After signing from Lyon in the final few weeks of the summer transfer window, it’s been no surprise to see Aston Villa manager Dean Smith look to try and slowly ease Bertrand Traore into first-team action.
The Burkina Faso international has played just four times, with the majority of his action coming in the Carabao Cup – the winger has seen just nine minutes of Premier League football thus far for his new club, with a couple of very short cameos against the likes of Fulham and Liverpool.
But with the international break now over, Smith must surely be tempted to throw his big-money signing into his starting line-up, even despite seeing Villa thump Liverpool 7-2 last time out.
Speaking at the announcement of Traore’s signing, Smith said: “We’re delighted that Bertrand has chosen to come to Villa. He’s a player with immense talent who will really enhance our attacking options.”
With Leicester deploying a back-three in these first weeks of the new campaign, Traore’s ability to beat players one-and-one could be crucial to ensuring Villa don’t leave Ollie Watkins isolated and starved of service.
The former Lyon star averaged a very impressive 1.6 shots, 1.1 key passes and 1.4 dribbles per game for the French side last season, and the X-factor that he possesses could give Villa an out-ball on Sunday night.
In terms of average possession per game, Leicester rank fourth in the entire division with 55.2%. Brendan Rodgers has got his side looking to dominate the ball, so having a pacy outlet like Traore could be the kind of difference-maker that tilts the tie in Villa’s favour.
The pace and movement of a front-three of Traore, Ollie Watkins and Jack Grealish could cause havoc on the counter-attack, with the former’s directness and willingness to take players on being a potential game-changer.
Smith must surely consider starting his summer signing on Sunday.
And in other news, Villa must beat the competition to sign this EFL star.
Nottingham Forest have been residents of City Ground since 3 September 1898, and it is situated a few hundred yards from the Reds’ old stadium – Town Ground.
It was named in celebration of Nottingham’s newly-awarded city status in 1897, and the famous stadium currently holds a great capacity of just over 30,000 making it the seventh-largest stadium in the EFL Championship.
The all-seater stadium comprises four stands; The Main Stand (south), The Brian Clough Stand (north), The Bridgford Stand (east), and The Trent End (west).
A history of City Ground
Just £3,000 was needed to finance the move to City Ground, and two-thirds of it came from Nottingham Forest supporters themselves by purchasing “shares” for just £5 each. The ground was not owned by the football club when they had the chance in 1935, with it being offered from Nottingham Corporation for £7,000.
A terrible incident occurred in the summer of 1968 when the newly rebuilt Main Stand was destroyed by fire which broke out during a First Division match against Leeds United. Thankfully there were no casualties despite an attended crowd over 31,000. The fire started in the tunnel alongside the dressing rooms and it tore through the wooden construction of the stadium, destroying the club’s records, trophies and memorabilia in the process. After this event, the Reds were forced to play six home games at Meadow Lane; however, they failed to win there once.
The 10,000 capacity Brian Clough Stand was built in 1980 during the period of Forest’s iconic European and domestic success. The new stand featured 36 executive boxes and a large dining area with a plan to add a new dimension to the previous club hospitality arrangements. Twelve years later work began on the redevelopment of the Bridgford Stand to increase the capacity to 7,710.
The lower tier of this east stand was soon allocated to away supporters, and it can also accommodate 70 wheelchair supporters. Famously in 1996, City Ground was selected to be one of the European Championship venues, and the Trent End was notably rebuilt during the same year to hold 7,500 fans which took the grounds overall capacity to 30,445 which still stands today.
Recently, Nottingham Forest announced that an agreement was made with the City Council for an extended lease on the City Ground. This new lease means the club are now able to proceed with their plans to redevelop the stadium and surrounding areas. It is proposed that at the end of the current 2019-20 season, construction will begin on building a new modern state-of-the-art stadium to reach an increased capacity of 38,000 which would make City Ground the largest stadium in the East Midlands.
Tickets to Watch Nottingham Forest at City Ground
Adult season ticket prices start at just £365 which works out to be just over £15 per game. Seniors can purchase season tickets from £220, youths from £140 and children from just £35.
Related Links
https://www.nottinghamforest.co.uk/ – Official website of Nottingham Forest
Contrary to some reports, Manchester United have not given up hope of signing Jadon Sancho from Borussia Dortmund this summer.
Man United missed the Monday deadline Dortmund had set to sort out a deal and the right winger reunited with his Bundesliga teammates for their training camp in Switzerland.
