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Tottenham Hotspur are now monitoring Fulham midfielder Joao Palhinha for a transfer swoop, according to transfer expert Dean Jones.

The Lowdown: Palhinha’s form

Palhinha only joined Fulham in the summer, arriving for a fee of £20m, but he has already impressed considerably for Marco Silva’s side, ranked as their best-performing midfielder in the Premier League, averaging a 7.16 match rating.

Given this fantastic start to life in England, it was perhaps inevitable that the top clubs would come calling, and now two of the so-called ‘big six’ appear to be interested in signing the Portugal international…

The Latest: Conte eyeing Palhinha

According to transfer expert Dean Jones (speaking to Give Me Sport), both Tottenham and Liverpool are casting an eye over the 27-year-old for a potential summer move, with the Reds having him on their radar even before he moved to Fulham.

However, a deal may prove to be difficult, as the Cottagers do not want to lose him, as they know that they have a gem on their hands and believe the player is absolutely vital to their team.

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The Verdict: Get it done?

Tottenham’s priorities in this window have been identified as an attacking player and a right-back, so the former Sporting CP man isn’t a requirement, but landing him in the summer could prove to be a fantastic bit of business.

Hailed as ‘outstanding’ for his performance against Liverpool back in August, the maestro has gone from strength to strength as the weeks have gone by, later being praised by football writer Mark Carruthers for his work-rate and timing of challenges.

Antonio Conte already has Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg as a defensive option in the midfield, but Palhinha has outclassed him by quite a large margin over the past year, averaging more tackles, blocks, clearances and aerials won per 90 than the Dane, and so signing him would upgrade the central-midfield area considerably.

Liverpool crashed out of the League Cup last night at the hands of bitter rivals Manchester City, in what was a hard-fought encounter.

Finishing 3-2, the Cityzens did dominate large parts of the game. Boasting 57% of the ball, their 18 shots and nine on target dwarfed the seven and two on target from the reds, via Sofascore.

Admittedly, the score line somewhat flattered Jurgen Klopp’s men, but it shows that the game was clearly winnable.

Where it was lost was in the midfield, with a weak showing from a makeshift trio.

Arguably the most disappointing performer from the night came from those three, with youngster Harvey Elliott once again struggling to compete with the incomparable quality Pep Guardiola boasts.

The 19-year-old has become something of a mainstay in the side for the Merseyside outfit, having already made 42 appearances despite only signing in 2019.

However, besting the likes of Kevin De Bruyne is a task few have accomplished, and the teenager was the latest to fail miserably last night.

Having been dragged off after 57 minutes, his 5.9 rating was the worst of any player on the pitch. Elliott was invisible, and only recorded 32 touches all game.

Even goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher recorded more (62).

Whilst he maintained an 88% pass accuracy, it was his work rate and defensive deficiencies that made him such a villain for the travelling support.

Having competed in seven duels, the former Fulham man would win just one, marking an 86% failure rate.

He would not make a single tackle, clearance, block or interception, and was also dribbled past once, as per Sofascore.

This performance allowed the Belgian maestro the freedom of the Etihad, as he strolled around the park making 72 touches and recording two vital assists.

Despite winning the trophy last season, Klopp’s men, unfortunately, failed in their trophy defence as Man City marched on. They are now on track to win the competition for the fifth time in the last six years.

Whilst there were a few disappointments to note throughout the game, Elliott stood out as the key failure in their midfield. It allowed Guardiola’s key man to thrive, and he unsurprisingly was the game changer.

Manchester United are pushing hard to extend youngster Alejandro Garnacho’s stay at the club, according to journalist Fabrizio Romano.

The Lowdown: Garnacho a special prospect

The 18-year-old has burst onto the scene in explosive fashion at United, looking like one of the most exciting young prospects there in years.

Garnacho dramatically scored a last-gasp winner at Fulham in his side’s final Premier League game before the World Cup break, and he has two goals and assists apiece in total this season.

Worryingly, the Argentine is out of contract at United at the end of this season, however, so they desperately need to try and sort a new deal as soon as possible.

The Latest: New deal close?

