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Leeds United midfielder Adam Forshaw is still not ready for action after a horrible 15-month lay-off.

In response to supporters on Monday, The Athletic’s Phil Hay claimed the 29-year-old “has been trying to get over the last hurdle for a long time”

A hip problem has seen Forshaw sidelined since September 2019 with his final appearance in a Whites shirt being a 45-minute stint against Charlton.

The former Brentford and Middlesbrough man has played a total of seven matches since the start of the 2019/20 season and underwent surgery nearly a year ago in the United States.

With the emergence of Jamie Shackleton, the signing of Rodrigo and Stuart Dallas a natural central midfielder, it’s hard to imagine Forshaw ever playing for the Yorkshire giants ever again.

And because of that, it would be wise for Victor Orta to look to move him on at the earliest convenience, as ruthless as that would be.

Leeds are merely wasting financial resources keeping players like this at the club.

Between Forshaw (£60k-per-week) and Gaetano Berardi (£35k-per-week) alone, they are spending nearly £100k-per-week on a pair of players who aren’t going to contribute one minute to their cause this term.

Those wages could be spent elsewhere – on a central defender who is going to help shut up shop, perhaps?

Indeed, the 5 foot 9 maestro has cost the club around £500k-per-game since the start of their Championship-winning season and overall, around £265k-per-match since his £4.5m arrival in 2018.

It would be a brutal call to sack him off, but United need to look at the bigger picture to help their chances of remaining in the top-flight.

Noel Whelan believes Forshaw would even welcome fresh start elsewhere, he told Football Insider: “The January window has obviously just opened and I’m sure he wants to go and get settled in a team where he can play football. He’s a good footballer, so I’m sure that will be on his mind.”

Orta must show no mercy over the “exceptional” and long-serving midfielder this month.

AND in other news, Orta can find Bielsa his next Kalvin Phillips in £13m BRUTE…

When Aston Villa signed Scott Hogan for a then Championship record of £15m in January 2017, the club would no doubt have expected the striker to deliver on his money’s worth.

Speaking after his signing, then Villa boss Steve Bruce declared: “He has got that hunger in his belly. He’ll give us something that’s been lacking.”

Sadly for Hogan and the club, he was nothing short of a disaster in his time at Villa Park. In total, he managed just ten goals in 61 games, whilst he spent the previous couple of campaigns on loan at Sheffield United, Stoke and then rivals Birmingham.

After getting into a bit of form for the Blues – he bagged seven goals in 17 games last season – the club decided to make his loan move from Villa into something more permanent.

And if Villa have been watching Hogan’s season thus far, then they will be absolutely laughing all the way to the bank.

The 28-year-old has struggled immensely to rediscover the kind of form that convinced Birmingham to

bring him in last summer, managing a measly two goals in 16 games in all competitions.

That hasn’t been down to him making substitute appearances either, with 14 of those matches actually seeing him start from the off. He’s averaged less than a shot per game this campaign in the Championship, evidence of a striker who is woefully out of form and can’t find himself in the positions to test the goalkeeper.

As per Whoscored, his average match rating this season of 6.31 actually ranks him 20th among all Birmingham City players, with only four players below him. Hogan has been shocking virtually all season, and the man with eight caps for the Republic of Ireland looks nothing like the player that convinced Villa to part big money with to sign.

Johan Lange played an absolute blinder by getting rid of him last summer.

Meanwhile, Villa must unleash this academy starlet in the Premier League…

Speaking exclusively to The Transfer Tavern, former Premier League referee Mark Halsey discussed the penalty incident involving Reece James and Kieran Tierney in Arsenal’s win over Chelsea on Saturday.

In the fixture, Arsenal secured their first Premier League win since November 1st, as goals from Alexandre Lacazette, Granit Xhaka and Bukayo Saka were enough to see off Frank Lampard’s side, despite Tammy Abraham pulling a late goal back for the visitors and Jorginho’s even later penalty miss.

However, there was significant controversy surrounding Arsenal’s first goal in the match, when Michael Oliver pointed to the spot after Tierney found himself goalside of James in the Chelsea penalty area, before hitting the deck under very little contact.

“Had the referee not given it, I think it would have stayed not given,” Halsey told Transfer Tavern. “Now, James is the wrong side of him, so whenever when a forward player gets in front of a defender like that, going into the box, as a defender, you can’t get close to him, you’ve got to keep your distance.”

He continued: “So, any sort of contact then he’s going to go down, and you can’t blame him for going down because if he doesn’t go down then there’s no decision to make for the referee and we’ve seen players being fouled, staying on their feet and nothing [being] given.”

Whilst VAR did check the incident to determine whether or not the contact made by James on the Arsenal left-back was indeed enough for him to go down, it was eventually decided that the referee had not made a clear and obvious error in awarding the spot-kick.

