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In an exclusive interview with Football FanCast, former Aston Villa midfielder Lee Hendrie revealed his admiration for Bournemouth star David Brooks, expressing his desire for the attacker to join his old side.

According to talkSPORT, Villa wanted to sign Brooks in the January transfer window but nothing materialised – a boost for now Cherries boss Jonathan Woodgate.

The 23-year-old has made a solid contribution in the Cherries’ Championship campaign and quest for promotion, producing five assists and three goals for his team.

Brooks has had his problems with injury in recent seasons, and this term has been no different, but that has not detracted Hendrie, who is in awe of the player’s quality.

Speaking exclusively to FFC about the Wales international, the ex-Villa player said:

“I’m a big fan of David Brooks. I’ve seen a fair bit of him this season and he’s an absolute talent, he really is. He’s a young man with bags of ability and I think if he comes into Villa, I think he’d be a great addition.

“He reminds me of Jack [Grealish]. He’s very slight, he’s very mobile and, again, he’s another player that could set the Prem on fire if he’s given a chance.”

During the 2018/19 Premier League season, Brooks was able to make an impact, finishing the campaign with 12 goal involvements, so the Bournemouth man could be an option worth exploring once again for Villa.

Lee Johnson may have got this Sunderland side playing better football but there is one thing he cannot seem to control – injuries.

It has been a wretched few months in terms of fitness for his players. At the moment, he is missing Conor McLaughlin, Denver Hume, Bailey Wright, Jordan Willis and Grant Leadbitter.

He was set to receive an injury boost this week with Tom Flanagan approaching fitness again. Last week, the manager admitted that he was a week away from returning. That meant he should have been fit to face Rochdale on Saturday.

However, as revealed by Johnson this week, Flanagan has suffered a setback in his bid to return and now looks as though he’ll miss this weekend’s game.

Speaking this week, the Mackems boss said: “Tom has got a deferred injury.

“He broke his foot and that caused him to run differently, that led to the calf injury, and now compensating for his calf he has now felt his hip flexor. He’s like the man who swallowed the bird to catch the spider to catch the fly!”

Johnson further commented on his injury on Friday afternoon, suggesting the defender wasn’t a million miles away from coming back.

Johnson must be tearing his hair out at the moment. Very rarely has he been able to play his strongest XI and, with Sunderland aiming to get promoted, that’s far from ideal.

If he is searching for positives, however, it’s that the Black Cats have coped adequately without Flanagan in the side.

It’s been a risk but the Mackems have converted Luke O’Nien into a centre-half and, alongside Dion Sanderson, they have been superb.

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Sunderland have kept three clean sheets in their last four, even with five defenders all on the treatment table.

With Flanagan set to miss out again this weekend, it wouldn’t be a great surprise if he keeps faith with Sanderson and O’Nien.

That being said, just imagine how good Sunderland could be once everyone is fit and healthy. This squad has high potential under Johnson if he ever gets the chance to harness it.

Sitting fourth in League One, this could be the year they finally bounce back to the Championship.

AND in other news, Move over Wyke: Sunderland should swoop for 57-cap gem who Moyes dubbed a “predator”…

It’s a rare occurrence that very little rides on the Old Firm Derby. However, when Celtic welcome their biggest rivals to Parkhead on Sunday, that will be the sad reality of the situation.

The SPFL title is no longer Celtic’s so this encounter may well be a tamer affair than usual.

On the chalkboard

This match marks a wonderful opportunity for John Kennedy to stamp his authority down and stake a claim for the permanent gig as Hoops boss.

Thus, he’ll need to get his team selection spot on. Kennedy will have a host of dilemmas, particularly in forward areas where they disappointed against Dundee United.

Odsonne Edouard was lacking fluidity while his usual clinical nature completely deserted him. The Hoops drew 0-0 and were made to rue a succession of opportunities to score. Benjamin Siegrist between the sticks made a mighty 12 saves during the clash.

Their performances in recent weeks haven’t been helped by Ryan Christie. The winger has been off the pace and has now scored just twice in his last 25 outings. Considering he bagged 20 goals last term, it’s a woeful effort from a player with so much ability.

