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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.

أكد فرج عامر رئيس نادي سموحة، أن فوز فريقه على الأهلي جعلهم يدخلون مباراة الاتحاد السكندري متأخرين.

وتعادل الاتحاد السكندري مع سموحة بهدفين لكل فريق، في المباراة التي جمعت بينهما مساء أمس السبت، ضمن منافسات الجولة التاسعة عشر من مسابقة الدوري المصري.

اقرأ أيضًا.. حسام حسن: نستحق حكام دوليين لإدارة مبارياتنا.. وأضعنا الفوز أمام سموحة

وأضاف فرج عامر خلال مداخلة هاتفية عبر برنامج “الماتش” المُذاع عبر قناة “صدى البلد”: “الفوز على الأهلي جعلنا ندخل مباراة الاتحاد متأخرين، وتكبدنا هدف في الشوط الأول وآخر في الشوط الثاني”.

تابع: “أضعنا أكثر من انفراد في مباراة اليوم، عادة الفريق الذي يدخل مرماه الهدف الثاني أن يهبط مستواه، ولكننا استطعنا التعادل، وأعتقد أنه إذا لم يجري أحمد سامي تغييرات دفاعية لحققنا الفوز”.

وواصل: “حسام حسن خدم النادي كثيرًا وفرصة احترافه كانت جيدة لنا وله”.

استكمل: “سموحة يملك 20 لاعبًا فقط لظروف مختلفة، ويعانون من حالة إجهاد نتيجة توالي المباريات الفترة الحالية”.

أردف: “أتمنى أن أفوز على الزمالك مثل ما حققت الفوز على الأهلي وستكون مباراة صعبة”.

اختتم: “أتمنى بقاء مصطفى فتحي المعار من الزمالك مع سموحة، لأنه لاعب فذ، لكنه لم يفاتح الإدارة في هذا الأمر”.

Leeds United were held to a 1-1 draw by Preston North End in Tuesday night’s Championship affair.

The Whites actually fell behind in the 74th minute with Tom Barkhuizen finding the back of the net to spark huge celebrations inside the stadium.

Eddie Nketiah came off the bench to snatch a late equaliser, though, as Marcelo Bielsa’s side avoided suffering their fourth league defeat of the campaign.

Jack Harrison again featured for Leeds in a wide position, and it was actually the on-loan Manchester City attacker who provided the assist for Nketiah to register late on.

It was a tough night for Harrison overall, though, as he only managed one shot and his pass success rate was down at 73%, according to WhoScored.

The Leeds fans were active on social media throughout the 90 minutes and many were incredibly disappointed with what they saw from the 22-year-old once again.

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In the end, a point was a decent result when considering that the equaliser came late.

However, Harrison’s display upset a number of the supporters – as shown by the Twitter comments below:

This article is part of Football FanCast’s The Chalkboard series, which provides a tactical insight into teams, players, managers, potential signings and more… 

It’s certainly no secret the one thing holding Leeds back this term – their inability to score goals.

A controversial red card and penalty certainly played its part in a defeat against Millwall last weekend but it wasn’t their first warning when it comes to failing to take their chances.

Before beating West Brom, Leeds had 73 shots in their previous four matches but only scored three goals in the process.

It was a run of games that raised question marks over the Whites. Before that clash against the Swans, they were unbeaten and sitting pretty at the top of the Championship.

Things may be tight at the top of the division but they now sit fifth after that 2-1 loss at The Den.

On the chalkboard

Patrick Bamford has been Leeds’ biggest goal threat in the league this term and is their joint-top scorer with four strikes.

Despite that, he’s now gone goalless in six matches, something that is understandably holding Leeds back. He’s working hard but that shouldn’t stop him from being under pressure.

After all, Leeds lack someone capable of finding the back of the net on a regular basis and sit tenth for goals scored.

But it’s Gjanni Alioski’s role within the team that perhaps provides the most damning indictment of Marcelo Bielsa’s side and why they could end up being left behind by their promotion rivals.

The above graphic courtesy of Experimental361 shows Leeds’ biggest goal threats and it has the North-Macedonia international sitting in second place.

Considering he’s been playing the vast majority of his football at left-back this should be a huge concern.

Alioski is a dynamic full-back and scored seven times last term so it’s evident he’s capable going forward. However, it says an awful lot about the lack of impact those in the attack are having.