And, Sky Sports duo Gary Neville and Alex Scott both appeared to feel that the Chelsea defender was in the wrong, despite agreeing that there was minimal contact, with Neville claiming that James should “should never have made the challenge,” while Scott stated that “once you get skipped by as a full-back like that, you almost have to let your ego go.”

So, all in all, it would appear that the general consensus is that James did indeed foul Tierney, however, this is not something that Mikel Arteta will likely be spending his time worrying about, as he can now concentrate on putting together a decent run of results at the Emirates Stadium, and moving Arsenal away from the bottom half of the Premier League table.

Spurs are reportedly one of the Premier League outfits keeping tabs on Red Bull Salzburg star Dominik Szoboszlai. That’s according to 90min, who claim that Daniel Levy and co are amongst the likes of Arsenal, Manchester United and Liverpool who are all monitoring the midfielder’s current situation.

The 20-year-old has attracted attention from all over Europe, with Barcelona, Real Madrid and Dortmund just three others to be very keen on his services. The interest is more than justified too. This season alone, Szoboszlai has contributed to 14 Salzburg goals in 15 appearances, breaking down to five goals and nine assists so far.

His red-hot form adds to his impressive tally at the Austrian club, where he boasts 22 goals and 33 assists so far in 76 senior appearances (via Transfermarkt). These are certainly numbers that Jose Mourinho will be blown away by and they are similar to that of Tottenham icon Son Heung-min.

Szoboszlai could be perfect Son protege

Whilst Harry Kane has been the poster boy of the north London outfit for years now, teammate Son is slowly encroaching on his spotlight. The South Korean is in unstoppable form this season and it’s not a fluke either. Mourinho’s treasured winger has been consistently scoring and assisting goals for almost five seasons now, but where the team relies so heavily on him, they struggle immensely when he is unavailable.

Son’s injury last season really hurt Spurs and their form in the Premier League. Having a younger attacker with a similar playing style to the 28-year-old will hugely benefit the team. Not only would signing Szoboszlai add much-needed depth to Tottenham’s attack but working closely with one of the best wingers in the world would hugely improve his own game.

The Lilywhites have Steven Bergwijn and Ryan Sessegnon on the books as back-up left-wingers. The latter is currently out on loan with Hoffenheim in order to gain some valuable first team minutes, but he has been showing a lot more promise playing in his old position of left-back. Mourinho will undoubtedly be aware of this and could be considering reverting him back to a defender once he returns.

Bergwijn on the other hand is finding first team action hard to come by and has been reduced to mainly cameo appearances this season. If Levy splashes out on bringing Szoboszlai to the Tottenham Hotspur stadium, it could spell trouble for Bergwijn, who is three years older than the Hungarian talent.

Similarly, Sessegnon is also younger than the former PSV man and both naturally have the upper hand on being selected under Mourinho.

In other news, Spurs could sign ideal Eriksen replacement in Jack Grealish…

Glasgow Rangers sporting director Ross Wilson has hardly put a foot wrong since he first arrived at the Ibrox outfit from Premier League side Southampton. Now he has a chance to give a lifelong fan a dream chance to play for Steven Gerrard’s side if recent reports are to be believed.

What’s the story?

According to The Sun’s Alan Nixon, Rangers are considering a shock move for Norwich City midfielder Kenny McLean in January.

It’s claimed that Gerrard is closely monitoring the situation as he is well aware that McLean has been in and out of the Canaries first team since they were relegated from the Premier League.

The Ibrox boss is believed to be eyeing a swoop for the Scotland hero in the winter transfer window after he helped Steve Clarke’s side secure their spot for the Euro 2020 Championships next summer by scoring his penalties in the play-off shootout victories over both Israel and Serbia.

Rangers are reportedly lining up either a deal to be paid in instalments or an initial loan deal with the option to buy in the summer. However, McLean signed a new contract with the Canaries only a couple of months ago, which ties him down at Carrow Road until 2023.

Wilson’s time to shine

This is Wilson’s time to shine as he notoriously drives a hard bargain, having developed a reputation for being the key figure in the club’s recruitment during his time at St Mary’s. He oversaw the arrival of former Southampton defender Virgil van Dijk before selling him to Liverpool for a huge profit.

McLean has scored one goal in eight games in the Championship so far this season, despite the fact he has only started four of those games. The Scottish international may decide a change of scenery is in his best interests with the Euros just around the corner.

With the 28-year-old potentially looking to leave Carrow Road and with Norwich feeling the impact as a result of these unprecedented circumstances, the Canaries may have to cash in on the Scotsman sooner rather than later.