The solution

Christie has been shocking lately and nothing typified that more than his display against Ross County. In losing 1-0, the Scotsman was woeful in the penalty area. He spurned four chances and even fired an effort over the bar and then over the stand from just a matter of yards out.

Fortunately, Kennedy has one of Celtic’s biggest weapons back; James Forrest.

The Hoops icon has only started five league games all season and hasn’t been seen in the starting XI since last September. On that occasion, Forrest typically found the back of the net.

The 29-year-old has missed a remarkable amount of football with an ankle injury but he made his return against Dundee United a fortnight ago. Forrest appeared from the bench and after having numerous weeks in full training, he has to be unleashed on Sunday against Rangers.

The £15k-per-week winger brings pace, power, trickery and the ability to score goals to the Bhoys. Crucially, however, is his ability to pop up in the big moments. “He is a big game player for Celtic. He is one of the boys that can do damage, he can score goals,” Frank McAvennie commented in January.

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Forrest netted 16 times last season, providing 22 assists in the process. Missing a player like that since September, therefore, has been gut-wrenching.

A player so consistent for Celtic, it’s hardly a surprise that without him they’ve lost the title. Bringing him into the fray on Sunday will do little to help their cause this season, but it could be game-changing in terms of the result.

AND in other news, Celtic must ruthlessly axe £15k-p/w “enigma” this summer, Lenny hated him…

Marcel Brands should agree to a discount deal to send Everton midfielder Bernard to United Arab Emirates side Al Nasr on loan with an obligation to buy.

What’s the word?

According to Fussball Transfers, Bernard will leave Goodison Park during the final days of the January transfer window and sign a short-term deal to join Al Nasr until the end of the season.

The agreement will include a €5m (£4.5m) obligation to turn the move permanent in the summer, after he has struggled to establish a pivotal role under Carlo Ancelotti this term.

Everton chiefs had made Bernard available for a winter move as they sought to slash the club’s bloated wage bill and rid themselves of those struggling to get a look in, amid interest from Al Nasr and AS Roma in the Brazilian midfielder.

The Toffees were not expected to accept any discounts to facilitate Bernard’s departure, with a £9m price tag slapped on the £120,000-per-week playmaker who had spoken with Roma boss Paulo Fonseca over a move to the Serie A side.

Everton’s stance led the Giallorossi to end their pursuit, having found the Blues difficult to negotiate with during talks over a potential swap deal involving goalkeeper Robin Olsen.

Bernard thus looked likely to stay at Goodison Park, where he has started just two of his six Premier League appearances this season, but may now be set for a move to Saudi Arabia.

Should Everton accept Al Nasr’s offer?

Bernard is clearly far from Ancelotti’s immediate thinking when deciding how best to secure Everton a European qualifying berth, and may be as far from the fore as ever before after Lucas Digne was selected at left-midfield over the Brazilian against Leicester City on Wednesday.

It was the second time in successive Premier League games that Ancelotti favoured fielding Digne in a wide midfield role over Bernard, and once again opted to leave the former Shakhtar Donetsk playmaker on the bench throughout the 90 minutes

Former England international Carlton Palmer recently spoke exclusively with Football FanCast and voiced confidence in Everton agreeing a deal to sell Bernard ahead of Monday’s (February 1) deadline, as there is no reason for the Brazilian to stay at Goodison Park if he is not playing.

The 28-year-old has now been left as an unused substitute in 12 top-flight fixtures this term, while being given only the final 23 minutes of the Blues’ FA Cup win over Sheffield Wednesday, as Bernard continues to bleed majority owner Farhad Moshiri dry on his vastly lucrative contract.

The £13.5m-rated maestro may have been signed as a free agent in 2018, but has now cost Everton £15.5m in wages over his 129 weeks as a Toffees player and with little to show for it. Bernard has scored just seven goals and provided seven assists in 77 games.

If Al Nasr have slapped a formal bid down on the table for Bernard, Brands should see little reason in not accepting the offer and ridding Everton of the midfielder who Darren Bent claims often “flatters to deceive” when given a chance to show his true talents.