Sancho started their pre-season friendly against Altach and insisted he is happy at the Bundesliga outfit after the game.
He told BVB-TVÂ (via The Manchester Evening News) “I like to play with this special bunch. We now have some very special players with us.”
“I am very happy to be on the pitch with them. Once I was in their situation. I know what it is like to move from the next generation to the professionals. I try to guide them, to show you what is good and what is not good.”
Dortmund’s sporting director Michael Zorc insisted Sancho is staying at the Signal Iduna Park and the decision is final.
But Fabrizio Romano revealed “it’s not over” as there is still plenty of time to go before the transfer window closes.
Speaking to Jan Aage Fjortoft on the Save The Ball podcast, as per @utdreport, the Italian transfer expert told the retired footballer-turned-pundit that the transfer remains a work in progress, despite some reports suggesting otherwise.
As far as Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is concerned, Sancho is still his top target this summer, which leaves Ed Woodward with a little less than two months to reach an agreement with Dortmund, although this is easier said than done.
Conflicting reports seemed to suggest a deal is “imminent” but there is work to be done before the club can make his dreams a reality.
United are reportedly the only club who want to sign Sancho and he has made it clear he wants to move to Old Trafford.
However, talks over a transfer fee and the payment structure continue to be a stumbling block, as both clubs remain poles apart in their valuations of the 11-cap England international.
Dortmund are demanding £108mÂfor the club’s top scorerÂlast season, but the Red Devils are trying to drive a hard bargain. as the board believe it is an unrealistic figure given the current circumstances.
United are apparently unwilling to stump up for Sancho but they may have to pay over the odds if they want to prise him away from the Westfalenstadion in the summer.
United fans, do you think Ed Woodward will sign Sancho this summer? Let us know your views in the comments below!
Since seeing him arrive from Sporting CP back in the January transfer window, Manchester United fans have really taken to Bruno Fernandes.
Performances against the likes of Manchester City and Watford in particular saw fans lavish praise on their new signing, and in the nine total games that he has played so far for the club, he has scored three goals and provided four assists.
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One thing supporter have yet to see however, is Fernandes playing alongside Paul Pogba, with the latter struggling with injuries.
Speaking in an Instagram live chat with footballer Mario Djurovski, Fernandes spoke highly of the Frenchman, and talked up the prospect of forming a midfield partnership with him.
He said: “Yes of course, I think Paul is one of the best players in Manchester and in the world. He was injured for a lot of time. The opportunity to play side to side with him is fantastic because you want to play with the best players you can.”
And after hearing about what he had to say, United fans flooded to Twitter to share their excitement.
Some United fans couldn’t hold back their excitement, with one fan insisting that they can’t wait for the Premier League to restart once more, just to see Fernandes and Pogba line up together.
With football having been postponed for over a couple of months, injured stars like Pogba have had the opportunity to rest and recuperate without missing any matches.
And with the top-flight set to resume later this month, there’s a real possibility that Ole Gunnar Solskjaer will finally get to unleash both Fernandes and Pogba at the same time.
Judging by the reaction of many of these United fans, it’s going to be a very exciting time.
Sunderland have offered keeper Jon McLaughlin a new contract in the hope he will turn down a move to Championship side Blackburn Rovers.
The Black Cats’ chances of gaining promotion to the Championship came to a crashing end last week after League One clubs opted to end the 2019/2020 season via a points-per-game system, which saw Phil Parkinson’s team finish eighth in the league table.
Approaching the summer transfer window, the Wearside club have a huge number of first team regulars free to leave the club and one of those is McLaughlin.
The 32-year-old keeper will see his current deal come to an end on June 30 and he has been linked with a move to Ewood Park.
Northern Echo reported that Scottish ‘keeper McLaughlin’s potential move to Blackburn was set to be announced, but Sunderland have now made a final attempt to keep him at the club.
The report that claims of a new contract offer for the stopper also claims that Chris Maguire and Tom Flanagan have been offered new deals.
McLaughlin made 32 appearances in the league this term for Sunderland, keeping a respectable 11 clean sheets in the process.
Out with the old, in with the new? It seems Sunderland do want to keep hold of McLaughlin, Maguire and Flanagan, but would they not be better to do a complete squad overhaul this summer.
The current squad at the Stadium of Light has failed to gain promotion and whether they agreed with PPG or not, finishing eighth in the League One table is simply not good enough.
Do you think McLaughlin will join Blackburn? Let us know in the comments section below…
With all the uncertainty hanging over football at the moment, it still isn’t entirely clear if Leeds’ promotion to the Premier League will be confirmed.