Writing on Twitter on Monday, Romano claimed that the Red Devils are working hard on securing a new contract for Garnacho:

“Man United will push again to extend Alejandro Garnacho’s contract, talks are ongoing.”

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The Verdict: Simply have to tie him down

At this point, it would be an absolutely huge blow for United to lose Garnacho next summer, especially as it would mean him departing on a free transfer.

He is a special young footballer who they need to tie down for many years to come, also making sure they are in a strong bargaining position, should another club ever come calling.

United colleague Lisandro Martinez has said that Garnacho has ‘no ceiling’ as a player, which is massive praise, and he possesses both the natural ability and touch of arrogance that could make him the next great attacking hero at Old Trafford.

Manchester United are reportedly looking to get rid of Facundo Pellistri during the upcoming January transfer window. 

The Lowdown: Pellistri’s time at Ma United

The Red Devils signed Pellistri from Penarol on a five-year contract in October 2020 for a reported £7.4m. Since then, however, the 20-year-old – who has been included in Uruguay’s squad for the World Cup in Qatar – has yet to make a senior appearance for the Red Devils.

With the January transfer window on the way shortly after the World Cup ends, it appears that the Old Trafford giants could look to bring the youngster’s time at the club to an end.

The Latest: Man United to ditch Pellistri?

According to TEAMtalk, the winger is not close to making a breakthrough to Erik ten Hag’s side, with the United coaching staff having had a good look at him this season since he returned from his second loan spell with Alaves last term.

This has led to the Premier League club looking to get rid of the attacker in January and pick up as much money for him as they can.

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The Verdict: Pellistri must leave Old Trafford

During his two spells with Alaves, the winger made 35 appearances in total and failed to score a goal or provide an assist.

With that in mind, it seems understandable why Ten Hag and the club may not think that Pellistri is likely to get first-team action at Old Trafford any time soon.

Also, with Alejandro Garnacho having scored a late winner in United’s previous Premier League game against Fulham and providing two assists in the 4-2 win over Aston Villa in the Carabao Cup, it seems that he is the one who has taken the chance to prove himself to Ten Hag, rather than Pellistri.

Taking all that into account, it seems that once he has finished representing his country in Qatar, the youngster’s next move should be to find a new club where he would be able to play regular senior football and get his career back on track.

Manchester City signing Napoli forward Khvicha Kvaratskhelia to play alongside Erling Haaland would be ‘very exciting’, according to transfer insider Dean Jones.

The Lowdown: Attracting interest

The Georgian only arrived in Italy on a five-year deal over the summer, but his performances have already been catching the eye of potential suitors, with the Serie A giants reportedly ready to insert a £65m buyout clause amid interest.

The Sun claim that the Sky Blues, alongside Real Madrid and Paris Saint-Germain, are all monitoring the 21-year-old, with Pep Guardiola considering bringing him to the Premier League.

The Latest: Jones’ comments

Speaking to GiveMeSport, Jones wasn’t surprised to learn of City’s interest in Kvaratskhelia, but despite being a highly-rated talent, believes that it could be too soon to be thinking about an approach. He said:

“If you were to look at players that have made the biggest impact across Europe this season, he’s in the top five, there’s no doubt about it.

“As soon as you are in that top five, then clubs like Manchester City are taking you very seriously as a prospect.

“It would be very exciting to see him alongside Haaland, but it might just be a little too early.”

The Verdict: Excellent competition

Other than Haaland, City have only got Julian Alvarez as a natural forward, so Kvaratskhelia would create some excellent competition for places.

The ‘unstoppable’ gem, as described by football talent scout Jacek Kulig, already has 15 goal contributions to his name in the same number of appearances in all competitions, and currently averages 2.6 shots per league game.

The Citizens are only two points adrift from league leaders Arsenal, but the arrival of someone like Kvaratskhelia could help reduce the deficit and even potentially overtake their rivals before the end of the season.

