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Serie A champions Juventus have joined the hunt for the signature of Arsenal midfielder Aaron Ramsey, according to CalcioMercato.

What’s the word?

Arsenal’s period of rejuvenation shows no signs of stopping as a major contract saga regarding Aaron Ramsey continues to rumble on in North London, leaving the Gunners under threat of losing the Wales international on a free transfer.

Ramsey’s current deal at the Emirates Stadium is due to expire at the end of the season and CalcioMercato claims Italian giants Juventus have been offered the services of the 27-year-old, with no sign of a renewal on the horizon.

Unai Emery’s side are desperate to retain the services of Ramsey but may face an uphill battle as Juventus are considering a swoop for the Gunners favourite, although they are only prepared to make a move if he is available for free and does not demand too much in wages.

What should Arsenal do?

The reported interest of Juventus, amongst the favourites for Champions League glory this season following the capture of Cristiano Ronaldo, is evidence that Ramsey is a top-quality player – and one that Arsenal cannot afford to lose.

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While the club insists the days of losing their key players are gone, the situation regarding Ramsey and the fact that Alexis Sanchez moved to Manchester United earlier in the year suggest that is not the case, so it is down to Arsenal to prove otherwise.

Losing Ramsey would send completely the wrong message for Arsenal, who are aiming to return to the Champions League next season by securing a top-four finish in the Premier League, and he would cost millions to replace.

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David Luiz has rightly received due praise for his imperious performance against Liverpool in the Premier League on Saturday, not only playing a pivotal hand in stopping the Reds’ rampant attack, most notably with a goal-line clearance from a Roberto Firmino header, but also causing problems at the other end via his raking through balls from back to front.

But the Chelsea star wasn’t the only commanding centre-half to impress at Stamford Bridge, ironically in a game that will mostly be remembered for the technical mastery and offensive intensity of both teams rather than the quality of the respective backlines.

Indeed, Luiz’s opposite number Virgil van Dijk was fast-tracked back into the starting XI despite suffering a rib injury that kept him out of a Carabao Cup tie with the same opponents on Wednesday night, and the Dutchman quickly demonstrated just why he’s so important to this Liverpool team.

Like Luiz, his quality was felt not only defensively but also in possession. Van Dijk enjoyed the most touches of the ball of any player on the pitch and completed 85% of his passes – including 12 accurate long balls which once again represented a game-highest.

Telling of van Dijk’s influence too was Olivier Giroud’s largely muted involvement in the match. The Frenchman gave Chelsea a direct target in the air but not much came of it as the Liverpool star won five aerial duels – five more than Luiz managed – while he also weighed in with two tackles, two blocks, two interceptions and eight clearances.

It’s understandable that Luiz has drawn the spotlight considering some of the doubts that have surrounded him this season upon moving into a back four.

But to produce a performance of similar quality against an equally talented team away from home, as van Dijk did on Saturday, surely deserves the same calibre of praise and acknowledgement if not more.

So, which defender had the better game on Saturday? Let us know by voting below…

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Ten games into the Unai Emery era at the Emirates Stadium, including eight consecutive wins, and early assumptions are beginning to be drawn up on how the Spaniard has made his mark at Arsenal.

Emery came to the club on the back of league success with Paris Saint Germain and a reputation for being an obsessive when it comes to defence, but having had three months with his new batch of players, where is the impact from that obsession?

The Basque-born tactician was said to give players USB sticks with hours of videos on them to go home and watch over in order to improve how they played when the opponent had the ball.

Neymar was claimed to have groaned to the Qatari owners of PSG that the videos were too time consuming, while the former Spain international Joaquin once said “Emery put on so many videos I ran out of popcorn.”

This philosophy was supposed to shake things up on his arrival at Arsenal and strike fear into players like Shkodran Mustafi, who under Arsène Wenger displayed defensive fragility on multiple occasions and is known for his love of diving in for the ball when staying on his feet may be better for his backline partners.

Early games under Emery are yet to show any different, with Mustafi still making mistakes at the back as a regular starter in the Spaniard’s teams alongside summer signing Sokratis Papastathopoulos, who joined from Borussia Dortmund.

Sokratis’ arrival has certainly helped to sort Arsenal’s defensive blunders in some respects, though the Greek centre-back’s greatest importance in the backline has been due to injuries keeping Laurent Koscielny out of action.

Had Wenger not departed and began what would have been his 23rd campaign at the helm with another raid of Westfalenstadion, having acquired Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang from Dortmund in January, Sokratis’ impact for the Gunners would likely have been the same.

The 30-year-old came with bags of experience having spent five years at Dortmund and represented his country since 2008, so it is safe to say the defender already knew how to play the game. It is not as if Emery scouted Europe for the next wonderkid that he could nurture into the next big thing, an aspect Wenger was praised on as he continually gave chances to young players.

What’s more, Emery has almost forced a new style of play on his defenders and goalkeepers by placing an even higher desire to join the trend of playing it out from the back. This has only created problems for the experienced legs of Petr Cech, who has struggled to adapt and nearly cost his side points by taking too long on the ball or almost putting it in his own net.

The standout gaffe came on the opening day of the Premier League season against Manchester City when Cech tried to play a first time pass across the face of his own goal, only to see the ball skip narrowly wide of the post.

Even though Arsenal went on to lose that encounter anyway, you do not expect errors like this from a goalkeeper with as much career game time as Cech has.