McLean, whose market value is estimated at £2.88m via Transfermarkt, has made 72 appearances for Norwich, scoring five goals and supplying eight assists in all competitions so far.

Once hailed as an “irreplaceable” dynamo by Norwich boss Daniel Farke, the former Aberdeen and St Mirren man should be able to hit the ground running. He also has experience of playing in the Europa League qualifying rounds, which is surely an added bonus.

The centre-midfielder, who can also be deployed as an attacking midfielder or out wide, could be the perfect deputy for Rangers star Joe Aribo, who himself has become a versatile option under Gerrard, having replaced Ianis Hagi on the right-wing in recent weeks before the international break.

However, the Gers are hardly short of options in the midfield, as Gerrard can call upon the likes of Steven Davis, Bongani Zungu, Glen Kamara, Ryan Jack and Scott Arfield as well. However, Arfield isn’t getting any younger, whilst it remains to be seen if Davis will be offered a new deal or not, as his current contract will run out in 2021.

Wilson may feel that he will be able to negotiate a cut-price deal with the Canaries for McLean in the coming months as the Euros loom ever nearer, with the Scotsman keen to add to his 16 caps for his country so far.

AND in other news, Watch out Arfield: Bongani Zungu sends a timely reminder to Steven Gerrard with South Africa display…

According to a report from Calciomercato, Tottenham could re-sign Christian Eriksen in January as Inter Milan entertain the possibility of a swap deal involving either Danny Rose or Dele Alli. This report comes just a week after prominent Italian journalist Mario Sconcerti claimed that the Dane’s situation is now a ‘serious case’. 

Eriksen, who left north London for the San Siro back in January, has found game time difficult to come by under Antonio Conte – particularly this season.

Eriksen return on the cards

On the fringes of Conte’s plans, the £45 million-valued ace could well leave Inter just one year after putting pen to paper on a deal – with journalist Fabrizio Romano recently ruling out the possibility of a loan move.

Indeed, as the transfer guru puts it, Eriksen’s departure from the Serie A giants will have to come in the form of a permanent move – and Jose Mourinho’s side are now being touted with a return for their former star.

As explained by Calciomercato, a swap deal including either Rose, who would strengthen Inter’s left side, or Alli is being entertained as a real possibility – especially considering both men find themselves in a difficult situation under Mourinho.

Transfer Tavern take

Gareth Bale’s return to Hotspur Way was deemed a fairy tale, and with this report now claiming another hero could feasibly return, the story of happy reunions may not have ended yet.

Described as a player ‘Jose really likes’ by Lilywhites legend Graham Roberts and as a ‘genius’ by Glenn Hoddle, Eriksen’s return to Spurs could definitely get fans talking.

Whether or not the move eventually happens is a different story, but judging by these recent claims, you cannot rule it out.

In other news: Spurs have received an ‘amazing’ ENIC update,  find out more here.

A number of Manchester United fans have been reacting to footage which has emerged on Twitter of Harry Maguire being turned inside out by Liverpool’s Trent Alexander-Arnold in training for England.

Maguire has endured a frustrating start to the season on a personal level, with the defender coming under scrutiny. The Englishman has been part of a United backline that has shipped three goals against Crystal Palace, two against Brighton and six against Tottenham Hotspur in their first three Premier League matches.

In the Red Devils’ 6-1 humbling by Tottenham at Old Trafford in their last game before the international break, Maguire delivered a terrible performance, making one error leading to a goal and also giving the ball away on 11 occasions, as per Sofascore.

The 27-year-old would have been looking to go away with England and put his club form behind him in the upcoming games against Belgium and Denmark in the UEFA Nations League. However, footage has now emerged on Twitter of the defender being spun by Alexander-Arnold in training before the Liverpool defender found the back of the net with a well-taken solo effort.

Many Manchester United fans were quick to point out that this sort of form is typical of what Maguire has been producing during the opening stages of the season.

United fans slate Harry Maguire as footage emerges

United fans, can Maguire rediscover his best form or is this starting to be a real concern? Let us know your thoughts by commenting below!

Aston Villa striker Mbwana Samatta is set to be the subject of a loan offer from Turkish side Fenerbahce, according to a report from A Spor.

Villa boss Dean Smith saw the likes of Keinan Davis, Wesley and Samatta struggle for consistent form last season and the latter is now being linked with a move away from the club.

Despite arriving in January for £9.45m, Samatta’s future with the Claret and Blue side now looks bleak with the Midlands club opting to bring in Ollie Watkins from Brentford.

Watkins netted an impressiveÂ26 goals in the Championship last term for Brentford and the youngster will be expected to start ahead of the aforementioned trio.

To add to Watkins’ arrival, Villa are also now being linked with Lyon striker Bertrand Traore, with a latest report claiming that talks are underway over a £19m transfer.

