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Porto midfielder Otavio has reportedly made his decision to leave the Portuguese giants in the summer.

The Brazilian will be out of contract at the Estadio do Dragao at the end of the season, with CalcioMercato suggesting that he has decided not to sign a new deal.

Having apparently held an interest in the player before, now is the perfect time for Brendan Rodgers and Leicester City to make a move.

Otavio, capable of playing out wide or in the centre of midfield, is enjoying a profitable season in Portugal having hit five goals and notched eight assists in all competitions.

The two-time Portuguese champion would hugely improve on the numbers provided by the Foxes’ current wide options Cengiz Under, Marc Albrighton and of course Ayoze Perez, who holds a similar position. With the Spaniard having made just 16 Premier League appearances, scoring one goal, the arrival of the £18.9m-rated Otavio could see his position in the squad under real threat.

After all, Rodgers made clear of his ambitions to add to his attacking midfield options as recently as the January transfer window.

Should Otavio arrive in the East-Midlands, he would also supply plenty of European experience. With Leicester gunning for back-to-back European campaigns, this time in the UEFA Champions League, his 23 appearances in the competition would surely come in handy.

One huge benefit of the move would also be the price, or more specifically, the lack of one. With Otavio out of contract, a free transfer would allow funds to be spent elsewhere.

However, the Foxes reportedly face competition for his signature with AC Milan, AS Roma and Wolverhampton Wanderers all thought to be admirers of him too.

With Otavio now free to negotiate his next move, Rodgers should push for Leicester to organise his first signing of the summer or risk losing out on a long-term target.

AND in more news, another shrewd move could see in the Foxes bring in Celtic’s Jack Hendry…

Some Arsenal fans were left to slam the display of Willian away at Burnley in the Premier League on Saturday lunchtime.

The former Chelsea man did not impress some members of the Emirates Stadium faithful after he was given his chance from the start by Mikel Arteta.

The Brazil international lost out on 100% of his duels and also failed to record a single shot on goal, successful dribble or accurate cross, as he lost possession of the ball 10 times in the game in total (Sofascore).

Even though he picked up the assist for the opening goal for Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Willian was not able to have too much more of an influence in the match, as he was substituted off in the 70th minute for Nicolas Pepe.

Arsenal fan reaction to Willian display

These Gunners supporters slammed his performance on Twitter, with one Gooner even going as far as to claim that the 32-year-old was ‘ineffective’:

“Willian off, thank God”

Credit: @dumakadozie

“Take Willian off neowwww!”

Credit: @ProlificPapi

“Willian extremely ineffective, hopefully Pepe can have a run at Erik Pieters”

Credit: @AlexCullen17

“Pls can Willian get out, I’m on my knees”

Credit: @supportsteven

“About time Willian actually took a player on. Just doesn’t seem to fancy it does he.”

Credit: @bobramsden1

“I just want Willian out of the club or just not playing”

Credit: @ppperdix1

In other news, find out who else was slammed for his display here!

According to Fabrizio Romano, Everton are now in the race to sign Tottenham transfer target Max Aarons in the summer.

What’s the story?

Reports earlier this month suggested that Norwich’s Aarons is on the radar of Jose Mourinho’s side, with Matt Doherty potentially being made available for a transfer as the Spurs boss has been left unconvinced of the right-back’s ability of being a success.

Now, Romano has claimed that Spurs’ fellow Premier League side and top four contenders Everton are “working” on signing the England U21 international, while Manchester United will also decide in the coming months about whether or not to pursue a move.

Bye-bye Doherty

Given that Doherty only joined last summer from Wolves, it’s a rather telling sign that Mourinho is already open to the idea of offloading him in the summer.

But if Daniel Levy can win the race to land Aarons, then Spurs would be making the perfect call by getting rid of Doherty and bringing the Norwich City sensation in.

Canaries boss Daniel Farke has spoken glowingly about the 21-year-old this season, saying: “Max is outstanding in many topics. I can’t praise him enough for what he has done since his first appearance. You watch some of our games now and the opponents go man-for-man on him. That is crazy for a player who is a full-back but it says a lot about his reputation. He is just a special player and he has an unbelievable future.”

