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Southampton have been linked with a move for Manchester City midfielder Yangel Herrera recently and if he were to make the move to St Mary’s this summer, it could prove to be a repeat of the deal that saw Oriol Romeu join the Saints in 2015.

According to El Universal, both West Ham and Southampton are interested in signing the Venezuelan midfielder following his impressive loan spell at Granada.

Despite this, his future at City remains uncertain, and Pep Guardiola’s side could cash in on the 23-year-old for as little as £13m ahead of next season.

Herrera joined Man City from Atletico Venezuela in 2017 but work permit issues have meant that he has spent all of the last four seasons out on loan, with New York City FC, SD Huesca and Granada for the past two seasons.

He has been impressive for the Nazaríes so far this season, averaging a solid 6.89 rating across 26 appearances in La Liga, where he has contributed three goals and one assist.

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The Venezuelan international has also been a huge part of Granada’s excellent run in the Europa League, with two goals and one assist to his name in nine appearances, which has helped him average a superb 7.06 rating.

If he were to join Southampton, there would be a lot of similarities with the deal that saw Romeu join from Chelsea in 2015.

The Spanish midfielder struggled for game time at Stamford Bridge, making just 33 appearances, and spent time out on loan at Valencia and VFB Stuggart before his move to the South Coast.

He has since gone on to make 211 appearances for Southampton and was one of Ralph Hasenhuttl’s top performers earlier in the campaign before his season-ending injury.

WhoScored suggests that some of Herrera’s main strengths include his defensive contribution, aerial threat, tackling and interceptions, so there certainly seems to be similarities between him and Romeu.

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Therefore, the 23-year-old, who was recently described as “outstanding” by La Liga expert Terry Gibson, could prove to be an excellent signing for Southampton this summer if Martin Semmens can bring him to St Mary’s.

And, in other news… Imagine him and JWP: Saints should swoop for “amazing” £19.8m-rated gem

Speaking exclusively to Football FanCast, former Premier League midfielder Lee Hendrie has tipped Manchester City to make a move for Tottenham striker Harry Kane in the summer transfer window.

With Sergio Aguero’s contract up at the end of the season, Pep Guardiola could find himself in the market looking for a new No.9.

Borussia Dortmund superstar Erling Haaland is one name Manchester City are currently being linked with, with the MailOnline claiming that the Citizens are leading the race for the 20-year-old.

It is a transfer that Hendrie can imagine happening; however, the ex-Aston Villa star can also see the Premier League favourites targeting Kane, rated at £108m by Transfermarkt.

“I feel that Man City will certainly go for… I personally think a Haaland or a Kane in my eyes,” Hendrie told FFC. “And I think if they do, they’re not far off being the complete and utter Premier League side. I think they would dominate.”

As well as Haaland, Manchester City are also said to have Southampton’s Danny Ings on their shortlist as they weigh up potential successors to Aguero.

Ings, who has scored eight goals in the Premier League this season, will be a free agent next summer, meaning the Saints may have to consider cashing in on their talisman in the upcoming transfer window.

Meanwhile, Aguero is being linked with a move to Chelsea, with Barcelona also said to be interested in bringing the Argentina international back to Spain.

Crystal Palace ended their season poorly with a lacklustre performance against Liverpool on Sunday afternoon, losing 2-0 to the former champions.

In what was Roy Hodgson’s last game in charge of the Eagles, Wilfried Zaha and Andros Townsend failed to capitalise on promising situations in the opening period of play, allowing the Reds time to settle, and find their rhythm.

After Townsend had put his effort narrowly wide of Alisson Becker’s post when one-on-one with the Brazilian shot-stopper, it was largely one-way traffic at Anfield, and Sadio Mane poked home a close-range finish from a corner on the 36-minute mark.

The Senegal international grabbed a second late on to seal the three points for Jurgen Klopp’s charges and condemned Palace to a second consecutive 14th-placed finish.

It was a tame ending to Hodgson’s commendable, steady four-year stint in south London, but one man more than most let the former England boss down over the weekend.

As per SofaScore, James Tomkins received a meagre 6.4/10 rating for the 58 minutes he was on the pitch, the joint lowest score received by any player to feature in the game.

The 32-year-old defender had just 27 touches of the ball over the weekend and recorded a passing accuracy of only 63%, managing to pick out a teammate with 12 of his 19 passes before he was forced to exit with an injury.

