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An update has emerged on Newcastle United and their interest in James Garner in the summer transfer window…

What’s the talk?

According to The Sun, the Magpies are one of a number of Premier League teams eyeing up the England youth international.

The report claims that Tottenham, Leeds, Southampton and Aston Villa are also competing to land his signature before next month’s headline.

It is stated that Manchester United are prepared to cash in on him but no teams are willing to pay the £14m asking price at this moment in time.

Eddie Howe’s own David Beckham

The Magpies manager could secure his own version of the Manchester United legend by swooping in to sign Garner before the end of the window.

TotalFootballAnalysis claimed that he is becoming a set-piece specialist with his ability to create opportunities from dead ball situations.

In the 2021/22 campaign on loan at Nottingham Forest, he created a whopping nine goals outside of open play – with eight of those coming from corners – and this led to his teammate Ryan Yates calling him one of the best in the Championship at that part of the game.

Trevor Sinclair, meanwhile, compared his set-piece quality to that of a certain former England international, saying:

“James Garner’s deliveries remind me of David Beckham’s. He’s got that dip and that whip and it causes so many problems. The pace on the ball, he’s putting it on a sixpence every time.”

The ex-Real Madrid man assisted 80 goals throughout his time in the Premier League and found the back of the net 18 times from free-kicks, with Toon legend Alan Shearer once naming him as the best dead ball taker in the history of the league.

Newcastle could now find their own set-piece wiz from the Old Trafford academy set-up by signing Garner to create chance after chance with his ability from those positions.

The midfielder, who has been dubbed “simply phenomenal” in 2022 by talent scout Jacek Kulig, also has more facets to his game and this is backed up by his statistics in the Championship for Forest last term.

He averaged an excellent SofaScore rating of 7.26 and made 3.2 tackles and interceptions per game, whilst winning 53% of his duels. The midfielder topped the charts for Nottingham Forest when it came to ratings and made more tackles and interceptions than every player other than Joe Worrall and Ryan Yates.

This suggests that the 21-year-old does not shy away from his defensive responsibilities and is capable of putting in strong performances on a consistent basis, along with having Beckham-esque set-pieces.

Howe must now take a punt on the youngster at £14m to see if he is able to make the step up to the Premier League to be Newcastle’s own specialist in the middle of the park.

West Ham United managed to pick up their much-needed first Premier League win of the season this afternoon with a 1-0 victory over Aston Villa.

Pablo Fornals opened the scoring after 74 minutes with a shot from outside of Villa’s penalty box, which was enough to see the Hammers head back to east London with all three points.

While David Moyes’ side will undoubtedly be thrilled that they managed to get their first three points of the campaign, there was one player that didn’t have a particularly strong performance at Villa Park – Jarrod Bowen.

With the full 90 minutes under his belt, the Englishman managed 38 touches of the ball in total, which was only six more than Hammer goalkeeper, Lukasz Fabianski.

He could only complete 12 of the 18 passes he attempted and gave possession away 17 times in total, leaving only Fornals (21) to lose the ball on more occasions.

Bowen, who has been criticised for his “awful” finishing in the past by journalist Tom Clark, didn’t have much luck in front of goal either as the only attempt he had was blocked by the Villa backline.

Things weren’t much better for him off the ball either, as the 25-year-old lost nine of the 15 duels he was involved in, gave a foul away and got dribbled past on one occasion as well.

This display ultimately earned the winger an underwhelming overall match rating of 6.4/10 from SofaScore, making him the lowest-rated West Ham player to make an appearance in the game, even lower than Emerson (6.7/10), who was taken off at half time.

Football.London also picked up on the England international’s disappointing performance by saying in their player ratings that he is “still a shadow of the player he was last season.”

Taking all of this into account, it’s safe to say that Bowen was Moyes’ weak link on this occasion.

If the Hammers want to keep adding points to their tally, they will eventually need the attacker to click into gear and start being a regular goal threat for them.

Only five players racked up more shots on target in the league last season than the West Ham star (33), so he certainly has the ability to do it again this time around.

