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For a man who is so often praised for his shrewd business in the transfer market for Liverpool, it looks as if Michael Edwards may have made a big mistake when allowing Marko Grujic to leave on loan.

The Serbian midfielder returned from two seasons on loan at Hertha Berlin this summer and looked to be establishing himself as a part of Jurgen Klopp’s first-team squad, playing 90 minutes in Liverpool’s League Cup ties against Arsenal and Lincoln City respectively (per WhoScored).

However, the 24-year-old, whose asking price was reportedly £20m in the previous window, was allowed to join FC Porto on loan during the summer transfer window and he has gone on to make four appearances for Sérgio Conceição’s side so far this season.

Unfortunately for Liverpool, they have since lost Fabinho to injury, and look to be lacking natural defensive-midfielders in their squad.

Grujic has played as a defensive-midfielder on 25 occasions in his career thus far and could’ve been the man to replace Fabinho in Klopp’s starting XI following his injury.

Even if he wasn’t considered ready to start regularly for Liverpool, he could’ve provided some much-needed squad depth in midfield, with the likes of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Thiago having also struggled with injuries so far this season.

As we approach a busy Christmas period, you imagine that they won’t be the last players to pick up injuries in Klopp’s side and therefore they could have done with someone such as Grujic to be available as a fairly-experienced back-up.

The Reds have coped reasonably well with their injury concerns this season, as they sit third in the Premier League table going into the international break, however, they did lose Trent Alexander-Arnold to a muscle injury in the recent 1-1 draw with Manchester City.

His former coach Pal Dardai was certainly full of praise for Grujic during his time in Germany, saying:

“I’ve been at Hertha for 22 years, this isn’t meant as an insult to anyone else, but Marko is by far the best midfielder I’ve seen in my time at the club.

“I was a defensive-midfielder and managed to score 17 goals, which isn’t bad, but Marko carries much more of a goal threat, he’s got a sensational shot on him and is much better than I was… he can play anywhere in midfield.

“He’s got so much potential, and you can see that out on the pitch. He’s so robust in the middle of the park, but he can still play. He’s good in the air, he wins tackles and has got such a strong desire to win. I can only say: ‘respect’. He’s not even fully fit. Just imagine what he’ll be like when he is!”

It will be interesting to see if Liverpool consider recalling Grujic in January if their injury problems do not improve, as the Serbian international could definitely prove to be a strong back-up option for the Merseyside club when you consider his performances with Hertha Berlin in the Bundesliga over the last two seasons, which were clearly enough to impress Dardai.

After slipping to a disappointing 1-0 defeat to Leicester in the Premier League on Sunday, Arsenal can get back to winning ways when they take on Dundalk in the Europa League.

The Gunners enjoyed a winning start in their first game of the competition, coming back from behind to beat Rapid Vienna 2-1, thanks to goals from David Luiz and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.

With manager Mikel Arteta facing a number of injury worries, and a huge clash against Manchester United on the horizon at the weekend, the Spaniard may take the opportunity to rest several of his key players.

And with that in mind, below is a look at how the Gunners might line up.

In goal, it appears Arteta is keen on using his number one goalkeeper in every single competition, so Bernd Leno will stay in between the sticks – that despite his gaffe against Vienna last Thursday.

In front of him, the Gunners will be without David Luiz, who was forced off mid-way through his side’s clash against Leicester. With the Brazilian missing, and the likes of Rob Holding, Calum Chambers and Pablo Mari also unavailable for selection, Gabriel is likely to be partnered by Shkodran Mustafi.

The lack of defensive options may force Arteta into going with a 4-3-3 instead of the usual three-at-the-back formation, and that could see Sead Kolasinac and Ainsley Maitland-Niles operate as the two out-and-out full-backs.

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Arteta will also surely look to refresh his midfield set-up, and that could see regulars like Granit Xhaka and Dani Ceballos drop out of the starting line-up, with Mohamed Elneny and Joe Willock coming in to form a trio alongside Thomas Partey.

And up front, expect to see first-choice front three of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Alexandre Lacazette and Nicolas Pepe all drop out, with Eddie Nketiah, Reiss Nelson and Willian getting a taste of the action.

Predicted XI: Leno; Maitland-Niles, Mustafi, Gabriel, Kolasinac; Elneny, Partey, Willock; Nelson, Willian, Nketiah.

Leeds have opted to reward Bryce Hosannah with a new two-year contract. The 21-year-old defender is currently on loan with Bradford City, where he will play out a season-long deal until he returns to Elland Road.

Opting to put an extra year on his contract is likely part of a mastermind Victor Orta and Marcelo Bielsa plan to see if he has what it takes to become Luke Ayling’s understudy. Indeed, the 21-year-old is yet to make his senior debut for Leeds, but it could be on the cards once he returns from his loan spell. Should he impress, a lucrative long-term deal will surely be on the cards.

