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Birmingham manager Alex McLeish believes Nikola Zigic can follow in the footsteps of Peter Crouch and become a major star in England.

Zigic stole all the headlines playing against West Ham once again when his second-half header won the points for Birmingham and helped them move out of the bottom three.

The Serbian international has had a slow start to life in the Premier League following his six-million-pound move from Valencia last summer, but he netted his sixth goal of the season at Upton Park and looks to be hitting his best form at the right time of the season.

McLeish has no doubts he can get even stronger and has been showing him videos of Crouch to show him how he makes a success of his height in the Premier League.

McLeish said: “He’s a bit more like Crouchy. When he started he was a little awkward and ungainly but worked hard at his game and became impossible at times for defenders to play him.”

“He’s still doing it. We’re looking for the big fella to use Crouchy as an example. He’s watched vidoes of Crouch.”

“He’s upped his game. He’s at a good level now. He’s an international player and it’s been a challenge getting used to England.”

“He’s beginning to hold his own. He was pushed in the back for the goal but he managed to stay firm and get his head on it.”

“It was a matter of showing him videos and some of his own footage. It’s a very different style of football to Spain and Serbia. I’d like to see a big return in this half of the season – 20 goals,” he joked.

West Ham manager Avram Grant admitted his birthday celebrations were cancelled and revealed his concern over the team’s poor defending which cost them dearly.

Grant said: “How could I celebrate (my birthday), we didn’t score and we didn’t win. It is not a happy birthday but it is not me that is important, it is the team.”

“We didn’t deal well with the set-pieces. We need to deal better with this.”

“We gave them easy free kicks and we know this is their strength because from open play they didn’t create chances against us.”

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“The disappointing thing is that we lost to a team near us and it is a game of six points.”

“We take a few steps forward and one back and we need to learn from this. We deserve to stay up but we need to do it. We cannot lose games like this.”

“We have 12 games until the end of the season and there are not so many points between the teams. We can do it but we want to do it as quickly as we can.”

“The thing that disappointed me most was the tempo of the game. We are used to playing with a high tempo and confidence and today we didn’t play in the way we know.”

Brendan Rodgers’ ambition for Liverpool is impressive. He’s recently outlined his vision for the club, a set of ideas that he accumulated over 15 years. Liverpool need that kind of youthful enthusiasm at their club, but will supporters afford Rodgers the time?

Rodgers has already been greeted with crude remarks about his lack of experience, and the club are viewed as shopping in the bargain bins for a manager. But really, what do Liverpool fans expect? Their history will only take them so far, and the mess that was left behind by the Hicks/Gillett reign was one that very few wanted to touch.

The club have done very little in a very long time. Arsenal fans get the full whack every season at not having won a trophy in however long, but Liverpool have experienced a greater fall since they last won the FA Cup. And really, how many are going to remember King Kenny’s phenomenal run in the League Cup in 10 years time? A run that culminated in a difficult final against a much lesser team.

Liverpool fans really shouldn’t be too demanding of a Jose Mourinho or Pep Guardiola-type figure – it’s not going to happen. The new owners were looking at realistic candidates. And while I don’t believe Roberto Martinez was the right man for the Liverpool job, Rodgers does appear to have something different about him.

His outline for the club is one that looks to expand on a number of levels. Importantly, the youth system needs to continue to flourish. We’ve seen a number of players brought up from the academy over the past couple of seasons, and the new manager obviously wants to see more.

Rodgers also wants the playing style of the team to be a little more open and adventurous. The quality of certain players may come into question, but Rodgers has done well with fewer resources at his previous club.

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And above all, trophies need to be won. He describes this as “the bigger picture,” with all the other factors weighing in to a long-term successful future.

And really, should Liverpool fans be so dismissive of a manager who wants to take them club onto a new level? The club haven’t been consistently relevant in the title picture since…well, I can’t even remember. And the only manager to even get them close to the Premier League title was chased out of town not too long after. Rafa Benitez had a good squad with a number of excellent players. Poor buys were scattered around, but Alex Ferguson was hardly driven out of Old Trafford for his less than stellar buys.

And then there’s King Kenny, the man who apparently can do no wrong in the red half of Merseyside, but to everyone else was failing considerably.

Do we start with the poor performances on the pitch? No, instead lets look that the purchases that were made during his short stint in charge. The club clearly had the money to build a successful squad, and even one that the current manager could do a lot with. But instead, ridiculous amounts of cash were thrown around aimlessly for no end product, from Stewart Downing to the unimpressive Jordan Henderson, who is barely an improvement on the former.

Whether it was Dalglish who gave the go ahead on these deals or another figure at the club, the team were performing badly and had thrown a lot of money away.

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Considering the diminishing status of the club over the past few years, the club should regard themselves as lucky to have a manager who wants to stick around for the foreseeable future. He might not be everyone’s pick, but he’s showing a real level of determination to bring some glory back to the club. It’s a better option than going for short-term, stop-starts with older managers who will only be around for one to two seasons.

There’s a no nonsense attitude from Rodgers. He’s also not blinded into thinking the club’s former glory will warrant them a place in the top four; it will take time and a considerable amount of effort.

But for now, the supporters should be a little more welcoming to a manager who could bring some genuine excitement to Anfield. There is little reason to dismiss Rodgers yet, as like their new manager, Liverpool need to take a number of steps forward to be one of the big guns in the English football again.

Alberto Aquilani could finally be heading for the Anfield exit door after AC Milan confirmed their interest in the midfielder, the Daily Mail reports.

The Italian has suffered a dreadful time at Liverpool ever since joining the club for £20 million from Roma in 2009.

After spent his first few months in the treatment room he made a few sporadic appearances toward the end of the 2009/10 season before spending the last campaign on loan at Juventus.

His performances in Turin seem to have impressed officials at the San Siro with owner Silvio Berlusconi confessing his admiration for the player.

“Aquilani is a great player.”said:  Berlusconi

‘We are discussing the possibility with (AC Milan administrator Adriano) Galliani. 

“I spoke to (AC Milan coach Massimiliano) Allegri and we will see what happens.” 

Milan are desperate to strengthen their midfield and have targeted the 27-year-old after missing out on Fiorentina’s Ricardo Montolivo.

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Anfield boss Kenny Dalglish is keen to move the Italian on to balance the books after an expensive summer on Mersey side.

It’s expected that the club will make a huge loss on Aquilani but Dalglish needs to start bringing money into the club after shelling out over a £100 million since his return at the start of the year.

Liverpool will need to be willing to adapt their game when they take on Stoke in the English Premier League on Wednesday.

Tony Pulis’ side have a reputation for playing a direct, uncompromising brand of football, a style which saw them get the better of Liverpool earlier this season at the Britannia Stadium.

The Reds lost 2-0 on that occasion and manager Kenny Dalglish is determined to avoid a repeat this time around.

“My next managerial challenge on the pitch comes against Stoke City at Anfield on Wednesday night,” Dalglish said.

“I’ve always had to adapt to facing different styles as a manager; in my first time at Liverpool we had to play the likes of Millwall, who had Teddy Sheringham and Tony Cascarino and played a very direct game, or Wimbledon, who were led by John Fashanu.”

“Whether it’s Arsenal’s passing style or Stoke’s long throw, you have to try to deal with it and combat it.”

“And let’s credit Tony Pulis with doing a good job at Stoke. It’s common sense for a manager to select a style that suits his players.”

Liverpool head into the match on the back of two straight wins, against Wolves and Fulham, and can equal their best run of the season with a win on Wednesday.

Dalglish has plenty of options to choose from, with only defender Jamie Carragher unavailable through injury, while new signing Luis Suarez is also a chance to play, with the Uruguayan forward expected to complete his transfer from Ajax on Monday.

It remains to be seen whether unsettled striker Fernando Torres will join him, with Chelsea expected to make a last-ditch bid to lure the Spanish ace before the transfer window closes on Monday.

Stoke’s 1-0 FA Cup win over Wolves on Sunday starts a run of three games in seven days for Pulis’ side, and the manager was disappointed with the scheduling log-jam.

“We have got the short straw because we go to Anfield on Wednesday night and then Sunderland on Saturday morning,” Pulis said.

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“I’m a bit disappointed at the FA Cup and its placing in the calendar with the smaller clubs not having squads as strong as the top sides.”

Stoke are just two points behind Liverpool with a game in hand, and could move as high as seventh with a win on Wednesday.

However, Stoke have never won at Anfield, with their best result a 0-0 draw in 2008.

The French national team have had plenty of success picking players of African descent in the past. Think Patrick Vieira, Marcel Desailly or Zinedine Zidane. Well, M’Baye Niang could trump them all. The Caen striker is just 17, but already he is drawing comparisons to Thierry Henry given his ability to drift out wide and take players on.

Niang has figured on the European radar for just over a year now, since he made his debut in April 2011 against Toulouse at just 16 years and 144 days, the youngest player in Caen history. He bagged his first professional goal just a couple of weeks later against Lens, making him the second youngest player to score in Ligue One. This end of season run in the side saw him finish with three goals in seven appearances.

In 2011/12, Niang found the going a little tougher, just managing two strikes in 23 appearances, but Caen had a poor campaign that eventually ended in relegation. Contractual issues also hampered Niang’s form as his professional contract became the subject of some debate. Nonetheless, he is still rated as one of the brightest talents in world football, sparking a race to try and secure his signature. Both Arsenal and Tottenham have been accredited with an interest in his services and should Caen chose to sell their young starlet, the Emirates could be an ideal destination given Arsene Wenger’s proven track record in developing youngsters into top players, not to mention the already-strong French contingent that runs through the club.

Whilst one has to be wary of over-hyping a foreign talent at such an early age (look at Romelu’s Lukaku’s struggles at Chelsea for evidence of this), Niang has the attributes that would make him a hit in the Premier League. As mentioned before, Niang is perfectly adept at starting out wide and using his pace and power to terrorise defenders when cutting back. His physical attributes are also worth a mention, indeed he already possesses the upper body strength to tangle with those hard-as-nails Premier League centre backs, while he already stands at over six foot ensuring he’s more than handy in the air as well.

After an initial struggle between France and Senegal for his services at international level, the French seem to have won that battle and have accelerated him through the age groups. Despite missing the Fifa U17 World Cup, Niang made his U21 debut against Latvia last September, scoring his first goal during that game as well, before appearing again against Portugal a couple of days later. Given Karim Benzema’s poor form at the European Championships, the French may look to Niang as a potential candidate to lead the line at the World Cup in 2014.

Undoubtedly the young prospect has natural talent that we could only dream of. The challenging part is keeping his feet firmly on the ground and ensuring that Niang can fulfil his potential to the level it deserves. For the time being, he may be better off establishing himself in the Caen first XI before moving across Europe. If he does stay in Ligue Two, make sure you keep an eye on Caen’s performances, because Europe’s top scouts will already be there, without a doubt.

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Liverpool are lining up a show swoop for the Celtic winger Paddy McCourt the Daily Mail understands.

Manager Kenny Dalglish is considering a bid for the Northern Ireland winger as he continues his Anfield revolution.

Interest in Celtic man will come as a surprise to many in the red half of Merseyside considering the boss’ penchant for signing big names this summer.

However a starring performance and two outstanding goals in Ireland’s 4-0 demolition of the Faroe Islands in last weeks European Championship qualifying game has brought him new attention.

The 27-year-old’s talents haven’t gone unnoticed in the Premier League with Dalglish identifying him as the man to add some craft up front.

He believes McCourt, dubbed the ‘Derry Pele’, will offer the guile that was evidently lacking in the final third during Saturday’s draw with Sunderland.

Wolverhampton Wanderers and Blackburn Rovers have also been credited with an interest in the winger although they would never be able to compete with Liverpool’s financial muscle.

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Scouts from all over Europe are said to be running the rule over the former Rochdale and Derry City man who moved to Parkhead in 2008.

Three years on the fringes of the first team could persuade McCourt to join new midfielders Charlie Adam, Jordan Henderson and Stewart Downing at Anfield although the Bhoys are keen to hold onto him.

Everton manager David Moyes has no regrets over his decision to sell midfielder Steven Pienaar to Tottenham.

Everton host West Ham on Saturday without the South African, but Moyes was not overly concerned.

“It was not a difficult decision to make financially. I said we would not let him go if we did not get a good offer,” said Moyes.

“I was happy to let him see out the contract – he played well in the games for us and I have no problem with Steven.”

Moyes was delighted to see Seamus Coleman and Victor Anichebe both sign new contracts at Goodison Park.

“It is really important news for the club,” he said. “Seamus already had a contract but we thought he had done well and he deserved a new one. It is what Everton do – we reward people who do well.”

“There have been talks with Victor for a while and he has now put pen to paper to stay in the place where I think he should be. Hopefully he can stay injury free because I think he has the potential to become a really good player.”

West Ham have propped up the table for most of the season but Moyes is not underestimating Avram Grant’s side.

“They have good players and a good manager and I think there is no easy game in the Premier League,” said Moyes.

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“West Ham were on a bit of a run, OK they had a bit of a bad result at Newcastle a few weeks ago, but overall they have been going about their job just fine.”

Striker Louis Saha is a doubt with a thigh strain and Tim Cahill is still away at the Asian Cup with Australia. Phil Jagielka is expected to return from a thigh problem.

According to reports from the Birmingham Mail, Manchester United are set to finally bring Gareth Bale back to the Premier League this summer and bring the Real Madrid flier to Old Trafford.

The Welshman, valued at £63m by Transfermarkt, left these shores in 2013, winning 1 La Liga and 3 Champions League titles – with the prospect of a fourth this season – at the Bernabeu.

His talent and star quality is obvious. He would be yet another “X Factor” signing made by Jose Mourinho’s men but does that automatically make him a good fit?

Football FanCast take a closer look at the potential consequences – from a United point of view – if Bale did pitch up on the red half of Manchester this summer…

Consequence 1 – Anthony Martial leaves the club

Both Martial and Marcus Rashford are not seeing as much gametime as they might like at Old Trafford and the January arrival of Alexis Sanchez has shunted both men even further down the pecking order.

But while Rashford appears content with the situation at his boyhood club, Martial’s attitude is reportedly failing to impress Mourinho and that makes him the man who currently looks as if he is closer to the exit door as it stands.

Martial is an incredibly talented player but Mourinho appears to prefer Rashford and Bale’s arrival would further limit the opportunities the Frenchman gets to play.

Consequence 2 – Juan Mata gets less gametime

Bale would likely want to operate from the right and that’s where Mata is usually fielded. The Spaniard’s transformation from prolific number 10 to right winger has been overseen by Mourinho but it doesn’t appear to be a comfortable fit.

Either way, Bale could come inside and deliver crosses and shots but also offer much more explosiveness than Mata can muster, which would be bad news for the former Valencia playmaker.

He may not force an exit from the club in the same way Martial may look to, but with Jesse Lingard also seemingly preferred, Mata could be marginalised if Bale arrived.

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Consequence 3 – United become a pure 4-3-3 team

It would suit their superstar players and the added explosiveness of Bale would encourage Mourinho that he could sit back and counter but also dominate sides with the 4-3-3 he first brought to the Premier League way back in 2004.

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Alexis and Bale either side of Lukaku with Paul Pogba racing forward to help out. It sounds like a wonderful combination on paper and a tactical solution that would allow Mourinho to get the best of his star men.

The penchant for the 4-2-3-1 may well become a thing of the past.

Three wins on the bounce and five in six matches has seen Leeds United climb from a potential relegation battle, to the comfort of mid-table.

The Whites are now ten points above the relegation zone and if recent form is anything to go by, the threat of playing League One football next season is now all but over.

It has been a remarkable change of fortunes for Leeds after falling to within just a point of the drop zone in early January are were really struggling to put a string of results together. But under Neil Redfearn, there finally seems to be some stability on the pitch and, at long last, the club can start to look forward rather than continually over its shoulder.

Redfearn is currently the fourth manager Massimo Cellino has hired since officially taker over in April last year. The constant change in manager hasn’t helped matters on the pitch, with Leeds struggling for consistency until very recently. Despite this, Cellino looks to have finally got it right with Neil Redfearn but the main thing the manager needs is time and patience to build a team capable of challenging for promotion.

He needs to be given some faith when a few results go against him because he has shown until now that he is able to get the best out of the current group of players, who seems as though they are enjoying playing under him.

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Along with Redfearn, another reason why Leeds have suddenly got themselves well and truly out of trouble is down to their goalkeeper. Marco Silvestri was signed from Cheivo in the summer and has been a stand-out performer so far this term. The 23-year-old Italian has won points on his own and kept the team in games at times throughout the season and will surely be in high demand once the transfer window re-opens in the summer.

Silvestri has been consistent throughout the season, with several stand-out performances. In August he produced a fine man-of-the-match display against Bolton, which helped his side win 1-0. He also made fantastic saves in both the victories over Bournemouth and Middlesbrough, with last weekend’s performance arguably his best of the season so far.

Against Middlesbrough, the young keeper made at least three tremendous saves along with constant blocks that kept the home side at bay. It is safe to say that Silvestri was the main reason why Leeds came away with an impressive away win and has been one of the best goalkeepers in the league. Knowing how important a quality goalkeeper is at this level, the club will be desperate to keep hold of him for as long as possible.

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Leeds have been through an extremely tough ride in the past decade or so. With no Premier League football since 2004, and a three year spell in League One, it is only now that the club looks as stable as it has been for many years. With a manager who has been performing excellently since taking charge and a team that is starting to look exciting, perhaps for the first time in a long time there is hope amongst the Leeds United faithful.

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Roma starlet Erik Lamela is unlikely to join Manchester United this summer, according to his agent Pablo Sabbag.

The Argentine has been linked with the Premier League leaders in recent weeks, as manager Sir Alex Ferguson looks to step up his transfer plans ahead of the end of the season.

A wide attacking midfielder is believed to be one of his priorities, leading to links with Lamela, who is regarded as one of the finest young talents in Serie A.

But Sabbag, who claims to have a working relationship with the Red Devils, feels that it is too early to be talking about his client’s future, and played down suggestions that he could be moving to Old Trafford:

“No, there is no truth in that (a move to United) at all,” he is quoted by talkSPORT via Gazzetta Giallorossa.

“For the moment, there is no offer from Manchester United.

“Obviously I have a relationship with them, but we have never discussed this particular topic. It’s the same with Roma, a club I have a continuous relationship with.

“It’s just too soon to be talking about the transfer market.”

Lamela has notched an impressive 11 goals in 21 league appearances for Roma this season, despite the capital club struggling domestically.

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The 20-year-old was dubbed the ‘new Lionel Messi’ early in his career, but his development has slowed slightly since his move to Europe from River Plate.

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