While Wolverhampton Wanderers’ most pressing issue of the summer was signing a new striker, there were also calls to bring in more defensive reinforcements.

Conor Coady, Romain Saiss and Willy Boly all left the club during the summer, with only Nathan Collins arriving at Molineux as a new centre-back option.

Wolves were linked with both Craig Dawson and free agent Jason Denayer but Bruno Lage seems set on his central defensive options, with Collins likely to partner Max Kilman for most of the season, while Toti and Yerson Mosquera are available as cover.

The Portuguese manager may have a long-term solution to the lack of depth at centre-back however, as Nigel Lonwijk continues to impress out on loan.

The 19-year-old defender joined Plymouth Argyle on loan for the season during the summer and has been a regular for the Pilgrims in League One so far this season, averaging a solid 6.81 rating from WhoScored for his performances in the third tier.

Since coming into the starting eleven, Plymouth have won their last four league fixtures, keeping three clean sheets, which emphasises the impact he is having in Steven Schumacher’s side.

Before he joined Plymouth, Lonwijk signed a new deal with Wolves to keep him at Molineux until 2025, having impressed with Eredivisie side Fortuna Sittard last season.

Matt Jackson, Wolves’ strategic player marketing manager, said of Lonwijk:

“Nigel was excellent at Fortuna, and for young centre-backs, it’s very, very tough to get game time, but he did that last season and we now want him to experience English league football and progress through this pyramid.

“If he can be a successful centre-back in Eredivisie and in English football, and is able to combine the qualities that both leagues have, then Nigel will be a top player.”

In his time at Fortuna Sittard, Lonwijk became their youngest-ever scorer in the Eredivisie, so is already breaking records, and if he can continue to impress with Plymouth in League One, then perhaps Lage will consider him ready for Wolves’ first team in the not too distant future.

Everton have had to endure a tough start to their season and are one of the few teams left in the Premier League without a win.

However, that’s not to say that Frank Lampard’s side have not been performing well. Two fine draws on the road to Brentford and Leeds United were impressive yet frustrating having surrendered a lead both times.

But it was the Merseyside derby where they really announced themselves as a side that has made a marked improvement from last season’s misery.

Battling to a 0-0 draw, in which they gave as good as they got against their bitter rivals Liverpool, this game also noted the return of a cult hero at Goodison Park. Idrissa Gana Gueye was introduced 62 minutes in and has already staked his claim for a starting spot.

Gueye must start

The 32-year-old received a SofaScore rating of 6.9 in just half an hour of game time and instantly improved the Toffees in midfield. His unrelenting work rate broke up plenty of attacks for Jurgen Klopp’s side, and then set Lampard’s men away to attack.

He managed seven accurate passes with a 70% success rate but won 100% of his ground duels and two out of three of his aerial duels.

This was the perfect reintroduction for Gueye, who returned having not lost an ounce of the class that made him such a fan favourite in the first place. The 94-cap machine was thrown into the deep end, and it was as if he’d never been away.

With West Ham United at Goodison Park just around the corner, if that home stadium was to welcome him back into the starting lineup it could provide all the ingredients to spark Everton towards their first victory of the season.

The performances are there, they just now need the results.

Back in 2017 journalist Paul Brown listed some stats that outlined Gueye as a fine performer defensively, also claiming that he was the “glue”, in a bid to describe his importance to the Toffees back then.

Therefore, this time around he must start, so he can get back to being that glue that holds the team together. Gueye could be the final piece that sees Lampard’s system start churning out wins.

Celtic have been dealt another potential injury setback ahead of next week’s clash with Motherwell, with promising midfielder David Turnbull having been forced to pull out of the Scotland squad.

What’s the word?

As per national team coach Steve Clarke – via the Scottish Sun – the 23-year-old has withdrawn from the international set-up with an ankle issue, having reportedly sustained the problem during the Hoops’ loss to St Mirren on Sunday.

Following the playmaker’s absence from the Nations League victory over Ukraine on Wednesday evening, Clarke revealed: “David Turnbull will pull out the squad. He picked up an ankle knock at the weekend that we thought would clear up. It’s not going to clear up in time for us.