He is above Pablo Hernandez and Mateusz Klich who netted 22 times between them in 2018/19 while his number of goals scored per 90 minutes this season is only fractionally smaller than Bamford’s rate.

This graphic demonstrates just how poor Leeds have been this term in front of goal, sitting towards an ‘energetically wasteful’ category.

Fulham and West Brom are more of a ‘constant threat’ and that’s indicative in the fact they’ve scored five and six more goals than Leeds respectively.

It’s incredibly alarming that the west Yorkshire side have just over 12 shots taken per goal. They also average nearly 17 shots per game.

If they’re having to rely on someone like Alioski, who was involved in the goal against West Brom and then also scored against Millwall, it’s damning.

Leeds had five players who scored over a handful of times last term but it appears they could struggle to match that this campaign.

It’s something that could just prove vital in their quest for promotion.

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The Scottish Premiership table is beginning to look quite interesting.

After seven games of the campaign, Celtic are top of the table, as you would expect. But they are only one point ahead of Rangers in second place. The Gers will no doubt be the Bhoys’ main rivals as the latter attempt to win their ninth league title in a row.

Celtic were in action on Saturday against Hibernian as they aimed to maintain their 100% record in the league. However, they could only come away with a 1-1 draw from Celtic Park after going 1-0 behind thanks to a Kristoffer Ajer own goal.

Neil Lennon’s substitutions were perhaps questionable. For example, Odsonne Edouard, the team’s second top goalscorer this term, was brought off with 18 minutes left on the clock as the home side pushed for an equaliser.

The Glasgow outfit’s fans were far from happy with their boss’ changes, and they took to Twitter to share their thoughts. You can see some of the best comments from the social media platform below.

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Is VAR working properly?

It is a question that is being asked up and down the country, particularly after another Premier League weekend in which its usage was placed firmly under the microscope.

There were numerous occasions in which VAR could have been referred to but seemingly wasn’t.

Now, first off, that isn’t quite the case. The referees at Stockley Park are watching every second of the game, as is the technology. Yet it feels as though they don’t quite know when to step in.

Take Aston Villa’s clash with Crystal Palace as a clear example. As the clock ticked down, Jack Grealish, Villa’s captain, attacked with the ball at his feet. He went down under the challenge of Gary Cahill. The former Chelsea man fell to the floor too, surely evidence that contact had been made. The referee, Kevin Friend, appeared to blow his whistle to signal a dive. Before hitting the ground, Grealish played the ball to Henri Lansbury, who scored a goal that would have earned Villa a 1-1 draw and a point. Grealish was booked.

Dean Smith, speaking afterwards on Match of the Day, said he “didn’t see what was wrong with it”. It was an awful decision and it also seemed to contradict the previous examples of VAR; referees are meant to let decisions go and then review them. Friend didn’t.

This is not to mention that Grealish did not actually gain an advantage by going down and actually fed the ball to a team-mate.

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Rules state that VAR cannot be involved in a decision if the referee has blown his whistle, thus, the goal cannot be awarded by the technology. Did Friend blow to avoid the review? The technology could still have been involved to award the goal and yet, it wasn’t.

In West Ham’s clash with Norwich, which the Hammers won 2-0, Tom Trybull upended Sebastian Haller in the penalty area but Paul Tierney, with a clear view of the incident, opted against giving a spot-kick. VAR, clearly, agreed, despite replays showing that contact was made.

Think too of Newcastle’s goal in the 1-1 draw with Watford. The ball hit Isaac Hayden’s hand before Fabian Schar sent the ball beyond Ben Foster. Now, this was clearly accidental, but the precedent had been set during Manchester City’s 2-2 draw with Tottenham Hotspur. In that game, Gabriel Jesus thought he had scored a late winner, but it was chalked off because the ball ricocheted off Aymeric Laporte’s arm.

There is no difference in the two situations, apart from the fact that Newcastle’s goal stood and City’s didn’t. Why didn’t VAR involve itself here, and rule the goal out?

The rules are not being implemented properly.

And thus, we reach the international break, and an opportunity for the Premier League to right some wrongs.

Clearly, VAR has a number of merits. It should be able to overrule mistakes and ensure that the game is fairer. But as it is, it appears that the referees watching the televisions are afraid of overruling the referees on the pitch.

There is a clear way out of this for the top-flight: they could decide that VAR only applies to purely factual mistakes and implement it purely for offsides and deflections: Was it a goal-kick or was it a corner? This would certainly remove the arguments about “clear and obvious errors”.

