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Some Liverpool fans are plotting out a deal for Bayer Leverkusen midfielder Kai Havertz after a report by German publication Bild (subscription needed) said that the Bundesliga outfit are interested in signing Dejan Lovren.

The transfer window for European clubs is due to shut in just under a fortnight’s time, and according to Bild the Croatian centre-back is a loan target for Leverkusen.

In that respect a deal looks unlikely, with a potential exit for the 30-year-old to Roma already falling through with the Merseyside outfit said to want a permanent move, and the Serie A club only wanting the 2018 World Cup finalist on a temporary basis.

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Meanwhile, Sport1 reported on Tuesday that the Reds were one of a number of major European forces tracking 20-year-old ace Havertz, who has followed up on his 20 goals in 42 appearances in all competitions in 2018/19 with two in two this term, according to Transfermarkt.

Liverpool supporters on Twitter appear particularly keen to use the reported interest from the German club in Lovren to work out a deal for the promising starlet, with one saying “Michael Edwards do your thing”, and another simply saying “swap for Havertz”.

Here is just a selection of the Twitter reaction…

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

Some of Leeds’ players have had rather indifferent starts to the new campaign despite their so far unbeaten run.

Patrick Bamford scored against Bristol City but then spurned six opportunities against Nottingham Forest but the inconsistency didn’t stop there.

Jack Harrison was another who netted in that match against the Robins but was particularly poor, despite showing glimpses, versus Forest.

The Whites ultimately drew that game 1-1 and therefore, improvement is needed.

On the chalkboard

Harrison, who can sign permanently next summer after arriving on another loan from Manchester City is a dangerous player on his day.

The fact he contributed to seven goals last season proves there is end product in there.

However, after threatening to start the season in tremendous form, he stalled against Forest. Marcelo Bielsa has indicated that his side will be the same this weekend so with that in mind, he must improve in order to vindicate the Argentine’s trust.

Last Saturday, the 22-year-old’s pass success rate was one of the most negative aspects of his game. He completed just 65.4%, being accurate with 17 of the 26 balls he attempted to play to his teammates.

The winger managed two key passes but there was a lack of drive and conviction to his performance which was summed up by the solitary dribble he managed.

Considering the 5 foot 9 midfielder only really burst forward once, it was particularly alarming that he was so careless in possession.

Over the time he was on the pitch, he was dispossessed three times, as well as having three unsuccessful touches before being replaced by Ezgjan Alioski.

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After missing out against Salford, this is one aspect that he’ll have to particularly improve in as the Whites aim to bounce back from a draw against Sabri Lamouchi’s men.

Bielsa has shown trust by saying he’ll select the same team but Harrison must become more careful if Leeds want to achieve all three points.

Helder Costa is currently waiting in the wings and if the former New York City man throws in similar displays, it might not be too long before he is dislodged.

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Tottenham Hotspur can recall Jack Clarke from his loan spell at Leeds United in January, per Football Insider.

What’s the word?

Clarke has yet to be included in a matchday squad at the Championship club in the 2019/20 season.

Signed from the Whites earlier this summer, the 18-year-old was sent back to Elland Road.

Football Insider now reports that Spurs have the option to recall Clarke in January should they so wish.

EFL rules only allow for five loan players in the squad, with Ben White, Jack Harrison, Illan Meslier, Eddie Nketiah and Helder Costa all included for the 1-0 win over Brentford, leaving Clarke on the sidelines.

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Bring him back

Even if Clarke returns only to go out on loan again, Spurs simply have to exercise this option.

He has yet to play a single minute of league football this season and even turned out for the Under-23 side on Friday, as they took on Ipswich Town.

That is not where Clarke belongs; after his move to Spurs, one assumed he would be fighting for a place under Mauricio Pochettino but he is not even doing that under Marcelo Bielsa.

Sources have suggested that Spurs actually restructured the deal at the last minute for Clarke to head back to Leeds, perhaps in order to see him play every week.

As it is, he hasn’t been able to do that, and so he should be brought back to north London in January.

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This article is part of Football FanCast’s Opinion series, which provides analysis, insight and opinion on any issue within the beautiful game, from Paul Pogba’s haircuts to League Two relegation battles…

Heading into the season there were concerns about Leeds’ defence and rightfully so.

After letting Pontus Jansson go, they had just Liam Cooper as a proven central defender in the Championship.

Of course, supporters were unaware of Ben White’s qualities and since he arrived, the Whites have conceded just three times in the Championship.

Before losing against Swansea, they sat top of the league. After their first defeat, they’re now third and behind the Welsh side in the race for promotion.

An unbeaten start before Saturday had still drawn question marks, however, no less than in a lack of creativity against Brentford, not scoring until the 81st minute and in Patrick Bamford.

In an aggregate of ten shots against Nottingham Forest and the Swans this term he’s failed to score. Although he’s netted four times overall, there is a lack of ruthlessness to his game.