“He’s better to go back to his club to get ready for their next game. Two players light, I’ll probably need to call up at least one, maybe two players.”

Postecoglou should be gutted

That will come as a real concern to Parkhead boss Ange Postecoglou, with the 57-year-old already potentially without a handful of key names ahead of the return to league action at the start of next month, when the Old Firm outfit will be looking to bounce back from that recent defeat in Paisley.

That dismal display saw the Scottish champions lineup without the defensive pairing of Carl Starfelt and Cameron Carter-Vickers, with the “immense” duo – as dubbed by pundit Chris Sutton – both currently sidelined with injury.

With those issues already handing the title-winning coach a possible headache for the upcoming clash with Steven Hammell’s side, the loss of Turnbull will only exacerbate the concern, with Postecoglou likely to be gutted at potentially losing such a valued squad asset.

While the former Fir Park starlet has been in and out of the side so far this term as a result of the exceptional form of fellow playmaker Matt O’Riley – who has five assists in just seven league games – the £5.85m-rated man has still made an impact when he has featured, scoring once and laying on three assists in all competitions to date.

That solitary strike notably came in the 4-0 thrashing of bitter rivals Rangers a few weeks ago, with the 6 foot 1 ace capitalising on a goalkeeping blunder from Jon McLaughlin to add late gloss to the scoreline.

The youngster had previously impressed during last season’s title triumph, proving himself a real potent threat in the final third as he chipped in with 18 goal contributions in all competitions, having matched that tally in his debut campaign a year prior.

With fixtures set to come thick and fast over the next month or so, Postecoglou would likely have been keen to call upon such an impactful asset – even if only off the bench – with it now an anxious wait to see if Turnbull can be fit to face his former club in just over a week’s time.

Tottenham Hotspur journalist Alasdair Gold has relayed and reacted to a ‘hopeful’ injury update before Arsenal involving goalkeeper Hugo Lloris.

The Lowdown: Huge occasion…

The north London derby is soon upon Lilywhites supporters with kick off just hours away.

Both sides are currently flying high in the Premier League as this mouth-watering, top of the table clash re-commences club football action after a long-winded international break.

Antonio Conte’s side are one of just two teams yet to taste defeat this season with the other being English champions Manchester City.

However, Spurs arguably face their toughest test yet as they travel to face their arch rivals at the Emirates Stadium.

Mikel Arteta’s team sit top of the league and have dropped just three points from their opening seven games, so taking this into account, Conte will need as many star men as possible fit and available.

The Latest: Gold relays ‘hopeful’ Lloris update…

Taking to social media, Spurs reporter Gold has relayed and reacted to an update on mainstay Lloris after he missed France’s UEFA Nations League matches against Austria and Denmark with a thigh injury.

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Sharing the news on Twitter, the reporter shares Conte is ‘sounding hopeful’ over the 35-year-old taking part today after his recent issues.

Sharing quotes from Tottenham’s coach in an article, the Italian does state that Spurs ‘hope’ to see him return between the sticks for their biggest match of the campaign so far.

The Verdict: Good news…

Having Lloris back today will be a major boost for Conte and co.

As per WhoScored, the long-serving mainstay is an ever-present in Spurs’ starting eleven and arguable crucial figurehead in huge occasions like this.

Lloris’ experience, if available, could be invaluable for Spurs as they seek to build upon their brilliant start to the campaign with a victory across London.

It’s become blatantly obvious in recent weeks that Tottenham Hotspur are absolutely missing the presence of Dejan Kulusevski in the final third as the Swedish workhorse has emerged as an imperative figure to manager Antonio Conte since his arrival back in January.

Spurs have been struck with some tough results in recent weeks, ranging from defeats to Sporting CP in the Champions League and at the weekend, in the north London Derby and then on Tuesday night, the frontline looked woeful against Eintracht Frankfurt.

Indeed, a front three of Harry Kane, Heung-min Son and Richarlison mustered up only two attempts on target throughout the 90 minutes as the Lilywhites were held by the Europa League holders in Germany.