To top off an underwhelming display from the experienced centre-back, Tomkins was also unsuccessful with all three of his attempted long balls as Palace failed to make an impression on proceedings and he was one of the Eagles stars who let his manager down at Anfield.

It’s set to be a summer of big changes at the capital club, with several first-team players approaching the end of their current contracts, but Tomkins still has 12 months to run on his £55,000-per-week deal and is likely to help smooth over the transitional period when Hodgson’s successor arrives, although he’ll need better performances than the one he put in on Sunday in order to do that.

And, in other news…Fewer touches than Guaita: Palace flop who lost 67% of his duels let Hodgson down 

Southampton fans are far from happy with comments from Nathan Redmond ahead of their F.A Cup semi-final this weekend.

The Saints will travel to Wembley on Sunday to play Leicester City for a place in the final. Despite losing 3-0 to West Bromwich Albion on Monday, the St. Mary’s Stadium outfit will at least be happy to be playing a side who themselves are struggling for form in the Foxes – they have lost their last two games (lcfc.co.uk).

Redmond was speaking ahead of the clash, and he was discussing the contrast with Southampton’s last semi-final appearance in 2018. On that occasion, they were beaten 2-0 by Chelsea, and the £16.2m-valued 27-year-old (Transfermarkt) said that at the time there was no aspiration for success amongst the Saints players, although now they are in a far better position to prevail.

These comments were shared on Twitter by @SaintsExtra, and it is fair to say the fans were disappointed. They took to the social media platform to share their thoughts.

Let’s see what the fans had to say about the comments from Redmond below

“Appreciate his honesty but what a disgrace. In a semi final and no aspiration to succeed?!!”

Credit: @saintdansmith

“Behave”

Credit: @BuildABonfire

“This is throwing it on the line. Saying how up for it everyone is and how good the atmosphere is after a 3-0 spanking by a poor team means if we don’t turn up then we have some very big questions to answer.”

Credit: @Andrew_Stokes_

“He knows people actually watched the West Brom match right!?”

Credit: @JamesBrooksAP

“Imagine saying that out loud in any other job? Let alone a well paid one.”

Credit: @papaschmoo

“how can he say this after the wba game”

Credit: @jahgsvlayso

In other news, Southampton fans slammed this man against West Brom.

Ralph Hasenhuttl has been handed a surprising, yet very welcome, boost at Southampton this week, after it was revealed that Oriol Romeu has returned to training after injury.

The Spaniard was expected to be out for the season after breaking his ankle in a 3-0 defeat against Leeds United back in February but Hampshire Live has confirmed that he is back on the pitch at Staplewood and could even return for some of Southampton’s remaining fixtures.

The Saints have five games remaining of the Premier League season and whilst they are not yet mathematically safe, Fulham would need to pick up at least 10 points and hope that Southampton pick up none, if they are to catch up to Hasenhuttl’s side.

To have Romeu back before the end of the season would be a huge boost for the Austrian manager, as he and James Ward-Prowse formed a superb partnership in midfield earlier in the campaign, which was a significant factor in their impressive start to the season.

The 29-year-old, who joined for £5m from Chelsea in 2015, has averaged an impressive 6.97 rating across his 20 appearances in the top-flight this season, which ranks him as the third-best performer in Southampton’s squad so far this campaign.

Southampton have seriously struggled in his absence, with Ibrahima Diallo flattering to deceive as his replacement, which has forced Hasenhuttl to play Armstrong in central midfield on occasion, which doesn’t suit the Scottish international.

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Therefore, if they can welcome back Romeu then the South Coast side can revert back to using the midfield which helped them briefly go top of the Premier League back in November and hopefully, they can finish the season strongly after a shocking run of form in 2021.

Romeu’s influence cannot be underestimated as, ahead of their meeting in December, Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola was full of praise for the defensive midfielder, saying:

“He (Hasenhuttl) has experience at the back and has one of the best midfielders in the Premier League, Romeu.”

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Romeu’s return ahead of schedule is certainly some good news for Southampton and hopefully, they can get him fit enough to feature in some of the remaining Premier League fixtures, as it would be a huge boost to have him back on the pitch.

And, in other news… Semmens disaster: Southampton missed out on “brilliant” PL gem perfect for Hasenhuttl

Many Wolves fans have been left to flock to a post from Tim Spiers on Rayan Ait-Nouri.

The Athletic journalist tweeted some comments that were made by Nuno Espirito Santo on the 19-year-old in his pre-game press conference before their match away at Tottenham Hotspur in the Premier League on Sunday afternoon:

“The talent offensively is there, youth, but the Premier League is very demanding and you need to improve your one-on-one defensive. He’s doing well but has a lot of things to improve to become the player we see.”