That provides evidence of a team that still has to improve, but comments made after Leeds’ defeat only shows that further.

Speaking in his post-match press conference, Swansea boss Steve Cooper said: “We came here to win, there are obvious areas to exploit against Leeds, although we didn’t do it quite as well with the ball first half, second half I thought we did look quite dangerous.”

And in saying there are obvious areas it should be alarming, even if the Welshman was merely playing mind games.

Under Marcelo Bielsa, Leeds have been reborn and they were rather unfortunate not to achieve promotion in 2018/19.

Individual errors from Gaetano Berardi and Kiko Casilla cost them deer in the playoffs but there are still some lingering doubts following Sunday.

The fact there are obvious gaps to exploit in Leeds needs to serve as a wakeup call.

Over the international break, the Whites have to refocus and work on some attributes that simply must get better as the season goes on.

Ultimately, Cooper’s men took advantage of one of Leeds’ glaring weaknesses, defending set-pieces.

From their three goals conceded in the Championship, two of them have been from corners.

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Against Nottingham Forest, they were lacklustre in attempting to deal with Lewis Grabban.

They then failed to deal with the danger sufficiently against Swansea as Wayne Routledge found the net.

Sloppy moments like that have now cost Leeds two times in their opening six matches. They cannot afford for that to happen again.

In short, Bielsa has work to do to improve Leeds on the training pitch and Cooper isn’t wrong with what he said.

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This article is part of Football FanCast’s Opinion series, which provides analysis, insight and opinion on any issue within the beautiful game, from Paul Pogba’s haircuts to League Two relegation battles…

Aston Villa might have been embroiled in one of the most controversial games of the season as they were defeated 1-0 by Crystal Palace, but in doing so, they found an unlikely rotation option – one they should lean on more as the season progresses.

It’s been well documented just how much the club have spent this summer – 12 players arrived following promotion for a total spend of around £144.5m.

Understandably, the sheer volume of incoming players, almost an entirely new starting XI, has put several of last season’s squad at risk.

In midfield, Henri Lansbury and Conor Hourihane now have Marvelous Nakamba and Douglas Luiz to contend with, on top of battling John McGinn and Jack Grealish too.

Against Palace, Lansbury made his first Premier League appearance of the season and could have been the hero that salvaged a late point had things gone the way they should’ve.

The former Arsenal midfielder stuck the ball in the net in stoppage time but only after referee Kevin Friend had blown the whistle for what he adjudged to be a dive on Grealish’s part.

Had that goal stood Lansbury would likely have been a very popular figure at Villa Park, walking away with a point having played the final half an hour with ten men.

The 28-year-old had direct involvement in three of Villa’s goals against Crewe last week, which must have impressed manager Dean Smith, so much so he was given five rare minutes in league action last weekend.

Check out the most insane fan meltdowns in the video below…

On another day, that’s a couple of assists and one goal for a player that hasn’t really had a look in yet this season.

It would be even more impressive to see him make his mark on Villa’s Premier League journey considering the amount of time he missed last season due to a series of injuries which meant he became somewhat of an outcast.

And having been a Championship player for most of his career, playing 258 times in the league, he would be an unlikely option in the top-flight – but he’s taking measures to dispel that.

Villa have more than enough options in defensive midfield, but should anything happen to either Grealish and McGinn then it’s a great job that Lansbury is still at the club; he’ll be able to slot right in when need be and still produce a goal threat.

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After a rather lacklustre 2019 summer transfer window in which they only signed one genuine global star in the form of Eden Hazard, Real Madrid could be poised to get more reinforcements in the not so distant future.

At least, that’s what their president, Florentino Perez, implied when talking to AS just recently.

He said that there is a certain French player Los Blancos really like and that they will go for him.

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Naturally, only two players come to many fans’ minds: Paul Pogba and Kylian Mbappe. And while Perez hasn’t revealed the mysterious player in question, many of the fans have concluded it has to be Mbappe and they definitely want him to join.

Some even state how the 20-year-old star is destined to come to Real Madrid and that the white kit of the Galacticos really would suit him.

One way or the other, they seem to expect “madness” from Perez in the upcoming transfer windows.

Take a look at some of their replies in the collection of tweets down below:

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[ad_pod ]Over the past few years we’ve seen some hilarious old tweets from footballers in their younger days.Victor Wanyama, Andy Robertson and Wayne Rooney have all had social media blunders that have left fans creasing up with laughter, but John McGinn’s hilarious tweet from 2014 may beat the lot.Unfortunately for McGinn, Jack Grealish has uncovered an embarrassing social media post from way back when.

McGinn clearly had some annoying neighbours back in 2014, as he seemingly wasn’t happy about their dog barking loudly.

We have to hope that the midfielder didn’t follow through with his plans of two-footing the canine, but right now we don’t know what happened.

Perhaps the RSPCA should be looking into McGinn’s behaviour towards his neighbour’s pets, and it seems the Villa players are making a bit of a habit of mocking each other with old tweets and photos.