Before the game, Conte hinted at a tweak in the system to cater for the loss of the injured Kulusevski and it was perhaps especially surprising to not see the change deployed at the Waldstadion.

“With this type of players and this squad we can play with these two systems, 3-4-3 and a 3-5-2,” the Italian told reporters (via football.london). “Also [Yves] Bissouma who is a good player who can play with the two midfielders and the two strikers can be Sonny and Kane or Richarlison and Kane.”

That 3-5-2 is what brought a first Serie A title in over a decade back to Inter Milan in 2020 and it’s a change that helped him adapt to the loss of key players after his Premier League triumph at London rivals Chelsea, where Eden Hazard was allowed to roam free with Cesc Fabregas the main ‘creator’ in the hole.

With Spurs now in a slump, it’s a system that the 53-year-old must return to and the key to that exciting transition is surely Oliver Skipp, who can become the anchor of that midfield three, allowing any two of Bissouma, Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg and Rodrigo Bentancur the freedom to advance forward.

Tottenham could keep their defensive stability by going to a three-man engine room and it could lead to greater control of matches, with the side ranking seventh-worst in the Premier League for passes into the final third (24 completed per 90), via FBref.

That’s worse than Wolverhampton Wanderers, who recently sacked their manager Bruno Lage, and Southampton, where Ralph Hasenhuttl is looking likely to be the next to go in the English top-flight.

Skipp had been a regular starter under Conte before he picked up persistent injury troubles but now he’s fit and available, it would be foolish to not unleash him in the coming fixtures.

Last season, the England U21 international enjoyed a better tackle success rate per 90 (66.6%) than Hojbjerg (62%), and registered fewer inaccurate short passes per 90 than the Dane, as well as Bentancur, as per WhoScored.

That stability is exactly what Conte needs to make the 3-5-2 work, so heading into this weekend’s clash with Brighton and Hove Albion – who are just three points behind Spurs in fourth – Skipp must be back in the starting XI.

The £80k-per-week enforcer, once lauded as an “absolute machine,” by Opta’s Matt Hayes, can help Spurs forget about Kulusevski and his injury in the short term and help aid the smooth transition into Conte’s success-proven 3-5-2.

AND in other news, £50k-p/w “special talent” who had 101 touches was Conte’s one shining light in Germany…

Liverpool headed to Ibrox on Wednesday night following another setback in the Premier League against Arsenal at the weekend, and Jurgen Klopp will be relieved to see that his team still has some of its magic in their Champions League performance against Rangers.

The Reds delivered their Scottish hosts an absolute thrashing, ending the night as 7-1 winners with many moments of magic along the way, although it was a worrying start for the team when the Gers went 1-0 up in the 17th minute.

Despite the early goal from Scott Arfield, Liverpool dominated with 57% possession, more shots on goal (20 v 7), more big chances created (5 v 2) and a better passing accuracy rate (80% v 69%) on the night.

Liverpool are famous for their Champions League comebacks and last night was no exception, with Roberto Firmino finding the equaliser to Arfield’s opener within seven minutes to level the scores quickly, and the goals just kept coming for Klopp’s team in the second half.

Firmino found the net again in the 55th minute to make it 2-1, followed up by a third goal from summer signing Darwin Nunez just 11 minutes later. Three Mohammed Salah stunners in quick succession secured his hat trick just 13 minutes after he came off the bench, with the result capped off by Harvey Elliott in the 87th minute.

Indeed it was a record-breaking night for one player in particular as Salah became the fastest hat-trick scorer in Champions League history and smashed the record for the most goals scored playing for a single Premier League club in the prestigious European competition.

However, one player who has turned up time and time again this season and was Klopp’s hero in inspiring the team to victory last night was Brazilian number nine Firmino.

The 31-year-old, who was hailed as the Reds’ “real leader” by journalist Henry Winter, scored two goals, delivered one assist and made three key passes, while also winning 75% of his duels and making 52 touches, one tackle and one interception in his exemplary 73-minute performance.