The £18m-rated full-back appears to be the right-back version of Sergio Reguilon: young, quick and incredibly dangerous going forward. As per Whoscored this season, Aarons averages 1.3 key passes per game in the Championship, which ranks him fourth among his teammates, while his tally of 1.2 dribbles per match is good enough to rank him third.

That kind of offensive contribution would surely be perfect for Mourinho, who could have two of the Premier League’s most exciting full-backs in Reguilon and Aarons.

And it’s not just going forward that Aarons seems like he’s tailor made for the Spurs boss. He’s also someone who isn’t rash when making challenges a la a Serge Aurier, with the Norwich ace making just 0.5 fouls per game this season (19th in Norwich’s squad) – comfortably less than both Aurier and Doherty who rank joint-second among Spurs’ players with 1.5 per match.

Aarons is a flying full-back, but without the kind of defensive mistakes that has haunted Spurs’ right-backs. He seems absolutely perfect for Mourinho.

West Brom have been handed a late setback in their pursuit of Christian Benteke…

What’s the word?

Speaking in his pre-match press conference, Crystal Palace boss Roy Hodgson poured cold water on the chances of the 30-year-old leaving Selhurst Park amid reported interest from the Baggies.

Indeed, the former Albion manager confirmed that the £8.1m-rated Benteke would be making the trip to Newcastle tomorrow evening, thus ruling him out of a last-gasp move to the Hawthorns.

Benteke blow

According to The Sun’s Alan Nixon only a few days ago, the Eagles had given the ‘green light’ to any Benteke departure ahead of deadline day but as evident above, that does not seem to be the case.

And that’ll come as a late setback for Sam Allardyce, who has managed the 6 foot 3 colossus before, and revealed himself that he’d be “interested” in signing him this window.

The 38-cap Belgian striker was an influential part of the Palace side that Big Sam successfully steered to safety in 2016/17.

[snack-amp-story url=”https://www.footballfancast.com/web-stories/west-brom-deadline-day-latest-news-transfer-rumours-and-more” title=”Deadline day is here: Read the latest West Brom news, transfer rumours and more!”]

That season, Benteke scored nine times in 22 appearances, as per Transfermarkt, which led to the 66-year-old calling him a “big catalyst” and a “big reason” to why they survived relegation.

He’d surely have wanted the former Villa man in to repeat similar exploits as he’s a vastly-experienced Premier League forward with a pretty decent goalscoring record.

Indeed, Benteke has provided 75 goals in 239 top-flight appearances and even though Mbaye Diagne has been brought through from Galatasaray this window, he has never ever played in English football, so that’s a massive risk.

Only two other teams have conceded fewer goals than West Brom (17), one of which being rock-bottom Sheffield United, so Allardyce could have done with even more options in attack, especially as both Kenneth Zohore and Charlie Austin departed on loan.

That’s two out, one in, and that may not be enough.

The once dubbed an “absolute monster” won’t be joining Albion before tonight’s 11pm deadline and that’s a bad blow towards their survival chances. Benteke’s best returns were under Allardyce, so that could have been a lucrative partnership worth reigniting in the Midlands this month.

AND in other news, West Brom must seal deal for £25k-p/w beast, Klopp once dubbed him “very impressive”…

Glasgow Rangers fans are disgusted at Ian Crocker after the Sky Sports commentator continually criticised Alfredo Morelos on Wednesday.

The Gers beat Hibernian 1-0 at Easter Road as they maintained their 23-point lead at the top of the Premiership (BBC). Morelos scored the only goal of the game in the second-half, but he was arguably lucky to still be on the pitch after an apparent stamp on an opponent in the first 45 minutes.

Crocker was commentating on the match for Sky Sports, and he was outraged by the incident, even demanding retrospective action to be aimed at the Colombia international. He then proceeded to spend the remainder of the match complaining about the 24-year-old.