It would also ensure that subjective decisions don’t come into it because, as it is, VAR is a mess, and the rules seem to be changing on a weekly basis. How can City’s goal be ruled out, yet Newcastle’s stand? It makes a mockery of the current system.

The laws need to be clearly defined and one feels that leaving those decisions – the likes of handballs and penalty shouts – to the referee on the pitch would be a solid step forward, instead of a step back.

If those referees operating the technology aren’t going to step in anyway – this weekend showed that they do seem to be frightened of speaking out of turn – then remove them from the equation altogether.

It would make VAR a simpler, cleaner piece of tech and it would certainly be easier to understand.

Right now, it’s a resentful and controversial mess that, ironically, has created more problems than it has solved.

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[ad_pod ]A bad day at the office for a certain Danish playmaker.If you were to categorise Christian Eriksen’s performance against Olympiakos on Wednesday night, it would fit comfortably in the ‘absolutely abysmal’ section.In what was a generally very disappointing night for Spurs, who saw their comfortable two-goal lead destroyed in a matter of 45 minutes, the Danish playmaker stood out as one of the central figures in the capitulation.Watch Tottenham Hotspur Live Streams With StreamFootball.tv Below

It’s been estimated that Eriksen lost the ball a total of 22 times – more than any other player on the pitch – and boasted a woeful pass success rate of just 78.3%, which is hardly the most inspiring statistic from someone who usually shows such supreme technical ability.

TalkSPORT’s Martin Lipton has unleashed on Eriksen’s Champions League outing…

A fan-based inquest will now likely be held over whether his failure to move away from north London in the summer, despite announcing his intention to leave to seek new challenges, is related to his declining performances.

The 27-year-old has averaged a rating of 6.83 in the Premier League so far this term – the tenth lowest at the club.

علق فاروق جعفر لاعب ومدرب الزمالك السابق، علي تعادل الفريق مع ووادي دجلة، في المباراة التي أقيمت اليوم الإثنين.

الزمالك تعادل مع وادي دجلة سلبيًا، وذلك في إطار الجولة الـ14 من عمر بطولة الدوري المصري الممتاز.

وقال جعفر خلال تصريحات عبر قناة الزمالك: “أول مرة أشاهد لاعبي الزمالك في هذه الحالة، وأثناء ركلة الجزاء لا يوجد أي لاعب ليذهب للكرة، الكل ذهب ناحية الجهاز الفني”.

وأضاف: “الزمالك فريق كبير لكن عنصر التفاهم والأداء الجماعي غير متواجد رغم السيطرة والاستحواذ، الأداء غير مستقر والجهاز الفني والتغييرات لم تنجح في حل شفرات اللقاء”.

وأكمل: “أحمد فتوح تشعر أنه غير متواجد في الفريق، وأيضًا يوسف أوباما وسيف الجزيري، وعندما شارك عبد الله جمعة لم يكن في حالته”.

طالع | ترتيب الدوري المصري الممتاز بعد تعادل الزمالك ووادي دجلة

وأتم: “هناك شىء (مش مظبوط) ويجب على الجهاز الفني أن يتحدث مع اللاعبين، وعلى جايمي باتشيكو أن يفرض كلمته عليهم ويعالج الأخطاء”.

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

Jason Holt could yet leave Rangers this summer amid links to Queens Park Rangers, according to The Scottish Sun.

What’s the story?

Despite inching towards the Scottish, and more importantly in this case, the English transfer deadlines, Holt could still leave the Gers as Steven Gerrard looks to trim his squad.

The 26-year-old spent last season on loan at Joey Barton’s Fleetwood Town and appears to have no future at the club, per the report.

The midfielder has been frozen out this summer as Gerrard has brought more midfield options to the club in the shape of Joe Aribo and Steve Davis, as well as welcoming Greg Docherty back into the first-team fold.

Having been a favourite under Mark Warburton at Ibrox, it looks like the former Hearts man has played his last game for the club – he has not featured once under Gerrard, even in pre-season.

Time to go

Thanks to the increased competition for places in the Rangers midfield from this time last year, Holt’s already feint chances of a Gers recall have been totally extinguished.

On top of Aribo, Davis and Docherty, Glen Kamara’s arrival has meant that area of the pitch is jam-packed with talent. Holt’s chances of displacing those in front of him are null, so a move to get some more time on the pitch makes perfect sense for him.