Hosting fewer Tests and scaling down operations may be the way forward for Zimbabwe Cricket (ZC) as it navigates a changing cricket structure and tricky financial waters. Zimbabwe will not be part of the new Test league that is set to start in July 2019, and are happy with the development. They do not intend to stop playing Tests altogether, preferring in future to play them away from home. Instead they will shift focus to limited-overs cricket.In one way it is a formalisation of the status quo, in which Zimbabwe are already playing a greatly reduced number of Tests. “What we quickly realised was that hosting Tests is something that costs us a lot of money, and that is a commodity we do not have at the moment – in fact we owe people a lot of money,” ZC’s recently appointed MD Faisal Hasnain told ESPNcricinfo.”As things stand, it costs us money because we get almost negligible amounts from our current TV rights and sponsorships, and these continue till 2019. So if we were in a formal Test league, where we were forced to play Tests at home, we just would not be able to sustain it financially, unless we get substantial help from the ICC or from some other source – and the ICC Test fund no longer exists and other funding sources are few and far between.”Obviously, we will continue to play Test cricket, but in our current circumstances we will try and play them away from home, primarily to save costs. We will concentrate on playing more ODIs and T20s, home and away, under the ODI league and the T20 open format, which will hopefully enable us to cut expenditure and potentially generate greater revenues.”Zimbabwe have just finished hosting a two-Test series with West Indies, which has cost them somewhere in the region of $1 million. For an organisation in as much of a financial battle as ZC, that is an unnecessary strain. There is a possibility that, in discussion with Afghanistan and Ireland, Zimbabwe will formally ask the ICC for certain relaxations from the full requirements of the strict playing conditions – conducting matches without DRS for example. They may also ask for leniency in TV broadcast requirements for international cricket. This could ultimately make it more affordable to host Tests, and ZC has already taken up the matter, informally, with the ICC.Crucial to their quest to better financial health is income from the ICC, in the form of distribution and World Cup participation fees, which makes qualification for the 2019 event even more important. With that in mind, Zimbabwe has embarked on an ambitious project to convince certain players who had left the country to return, but the flipside of that has been the toll it has taken on their finances.Both Brendan Taylor and Kyle Jarvis are being paid more than they were at Nottinghamshire and Lancashire respectively, and were also given a small portion as an advance to secure their return. Solomon Mire, based in Australia, received what one source said was a “good deal, better than that of the other players who have stayed behind”.Unsurprisingly, the treatment of the trio has created issues within the team. “Players who come back automatically get paid more than the guys who are there,” one source said. “It’s bad because there are players who have made sacrifices to stay in Zimbabwe and they are suffering.” ZC denies their return has led to rifts; Hasnain says players have told him the atmosphere in the dressing room remains fine.Brendan Taylor walks out for the national anthem•ICC

In addition to employee and player salaries being part-paid at the end of October, and because of the financial challenges their board faces, Zimbabwe’s players have yet to receive their match fees for the Sri Lanka tour that took place in July. A proposed increase in player allowance for this season’s domestic matches has also not come to pass.At least one board member is understood to have opposed the efforts to lure Taylor, Jarvis and Mire back because of the expense, but the prospect of having them in the team for the World Cup qualifiers motivated ZC to do “everything it could”, according to the source, to convince the players to commit to Zimbabwe.ZC is attempting to stabilise its operations and finances under Hasnain and CFO Feroza Shariff, though given the country’s ongoing economic crisis and the limited opportunities to raise money that will not be easy.ICC money will be an important source of income and rationalisation of costs will have to continue. With no Test ranking points for Zimbabwe to concern themselves with, there would appear to be sense in not hosting home Tests. So even though they will not abandon Tests altogether, this could lead to a fundamental shift in outlook and the way they position themselves as a cricketing nation. The Logan Cup, Zimbabwe’s first-class competition, for example, may be shortened from its current format – in which teams play each other in a double round – to a single round, and there could be an increase in domestic ODI and T20 competitions.In that light, it is not outlandish to wonder whether West Indies might have been the last team that will play a Test in Zimbabwe for a while. According to the current FTP, Zimbabwe are scheduled to host Pakistan for a two-Test series next year in June-July, a tour which also includes three ODIs and two T20Is. Preceding that, Australia visit for a tour that was originally scheduled to include two Tests, but no longer does; instead they will feature in a T20I tri-series alongside Pakistan.For Zimbabwe Test fans, the good news is that their team’s schedule on the road is busier. They will play the inaugural four-day Test in South Africa over Boxing Day, and are in talks to become Afghanistan’s first Test opponents in February next year, most likely in the UAE. That is set to take place after a tri-series in Bangladesh and they are then supposed to return to South Africa for one Test, three ODIs and a T20I in October next year. In March, they are also due to host the ICC qualifiers for the 2019 World Cup, in which two teams from 10 will proceed.Another tour to Bangladesh – for three Tests and three ODIs in early 2019 – and a single Test in India along with three ODIs in March 2019 takes Zimbabwe to the end of the current FTP, with their hopes pinned on participation in the World Cup.

