deal to keep Grealish in the long-term, rather than bowing down to Pep Guardiola’s team. It is now down to the player himself to decide what he wants to do before the end of the window, but Villa have done all they can so far.

AND in other news, Update emerges over Villa target with “god-given” talent, Lange must avoid big howler…

West Ham United have been handed a boost in their bid to bring Martin Braithwaite to the London Stadium this summer.

What’s the talk?

That’s according to a report by Spanish publication AS (via Sport Witness), who claim that it is a necessity for Barcelona to move the centre-forward on in the summer transfer window, with the club having no need for the 30-year-old following the arrivals of both Sergio Aguero and Memphis Depay.

It is said that the Catalan side are hoping to receive a considerable fee for the Denmark international in order to help balance their books, with Ronald Koeman’s side having to get £161m off of their wage bill before next season.

The report then claims that this is where West Ham come into the picture, with David Moyes’ side thought to have been keeping a close eye on the striker for a number of seasons, and could now have been presented with the perfect opportunity to land Braithwaite this summer.

Moyes will be buzzing

With West Ham in rather desperate need of additions up top this summer, with Moyes currently having only Michail Antonio as an out and out centre-forward in his squad ahead of next season, the news that a deal for Braithwaite looks very much there to be done is sure to have left the 58-year-old manager buzzing.

Indeed, while the £8.1m-rated man was not in the finest of form for Barcelona last season, scoring two goals, providing two assists and creating three big chances over his 29 LaLiga appearances – only 11 of which came as starts – returns that saw the 30-year-old earn a seasonal SofaScore match rating of 6.61.

The striker demonstrated at Euro 2020 that he could well make a decent addition to the Hammers’ attacking arsenal next season.

Over his six appearances in the competition, the £105k-per-week forward scored one goal, as well as taking an average of 2.7 shots and making 1.2 key passes per game.

These returns saw the man Tony Pulis dubbed an “exceptional” player earn an average SofaScore match rating of 6.92, ranking him as Denmark’s ninth-best performer in the tournament, playing a key role in his country’s highly impressive run to the semi-final.

As such, if a deal can be struck at a reasonable price for the Barcelona man, he would appear to make a very fine addition to David Moyes’ options up front next season, and, following the latest report by AS, it would seem a deal for the 30-year-old is a very real possibility for the Hammers to get over the line this summer.

In other news: Arnautovic 2.0: West Ham must seal deal for “first-class” wizard, Moyes needs him