AND in other news, Everton are in talks over the future of a £6.5m-rated flop courted by several sides…

Mike Ashley can set Newcastle United on a brighter path by replacing Steve Bruce with Swansea City head coach Steve Cooper.

What’s the word?

According to the Mirror, the Jacks gaffer is on a seven-man shortlist of likely options for the Toon to consider should the axe fall on Bruce’s Tyneside tenure.

The Magpies are approaching their sacking season for under-fire managers, with Steve McLaren relieved of his duties and replaced by Rafa Benitez with 10 games remaining of the 2015/16 season.

Alan Shearer also replaced Joe Kinnear in the hot seat with eight games to spare in the 2008/09 campaign, but – like Benitez – was unable to avoid relegation with not enough time left on the clock to change the fortunes at St. James’ Park.

Newcastle have 13 games to play in the current term to save their Premier League status for another year, with Bruce’s side currently just three points clear of the relegation zone. They have also lost 14 of their 25 fixtures played to date – only basement boys Sheffield United (20) and West Bromwich Albion (15) have been beaten more often.

Ashley is now nearing his hit or stick moment with Bruce, and there are said to be several candidates in with a chance of taking over in Benitez, Roberto Martinez, Graeme Jones, Eddie Howe, Sean Dyche, Cooper and a possible Toon return for Alan Pardew.

Newcastle are not currently seen as a priority for Ashley, who is focusing on his Fraser Group high street empire, while Chronicle Live report that the United owner is reluctant to pay Bruce a seven-figure pay-off amid a lack of gate revenue.

But things could change quickly if the Magpies lose to Wolverhampton Wanderers and 18th-placed Fulham beat Crystal Palace this weekend, with Ashley’s stance thought to be dependent on Bruce keeping Newcastle out of the bottom three.

Should Ashley hire Cooper?

It remains to be seen if Ashley takes any action on Bruce’s position anytime soon, but the Newcastle owner can set United on a brighter path by appointing Cooper as his replacement.

Newcastle could face a lot of competition to hire Cooper, not least from Swansea with the Welsh outfit in the midst of a Championship promotion battle, but also from Crystal Palace.

The Eagles are said to have been impressed by his record at the Liberty Stadium and see the 41-year-old as a potential replacement for Roy Hodson, whose contract is up at the end of the season.

Cooper is also an attractive coach for his connections from the Young Lions fold, while his knowledge of the emerging youth talents in the country are seen to have given his current side a boost in the transfer market

He won the Under 17 World Cup with England’s youth ranks in 2017 after orchestrating a comeback to beat Spain 5-2 in the final, having trailed 2-0 in the first half. And those connections would certainly be useful at St. James’ Park this summer, where funds are expected to be tight and several gaps will need to be plugged.

Former England international Kevin Phillips additionally once lauded Cooper for doing a “fantastic job” at Swansea, while The Guardian describe his Jacks side as being built on solid foundations in Freddie Woodman – the Toon loanee has 16 clean sheets in 28 Championship games this season.

It would surely take a lot to prise cooper away from the Liberty Stadium, which may not appeal to Ashley after paying Sheffield Wednesday £4m for Bruce, but hiring the Swansea boss could be the best route to securing a brighter future on Tyneside.

AND in other news, Newcastle are exploring a deal to sign a £31.5m-rated star for free this summer…

West Brom haven’t had a good track-record of signing exciting strikers, and that trend could continue if reports are to be believed…

What’s the word?

According to Sky Sports reporter Kavel Solhekol on the Transfer Show (as relayed by Football Daily), the Baggies have been offered the chance to sign Angers SCO forward Stephane Bahoken with an option-to-buy.

“We know West Brom do not have much to spend [this window], so maybe that would fit the bill,” claimed Solhekol.

Sam Allardyce has already bolstered his struggling Albion squad with the additions of Robert Snodgrass and Andy Lonergan, but the need for extra firepower has been ramped up since the departure of Charlie Austin to QPR on loan and the lengthy injury sustained to Karlan Grant.

Another Stephane flop

As we’ve mentioned, West Brom’s history with the attacking department has been atrocious – the fact that both of last summer’s signings, Austin and Kenneth Zohore, are out on loan speaks volumes, but if that’s not enough, then you may remember Brown Ideye – or Stephane Sessegnon.

In 2016, the Midlands outfit broke their transfer record with the £5.5m signing of Sessegnon from Sunderland. That turned out to be a disaster as he only scored eight goals in 92 appearances – he is arguably one of the worst we’ve ever seen at the Hawthorns.

Before his spell at the Black Cats, the Benin international had never featured in England, and with Bahoken, we’re getting a similar situation as he’s only had one loan spell in Scotland – both played the bulk of their careers in France.

Valued at £6.3m by Transfermarkt, the 28-year-old has managed to bag five times in Ligue 1 this term and hasn’t found the net in six successive appearances.

The self-proclaimed “animal” had a pretty dismal spell in the SPFL for St Mirren, leading to manager Danny Lennon urging fans to back him amid claims he “didn’t handle” the situation well at the club.

He failed to score in five appearances, so why would he be suited to a desperate relegation scrap in the Premier League?

Regardless of the Baggies’ finances, Big Sam would stumble into yet another transfer mistake if he were to sanction a move for Bahoken and that, given their history, would be an absolutely unforgivable blunder to make.

AND in other news, 1 goal every 80 mins: THIS is what West Brom could have with one fell £12.5m swoop…

Southampton face League One Shrewsbury Town in the FA Cup on Tuesday evening and whilst the Saints will no doubt be hoping for a cup run, the game represents an ideal opportunity for Ralph Hasenhuttl to utilise some of his academy talents.

Shrewsbury are struggling in the third tier so far this season so you would expect Southampton to have enough quality to deal with them, even if Hasenhuttl does opt to call up some youngsters to the first-team squad.

One academy talent who should be involved against the Shropshire side is 20-year-old Jake Vokins.

The left-back is more experienced than a lot of other academy players at Southampton, having made three appearances for the first-team in his career thus far, including one goal.

That goal came in a 2-0 win against Championship side Huddersfield Town at this stage of the FA Cup last season, when he sealed the win with a powerful late drive that went in off the crossbar.

Therefore, Hasenhuttl has trusted him to play in this competition before against opposition that are objectively stronger than Shrewsbury, so he should be handed his fourth appearance for the Saints on Tuesday night.

It would allow the Austrian to rest Ryan Bertrand, who has been a mainstay in the Saints’ team so far this season, perhaps due to a lack of senior back-up options to the 31-year-old.

Playing Vokins would also allow Hasenhuttl to cast an eye to the future, as Bertrand’s contract is set to expire in the summer. If he does end up leaving the South Coast club, it could well be the 20-year-old who is expected to step up as his replacement.

It would also allow the Southampton manager to assess whether Vokins can be a reliable back-up the former Chelsea man, especially with the Saints heavily linked with Manchester United left-back Brandon Williams, so Tuesday could well prove to be Vokins’ one and only chance to impress in the first-team this season.

The 20-year-old definitely deserves an opportunity to show Hasenhuttl what he can do in the first-team, so the Austrian must unleash him against Shrewsbury this evening.

And, in other news… Southampton will surely rue not signing £18m beast who “makes scoring look so easy”

Tottenham Hotspur retained the top spot in the Premier League with an impressive victory over their arch-rivals, Arsenal, on Sunday evening.

Jose Mourinho once again has his red-hot goalscoring duo, Harry Kane and Heung-min Son, to thank as the pair combined for both goals in the 2-0 victory.

The South Korean needed just 13 minutes to get on the scoresheet as he fired home a scorcher from well outside the penalty area before the 27-year-old marksman rifled one in from close range right on half-time.

In the end, Spurs hung onto a deserved victory despite the Gunners’ second-half dominance but largely, it was all bark and no bite.

Mikel Arteta’s men managed seven attempts at goal to Spurs’ one in the final 45 minutes, and struggled to find a way past a defence that has now kept four successive clean sheets in the division.

However but for all the positivity, Mourinho will surely be unhappy with what he saw from Giovani Lo Celso, a play who has been on the receiving end of some flak in recent weeks.

The ‘Special One’ criticised the Argentinian playmaker last month:

“I feel that when he plays he’s not the Gio that we know, not the Gio that we know that he can be an amazing player. But with the ball of course great criteria and he knows what he’s doing of course, and understands the way we want to play. But we need more intensity to be fitter, to be more intense and to be stronger in the transitions.”

It was only his second start in the Premier League this season on Sunday, which only goes to show the lack of faith Mourinho currently has in him, and that’s also reflected in the fact that Lo Celso is only averaging 44.8 minutes per appearance at the moment.

That certainly feels a bit like Tanguy Ndombele from last season, and the £31.5m-rated star did himself no favours.

Per SofaScore, he won just two of eight duels (25%) and failed to register a single shot, tackle, successful dribble, accurate cross or key pass in his 72 minutes on the pitch.

Lo Celso was also wasteful in possession as he lost the ball 13 times – more than any other Spurs player bar Son – and made just 18 of 29 passes.

Given Mourinho’s comments and the lack of reaction since, it would be a surprise to see the former Betis man start again in the upcoming games, unless of course, Ndombele hasn’t returned from illness.

AND in other news, Spurs can land Mourinho his next John Terry with swoop for £50m monster…

Leeds United have let go of many top talents over the years but one player who will have Victor Orta kicking himself is Kemar Roofe.The striker left the club in 2019 after three years in Yorkshire to join Anderlecht before making a £20,000 per week move back to the UK for his current chapter at Rangers. Since being snapped up by the Glasgow outfit, he has seriously impressed with his clinical performances in front of goal.This season, he has scored six goals and provided one assist in ten Scottish Premiership appearances. He has suffered a small setback though as his niggling calf problems continue to cause an issue (via Transfermarkt). But despite his injury, he is still in fiery form under Steven Gerrard, who looks set to lift the league trophy at the end of the campaign.Roofe is the Gers’ second highest scorer of the season across all competitions, behind only James Tavernier (via BBC Sport).Whilst Leeds have one of the strongest strikers in the Premier League in Patrick Bamford, they lack threat in other areas of the pitch. The Englishman cannot be expected to carry the attack on his own and this is where Marcelo Bielsa will wish he still had someone like Roofe at his disposal.Kevin Phillips recently lauded the 27-year-old as being a “smart signing” for Rangers, which is already proving to be a true statement. Indeed, Roofe scored a wonder-goal in the Europa League back in October against Standard Liege, lobbing a stunning 55-yard shot into the back of the net.

Whilst it was not eligible for this year’s Puskas Award, it is a piece of art that had many professionals and fans talking.

It’s moments like this that would hugely benefit Leeds this season. The Whites are in need of a fresh approach when it comes to scoring goals and having a player who makes easy work of scoring from distance would make them an even bigger threat.

In other news,ÂRaphinha could cause Alex Telles a lot of problems on Sunday…

During Man City’s stellar 3-0 away win at Marseille in the Champions League last night, many Sky Blues couldn’t help but herald the showing of young star Phil Foden – calling him ‘magical’ and even ‘obscene’ as Pep Guardiola’s side got back to winning ways. 

Last weekend, City came away from West Ham with just one point after a tepid 1-1 draw at the London Stadium, with star striker Sergio Aguero also picking up a fresh injury.

On Tuesday, the Sky Blues seemed to put that forgettable afternoon behind them with, arguably, their best performance of the season so far – with Ferran Torres, Ilkay Gundogan and Raheem Sterling all helping to secure a vital group stage victory.

Foden, who teed up Sterling to knock the ball down to Gundogan for City’s second of the night, has attracted praise on Twitter for continuing to stand out among Guardiola’s men.

Find all of the best verdicts on the £54 million-valued ace from City supporters here, after he racked up 65 passes at 90% accuracy (Whoscored).

Fan reaction to Foden display:

In other news: Sky Blues want this up-and-coming star in the first team,  find out more here and don’t forget to comment below.