Everton manager Frank Lampard has hinted that midfielder Allan could leave the club in ‘the next week or two’ prior to their next Premier League clash against Southampton on 1 October.

The lowdown

The 31-year-old, who made a £21.7m move from Napoli to Merseyside in 2020, has yet to play a single Premier League minute this season. Indeed, he was left out of the matchday squad entirely on Sunday as the Toffees beat West Ham 1-0 at Goodison Park.

The Athletic’s Patrick Boyland said last week that it looked like ‘the beginning of the end’ for the Brazilian in an Everton shirt.

The latest

The Liverpool Echo journalist Joe Thomas took to Twitter to relay Lampard’s comments on Allan prior to the weekend win over West Ham. It sounds like the 31-year-old could depart the club in the near future, with so many midfielders ahead of him in the pecking order.

Thomas tweeted Lampard’s comments on Sunday: “Allan left out of today’s squad on selection: ‘You have to make those decisions sometimes.’

“Speculation over his Everton future raised and Lampard responds: ‘We’ll see over the next week or two.’

“Looks like Lampard has Iwobi, Doucoure, Gueye, Onana, Garner + Davies ahead of him.”

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The verdict

Where could Allan potentially go?

Most transfer windows in Europe are already shut, but clubs in Israel and Ukraine are still able to sign players, so that’s a possibility.

There’s also a chance that player and club would mutually agree a contract termination which would enable him to choose his next move as a free agent.

Allan is the fifth-highest earner at Everton on £70,000 per week, and right now that outlay feels like a waste for Everton.

Still, there could be some fans who may be sad to see him go, particularly given that he is highly rated by coaches like Jose Mourinho, who called him a ‘great’ player.

Journalist Pete O’Rourke has commented on a potential new deal for Tottenham Hotspur star Harry Kane amid ‘rumours’ of Bayern Munich circling.

The Lowdown: Kane future uncertain?

Reports have suggested, despite Kane’s willingness to entertain contract talks, that Spurs are putting contingency plans in place in the event of having to sell him next summer.

Indeed, Tuttosport recently claimed [via Inside Futbol] that the north Londoners have Inter Milan star Romelu Lukaku, currently on loan from Chelsea, on their list of possible targets if their England international doesn’t sign fresh terms.

Now that the summer window has drawn to a close, attention turns to the pitch and whether Conte can make full use of his eight major signings.

The Latest: O’Rourke makes Kane claim…

Speaking to This Is Futbol, journalist O’Rourke says Spurs can also use the out-of-window period to try and secure Kane down to a new and improved deal behind the scenes.

He explained:

“Yeah, now the window is closed they can put all the focus on the football and also maybe look at tying down Harry Kane to a new contract.

“Antonio Conte has already spoken about hoping that something can be done to sort out his future. 

“Especially when you’ve got the rumours of Bayern Munich waiting in the wings to maybe try and sign him next summer.”

The Verdict: Get it done…

Kane must realise that his next move will be a crucial one given his age.

Turning 30 next summer, the Three Lions star will likely be weighing up whether to move on in his personal bid to clinch silverware before retirement, having yet to do so in his career.

It’s now up to the club and Conte to convince Kane that he can realise his dream at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, but going by the club’s fine start to 2022/23, they’ve made good work of it so far.

