This article is part of Football FanCast’s Transfer Focus series, which provides opinion and analysis on recent transfer news…

According to Mundo Deportivo, Barcelona are once again looking into the possibility of incorporating Chelsea’s Willian into their squad. If this transfer were to go through, it could potentially spell even more trouble for Ousmane Dembele.

What’s the word, then?

Barcelona have long admired the Brazilian winger and despite his age, they seem to feel he’s a type of player who would definitely fit their squad.

Even the 5 foot 9 man recently revealed that there was indeed contact with the Catalan giants before but that the move ultimately broke down, as quoted by DAZN series Saudade (via Metro).

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So far, the Brazilian has played a total of 307 games for the Blues, bagging 55 goals and 56 assists in the process. This season he’s been a regular in the XI with 11 appearances to his name in the Premier League, even captaining them against Crystal Palace at the weekend, along with two goals and three assists.

Mundo Deportivo now state that the Blaugrana are still attentive to the Brazilian and that they value his skills and versatility, which could see them move for the Chelsea star once again in the near future.

All of that is further emphasised by the fact his contract will run out pretty soon.

But if that move were indeed to happen, a certain young winger would definitely not be over the moon because of it.

Another challenger approaches

Dembele is struggling for regular game time as it is and the potential incorporation of an experienced and well-rounded player such as Willian could definitely harm the Frenchman’s minutes.

After all, the Brazilian prefers to play on the right flank, the same one Dembele would gladly occupy given the chance and that would probably add more unwanted competition for the young attacker.

So far, the 22-year-old has only played seven games across all competitions for Barcelona, scoring once in the process, and while his injuries were definitely a big reason for that, he started four of those seven games on the bench even when he was fit to play.

By all means, he didn’t really have the easiest of times slotting into Ernesto Valverde’s line-up and with Willian’s arrival, that task would suddenly become that much more difficult.

Of course, how exactly would Barcelona fit Frank Lampard’s star into their system is a story for another time but one thing is for sure – Dembele would likely be the one to suffer from it either way.

Let’s see what ends up happening.

سجّل الدولي المصري محمد صلاح، جناح ليفربول، هدف التعادل لفريقه في مرمى وست بروميتش ألبيون بالدوري الإنجليزي الممتاز.

ليفربول يحل ضيفًا على وست بروميتش، على ملعب “ذا هاثورنس”، ضمن لقاءات الجولة السادسة والثلاثين من البريميرليج (طالع المباراة مباشرةٍ لحظة بلحظة).

وجاء هدف ليفربول في الدقيقة 33، بعد تمريرة من ماني، لـ صلاح على حدود منطقة الجزاء، وسدد نجمنا المصري الكرة مباشرةٍ في شباك الحارس سام جونستون. شاهد هدف محمد صلاح في مرمى وست بروميتش

QPR have a good chance to get back to winning ways following a run of three games where they have failed to pick up three points.

Despite the recent failures, Mark Warburton is aware that the players need to maintain their belief, and as a result it is unlikely that he will make too many changes despite a poor performance last time out.

His team were not as effective going forward as usual against Leeds, achieving one shot on target, but against a Middlesbrough side which occupies a relegation spot they could have more luck.

The R’s boss still seems to be in doubt about which formation suits his team the best, reverting back to a 3-5-2 at Elland Road, and he should stick with that moving forward.

On the six occasions he has started with the formation his side have won four times, with the only two defeats coming against high-flying Leeds and West Brom.

Considering that, here is how QPR should line-up against Jonathan Woodgate’s team.

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Warburton will be keen for defensive improvement, and if Toni Leistner passes a late fitness test it is important he starts, as familiarity amongst the backline is important in building understanding and with it, consistency.

The centre-back also put in an impressive display against Millwall a few weeks ago and that should allow Lee Wallace to bed in, having also done well on occasion last weekend.

As this is a game QPR will look to dominate with their usual possession style, it would benefit the team if Todd Kane played.

He is more athletic than the 6 foot 2 Angel Rangel and thus better suited to the wing-back role, particuarly as he will likely be coming up against George Friend and Ashley Fletcher.

The attack should remain the same as they have been key this season, with the front three of Eberechi Eze, Jordan Hugill and Nahki Wells hitting a combined 21 goals this campaign.

That means they should be able to unlock the opposition, and with bit more discipline at the back QPR should see the game out, and hopefully achieve their first clean sheet of 2019/20 in the process.

According to The Mirror, Tottenham Hotspur are eyeing a £50m swoop for Lyon attacker Memphis Depay, who has impressed since leaving Manchester United in 2017.

The Netherlands international only managed seven goals in 53 games for United, which is hardly a great return for a player in the final third of the field.

Since moving to Lyon, though, the 25-year-old has registered 50 goals in 130 appearances, in addition to contributing an impressive 42 assists.