Ait-Nouri is only on loan at Molineux for the 2020/21 term, but Nuno’s comments do not seem to suggest that the Midlands club will be jumping at the gun to sign him on a permanent deal in the summer transfer window.

The left-back has ranked highly among his teammates in terms of tackles (1.4), key passes (0.7), dribbles (1.1), pass success (86.7%) and crosses (0.6) per game in the top flight so far in the 2020/21 term (Whoscored), suggesting that they should be looking to sign him permanently if the opportunity arises.

Wolves fans on Ait-Nouri comments

These WWFC supporters flocked to the post on Twitter expressing their desire to sign the Frenchman:

“I would like to see both him and Vitinha stay”

Credit: @TonyBel83049813

“Sign him please”

Credit: @tanith11542

“He needs signing 100%.”

Credit: @Matman050988

“Sign him @Wolves”

Credit: @WolvesNumber37

“Announce Ait-Nouri”

Credit: @_TheClassicMan

“Announce Ait-Nouri”

Credit: @bestwolvesfan

In other news, find out what transfer update has left Wanderers buzzing here!

In a recent interview, former Premier League striker Kevin Phillips discussed West Ham United’s reported interest in a summer move for Tammy Abraham.

The forwar dhas endured something of an up-and-down campaign for Chelsea so far this term, with the 23-year-old scoring six goals and registering two assists over his first 14 Premier League appearances of the season, before going on a run of six league games without either a goal or assist, as well as finding game-time increasingly hard to come by under Thomas Tuchel of late.

Indeed, it has been reported that the German manager remains unconvinced by the £36m-rated striker, with West Ham thought to be closely monitoring the situation of the England international ahead of a potential summer move.

Speaking recently to Football Insider, Phillips stated his belief that the £82,000-per-week Chelsea forward would be a good fit for David Moyes’ side.

He said: “I could see him there, definitely. The way West Ham are playing at the moment, he’d get chances. As a striker, you want to be playing regularly because we live on confidence.

“To play a few games then get left out, for a striker, that’s not great. I can see him at West Ham. They’ve got creative players that would create opportunities for him and he likes to play on that last man. If he was to be sold by Chelsea there’ll be a few clubs chasing him because he’s still got a long career ahead of him.”

Transfer Tavern Take

With Moyes currently only having the option of Michail Antonio as an out-and-out centre-forward in his first team squad, a move for a striker is likely to be a priority for the Scot in the summer transfer window, something which surely won’t be lost on the club’s GSB ownership.

Considering that Abraham has impressed when being awarded a start this season, scoring seven goals in 15 games when he has been picked in the starting XI for Chelsea, perhaps the 23-year-old would indeed be a good addition to Moyes’ attacking arsenal this summer, as Phillips suggests.

However, whether or not the Blues will be open to selling the centre-forward to a Premier League rival, particularly one currently sitting just two points behind them in the league standings, remains to be seen.

In other news: This West Ham summer target dropped a big hint on his future – find out more here!

Gareth Southgate has admitted Jordan Henderson faces a race against time to even be fit for England’s Euro 2020 campaign this summer.

The Liverpool captain has been absent since the 1-0 defeat at home to Everton last month, having limped off with a groin problem, with a return originally expected some time in April (Sky Sports).

Henderson underwent surgery on the issue, but his return to action is still a way off and he isn’t expected to face Real Madrid in either leg of the Reds’ Champions League quarter-final tie.

It means the 30-year-old will likely only return for the final weeks of this season at best, meaning he may not even be match-fit enough to play at the Euros.

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Henderson faces race to be fit for Euro 2020

Speaking to reporters [via the Liverpool Echo], England manager Southgate hinted that Henderson will need to prove his fitness in order to make the squad:

“In terms of promises, we can only say that Hendo himself is very optimistic about how the operation went and the prognosis that the specialist has given him as to what is possible,” Southgate said.

“We are conscious that with any injury of that nature, there is a guide and a time defined – but that anything can happen along the way.

“We know it’s going to be close to the end of the season and we will just have to see how it goes.

“He will give himself every chance of being available. And, of course, we also know he is likely to be a bit short of match minutes in high-level games.

“There are a lot of things to take into consideration but, at the moment, that is a decision that is a few weeks away.”

Transfer Tavern take

Missing the Euros would be an enormous blow for Henderson, who at 30, may not have many more chances to impress at a major tournament.