But if it does, and the Whites can get to concentrating on what their plans are for the summer transfer window, then Victor Orta’s priority surely has to be typing up a permanent deal for Ben White.
The centre-back has been on loan at Elland Road since joining from Brighton, and it’s fair to say he has enjoyed a very impressive campaign. He has been a virtual ever-present for Marcelo Bielsa’s side this season, making 40 appearances across all competitions, including completing the full 90 minutes in every single game in the Championship – a remarkable feat to say the least.
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It’s therefore been no surprise that some Premier League big-hitters – most notably Champions League holders Liverpool – are reported to be interested in signing him this summer.
But whilst Leeds will naturally find it difficult to compete on the financial front with a team like the Reds, Orta really has to use his powers of persuasion to ensure White remains at Elland Road.
There will be no question that White stands a better chance of enjoying more regular first-team football at Leeds than at Anfield, and that in itself should be a major pulling point.
Earning Premier League promotion can often see teams decide to splash the cash on several players as they get giddy with all the money at their disposal – just look at the likes of Fulham and Aston Villa in the last couple of seasons.
Holding onto the core of the squad that served teams so well in the Championship often goes out of the window, and it’s a mistake that Orta simply cannot make this summer.
As per Whoscored, White has 7.05 average match rating in English football’s second tier this season, with only four other Leeds teammates faring better. He has been a key part of their success, and it’s exactly why Orta must pull out all the stops to ensure the £6.3m-rated ace is in their back-line for the next campaign too.
Meanwhile, Leeds may reignite their interest in this starlet this summer.
Not only does he have to ensure that his team do not concede, but he also has the responsibility of launching attacks from deep, of distributing the ball well.
Of course, he also has to crunch into tackles and rob attackers of the ball, in order to keep the score down.
There have been plenty of world-class defenders in Premier League history.
Here, Football FanCast looks at some of the very best…
Rio Ferdinand
No centre-back on this list earned more top-flight honours than the former England man, which is a stunning achievement in itself. In many ways though, Ferdinand’s credentials for being the Premier League’s greatest centre-back lay in the fact he was much more than simply a talented and athletically imperious centre-half; during Ferdinand’s era, few central defenders offered his quality in possession, speed and agility.
It made him the perfect centre-back partner, capable of covering behind a more old-fashioned accomplice or bringing the ball into United’s midfield to link up with Michael Carrick and Paul Scholes – a vital component of the Red Devils’ ability to build attacks from the engine room.
If there’s one criticism of Ferdinand, it’s that he was only truly at his best when placed alongside someone like Nemanja Vidic who offered that physical and aerial dominance.
Still, he remains a genuinely brilliant centre-back.
Sol Campbell
A considerably less elegant centre-half but for what Sol Campbell lacked in style he more than made up for in sheer brutish physicality. In that sense, Campbell had absolutely everything; a towering leap, plenty of speed and the strength to wrestle a baby rhino. Add great positional intelligence and occasional running-back-esque marauds up the pitch into the equation and Campbell was easily one of the most feared defenders in Europe during his hey-day.
He was also a vital member of Arsenal’s Invincibles starting XI as it’s most defensive element, which is perhaps the strongest endorsement of the former England international’s credentials. Likewise, it takes an exceptionally brave man to trade the Tottenham captaincy for a place in the Gunners’ backline by way of a free transfer and mental toughness was a huge part of Campbell’s game as well; for varying reasons, he’s had to endure his fair share of stick and abuse down the years.
The obvious negative compared to the rest on this list though, is that Campbell is the only one to concede more goals than make appearances in the top flight. That’s largely due to his time at Portsmouth and Spurs’ many years wading through mid-table mediocrity.
Vincent Kompany
He won four Premier League titles at Manchester City.
And what always stood out most about Kompany, aside from the usual physical dominance and aerial ability, was how he played on the front foot, regularly stepping up to nick the ball and instigate a counter-attack rather than simply waiting for the action to come to him.
That underlines the attacking ethos the Sheik owners have attempted to create at the Etihad and the Belgium international has been a central figure in City’s stunning rise, captaining them from 2011 onwards.
A genuine machine in defence, and though injuries crippled his ability late in his career, he belongs on this list.
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Nemanja Vidic made the fewest Premier League appearances of any centre-back on this list but he was the second-most successful during that time, his five titles only trumped by defensive partner Rio Ferdinand. And that’s not a mere coincidence; he was the perfect foil to Ferdinand’s more technical style. While Vidic was no slouch on the ball himself, his greatest strengths resided in the more traditional centre-half job description – essentially, keeping the ball out of the net by any means possible.