Manchester United are reportedly considering a move for Borussia Monchengladbach goalkeeper Yann Sommer, and the Swiss shot-stopper could be an excellent addition to Erik ten Hag’s side.

What’s the word?

According to transfer specialist Fabrizio Romano, United are keen to sign a new goalkeeper this summer, as Ten Hag looks for competition to first-choice David de Gea.

He said: “Man Utd are working to sign a new GK with Sommer in the list, but also tempted by Gladbach new deal bid.”

He should be a priority

United inexplicably allowed Dean Henderson to join Nottingham Forest on loan earlier this summer, meaning that Ten Hag has just De Gea and 36-year-old Tom Heaton to choose from at the club.

The lack of pressure on De Gea for a starting spot perhaps showed last weekend, as he made two huge errors in the 4-0 defeat against Brentford.

First, he let Josh Dasilva’s weak effort squirm under him for the opener, before putting Christian Eriksen in an awful situation in his own box with a shocking pass, which allowed Mathias Jensen to rob him and make it 2-0.

Therefore, signing someone to compete with the Spaniard should be a priority for Ten Hag before the window shuts, as De Gea is currently undroppable no matter what he does.

Sommer has established himself as one of the top goalkeepers in the Bundesliga in the past eight years, having made over 300 appearances for Monchengladbach since his move from FC Basel in 2014.

He is also incredibly experienced at international level, with 74 Switzerland caps to his name, so he could certainly be relied upon to compete with De Gea this season and fill in when required.

Ten Hag wants his goalkeepers to be comfortable with the ball and Sommer scores in the 95th percentile for touches per match and the 93rd percentile for passes attempted, showcasing his “monster” abilities, in the words of football podcast host Ivan Gaton.

United’s current number 1, by comparison, is scarcely involved at all in matches, ranking in the worst 1% of goalkeepers in Europe’s top five leagues for touches and passes attempted.

At 33, Sommer is a good age for a goalkeeper and is unlikely to set United back too much in terms of a transfer fee, so considering the need for a new face in between the sticks at United, this is a deal the Glazers should definitely treat as a priority before the transfer window shuts.

West Ham United have submitted a bid for Polish centre-back Jakub Kiwior, who currently plays for Italian side Spezia.

What’s the news?

That’s according to Sky Sports international reporter Gianluca Di Marzio, who tweeted: “€12m bid from West Ham for AC Spezia talent Kiwior.”

It’s no secret that David Moyes urgently needs defensive reinforcements due to injuries, but a move for Kiwior has somewhat come out of the blue.

There is interest from AC Milan too, however, it appears that the Rossoneri are only looking at a potential deal for January or next summer.

A fee of £10m for a player who has already made 22 Serie A appearances could turn into a bargain.

Moyes needs another defender

West Ham signed Nayef Aguerd in the summer for a fee of £30m and he was expected to ease the problems in the heart of the defence for Moyes.

A serious ankle injury in a pre-season clash against Rangers firmly put those plans on the back burner and has spurned the manager back into the transfer market for another defender.

With a move for Thilo Kehrer reportedly heating up, the Polish defender could be next on the list.

A move for Kiwior could be a shrewd one, especially with the aforementioned fee quoted. The 22-year-old made his Poland debut in the 2-2 draw with the Netherlands in the Nations League in June and a move to the Premier League could give him a chance at a World Cup spot.

Compared to positional peers in Europe’s big five leagues, Kiwior ranks in the top 4% for blocks (2.38 per 90), 6% for clearances (2.57) and top 11% for pressures (23.92) over the last 365 days, proving that he should be able to ease into life in England without any problems.

Although Kiwior won’t be signed to immediately displace Zouma, the Polish international stats in comparison to the Frenchman’s are like night and day, with the 27-year-old ranking in the fourth percentile for pressures (4.83 per 90) and 54th percentile for blocks (1.74).

While Moyes needs reinforcements to adjust straight away, Kiwior has the attributes and talent that could make him a mainstay at the heart of the West Ham defence for the next few seasons.

The defender has been dubbed “strong” by Ryan Hubbard and the next logical step for him to make is a move to the Premier League.