Given his standing as vice-captain in the current England squad, he will surely start if he is fit, but the next month or so could be crucial, in that respect.

It appears this is yet more bad injury news for Liverpool, given that the original prognosis for the skipper was that he would be back in April (Sky Sports).

In other news, some Liverpool fans have been reacting to yet another injury blow for the Reds. Read about it here.

Plenty of Crystal Palace fans have been heaping praise on the club’s under-18 side following their 3-0 away win over Tottenham on Saturday.

Striker Victor Akinwale scored an early penalty for the Eagles to put them on their way, with late strikes from midfielders Jack Wells-Morrison and Maliq Cadogan securing the three points.

The win against Spurs saw Palace return to the top of the Premier League U18 Category 1 South League table at the expense of Fulham. They are three points clear of the Cottagers but have played one game more.

There are only two matches remaining for Palace in their quest for the title, an away trip to Brighton before ending their campaign at home to West Brom.

Palace fans react

The club shared the update on the 3-0 win on their official Twitter page on Saturday afternoon. These Eagles fans were full of praise for the club’s youngsters, with one describing their talent as ‘insane’.

“Great stuff”

Credit: @Adam_Palace

“Massive win for the boys. Congrats”

Credit: @Teeboy_LFC

“Brilliant lads”

Credit: @Fiachra_Furlong

“We’re just insane”

Credit: @CPFCMax03

“We’re just too good for you”

Credit: @LawonY60

“If only the first team could play like this”

Credit: @RednBlue81

In other news: Many Palace fans hail star man after off-field activity emerges on social media, find out more here. 

Reports in Spain over the weekend claimed that West Ham United are set to sign SSC Napoli defender Nikola Maksimovic in a free summer transfer, in a potential dreamland scenario for David Sullivan a year after his efforts fell on deaf ears.

The Diego Armando Maradona Stadium natives are said to have accepted that the Serbian will be leaving the club at the end of the season, after unsuccessful discussions over a new contract.

Maksimovic is due to be a free agent in June when his £38,000-per-week terms expire and he is reported to have already reached an agreement with West Ham.

David Moyes is said to be a big fan of the 29-year-old and put his services before the Irons hierarchy over other potential targets, as he looks to strengthen his defensive options at the London Stadium.

The agreement between Maksimovic and West Ham is thought to be binding and that barring any late hurdles arising, he will become the Premier League side’s first signing of the next transfer window.

The Hammers had sought to acquire Maksimovic ahead of the 2019/20 campaign but Sullivan and Moyes saw the club’s efforts fall short, with talkSPORT reporting in September that Napoli rejected a £14m bid while Calciomercato.it claimed an improved €25m (£21.5m) offer was also rejected.

Moyes had allegedly urged Maksimovic’s transfer in the summer as he sought an alternative option after Burnley’s relentless refusal to sell James Tarkowski, yet faced a similar hurdle in his pursuit of the 6 ft 4 brute who has been likened to his compatriot Nemanja Vidic.

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A year of waiting may now see West Ham land their man without paying Napoli a penny, and be able to put those funds with the £15-20m reserved from Sebastien Haller’s January transfer to Ajax in efforts to improve Moyes’ offensive arsenal.

Moyes has long been expected to covet the arrival of another senior centre-back in the next off-season, despite Craig Dawson now being only one start away from triggering a permanent £2m transfer from Watford.

The Hornets loanee and Maksimovic joining West Ham on full-time deals would see Moyes’ centre-back group expand to six, with Angelo Ogbonna and Issa Diop two experienced heads plus the versatile Aaron Cresswell and January signing Frederik Alves in line to be unleashed with Fabian Balbuena due to leave.

Where Maksimovic would sit in that pecking order remains to be seen, but what is seemingly clear is that Moyes is a big admirer of the £13.5m-rated enforcer and what he can offer West Ham if the Napoli centre-back is on his way to the Premier League this summer.

Being a free signing less than a year after West Ham saw an alleged £21.5m bid turned down will also be a dreamland scenario for Sullivan, who will no doubt be loath to pay out big on a player who turns 30 in November and will thus have little resale value.

The Irons are already likely to be hit heavily in the pocket this summer should they look to offload Felipe Anderson and Andriy Yarmolenko as has previously been speculated, while Haller’s winter exit saw the east London outfit accept a £25m loss on their record signing.

AND in other news, a West Ham winter target is set to be available for £17m this summer…