Hosannah could be crucial for Leeds

The Whites are struggling in the Premier League at the moment after being dealt back-to-back 4-1 defeats by Leicester and Crystal Palace respectively. Bielsa has a few issues to deal with in his squad, but the biggest is arguably his inconsistent defence.

Leeds started the season strongly but have now slipped down into 15th place in the league table. If things continue as they are, the long 16-year wait to return to England’s top flight will be soured by a disappointing drop back down to the Championship. The Whites have conceded the joint most amount of goals so far this season with 17. Only West Brom – who are currently in the bottom three – have shipped the same number.

Bielsa currently has three young defenders waiting in the wings to be called upon for first team action. Leif Davis, Pascal Struijk and Oliver Casey are all named senior players for this season, with only Struijk getting a major sniff of the action so far.

By putting trust into Hosannah once he returns to Leeds, Bielsa could place him under the wing of Luke Ayling, who has become one of the team’s key players. Not only will the youngster flourish rapidly under the 29-year-old’s guidance, but he will serve as injury covers as and when called upon.

Hosannah has already impressed at Bradford, with manager Stuart McCall branding him a “big attacking threat”. Not only could he become another body in defence, but he could help contribute to Leeds’ struggling attack too.

The club’s only other recognised senior right-back is the injured Gaetano Berardi, who is out of contract next summer. Putting big responsibility in the hands of Hosannah could be the making of him, and it could prove to be a crucial decision if Leeds survive their first season back in the Premier League.

In other news, Leeds handed huge boost as Rodrigo is expected to return against Arsenal…

After clinging on to a 0-0 draw with ten men against Leeds United last weekend, Arsenal return to Europa League action on Thursday, hoping to get back to winning ways.

Mikel Arteta’s side take on Molde away from home, and know that a victory in Norway will guarantee qualification to the knock-out stages – particularly impressive given how much they’ve struggled this season back in the Premier League.

As has been the case for the first few group stage games, Arteta will no doubt make some changes to his starting line-up to give some of his fringe players and younger talent the chance to impress.

And with that in mind, below is a look at how the Gunners might line up.

In goal, summer signing Runar Runarsson may make only his second appearance in an Arsenal shirt, giving usual number one Bernd Leno a rest.

Arteta is also likely to make wholesale changes to his back four too, and it will be very surprising to see any of those defenders who started against Leeds keep their place for the trip to Molde.

That could see returns for the likes of Cedric, David Luiz (who missed the weekend game due to the birth of his daughter), Shkodran Mustafi and Ainsley Maitland-Niles.

In midfield, Dani Ceballos and Granit Xhaka both played the full 90 minutes against Leeds as they battled to save a point, and the work they got through must surely see Arteta give them a rest.

If that’s the case, Joe Willock could be partnered by 18-year-old Miguel Azeez who was on the plane to Molde and is in line to make his competitive debut for the club.

Further forward, Nicolas Pepe’s red card at Elland Road appears not to have gotten disciplinary punishment from Arteta, who hinted that he is ready to start him on Thursday and give him the chance to put things right.

And in exciting news for Arsenal fans, they could see three academy products complete the rest of their attack, with Emile Smith Rowe, Reiss Nelson and Eddie Nketiah pushing to make the starting line-up.

Predicted XI: Runarsson; Cedric, Mustafi, Luiz, Maitland-Niles; Willock, Azeez; Pepe, Smith Rowe, Nelson; Nketiah.

Glasgow Rangers fans have been reacting to another update from the club and Castore in regards to their pro shirt that is now available.

The Gers’ partnership with Castore has not been without its problems since the deal was signed earlier this year. Although the pre-sale for the home shirt was sold out within 36 hours, fans complained of their purchases arriving late, while others were far from happy when they were damaged when they eventually did make it to their destination.

Castore have continued to release a number of new products, though, one of which is the availability of the Pro shirt. Not only can it exclusively be bought in the club shop, which plenty of people cannot visit because of the global pandemic we are living through, it will also retail at £90.

The Gers fans, it is fair to say, are far from happy with this update, and they took to Twitter to share their thoughts.

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

In other news, Rangers could make a move for this free agent compared to Neymar.

Glasgow Rangers sporting director Ross Wilson must sanction a January swoop for Peterborough United winger Siriki Dembele amid reports their arch-rivals Celtic are also interested in signing the older brother of Bhoys youngster Karamoko Dembele.

What’s the word?

According to the Peterborough Telegraph, the Peterborough versatile forward is of interest to Rangers despite the fact that the Posh are under no pressure to sell as he still has 18 months left on his current contract at London Road.

Scottish Premiership rivals Celtic, Premier League duo Fulham and Newcastle United and Championship club Stoke City are also keen on landing the diminutive 5 ft 6 in speedster.