It is fair to say the Gers supporters were absolutely livid at the pundit, and they took to the social media platform Twitter to share their thoughts.

Let’s see what the fans had to say about Crocker below

“@SkyFootball absolutely shocking, biased commentary from Crocker and Walker. For so called ‘neutral’ pundits, their constant reference to Morelos’ challenge and the need for the compliance officer to get involved was a disgrace! Why are they still commentating on Rangers games?”

Credit: @Al74lan

Ian Crocker’s anti-@RangersFC bias is embarrassing. Relentless criticism of Morelos.

Credit: @londonbluenose

“It’s not really commentary is it folks? More of an agenda led vendetta by messrs Crocker and Walker against Morelos. @ScotlandSky”

Credit: @uberhonda

“Ian Crocker has an unhealthy obsession with Morelos”

Credit: @Barisic_Baldy

“Sort it out @ScotlandSky. Crocker and Walker constantly bleating and basically begging for action against Morelos last night was pathetic. I pay for balanced opinion not downright hatred.”

Credit: @stevie_cat

“”Goal from Morelos, who should’ve been sent off.” Sky’s coverage summed up by Crocker’s misery when Morelos scored. Not how intelligent Morelos was; dragging Porteous out wide to collect the ball, then cutting in to receive the ball onside and scoring. No. It was a witch-hunt.”

Credit: @missteeray

In other news, Rangers fans slammed this SFA decision.

Having suffered heartache against Sheffield United, Manchester United stumbled again against a well-drilled Arsenal in a 0-0 draw at the Emirates.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side have now dropped three points in their past four Premier League fixtures and now find themselves three points adrift of their arch-rivals Manchester City after Edinson Cavani squandered a couple of chances in the closing stages of the game.

The Gunners came closest to breaking the deadlock after Alexandre Lacazette hit the bar from a direct free-kick before Emile Smith Rowe and Nicolas Pepe forced fine saves from David de Gea.

Whilst the Red Devils enjoyed the lion’s share of possession, they lacked the quality in the final third to win the game, with centre-forward Cavani the main culprit.

The summer recruit from Paris Saint-Germain endured a night to forget at the Emirates as he was kept at bay by the combined efforts of David Luiz and Rob Holding, with the pair teaming up to prevent him from finding the back of the net.

Cavani, who has scored four goals in 14 top-flight appearances, bizarrely missed two big chances over the course of the game, which was the most of any player from either side on the pitch, including Paul Pogba.

The £10m-rated 33-year-old lost four of his six duels overall (66%) as he was outmuscled by the likes of Luiz and Holding, and failed to complete a successful dribble from his solitary attempt.

He was also largely anonymous as he struggled to earn a foothold in the game, taking just 30 touches of the ball, the fewest out of any United player barring his teammates Anthony Martial, Mason Greenwood and Scott McTominay.

However, his lack of control will be the least of Solskjaer’s concern, as he seems to have lost his finishing touch, earning himself a low rating of 6.0 in the process, per SofaScore, which was the lowest out of every United player on the pitch, and everyone in total.

It was a rare blemish on what has otherwise been an impressive first season in English football – his average SofaScore match rating in the Premier League is 6.86 – but he badly let Solskjaer down as they have now lost ground to Pep Guardiola’s side in the title race at the top of the table.

AND in other news, Manchester United must avoid signing Edin Dzeko in January…

After slipping to a 2-1 defeat to Manchester United in the Premier League, Aston Villa welcome Liverpool in the FA Cup third round on Friday night.

Dean Smith’s side of course thrashed the Reds 7-2 in league action earlier this season, and will of course take a lot of confidence from that performance into the game.

But with it being a cup competition, the Villa boss may choose to ring the changes, and one man who he should consider giving almost a last chance to, is Keinan Davis.

The young striker has been linked with a move away from Villa Park in recent weeks, and with Ollie Watkins and Wesley ahead of him in the pecking order, opportunities for first-team football are likely to be limited for a player who’s shown virtually nothing all season.