Football – Stock 07/08 , 26/8/07 Nemanja Vidic – Manchester United Mandatory Credit: Action Images / Carl Recine
That required body-on-the-line blocks and last-ditch tackles, while few, if any Premier League defenders, have come close to matching his utter dominance in the air. He and Ferdinand produced arguably the most balanced and fearsome centre-back partnership in Europe during their best years and nine seasons together produced five titles, alongside a European honour in 2008.
There are drawbacks, though – chiefly that Vidic did have a knack for getting himself sent off – and also of collapsing in the face of Fernando Torres – and after a serious injury during the 2011/12 season, he was never quite the same force again.
John Terry
The complete centre-back, pure and simple. John Terry was the best in the world at defending the near post for pretty much his entire Chelsea career, but that’s only the tip of the iceberg of what the Captain, Leader, Legend offered the Blues. Much like Vincent Kompany at City, he was one of the the driving forces behind Chelsea’s rise under Roman Abramovich, captaining the team to five Premier League titles (the first and last a decade apart) and a Champions League in 2012.
On top of that though, Terry was simply an exceptional footballer up until a few years ago when his talents noticeably waned. Completely dominant in both boxes, a fantastic reader of the game and brilliant at distributing the ball with both feet – something that went unappreciated for much of his career.
Terry’s game lacked any real weaknesses and evolved over time to suit his age. Furthermore, it’s a testament to his mental strength that a player who drew such negative attention from the media, often rightly so, for a whole host of different reasons never allowed it to affect his performances or his ability to lead the team.
People have questioned whether he almost had too much influence at Stamford Bridge though, and whether that’s affected the success of the club over the years.
Sheffield Wednesday might not be in action for another week, but one decision off the field has left many supporters of the club absolutely reeling.
On Thursday afternoon, the EFL revealed that the Owls would be charged with misconduct over the sale of Hillsborough to owner Dejphon Chansiri, who has since become a target of blame.
Wednesday sold their ground for around £60m in order to offset debts that occurred during the 2017/18 season, helping them to record pre-tax profits of £2.5m.
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The club claim they will contest the charges and while any punishment is yet to be confirmed though, it seems that a hefty points deduction will the likely outcome, according to football finance expert Kieran Maguire.
Fans have taken to Twitter to unleash on Chansiri for putting the club in such a precarious situation this early into Garry Monk’s reign.
One member of the Hillsborough faithful claims the Thai businessman is the worst thing to ever happen to the club while others simply labelled him ‘clueless,’ ‘incompetent,’ and an ‘idiot.’
A further supporter pleaded for the chairman to leave the club with one more believed he was the only person to blame for this happening.
Mason Greenwood played a vital role in coming off the bench against Sheffield United on Sunday, and his contribution has earned him praise from Manchester United fans.
It was the first Premier League goal the 18-year-old has scored, and he did brilliantly to create space in the six-yard box to tap in from Marcus Rashford’s brilliant low cross.
The poaching instinct he displayed didn’t go unnoticed by supporters, and for the player himself it will feel like the next step in his progression as a United player.
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Greenwood has scored before in cup competition but making an impact from the bench so soon after coming on, and at such a crucial stage, should increase his likelihood of playing again.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer could now consider him as the first option to turn to in order to change the game, as his movement and finishing quality means it is always possible he will get on the scoresheet.
Here are some of the reactions to the striker’s first Premier League goal.
Every club in the Championship would probably do anything to have a striker like Aleksandar Mitrovic at their disposal.It should come as a surprise to absolutely nobody that the Serbian is at the top of the Championship scoring charts this season as he’s scored 11 goals for Fulham after just 13 games.One team that would certainly love to have a player like Mitrovic is Leeds United.Watch Leeds United Live Streams With StreamFootball.tv Below
The Whites are crying out for a top-quality striker as Patrick Bamford has now gone eight games without scoring for the Yorkshire club.
Leeds create so many chances and fashion 16.9 shots per game so it’s incredible to imagine the number of goals the Serbian would score if he was playing under Marcelo Bielsa.
After Mitrovic’s hat-trick against Luton Town on Wednesday night a number of Leeds fans took to Twitter to exclaim how much they’d love to have the £22.5m-rated man at Elland Road.
Here’s what the Leeds fanbase have been saying on social media…