Grealish has completely mugged off his teammate by sharing this one before the West Ham clash, and it will be interesting to see if McGinn tries to get him back by uncovering a social media gaffe from the skipper.

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You know what they say, class is permanent. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer may have retired from the game a few years ago, but the Norwegian appears to have lost none of his technique and ability.

The Manchester United manager looks like he can still hang in the modern game, and judging by training ground footage picked up by Sky Sports, that really might be the case.

Ahead of the Red Devils’ Europa League clash on Thursday night, Solskjaer and members of his coaching staff appeared to be trying their hands at a ‘bin-shot’. The United boss stepped up to the plate, chipped the ball off the back walls of the training pitch, and saw it bounce into the bin.

After seeing the Norwegian’s trick-shot, United fans flooded to Twitter to share their thoughts about just how good the 46-year-old is.

Many Red Devils supporters called for him to be given a chance against West Ham in the Premier League this weekend, and insisted he is more than good enough to play.

Some fans even suggested Marcus Rashford would probably have skied his effort over, and that Solskjaer is still the most “accurate finisher” at the club.

Check out some of the reaction of United fans below:

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Nottingham Forest were knocked out of the Carabao Cup at the third-round stage as Arsenal defeated them with ease at the Emirates Stadium.

The Gunners were too strong for the Reds as they stuck five past them without any in reply.

Forest boss Sabri Lamouchi made six changes to the side that defeated Barnsley on Saturday with their clean-sheet protagonists Brice Samba, Michael Dawson and Joe Worrall all earning a rest.

Summer signing Yuri Ribeiro kept his place at left-back over Jack Robinson, who played centrally and captained the side on Tuesday evening.

Watch Nottingham Forest Live Streams With StreamFootball.tv Below

The 22-year-old may have been part of the defence that leaked a handful of goals, but many supporters were quick to praise the impact he’s had since making his debut earlier this month.

One member of the City Ground faithful claimed the defender was the best player on the pitch which was backed up by another who labelled his performance as ‘absolutely class.’

Forest could only muster up one shot on target against the top-flight outfit as their focus now turns to Friday as they return to Championship action against a struggling Stoke City side, who sit second-bottom.

‘Quality’ and ‘unreal’ were just two other superlatives used to describe the former Benfica man.

Here’s the best of the reaction:

This article forms part of our The Ones That Got Away feature series, which is where Football Transfer Tavern take a look back at players linked with moves in the past, and see how they would have made an impact had they signed for the interested side.

Leeds United are not the only football club in the world to have missed out on some star names when they had the opportunity to sign them and certainly will not be the last team to be thinking “if only”, should they have managed to acquire them.

Indeed, Marcelo Bielsa’s side have been working hard to try and obtain promotion to the Premier League once again and there has been an argument (even by the manager) that they may lack  the clinical edge that is needed to ensure they are within a chance of escaping England’s notoriously difficult second tier.

Of course, the Elland Road outfit used to possess a squad that had some top-quality strikers in their time, with the likes of Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, Tony Yeboah, Eric Cantona and Mark Viduka gracing the turf. However, Leeds could have had an impressive Dutchman spearheading the attack if they moved quicker than one of their top-flight rivals.

Yes, a certain Ruud van Nistelrooy was on the radar of then-boss David O’Leary, but Leeds missed out to Manchester United for his signature when the latter scooped him for a reported £19m transfer fee.

The Whites were chasing PSV Eindhoven teammate Mark van Bommel at the time (as per The Daily Mail), but it was also claimed the centre-forward had piqued an interest – 75 goals in 89 appearances would have made any manager take note.

Of course, Van Nistelrooy made a huge name for himself whilst playing at Old Trafford and proved to be a rather clinical striker in the English game, something that Bielsa perhaps still desires to have at Elland Road.

The former Holland international managed to bag himself a remarkable 150 goals and 21 assists in 219 appearances for the Red Devils before moving onto Real Madrid, a club whereby he was equally as impressive in the final third (Transfermarkt).

Indeed, if he and Viduka were spearheading the attack at the time, Leeds would have been lethal around the opponents’ penalty area as the Australian forward managed to notch up an impressive 68 goals in his 158 appearances for the Whites (Transfermarkt).

Although that was back in their day, if Patrick Bamford can be anywhere near as prolific as the two aforementioned individuals, then the Yorkshire outfit would be in a brilliant position and one that would not leave Bielsa replicating the frustrations he had last season with his main attacking man.

The £10m signing from Middlesbrough currently has 14 goals to his name in 34 appearances for the Elland Road club, but he often needs a number of opportunities to find the back of the net. According to WhoScored’s data, the 26-year-old averages just 1.3 shots on target per game, with 1.9 of his attempts sailing wide of the mark.

Leeds fans, disappointed the club missed out on Van Nistelrooy when they had the chance to sign him? Let us know your thoughts by sharing them in the comments section below!