Firmino has been a shining light for Liverpool in some of the darkest times during Klopp’s tenure this season, and has continued to show up when it has mattered most despite his team looking lacklustre and error-prone in the Premier League.

The Liverpool forward has scored six goals and delivered three assists in seven top-flight outings so far this term, with a goal contribution every 51 minutes which is extremely impressive and begs the big question about his future at Anfield.

Firmino is set to be out of contract in June 2023 and will be able to negotiate a deal with foreign clubs in January, but when you consider his impeccable form and perceived happiness to contribute from the bench when he is needed, it seems that Liverpool could be set to lose an invaluable asset in the team.

With that being said, it will be interesting to see if the talented attacker’s form continues into the months ahead. If it does, the powerbrokers at the club must surely find a way to retain his services for longer.

Liverpool appear to have suffered a huge injury blow, with Luis Diaz spotted leaving the Emirates after the side’s 3-2 loss to Arsenal, according to Gunnerblog reporter James McNicholas.

The Lowdown: Diaz’s Liverpool career

It was last January that the Reds announced that they had agreed an initial £37m deal with Porto to sign the Colombian winger.

Having made an instant impression at Kirkby, the 25-year-old has already made 38 appearances for the Merseyside outfit, having contributed a solid ten goals and eight assists in that time.

Diaz has also been a bright spark in a poor Liverpool side so far this season, having bagged three goals and two assists in the Reds’ opening eight Premier League games.

The Latest: Diaz injury update

During Liverpool’s 3-2 defeat to Arsenal on Sunday, Diaz was substituted in the 42nd minute after suffering a knee injury. After the game, the winger was spotted leaving the stadium in worrying fashion.

Taking to Twitter, Gunnerblog journalist McNicholas – who has contributed for The Guardian and The Times – noted: “Luis Diaz has just left the Emirates using crutches and wearing a knee brace.”

Jurgen is a Red! Show how happy you are about it with this awesome t-shirt! Click here to buy…

The Verdict: Huge blow for Liverpool

During his post-match press conference, Jurgen Klopp shared what he knew of Diaz’s injury.

Having previously dubbed the 25-year-old’s abilities as ‘exceptional’, the Reds manager forlornly told Sky Sports: “Luis Diaz we had to change, something with the knee, not good. He will have a scan.”

With the severity of Diaz’s injury as yet unknown, this could end up being a massive blow for the Reds, with the Colombia international having proven to be a bright spark in an uncharacteristically sloppy Liverpool side since the start of the campaign.

Kopites will be hoping for good news when the club provides a more concrete update, with this setback the last thing that Klopp’s team needed given their mid-table position in the Premier League table and the small matter of Manchester City coming to town next weekend.

Sheffield Wednesday correspondent Dom Howson has provided some further information on Pierce Charles’ professional deal.

The Lowdown: Charles’ maiden contract

The Owls confirmed last week that the young goalkeeper has signed his first professional contract at Hillsborough. Darren Moore praised the teenager after terms were signed, saying that he hasn’t looked out of place training with the first team.

A contract has been a long time coming with Wednesday officials in talks for weeks to get a deal for Charles over the line, and Howson has shared what he’s been told regarding the 17-year-old.

The Latest: Howson’s post

Howson took to Twitter on Tuesday, revealing he’s been ‘told’ the length of Charles’ professional contract is three years.

The reliable reporter described it as ‘more good work from the Owls’ after the teenager initially joined from Manchester City last year.

The Verdict: Debut soon?

Charles has been training with both the Owls’ first-team squad this season and the Northern Ireland senior squad last month, so Wednesday may well have a future star on their hands.

The youngster will be 20 years of age when his maiden deal at the club expires, so that could be enough time to break into the first-team squad and nail down a regular role, presumably penning a longer deal if that happens.

He appears to be on the right path to becoming a first-team player, so it wouldn’t come as a surprise if a debut arrived sooner rather than later, with Charles taking a place on the bench in Tuesday’s EFL Trophy win over Leicester City U21s.