This season, the Dutchman has 11 goals in 14 matches in all competitions, including seven in 10 outings in France’s top flight.

According to The Mirror, Spurs are weighing up a £50m bid for Depay, but it would be fair to say that the club’s fans are not interested in a deal.

Indeed, a number of the supporters have taken to social media to express their views on the transfer claim, and not too many are in favour of the attacker arriving at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

A selection of the Twitter reaction is available to view below:

This article is part of Football FanCast’s Pundit View series, which provides opinion and analysis on recent quotes from journalists, pundits, players and managers…

Former Sunderland player Stephen Elliott has discussed the club’s current predicament and has pointed the finger of blame at one individual.

What did he say?

Given the Black Cats’ current plight it would be fair to examine the several areas of the club that are failing, from the players to the manager to the board.

Elliott, however, seems to think Stewart Donald is mostly responsible for the current situation, and given he only recently decided to change the manager, that is a fair assessment.

The former striker suggested the owner has made numerous risks which haven’t paid off, and now the club is struggling as a result on and off the field, with negative results and declining attendances – just 26,358 watched the defeat to Burton on Tuesday.

Writing on Twitter, Elliott said:

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Chance to reconcile mistakes?

Donald’s popularity with fans seems to be on a permanent decline and despite getting rid of the much-maligned Jack Ross things still haven’t taken a turn for the better.

On paper, the experience and know-how of Phil Parkinson seemed like it would be a good fit to rally the club and get everyone looking upwards, but his tenure simply hasn’t worked out.

He is on a six-match winless run with his only wins coming against Tranmere and Southend, teams which lie 20th and 23rd in the table respectively.

Sacking Parkinson would appease fans and giving a new boss, such as the popular Kevin Phillips, money for transfers, could see fan opinion sway back in the owner’s favour.

Whether he has the financial power to make that happen is another question, but one thing is for certain, and that is that he faces the prospect of things getting worse if the current situation prevails.

More fans could be turned away and the appeal for players to join could decrease significantly – making the prospect of getting out of League One all the more difficult.

This article is part of Football FanCast’s Pundit View series, which provides opinion and analysis on recent quotes from journalists, pundits, players and managers…

Southampton boss Ralph Hasenhuttl has been speaking to the media ahead of his side’s game against Watford this weekend.

Firstly, he offered a quite hilarious update on the fitness of Sofiane Boufal, revealing that the Moroccan had sustained a swollen toe after stubbing it on a table while running to his kitchen – the former Lille man is a doubt for the game against the Hornets because of the issue, as he hasn’t trained for three days.

However, the former RB Leipzig boss had some more serious words to say on the Saints’ upcoming fixtures.

What did he say?

The Austrian said: “I think every period is important, but this one now against teams around us is very, very important – they are all ‘six-point games’, if you want.

“Wins are massive and losing is also massive, so this is a very, very important period until Christmas.”

“Everybody knows that if you want to be in the end above the (relegation) line, then you must start to take points consistently.”

Absolutely must keep stressing this to his players

Hasenhuttl states that this period is “very, very important” for his side – however, even that is an understatement.

Southampton take on Watford next, before facing games against Norwich, Newcastle, West Ham and Aston Villa, a run of fixtures that is absolutely pivotal to their hopes of staying up, or even getting to Christmas without being the Premier League’s basement side.

That is a very real possibility, as the Saints are just one point off the bottom of England’s top-flight as things stand, and will head into December as the 20th-placed team if they lose to Watford.

History has shown that, if you are at the bottom of the Premier League come Christmas, then your chances of survival are very, very slim – only three sides since 1999/2000 have survived a campaign having been bottom at Christmas.

“Three times since 1999-2000 have clubs — West Brom 2004-05, Sunderland 2013-14 and Leicester 2014-15 — been bottom at Christmas and survived.”

Achieving 12 points from those aforementioned four fixtures is very feasible if the impressive showing against Arsenal is anything to go by, and would leave the south coast side on 21 points from 17 games, which isn’t the worst situation in the world.

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He has already touched on it, but Hasenhuttl absolutely must drill the importance of these next four games into his players until they can’t get it out of their heads – it is that crucial.

In other news, Hasenhuttl’s injury update on this Southampton man – not Boufal – has come at the worst possible time…

This article is part of Football FanCast’s Pundit View series, which provides opinion and analysis on recent quotes from journalists, pundits, players and managers…

Speaking on ESPN FC, former Premier League goalkeeper Shaka Hislop has said Ruben Neves “ticks all the boxes” for Manchester United.

What did he say?

The Portugal international has been an ever-present for Wolves since joining from Porto for a fee in the region of £15.8m, playing 102 times and scoring 14 goals.

The 22-year-old has seen his name previously linked with a move to Old Trafford, and Hislop has thrown his backing behind a potential United swoop.

He said: “Well, that (whether Wolves would let Neves go) is the big question. Let’s assume that Manchester United come up with the funds that prompts Wolves to part with Ruben Neves. Just talent-wise, age-wise, ticks all the boxes for Manchester United. Still a big club, still have a lot of money.

“Assuming they are able to put a package on the table to tempt the player, I don’t think that’s any question, to tempt the club, that is the more difficult proposition, I think they can, I think they will. If they do I think it works perfectly well for both.”

Inspired signing

United have seen first-hand just how much damage Neves can cause, when he scored a long-range thunderbolt against them earlier this season in a 1-1 draw at Molineux. The Portuguese man isn’t afraid of letting fly from distance, as evidenced by his 1.4 shots per game in the Premier League – that number actually jumps up to a ridiculous 3.3 in the Europa League.

Playing alongside Joao Moutinho in the Wolves midfield, Neves is tasked with holding down the engine room. And it is easy to imagine him playing alongside someone like Scott McTominay in the middle of the park for the Red Devils too. At just 22, he is the exact same age as the United academy product, and the duo could more than hold their places in the side for the years to come.

As Hislop suggests, the £45m-rated ace really does “tick all the boxes” for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side.

Nothing better than getting one over your old rivals is there?

But it’s even better when it’s done with style, and nobody quite exemplified that style quite like Nottingham Forest’s Tiago Silva.

Although he didn’t get on the scoresheet, or provide the assist for Lewis Grabban’s winner, the 26-year-old totally ran the show in central midfield both in attack and in defence.

He put up some impressive numbers (all via WhoScored). He completed 37 passes, two of them ‘key passes’ for a total completion rate of 76% and had a 100% tackle success rate with his four efforts.

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So when the Nottingham Forest Twitter account asked fans to give some love for the Portuguese midfielder, they were more than happy to oblige, with many saying that this was his best performance in a Forest shirt since he arrived in the summer, and he couldn’t have picked a better game to do it in.

Here’s the best of the reaction.

It’s a very tight contest to get into the starting eleven at the City Ground with so many options to choose from, has Silva’s display done enough to help him nail down a spot for the future?

ودع روي هودجسون مدرب كريستال بالاس، النادي الإنجليزي، بعد خسارة الأمس أمام آرسنال في بطولة الدوري الإنجليزي الممتاز.

وخسر كريستال بالاس على أرضه بثلاثة أهداف لهدف، في الجولة السابعة والثلاثين. أهداف مباراة آرسنال وكريستال بالاس

وسينتهي موسم كريستال بالاس يوم الأحد المقبل أمام ليفربول، لتكون المباراة الأخيرة لـ هودجسون في مسيرته التدريبية، حيث قرر الاعتزال.

وحرص هودجسون على توديع الجماهير التي تواجدت في ملعب مباراة الأمس، بعد قرار عودتهم بشكل جزئي إلى الملاعب.

وقال هودجسون في تصريحات نشرتها شبكة “بي بي سي” العالمية: “أشعر بخيبة أمل لأننا لم نحقق نتيجة أفضل الليلة، كنا الأفضل في الشوط الثاني”.

وأضاف: “كنا نرغب كثيرًا في إنهاء الموسم هنا بنتيجة جيدة وجعل جماهيرنا أكثر سعادة قليلًا، كان من الرائع رؤيتهم مرة أخرى، الضجيج الذي أحدثوه والدعم الذي قدموه كان من الدرجة الأولى وحفز اللاعبين”.

وواصل: “كان تدريب هذا النادي امتيازًا حقيقيًا بالنسبة لي، لقد أنعم الله على بمجموعة من اللاعبين المتحمسين، كنا قريبين جدًا من الفوز الليلة”.

وتابع: “سأفتقد الجميع، سأفتقد كرة القدم، لقد كانت رحلة رائعة بالنسبة لي وقد استمتعت حقًا بالسنوات الأربع الماضية، أعلم أنني سأغادر النادي في مكان جيد للغاية، وسنشاهد الكثير من كرة القدم الجيدة في الدوري الموسم المقبل”.

A number of Tottenham Hotspur fans have urged their club to move for Leicester City defender Ben Chilwell.

The 22-year-old was in fine form for England on Thursday night – providing three assists as the Three Lions ran out 7-0 winners over Montenegro in their penultimate Euro 2020 qualifier.

Chilwell has also been a key contributor to Leicester City making a brilliant start to the 2019/20 campaign.

Indeed, the left-back has scored once and provided three assists for a team currently second in the Premier League table after 12 matches.

And after watching Chilwell impress for Gareth Southgate’s side on Thursday night, many Spurs fans urged their club to move for the defender.

Leicester have their academy product on a contract until the end of the 2023/24 campaign, suggesting that it will be very tough for Mauricio Pochettino’s side to sign him.

However, a lot of the supporters are desperate for an attempt to be made, as seen by the tweets below: