Arsenal are set to give Jack Wilshere his first game of football in 14 months this Monday in an under-21 game against West Brom, The Daily Mail state.
The England international midfielder suffered a torrid 2011-12 season, missing the entire campaign due to injury, but has made a return to training recently.
Wilshere has been pictured in first-team training with the rest of the Arsenal squad, but Arsene Wenger is determined to nurse the star back to action slowly after he suffered a relapse of the initial injury last term.
Wenger and the rest of the Gunners’ backroom staff have been monitoring Wilshere’s progress in training, and are set to make a decision on whether he should feature in the under-21 game in the near future.
Wilshere’s return to the Arsenal senior side would represent a massive boost for the Emirates Stadium side, and boost the club’s options in the centre of the park after the summer sale of Alex Song.
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Tottenham Hotspur defender Anton Walkes is on the verge of leaving the Premier League club for Portsmouth, according to Portsmouth News.
The 21-year-old ended the 2017-18 campaign on loan at League One outfit Portsmouth following a spell with Atlanta United in the MLS.
Walkes has made a first-team appearance for Tottenham, but that came in a EFL Cup match back in September 2016, and he has not featured since.
Walkes, who is capable of operating in both defence and midfield, was highly-rated during his time in the youth system at Tottenham.
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The Englishman has struggled to make the step into the first team, however, and it is being reported that he is closing on a permanent move to Portsmouth.
The Tottenham fans, who have also been commenting on the rumours surrounding Ivan Perisic, have been reacting to the report, and many are not surprised to learn that Walkes is nearing an exit.
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That said, one Spurs supporter claimed that Walkes is currently better than first-team defender Serge Aurier, and should be given the chance to stake a claim.
A selection of the Twitter reaction can be seen below:
West Ham United have been linked with an array of midfielders in the last few weeks.
Bournemouth’s Harry Arter is one of them, but it seems that the pursuit is not going to plan for the Hammers.
According to The Sun, the East London outfit tabled an initial £5m bid, which has been rejected by the Cherries.
The coastal club reportedly feel that the midfielder is worth much more given his five-year spell at the club.
Arter has been struggling to keep a regular spot in the team lately, though, with his most recent appearance being in Bournemouth’s 2-2 draw with Brighton on New Year’s Day.
So far this season, the midfielder has had 15 outings in all competitions, and 11 of those have been Premier League starts.
West Ham have less than three weeks to recruit a new man to strengthen the middle of the park, but their rumoured pursuit of Arter has not got off on the best foot.
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After the news emerged on Twitter, fans had their say.
AC Milan and Inter Milan have both set their sights on former Arsenal midfielder Alex Song, according to talkSPORT.
The Cameroon international may be on the move in January, after struggling to establish himself at Barcelona since his move in the summer of 2012.
He had been strongly linked with a possible return to Arsenal, although Arsene Wenger does not appear interested after signing Mathieu Flamini on a free in the summer.
The Frenchman has excelled in the holding midfield position, meaning Wenger does not need to spend money to re-sign Song.
However, San Siro giants AC Milan and Inter Milan have both made enquiries about the 26-year-old’s availability, and could be set for a January battle for his services.
Song is under contract at the Nou Camp until 2017, and has made just 22 league starts since arriving at the Nou Camp almost 18 months ago.
A brief stint at centre half did not have the same impact as Javier Mascherano’s positional change, and the Catalan club are thought to be ready to listen to offers in January.
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Song made close to 150 league appearances for the Gunners, after joining as a youngster in 2005. His final season at the Emirates saw him produce arguably his best form, as he struck a devastating understanding with Robin van Persie, although both were to leave the club the following summer.
Newcastle boss Alan Pardew says he may have to enter the transfer market and try to land a defender on the last day of the transfer window after Ryan Taylor was injured in last night’s 1-0 win over Greek side Atromitos.
The victory was marred by Taylor’s serious-looking knee injury that occurred early in the game. Pardew admits if Taylor faces a lengthy spell on the sidelines, he may be forced into a late move to bring in defensive cover. The Newcastle boss remained realistic over the situtation, telling Sky Sports:
“I fear that the news isn’t going to be good on that injury, if I am honest, which is a shame because he is an important player for us. We will have to wait and see.