The chance to start from the off against Jurgen Klopp’s side on Friday would give Davis a final opportunity to try and impress Smith and stake a claim to remain at the club for the rest of the season.

Clearly Villa feel like he’s still got a bit of potential in him, and the 22-year-old has got plenty of time to grow and develop, with Jack Grealish even touting how good he can become.

He said: “He’s so, so strong. He’s one of the best hold up players I’ve actually played with and that includes the likes of (Christian) Benteke. He is unbelievable.

“The only thing that he needs to add to his game is his end product and he knows that he needs to improve on that. But I can’t give him enough credit for how good he is just in the game, holding the ball up, his dribbling for a big fellow.”

With the January transfer window open, Johan Lange and co will have to make a decision on Davis’ future fairly soon, and so the game against Liverpool could well be last chance saloon for the centre-forward dubbed a “throwback” by Smith.

Tottenham Hotspur risked a mammoth blunder by selling Serge Aurier to Spartak Moscow on the cheap in a Daniel Levy disasterclass this summer.

What’s the word?

While speaking with Sport-Express, via Tribal Football, Spartak Moscow CEO Shamil Gazizov has claimed his Russian Premier League side had agreed a deal with Levy to sign Aurier this summer for £15.5million less than the north London outfit paid Paris Saint-Germain in 2017.

Aurier’s future under Jose Mourinho was enshrined in doubt during the off-season following the arrival of Matt Doherty from Wolves, leading to interest from AC Milan and Bayer Leverkusen in the Ivorian right-back who started 31 of Tottenham’s Premier League games last season.

A move to Italy or Germany failed to materialise, leaving Levy open-minded to a deal with Spartak Moscow that would have seen Spurs net just €8.5m (£7.5m), despite signing Aurier for £23m just three years ago.

Gazizov has now revealed that a move for Aurier to join Domenico Tedesco’s side at the Otkrytie Arena also fell away this summer, as the passing of the 27-year-old’s brother ensured he was not in the right frame of mind to establish himself not only at a new club but also a new country.

“We agreed with Aurier [and] we agreed with Daniel Levy that the transfer can take place for a certain amount of money,” Gazizov said. “It was about 8.5million euros. There were normal negotiations with the player.

“At a certain stage in his life, there were not very good moments connected with his family. He couldn’t have brought his mom and his family here, he lost his brother and dad [so] he decided to stay in England and not make any sudden moves.”

Levy blunder to Mourinho’s saviour

Levy’s blunderous decision to sanction a cut-price deal for Aurier to leave Tottenham for Spartak Moscow would have already come back to bite the north London side this season, with Mourinho now forced to rely on the 63-cap international when Spurs face Manchester City on Saturday following Doherty testing positive for coronavirus.

It will be the third time this term that Mourinho is forced to start Aurier for a top-flight fixture, having turned to the former PSG man against Manchester United and West Ham last month and seen the £14.4m-rated full-back provide a goal and an assist at Old Trafford.

Aurier’s output in that one fixture was instantly more than Doherty has achieved in any competition this season, with the Republic of Ireland international’s assist in Tottenham’s 1-0 win over West Bromwich Albion prior to the international break his only contribution in 10 games.

Mourinho can expect Aurier to hit the ground running at home to City on Saturday evening, too, as the Ivorian is not one to hide away from the occasion when his back is up against the wall.

“There are things people don’t see because you don’t show yourself enough,” Aurier told France Football earlier in the year. “The first year [under Mauricio Pochettino], the coach did not make me play a lot, but I never went into his office to complain, I never showed a funny face. I wasn’t playing, I was upset, but I did not show it.”

Aurier now has the chance to put any upset at being behind Doherty in Mourinho’s pecking order to one side and be the Portuguese coach’s saviour, potentially proving for once and for all how Levy risked a mammoth blunder by selling him on the cheap this summer.

AND in other news, Jose Mourinho has been tipped for crunch talks with an “amazing” Spurs gem who’s unhappy in north London.