And he would have a couple of avenues to explore if he does finally get a move. Barton admitted his desire to keep a hold of his loan star to The Blackpool Gazette back in April.

Also, QPR could be an option for Holt, say The Scottish Sun, allowing him to rejoin his old manager Warburton and still play at a high level.

It would also make sense for the club to move him on too. While a transfer fee would be appreciated, it might be beneficial to just free Holt and get him off the books. He’s not going to get a look-in this season and his salary could be reinvested into the wage pool to tie down more important players to more lucrative deals.

A move away would suit all parties, but it might have to happen quickly with the English window slamming shut next Thursday.

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This article is part of Football FanCast’s Expert Roundup feature, which provides three quotes from those in the know in order to illuminate fundamental strengths, weaknesses, quirks, kinks, stylistic comparisons and general observations of transfer targets and confirmed signings.

According to a report published by The Daily Mirror last week, Newcastle could be set to smash their club-record transfer fee with a £36m deal for Hoffenheim striker Joelinton.

With Salomon Rondon having sealed a reunion with Rafael Benitez at Dalian Yifang, Joselu sealing a switch to Alaves and Ayoze Perez moving to Leicester City for an eye-watering £30m, the Magpies are short of options up front.

The Northern Echo understand that newly-appointed Steve Bruce will look to bring in another hitman even after the Joelinton deal is concluded.

Attacking reinforcements are clearly high on the agenda for the former Sheffield Wednesday boss and the addition of Joelinton, who chalked up 11 goals and nine assists for Die Kraichgauer last term, will add some serious firepower to a thin front line.

But what can the potential new signing offer? Here’s what those in the know have had to say about the Brazilian attacker.

Julian Nagelsmann, former Hoffenheim manager

Nagelsmann cites Joelinton’s loan spell with Rapid Vienna as a crucial part of the Alianca-born star’s development:

“Joelinton was always very talented, but he’s developed a lot during his time in Austria. He’s a big guy and is awkward to defend against. He’s very inquisitive and able to learn. He’s become a very good player – he’s a machine!”

At 22 years old the tall striker has plenty of room to grow and continue his development.

Should he hit the ground running in England, Mike Ashley could stand to make a sizeable profit further down the line.

Just one good season in the top flight is often enough to secure a big money move to one of the top clubs – see Aaron Wan-Bissaka – and Joelinton may well see St James’ Park as the perfect environment to hone his skills.

As Nagelsmann says, Joelinton makes life very difficult for opposition defenders and doesn’t have to be on the ball to do so, as his return of 1.3 tackles per game last season suggests he’s willing to press high up the pitch.

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Steffen Hofmann, former teammate

Retired Rapid Vienna midfielder Hofmann saw enough of Joelinton in their two years as teammates to be convinced that the youngster will go on to achieve greatness:

“We all knew about his potential at Rapid. He worked so hard for the team. Some said he didn’t score enough goals, but for us it was more important to have him in attack, holding the ball up, creating chances. He’s as strong as an ox and very good technically. If he keeps going as he is, he’ll be playing for Brazil before long.”

Indeed, the 6 foot 1 forward is as adept at creating chances for others as he is at scoring them himself, as evidenced by an impressive 1.5 key passes per game last season according to WhoScored, while his 1.7 dribbles per game also belie his size.

The presence of a striker who can bully defenders while also making good use of the ball at his feet will undoubtedly be an invaluable asset for Bruce to utilise next season.

Lutz Pfannenstiel, former Hoffenheim board member

The former goalkeeper was full of praise for the latest graduate of Hoffenheim’s Brazilian youth program:

“Now he is used to European football, he is unbelievable. He is as strong as an ox, good in the air and he holds the ball well. He is a modern target striker. Not just a big man up front to hit balls up to. He has this Brazilian flair too, he is technically neat, he can take players on, as well as being fast and physical. He has everything to be a top player.”

Having introduced stars such as Luiz Gustavo, Carlos Eduardo and, most notably, Roberto Firmino, the Bundesliga outfit have a knack for unearthing top South American talents and Joelinton promises to be the next success story, according to Pfannenstiel.

The 46-year-old, like Nagelsmann, sees the Newcastle target as an extremely well-rounded attacker.

The truly frightening aspect is that he hasn’t even reached the peak of his powers yet.

Where better for the rising star to reach his potential than in the Premier League, the same league that has provided the platform for Firmino to establish himself as a crucial player in one of the best teams in world football.