“The Ryan Taylor injury will make me think about whether we perhaps need another defender. I shall go to see the chairman and have a discussion with him.”
Last night’s victory means Newcastle have progressed into the Europa League group stage. The draw for the next phase of the competition will be taking place at 12:00 BST, and Newcastle are situated in pot three with potential clashes with Inter Milan, Atletico Madrid and Bayern Leverkusen on the table.
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Davy Klaassen has spoken out about his nightmare start at Everton, and fans have been voting on whether the Dutchman deserves another chance.
When Davy Klaassen moved to Goodison last summer, fans were excited about the playmaking force that guided a young Ajax side to a Europa League final as their captain and talisman.
The Toffees seemed to get a shell of the player that had looked so superb in that Ajax side though, as the £23.5m move resulted in just three Premier League starts.
Klaassen has been speaking out about his future this week, and it sounds like the 25 year-old is itching to prove himself.
“My overall experience at Everton has been good… the club is excellent and the people are very nice,” he said.
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“It is an ambitious club and I 100 per cent enjoy being here. I feel at home and am determined to play more for the team.”
Klaassen grabbed 14 league goals in his last season with Ajax, an incredible number considering the countless goals he also created with his fantastic eye for a pass and wonderful crossing technique.
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Marco Silva is expected to take over the Toffees this summer, and fans clearly think the more attacking coach can get the best out of him, as a whopping 85 per cent want to keep the Dutchman.
You can find the full poll results for yourself below…
Former England manager Steve McClaren has advised Liverpool to move for Arsenal star Alexis Sanchez if Philippe Coutinho leaves.
According to The Times, Liverpool’s Brazilian midfielder thinks that he has played his final game for the Merseyside outfit amid interest from Barcelona.
However, the publication states that the Merseyside outfit will not be tempted to sell this month unless an offer of around £133m is tabled.
The Spanish giants were rebuffed in their efforts to secure Coutinho’s signature in the summer, but it appears that they have renewed their interest.
If Barcelona get their way, there will be a position to fill in Jurgen Klopp’s team, and McClaren thinks that Sanchez is the right fit.
The Chile international will come to the end of his contract at Arsenal next summer, which means that he could potentially leave for a cut-price figure this month.
Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain have been prominent in the transfer gossip pages when Sanchez is mentioned, but McClaren has tipped the attacker to move to Merseyside.
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The Liverpool Echo quotes the ex-England boss as saying:
“It’s difficult. I would look at Sanchez from Arsenal as there may be a bit of movement there. £160million is a lot of money. You can buy a lot for that [but] Liverpool won’t want to lose Coutinho’s quality. I could [see Sanchez at Anfield]. Sanchez will be ambitious and he’s that type of player that could replace Coutinho.”
There is no such thing as patience when it comes to the transfer market – at least that’s the way it should be. I’ve written that before. I’ve also said that Arsenal don’t quite know how much of a good opportunity they have this summer to really make up ground on the top teams in England and around Europe. The fans aren’t stupid, as much as Arsene Wenger may want to think they are. So booing at the Emirates Cup is warranted, and it has little to do with “Wenger out” or not being a real supporter.
It is worth pointing out that the booing of Gonzalo Higuain was ridiculous, almost as if to say he snubbed Arsenal. The deal was on the table and even Napoli didn’t believe they had a chance of snapping him up due to the continued links with Arsenal. It’s far, far from the player’s fault, and any vitriol aimed at him was beyond childish.
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But fans don’t want to go through the pain of the struggle for fourth when the resources are quite clearly available to strengthen beyond that. I still maintain that Ivan Gazidis was intent on the club spending big this summer, but the indecision and lack of communication from the manager has left the club in this position. Yes, there probably will be signings – the club numerically can’t go without any. But are they the top targets? Will it be too late? Is the squad, as it is, good enough through the qualifying round of the Champions League?
Wenger offered up a few gems prior to the Emirates Cup on the weekend, namely by asking whether anyone could name a player who was better than what the club currently had, once again assuming that the media and supporters are oblivious to good footballers outside their own club. As I wrote last week, sometimes someone just needs to have a quiet word and tell Wenger that he should avoid ruffling the feathers in the way he does. It makes him look foolish, as well as the rest of the board.
Even with all the money in the world – because let’s be honest, £100 million is still a lot of money to use in a strengthening project over a summer – Wenger appears to be remaining true to his form, that being a lack of clear options. And here’s the thing: I don’t see Wayne Rooney or Luis Suarez as options, because if the whole summer is being wasted to only get them in during the last half hour of the window, then can they really be considered options? Not if you’re out of the Champions League and a handful of points adrift from the top spot in the league.
I also wasn’t too keen on Mikel Arteta’s summation of the current situation when he said the best players move at the end of the window. Far from the truth, as Edinson Cavani has already moved, Higuain has gone, Mario Gomez, Stevan Jovetic, Mario Goetze, James Rodriguez, Radamel Falcao, Isco… I could go on forever.
Not only is there indecisiveness but there is also a lack of planning. Where is the concrete evidence to support that? Well you don’t really need any, do you? Arsenal are unbelievably easy to read when it comes to transfer dealings. They speak in riddles, but really it’s just a song and dance to tell you that nothing is actually happening – and sometimes they flat out tell you that.
Prior to this summer Arsenal fans didn’t really know what the situation was at the club. Through the media they were constantly fed contrasting stories about funds be available or the need to balance the books and stay afloat. For that it wasn’t always easy to condone the rising tide of anger at the Emirates. But now it’s different. The public has had the CEO of the club lay it out in the simplest of terms that money is available, that the struggles of the past few years have been building towards this summer. The boos at the Emirates Cup, fully warranted, were a ripple of what’s the come if the club continue on the same path. Signing will be made, but without the world-class players who can genuinely turn this team around, the growing boos will very much carry plenty of weight.
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Do supporters have a right to be angered by the inaction of Arsenal?
Wales have slipped to a 6-1 hammering at the hands of Serbia on Tuesday night.
The hosts looked markedly the better side in the World Cup qualifying fixture from the first whistle and stormed into a 2-0 lead through goals from Aleksandar Kolarov and Zoran Tosic.
Gareth Bale gave the Celtic visitors hope with a sublime free-kick to make it 2-1, but Filip Duricic restored the Serbs’ two-goal cushion before the interval.
Three second-half goals from Dusan Tadic, Branislav Ivanovic and Miralem Sulejmani completed the rout.
Chris Coleman was massively disappointed by the result and admitted that the performance from his side was simply not good enough.
“Obviously I did not see it coming,” he told reporters, published in Sky Sports.
“We knew it would be difficult coming here but on the back of Friday’s performance against Belgium we thought we could get something but we can’t accept that level of performance.
“To say it is disappointing is an understatement. We have to do much better than that and we are capable of doing much better.
“At times it was men against boys, the goals we conceded were criminal really and the individual errors were disappointing.
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“To lose 6-1 is an absolute hammering and we can’t ignore that, the manner of the performance was particularly disappointing.
“At this level you cannot gift teams goals, you have to at least be hard to beat and play with a bit of pride and we didn’t do that. We caved in,” he concluded.
Leeds United midfielder Ronaldo Vieira has been handed a call-up to the England Under-21 squad for this summer’s Toulon Tournament.
Vieira made 32 appearances for Leeds during the 2017-18 campaign – scoring once and providing three assists for the Championship club.
The 19-year-old is highly regarded at Elland Road, and will make the step up from England Under-20s to the Under-21s squad this summer.
The Leeds fans have been reacting to the news, and a number were keen to pay tribute to the teenager, who is contracted to his current team until the summer of 2021.
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However, there are also those that feel the central midfielder could do with a summer of rest ahead of the 2018-19 campaign, and it is a fair point when considering the amount of football Vieira has played at such a young age.
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That said, surely the positives of representing his country at Under-21 level will far outweigh the negatives.
A selection of the Twitter reaction from the Leeds fans can be seen below: