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Trent Alexander-Arnold has worked his way into becoming a key player for Liverpool, and fans have taken the opportunity to praise him on the eve of what will be his 100th appearance for the club.

It is quite an achievement for a player who only turned 21 a few weeks ago, and given the way he is playing there are likely to be many more to come.

As an added bonus for many Reds, he is Liverpool through-and-through. He is living his dream and has no desire to leave – so could feasibly hold the right-back slot for years to come.

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One fan suggested that he is the best thing to happen to the club since Steven Gerrard, which is some praise indeed, but if he manages to maintain his rate of creating chances and producing assists – with 37 and three respectively this term – then he will be remembered for years to come.

More importantly, he could be essential in Liverpool’s chances of picking up more silverware, and the longer he maintains his current performance the greater the plaudits he will receive.

Here are some of the reactions from supporters gushing over what he has brought to the club.

According to 90min, Arsenal are at the head of the queue for Villarreal defender Pau Torres.

The 22-year-old spent last season on loan with Malaga in the second tier before becoming a key player for the Yellow Submarine in the early stages of the 2019/20 campaign – making eight La Liga appearances.

90min reports that Chelsea and Manchester City have both expressed an interest in the centre-back but Arsenal are said to be leading the race.

Torres, who is currently with the Spain squad on international duty, only signed a new five-year contract with the La Liga club at the start of the month.

However, 90min report that the deal includes a release clause of somewhere between £43.6m and £65.4m.

A selection of Arsenal fans have been on social media commenting on the transfer speculation, and there are a number of mixed views on the 6 ft 4 ace.

A selection of the Twitter reaction can be seen below:

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…

This week Leeds United fans have been complaining on Twitter that the football the club have been playing this season isn’t at the standard it was this time last term.

However, Marcelo Bielsa has been quick to refute those complaints as he stated in his press conference that his team have actually improved from 2018/19.

Somebody has to be wrong, so we’re going to explore whether or not Leeds’ start to this term is in fact better than their first 13 games last season.

The first thing to note is that numerically, Leeds are actually in a better place than they were this time last year as they sit one point better off after 13 games.

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However, the fans’ complaints weren’t about the results, they were about the manner in which their team are picking up points.

You have to say, Leeds aren’t winning in such a convincing fashion this time around.

United had won five games by two or more goals at this stage of last season including impressive victories against eventual champions Norwich City and playoff finalists Derby County.

This term, the Whites have won just four of their games by at least a two-goal margin, with three of those wins coming against teams battling it out nearer to the bottom of the table in Stoke, Wigan and Barnsley.

The Yorkshire club’s recent woes in front of goal have caused concern as well. Bielsa’s side haven’t scored more than one goal in any of their last six Championship games.

Curiously, Leeds went on a very similar run this time last year as they failed to find a second goal for five games in a row starting with their 2-1 loss to Birmingham.

Why being the away goalkeeper at Leeds is the toughest job in football in the video below…

The reality seems to be that Leeds fans are looking back on their early form last term with rose-tinted glasses.

Supporters are seemingly comparing their current run to their first five or six games of the 2018/19 campaign rather than their first 13.

The side are having slightly bigger problems in terms of finding the net this year, but due to their defensive rigidity, they’ve still been able to grind out results – conceding the fewest goals in the division.

Both parties have a point, but Bielsa is probably right, Leeds are slightly more impressive this year than last.

However, the Elland Road faithful will always look back on those first few matches under the Argentine as the barometer against which all future performances are measured, and that just isn’t a fair reflection of how the club played for the majority of the time last term.

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It really has not been a good start to the season for Everton so far.

The Toffees were busy in the summer transfer window, spending over £100m on new recruits, with Moise Kean and Fabian Delph amongst those to join. As such, there will have been hopes that the Merseyside outfit could improve on their eighth-placed finish in the Premier League last term.

So far, though, that is beginning to look increasingly unlikely. The Goodison Park side sit 15th and have won just two of their first seven matches. The pressure is already on Marco Silva to turn things around.

Against Manchester City, they were expected to lose, and they eventually did 3-1. Alex Iwobi, one of those new arrivals, came on after six minutes following Theo Walcott’s head injury, but was then subbed off again with 17 minutes left on the clock. That sums up his performance.

The Everton faithful were not happy with the Nigeria international’s performance, and they took to Twitter to share their thoughts. You can see some of the best comments from the social media platform below.

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

According to The Daily Mail, Tottenham Hotspur have been dealt a blow in their bid to sign reported target Donny van de Beek in January, but it could actually be a blessing in disguise for the club.

What’s the word, then?

Well, The Daily Mail has picked up on quotes from the player as reported by Dutch media outlet Voetbal International following Ajax’s 3-0 win against Valencia on Wednesday.

The English report says the 22-year-old has attracted interest from Spurs, Manchester United and Real Madrid, but his latest comments suggest he has no intentions of going anywhere in the New Year.

Watch Tottenham Hotspur Live Streams With StreamFootball.tv Below

According to VI, as translated by The Daily Mail, the Netherlands international said: “I don’t want to leave during the winter break. I play here all season, I finish at Ajax this year.”

Blessing in disguise for Spurs

While van de Beek is clearly a quality player given he has scored 34 goals and provided a further 29 assists in 149 appearances for Ajax, as per Transfermarkt, he just isn’t a transfer priority for Tottenham right now.

The Dutchman usually plays in a more attack-minded midfield role for the Eredivisie giants, and the north London outfit already have plenty of options available there – even if they need to replace Christian Eriksen within the next months with his contract expiring.

Their main focus when it comes to strengthening their midfield should be to bring in an out-and-out defensive player, with the likes of Harry Winks simply not suited to the role of providing that protection for the defence – as seen when he played at the base of a diamond during the 7-2 defeat against Bayern Munich in midweek.

The talented van de Beek could come at a price too given his clear potential for the future, and Daniel Levy would be better off putting whatever money it would take to bring him to the club and invest in a top-class defensive midfielder instead.

It could just make all the difference for Spurs.

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According to the Scottish Sun, Arsenal are planning a £25 million bid for Celtic left-back Kieran Tierney.

The defender has been one of the Hoops’ standout performers this season, and it’s unsurprising that he’s attracting plenty of interest. Losing the 21-year-old would be a major blow for the Bhoys, but they will struggle to retain the Scot’s services should the Gunners come in with such a huge bid.

Celtic boss Neil Lennon should already be planning for life without Tierney at Celtic Park.

Watch how to cross the road like a boss with freestyler Ben Nuttall in the video below…

On the chalkboard

Celtic will struggle to buy in a replacement for Tierney of the same quality. However, they may not have to sign anyone at all. 18-year-old Scotland under-19 international Daniel Church may be ready to make the step up to the first team.

The youngster signed a new contract with the club in September and is a highly-rated prospect. It would be a bold move, but bringing Church into the first team, to work alongside veteran full-back Emilio Izaguirre, could pay off. Extending Izaguirre’s current contract so that he is available to compete with Church next season would be a wise move.

A change in style

The loss of Tierney would likely also mean a change in the way Celtic play. The 12-cap Scotland international contributes a lot in an attacking sense. He has already racked up five league assists this season. The Bhoys may struggle to find someone who can replicate his output in the final third. 

Celtic may, then, revert to a more traditional system, with a more defensively-focused left-back. This would increase the pressure on the likes of Scott Sinclair to deliver from the wide areas but would make Tierney much easier to replace.

Reports are suggesting that Newcastle United could be set to target adding another striker to their ranks.

According to The Chronicle, the Magpies are interested in signing Atlanta United forward Josef Martinez in January as they look to bolster their forward options.

The Venezuelan has been in outstanding form since moving to the MLS in 2017, scoring a staggering 76 goals in just 81 appearances.

He has recently broken a league record for scoring in consecutive matches (15) and is now aiming to match Lionel Messi’s world record of scoring in 21 consecutive club matches (via MLS Soccer.)

As it stands he has scored the same amount of goals this season as LA Galaxy star Zlatan Ibrahimovic in the MLS with 26 and is just two behind Carlos Vela in the race for the Golden Boot.

The Magpies may have an established scouting network in the United States after their pursuit of Miguel Almiron last year and lost a number of goals in the shape of Ayoze Perez and Salomon Rondon over the course of the summer. So far, attacking signings Joelinton, Andy Carroll and Allan Saint-Maximin have just one goal between them.

One thing is for sure, it would almost certainly be a popular signing with the club’s fanbase if the tweets below are anything to go off. Indeed, many of them have already taken to Twitter to express their hopes that Martinez will be donning the famous black and white shirt sooner rather than later.

Even though Aston Villa may have had a fairly impressive January transfer window in terms of the business they completed throughout the month, it seems as though they’ve now been dealt a blow in their apparent chase to sign one of the Premier League’s most promising young talents.

What’s the latest?

After being linked with a move for Manchester City midfielder James McAtee during the recent January transfer window among many other clubs also vying for his signature, Villa and those other clubs have now been dealt a big blow in their future attempts to sign the 19-year-old.

That’s after he recently put pen to paper on a new long-term deal at the Manchester club on Wednesday evening.

Gerrard gutted

In 81 appearances for City’s youth sides, McAtee has managed to rack up 42 goals and 26 assists, highlighting the clear attacking talents he has and presumably why so many clubs were apparently after him last month.

This also shows how disappointed and gutted Villa manager Steven Gerrard will be at missing out on having a young talent like McAtee in his ranks.

Described as an “intelligent” player in the past by City academy coach Brian Barry-Murphy, he could have been the perfect replacement for current Villa teenager Carney Chukwuemeka with the future of his time at Villa Park in doubt.

Now that the midfielder has pledged his future to the reigning league champions and current leaders until 2026, this could put an end to the possibility of the Midlands side or any other team signing him on a permanent basis in the immediate future.

However, with the teenager only making three senior appearances for Pep Guardiola’s side across all competitions so far this season, all coming from the substitutes bench, there’s every chance that a loan move away where he’d be able to play regular senior minutes would be seen as beneficial for the youngster.

With that in mind, when the next summer transfer window opens, if the Englishman doesn’t manage to break into the City team before then and isn’t likely to get much senior game time, it would definitely be worth seeing if they’d be willing to loan him out to a club like Villa.

In other news: Alan Nixon claims Villa are “going to sign” highly-coveted gem, he’s a “real talent” – opinion

West Ham United still have a few months left of the season to finish as high in the Premier League table as possible, while also progress as far into the Europa League as they can.

Once the season comes to an end, the summer transfer window will open and give the Hammers a chance to once again make some changes to their squad, either by bringing in new faces or moving some current players out.

With that in mind, it seems as though a clue has emerged over one particular deal which could finally see the east London club get rid of one player who has failed to prove his worth in recent months.

What’s the news?

According to a recent report from French media outlet L’Equipe, Ligue 1 club Lyon have set their sights on signing West Ham centre-back Issa Diop during the upcoming summer transfer window.

Since arriving at West Ham in 2018 from French club Toulouse in a then-club record deal of £22m, the defender has gone on to make 118 appearances for the Irons across all competitions, chipping in with eight goals and three assists along the way.

With just 11 appearances in the Premier League this season, the Frenchman has earned a rather uninspiring overall performance rating of 6.44/10 from WhoScored, making him the second-lowest rated Hammers player to start more than one league game in the current campaign.

Even when the 25-year-old has been given the chance to play in the league this season, he hasn’t shown Moyes why he deserves to be in the conversation to be a first-choice pick, winning just three of the nine tackles that he has attempted.

Also, the defender has lost more aerial duels (15) than he has won (14), showing that he has not been the most reliable option for the team.

Even away from the Premier League, Diop hasn’t been that impressive, with journalist Jack Rosser slamming the defender for having a “shocking” start to West Ham’s FA Cup win over Kidderminster Harriers in February.

Taking all this into account, it could certainly please a lot of Hammers fans to see Moyes and the club cash in on the centre-back this summer, especially if they can pick up a decent transfer fee for him and use it to secure a suitable replacement.

In other news: GSB heading for disaster on “sensational” West Ham ace that’ll have supporters raging

Crystal Palace, Chelsea and Leicester City are all weighing up offers for Ajax midfielder Edson Alvarez.

That’s according to Football Insider, which has led to a number of Eagles fans giving their thoughts to the news on social media.

Alvarez is a holding midfielder who can also line out as a centre-back, and he currently holds a career-high Transfermarkt valuation of £18m. Only Christian Benteke among Palace’s squad can exceed Alvarez’s 3.7 headers per game this season, while his passing success rate of 88% trumps every player at Selhurst Park.

The 24-year-old has been with Ajax since 2019 and has made 84 appearances for the Dutch giants. A Mexico international, Alvarez is seemingly on Palace’s radar, with the club making regular checks on him this season.

Football Insider claim that Ajax are braced for offers from the Premier League trio and face a battle to keep him at the club beyond the end of the January transfer window.

Palace fans react

Both @cpfc_xtra and @CPFCtransfersHQ shared the news regarding Alvarez’s Eagles links on social media. Here is what these Palace supporters had to say in reply, with one labelling a possible move as ‘class’.

“We’re big time under PV”

Credit: @tomjones2610

“Get it done, honestly he’s class”

Credit: @SteYouLater24

“This would be CLASS. I rate him big.”

Credit: @common_wishbone

“Omg Edson is so so good, I’d love him”

Credit: @WardTheGenie

“52 Mexico caps at 24, get the man in”

Credit: @LlLFishy

“Now this would be a great signing but can’t see it happening”

Credit: @mandyswagsta

In other news: ‘I’m honestly surprised’ – Matt Woosnam reacts as ‘great’ off-field news emerges from Palace