There will come a time and a place when Celtic really need to consider the future of the football club.

If you asked how happy Peter Lawwell was this time last year, he’d have raised a wry smile and uttered complete delight.

After all, his team were busy winning a ninth successive league crown.

However, a year on and the club are in serious bother.

On the chalkboard

Celtic have been nothing short of shambolic this season. Their defence is being breached on a regular basis and they are 11 points behind Rangers as they chase a tenth SPFL title in a row.

On top of that, they are out of Europe and the pressure is mounting on Neil Lennon, a manager who is suffering from a string of poor results.

However, his decision making is set to get even worse. That’s because it’s incredibly unlikely Karamoko Dembele will play for Celtic again.

That’s the word of VideoCelts who revealed a few days ago that the 17-year-old hadn’t been seen at training for two weeks.

With just under a year left on his deal and the club in disarray, his days at Parkhead look to be numbered.

Shocking decision

With Celtic in their current state, it could be harming to throw such a young player into the team.

That being said, it speaks volumes after Lennon’s attitude to the teenager that he can’t even breakthrough in these tough times.

Dembele has never started a senior match for the Hoops and has only played four minutes this term, but such is his immense potential that he simply has to be given new terms and a chance to play.

He has always played above his age and made his debut for the U20 side when he was merely 13. If that doesn’t tell you Dembele has class, nothing will.

The diminutive forward has plenty of tricks in his locker and it would be an almighty shame if he left before he’d accomplished anything.

You only need to look at the success Aaron Hickey has had since walking out of Glasgow to understand why Celtic need to do everything they can to hold onto Dembele.

Hickey left for Hearts in 2018 and now at the age of just 18, is playing for Bologna in Serie A. It wouldn’t be a great surprise if we saw their current academy darling playing top-level football in a few years time too.

Earlier this year, journalist Alison McConnell spoke about Dembele, saying: “I know there were a number of Premier League clubs sniffing about. I hear what you’re saying about Scotland and England, but I think his priority at the minute is to just to make a pathway into the first team.”

That pathway, however, is clearly not there right now.

It is borderline inexcusable that they could be about to let Dembele go so easily.

Meanwhile, Celtic missed out on the next Daniel Arzani this year…

Charlie Austin was once a quality striker in the Premier League, with the forward enjoying impressive spells at QPR and Southampton in particular but based on his lack of appearances in the top-flight so far this season with West Brom, it seems as if his time at the top-level may well be over.

Therefore, it could be argued that the Saints did well to cash in on the 31-year-old when they did in the summer of 2019, with Austin joining the Baggies in a deal worth £3.87 million (per Transfermarkt).

The striker, who contributed 20 goals and four assists in 81 appearances for the South Coast club, enjoyed a fairly fruitful campaign with the Baggies last season, as he scored 11 goals in 40 appearances in all competitions.

However, his contributions, which helped Slaven Bilic’s side earn promotion to the top-flight, were seemingly not enough to convince the Croatian manager that he is worthy of a starting spot in the top-flight.

The 31-year-old was on the bench for West Brom’s opening game against Leicester City but hasn’t been in the Premier League squad for any other fixture so far this term, whilst he has made two appearances in the EFL Cup (per Transfermarkt).

Austin’s time at Southampton was not short of controversy, as he was told to train with the U’23s in the summer of 2019 before his departure. However, he did impress in spells for the Saints, with Matt Le Tissier and Jamie Redknapp both full of praise for the Englishman back in 2016.

The forward also made his feelings about Southampton and their fans clear in a foul-mouthed Twitter rant earlier this year, suggesting that the club did very well to be rid of him.

Considering that he seems to be something of a trouble-maker and clearly isn’t having an impact in the Premier League this season, you can definitely argue that Semmens did well to receive a fee for him in 2019, as well as getting his reported £70k per week wages off Southampton’s books.

Southampton’s strike force has certainly blossomed since his departure too, with Danny Ings and Che Adams having both impressed over the past year, so they are definitely not missing having Austin around the club.