Reacting to the potential exit for Samatta this summer, fans were pretty split. Some were happy to see the back of the £8.55m-valued man given he has only scored twice in 16 appearances for the club, whilst others were keen to give him another chance having only joined in January…

Do you think Samatta should leave Villa on loan? Let us know in the comments section below…

Former Wolverhampton Wanderers goalkeeper Matt Murray has exclusively shared his thoughts on Wolves attacking pair Daniel Podence and Pedro Neto and their future in Nuno Espirito Santo’s team.

Speaking to Football FanCast, Murray had this to say on the duo and how they will need to step up now that the club have sold Diogo Jota to Liverpool.

He said: “I’d never heard of him [Neto], I’ll be honest I’d never heard of him and then he came in and he was absolutely brilliant. He did really well last season, I think he is a fantastic player, he deserves his chance and I think he’ll be worth a lot more than what we paid for him.

“[With] Podence, lockdown I think actually was good for him because it gave him time to do the work, do whatever it took to get up to the way Wolves play, get up to speed and I think after lockdown he was absolutely outstanding. He’s small, he’s dynamic, wins penalties, unlocks defences and he fits the system.

“The way Wolves are playing now, sometimes a little bit more technical, both of these players really fit the system but still [they have] big boots to fill in Jota.”

Neto joined the Midlands club back in the 2019 summer transfer window from Italian club Lazio for a fee of £16.11 million. In the 2019/20 season, Neto made a total of 44 appearances for Wolves across all competitions in which he scored five goals and provided five assists.

Wolves then signed Podence in the previous January transfer window from Greek side Olympiacos for a fee of £17.64 million. Since then, the 24-year-old has made 16 appearances for the club in which he has scored one goal and provided five assists.

With Wolves having sold Jota to Liverpool in recent weeks, Podence and Neto are now fighting for the left-wing spot in this current Wolves side from now on.

It appears that Murray has enough confidence and belief in both of these players that they can crack on and become important players for Wolves now that Jota has left the club,

Key information about Globe Arena

Globe Arena was opened in 2010 and is now the home of League Two side Morecambe FC. The ground is located on Christie Way in Morecambe and is one of the most modern stadiums in the league.

Its current maximum capacity stands at 6,476 – but with 2,173 seated places – and it has a pitch that measures 105m by 68m. The surface is covered with grass and there is no running track surrounding it.

The record attendance of 5,375 fans at Globe Arena was set on 28 August 2013 when Morecambe faced Newcastle United in the second round of the Capital One Cup.

A history of Globe Arena

Seeing how the Globe Arena was opened in 2010, it’s safe to say it’s still a very young stadium that hasn’t got a lot of history behind it just yet. But even with that being said, Morecambe’s home is certainly a refreshing sight to see down in League Two as the ground is among the most modern and impressive stadiums in the league as a whole.

And before they moved into Globe Arena, Morecambe were playing their football over at Christie Park, which was, impressively, their safe haven since 1921, meaning that they were there for almost 90 years in a row. But by 2010, it was starting to become painfully obvious the ground had started to become obsolete. It may sound harsh but the time was right for the club to leave.

The work officially started 9 May 2009 and the original plan was to have it done just in time for the start of 2009/10 season. But, as fate would have it, some complications along the way meant that it would have to wait until the 2010/11 campaign instead. The first game ever to be played there was supposed to be a friendly clash against Bolton Wanderers, however, all three planned home pre-season friendlies were subsequently canceled because of the issues in finishing the ground.

Instead, Globe Arena was opened with a 2-0 victory against Coventry City in Morecambe’s League Cup first-round tie on 10 August that same year. Still, the first league game ever ended in a 0-0 draw against Rotherham United and they would have to wait until Shrewsbury Town came to visit to tally their first league triumph at their new home, as the game ended in a 1-0 victory for the hosts.

The Globe Arena got its name after the construction company that built it, Globe Construction. The reported cost of the whole process was around £12m and the building can hold up to 6,476 fans, with 2,173 seats available over in the Main Stand, which is the only seating area at the ground.

The stadium also has a gym and a ticket office for the away fans and despite not being an all-seater, Globe Arena is surely a state-of-the-art ground and Morecambe FC should be proud of their new home.

Tickets to watch Morecambe FC at Globe Arena

All tickets to watch Morecambe FC play at Globe Arena can be found on the club’s official website. The prices will vary depending on the stand chosen, the age group of the buyer and the time of purchase. You can buy an adult ticket for a cost between £16 and £26 but it will go up by £2 if you decide to purchase it on the day of the game.

The club also offers a season ticket scheme for their fans and the price for adults is between £219 and £799, depending on which category you choose.

Related links

https://www.morecambefc.com/ – Official website of Morecambe FC