The 24-year-old has been in fine form for the Posh, providing six goals and four assists in 20 appearances, via WhoScored, although his form has somewhat tailed off in recent weeks.

Dembele could be a game-changer

With Brandon Barker and Jordan Jones seemingly destined for the Ibrox exit and Ryan Kent linked with a move away from the 54-time Scottish champions, Steven Gerrard could soon face a shortage of wide options on the left wing.

It feels like we’ve been here before though, doesn’t it? Rangers interested in a Posh forward – where have we heard that one before?

The Gers were keen on landing former Peterborough striker Ivan Toney in the summer, only for the 24-year-old to end up at Brentford in the end instead.

But Wilson would be wise to sanction a move for Dembele as not only would he be able to provide cover for Kent, he’d also offer an alternative threat in attack as well.

Peterborough owner Darragh MacAnthony has described him as “the best player in League One”, which is high praise indeed, while his manager Darren Ferguson, the son of former Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson, was effusive in his praise for the “destructive” player after an impressive run of form last season.

These aren’t just your average Joes, these are people who are involved at a decent level of the game who are genuinely in awe of Dembele.

You only need to look at the numbers to know how good he is – five goals and four assists in the Championship so far this season, while he is averaging 2.1 shots, 1.8 key passes and 3.3 dribbles per game, via WhoScored.

This kind of attacking prowess would be most welcome at the Govan-based Glaswegian giants and to be able to sign a versatile forward who is equally capable of playing second-fiddle to Kent and challenging him for a place in the starting line-up would be a shrewd bit of business.

AND in other news, Glasgow Rangers ace Ianis Hagi was Gerrard’s unsung hero against St. Johnstone…

Glenn Middleton is set for a loan exit away from Rangers in the January transfer window, according to the Daily Record.

As per the news outlet, there are teams from the Netherlands that are reportedly interested in signing him up on a short-term deal for the rest of the 2020/21 term, with Dutch teams Breda and Den Haag being named as two of his possible destinations.

The publication understands that Steven Gerrard rates the player highly and that he is keen for him to go out on loan abroad in order to develop ahead of the next season.

Middleton needs more experience

Middleton should be looking to take the opportunity to leave on loan in order to gain some more first-team experience with the overall aim of breaking into Gerrard’s side for the foreseeable future.

The 20-year-old has only played in one senior game in all competitions for the Ibrox faithful so far in this campaign and has yet to play a single match in the Scottish Premiership (Transfermarkt).

There is no doubting the potential that Middleton has, with his ability to play in a wide number of roles, and he has performed for the Gers before, with five goals and five assists in 29 appearances in total in all competitions (Transfermarkt).

Nonetheless, a loan move away to Holland next month would not do the Scotland U21 international any harm whatsoever as he continues to develop as a young footballer.

In other news, find out which RFC ace has been tipped to stay amid transfer talk here!

Everton see in the New Year at home to West Ham United on Friday night with a chance to move second in the Premier League standings with a 10th win of the season.

Carlo Ancelotti’s Toffees go into the game well-rested after seeing Monday night’s clash with Manchester City postponed due to a coronavirus outbreak in the Sky Blues camp, having otherwise been forced to play twice in 48 hours with a threadbare squad.

West Ham were held to a goalless draw at Southampton on Tuesday night, and will now travel to Merseyside to face an Everton side which is due to welcome a clutch of key players back into the fold following injuries.

So, with changes on the cards from the Blues XI which beat Sheffield United on Boxing Day, here’s a potential line-up Ancelotti may name at home to David Moyes’ Hammers…

Jordan Pickford recorded his third clean sheet of the Premier League season at Bramall Lane last time out, and will be pushing to earn a 14th appearance of the campaign at home to West Ham.

Ancelotti is likely to favour retaining the core of the Everton line-up which edged a nervy win over Chris Wilder’s relegation-threatened Blades, yet may axe Mason Holgate to award Seamus Coleman a first top-flight start since early November after recovering from his persistent hamstring injuries.

Coleman returned to action during last month’s 2-1 win over Arsenal before featuring for the final 24 minutes at Sheffield United, and may have started alongside Michael Keane, Yerry Mina and Ben Godfrey at home to Manchester City had the game gone ahead.

Tom Davies, Abdoulaye Doucoure, Gylfi Sigurdsson and Alex Iwobi will expect to start on Friday night in West Ham’s visit to Goodison Park with Ancelotti confirming that Allan and James Rodriguez are once again ruled out through injury.

Richarlison, who reportedly earns £90,000-a-week, missed Boxing Day’s win at Sheffield United through the Premier League’s concussion protocols following his Carabao Cup quarter-final collision with Manchester United defender Eric Bailly, but has now served the required period in order to replace Anthony Gordon on the left-wing.

The Brazilian’s recall will come as a welcome relief for Ancelotti, who saw Gordon struggle at Bramall Lane, with Richarlison a player the Italian sees no like-for-like replacement for.

“It is impossible to replace Richarlison,” Ancelotti said earlier this season, via quotes by the Liverpool Echo.

“There is no player in the world like Richarlison, so we have to replace him with another player with different quality. We have to change a little bit our style of play without Richarlison.”

Ancelotti will hope the unexpected break between fixtures will afford Dominic Calvert-Lewin a chance to reset, with Everton’s top-scorer now without a Premier League goal since penning his 11th of the campaign five games ago.

AND in other news, a rarely-seen £11m Everton “luxury” may have played his final game at Goodison Park.

One of Daniel Levy’s summer transfer decisions has turned out to be an absolute stroke of genius for Tottenham Hotspur.

Spurs needed a back-up striker to play second fiddle to Harry Kane before the 2020/21 season got underway and as a result, they were mooted with many names across Europe.

Indeed, the north London outfit suffered in the Englishman’s absence last term – following his injury on New Year’s Day, they crashed out of both the FA Cup and Champions League and only won three of eight matches in the Premier League.

On his return, he bagged seven goals, five of which coming in the final three matches to launch Spurs into European qualification.

So to ensure that didn’t happen again, a new forward was high on the agenda – eventually, they settled with a very wise loan-to-buy deal involving Benfica colossus Carlos Vinicius.

His hat-trick in the FA Cup last weekend showed exactly why they got the decision right. In resting Kane, the Brazilian powerhouse stepped up to the plate, making it six goals and three assists from only ten appearances this campaign, per Transfermarkt.

But it could’ve been so much different as Spurs were among the names linked with a move for former Gent talisman Jonathan David.

After scoring 23 times last term, it’s no surprise to see why so many teams were keen to sign him, including the likes of Liverpool and Manchester United, though it would be Ligue 1 outfit Lille that won the race, splashing out a record €30m (£27m).

Levy can count his lucky stars that he didn’t sanction that sort of transfer as he’s quickly become a massive flop. David has clearly struggled with the difference in quality between the Belgian top-flight and one of Europe’s elite five leagues.

He has scored just twice all season and has failed to bag in the Europa League despite starting all six group games, per Transfermarkt. The 21-year-old has seen a decrease in shots and dribbles per game in the competition too, which reinforces the above viewpoint.

We’ve seen in recent windows that the likes of Wesley and Mbwana Samatta struggled to hit the ground running in the Premier League, so it is certainly a bullet dodged for Spurs.

Despite being dubbed a “phenomenon” by former coach Hein Vanhaezebrouck, David has cost Lille around £14m per goal, when also factoring in his reported £46.5k-per-week wages.

A total waste of money.

Even Vincent Janssen was more worth his salt despite a tumultuous stint in N17 – in a largely bit-part role, he scored six goals in 42 appearances having cost a fraction of the price at £17m.

Could you imagine if Levy pulled the trigger at £27m only for him to struggle behind Kane?

That would have been devastating, all in comparison to the shrewd acquisition of Vinicius, who is only costing a €3m (£2.7m) loan fee upfront with an option of €45m (£40m) as per Benfica’s official statement, via The Sun.

Six goals for just £2.7m upfront looks a masterstroke in comparison to David costing Lille £14m per goal thus far.

Levy certainly dodged a massive bullet in not following through with Spurs’ interest in the Canadian flop this summer.

AND in other news, £140kp/w “revelation” was SO costly in Spurs’ draw with Fulham…

Aston Villa are in advanced talks with Marseille to sign Morgan Sanson, Andre Villas-Boas had some pretty harsh words for the first bid that arrived from Villa Park though, and Noel Whelan has criticised the former Premier League manager.

What Whelan had to say about Villas-Boas

Speaking to Football Insider, Whelan said: “Look, I think there’s only one thing to say about that – they’re trying to get money but you’re embarrassing another football club at the same time.

“Anything that goes between football clubs, directors, in terms of money should be kept private, end of story.“They’re trying to force their hand here, it’s not the right way to go about it or do business, that’s for sure and it makes it very difficult to go back in with a second offer and the player may lose that transfer that he really wants.”Is the pundit right to slate the Marseille manager?We know the first bid Villa made was immediately rejected as it was only €7m with €2m in bonuses and Marseille wanted closer to €18m. Whelan does have a point when he says that this business should be kept private as these type of negotiations aren’t typically revealed by managers involved in them.However, Villa probably won’t mind too much as they were likely just testing the waters with their original bid to see what sort or price they could get the player for.Despite the frustrations that Whelan believe Villa will have, the club will now be happy as Sky Sports are reporting that a larger bid has been accepted.In other news, Villa fans were over the moon following a Fabrizio Romano tweet. Have a read what it was about here!