It is harsh to say that the defeat to City was purely down to Emery’s desire to change the style of play at the Emirates Stadium. Results like that were almost expected at one point towards the end of Wenger’s time and the matchups against the reigning title holders and Chelsea the following week came too soon into the new regime for any difference to really be made.

From there, though, you would expect improvements to start to nose out and Arsenal begin to build into a new team, but that has not happened yet.

Sure, games like the win at home to Watford showed a new belief in the players that they could grind out results when under Wenger a loss may have occurred. But the players have still only beaten teams you would expect them to beat, and lost in the same way against sides you’d expect them to lose to. Upcoming games at home to Liverpool and away to Crystal Palace will show more into how Emery has changed the mentality at the club.

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West Brom gave Darren Moore the managerial job on a permanent basis in the summer and their new boss made eight signings during the transfer window following their relegation from the Premier League.

The dealings have generally looked to be extremely successful, and the Baggies now sit in second place in the Championship having netted an incredible 31 goals in just 12 matches.

Since then, Moore has also bolstered his squad even further with the signings of free agents Wes Hoolahan and former Wolves man Bakary Sako, making the West Midlands side surely one of the favourites to be promoted.

We asked West Brom fans to vote on who their best summer signing was. Check out the top three below…

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3. Sam Johnstone

After goalkeeper Ben Foster joined Watford early in the summer, Moore had to move quickly for a new first-choice goalkeeper. The £6.5m capture of Sam Johnstone was the most expensive of the summer for West Brom but the fans have voted it as their third best.

The 25-year-old signed a four-year deal after his move from Manchester United, following an impressive season on loan with fellow Championship side Aston Villa.

2. Harvey Barnes

Whilst third place in this poll was up for grabs, there is little surprise in the top two most popular summer signings. In second place is youngster Harvey Barnes, who joined on loan from Leicester and has been a revelation for the Baggies. Playing in behind Moore’s two strikers, the 20-year-old has five goals and three assists in all competitions so far this season.

1. Dwight Gayle

Of course after his blistering start to the season Dwight Gayle was always set to top this poll. The former Crystal Palace poacher is on loan from Newcastle after the Magpies were desperate to secure the services of Salomon Rondon who ended up going the other way.

After netting twice against Reading before the international break, Gayle has taken his tally to eight goals in just 11 Championship appearances. With the top two in our poll both on loan though, Baggies fans will have to hope they can secure permanent deals either in January or next summer if they want to see Barnes and Gayle at the Hawthorns beyond the end of the season.

Take a look at the full results of our poll below

Liverpool had a superb start to the season but over the last few weeks, the club has had a slight dip in form as their tough run of fixtures has stalled their early season momentum.

The Reds had to play Chelsea twice, Man City and Napoli in the space of 10 days. Liverpool came out of that run of games without having won a game, while losing twice. Furthermore, Liverpool have now lost James Milner to injury while star defender, Virgil Van Dijk also had to play through a rib problem.

Following the international break, the Reds look like they could about to lose even more players with Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane and now Naby Keita all picking up knocks.

The Breakdown

Keita picked up an injury while playing for Guinea in their Africa Cup of Nations qualifier with Rwanda on Tuesday. Since joining the club, Keita has made 10 starts for the Reds and has shown that he could be a superb player for Klopp during those games.

Keita now joins Salah and Mane on the injury list. The former picked up a groin injury over the weekend while Mane broke his thumb while on international duty with Senegal.

Van Dijk was rested in Holland’s game against France on Tuesday night and has required injections to play over the last few weeks.

Although it’s unsure how severe these injuries are, with so many key players not completely fit, Klopp will surely be worried ahead of this weekend’s game.

Liverpool fans, what do you think? 

Together, the pair won three Premier League titles, one FA Cup and one Champions League crown before the forward’s departure to Real Madrid.

On Wednesday morning, Ronaldo posted a picture of himself and his former boss on Instagram, and stated that it was great to see him ‘in good shape’ – with the Scotsman having recently recovered from a brain haemorrhage. 

Everton had an opportunity to claim three wins on the trot on Sunday for the first time this season, but they failed to meet their objective.

Marco Silva’s side were beaten 2-1 by Manchester United at Old Trafford, which included a controversial penalty.

Idrissa Gueye was adjudged to have brought down Anthony Martial in the box prior to the half-hour mark.

Many fans have argued that it should never have been given and that the United attacker should have been booked for diving instead.

Paul Pogba initially had his penalty saved after a lengthy run-up, but he fired it into the back of the net on the rebound.

Martial added a second for United shortly after the restart and although Gylfi Sigurdsson netted from the penalty spot with 13 minutes left to play, it turned out to be a consolation goal for the Toffees.

On Reddit, some Everton supporters posted their fury at the incident.

Comment from discussion Var is needed. ?.Comment from discussion Var is needed. ?.Comment from discussion Var is needed. ?.Comment from discussion Var is needed. ?.Comment from discussion Var is needed. ?.Comment from discussion Var is needed. ?.Comment from discussion Var is needed. ?.Comment from discussion Var is needed. ?.Comment from discussion Var is needed. ?.

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Everton are supposedly chasing the signature of a player they let go as a youth, with The Sun on Sunday, as reported by HITC, suggesting Tom Pearce is a Toffees target.

What’s the word?

Tom Pearce was let go by Everton at the age of 16, having been a part of the club’s youth set up for 11 years.

Leeds United came to the left-back’s rescue and brought the teenager into their academy, where he remained for a further four years until being handed a first team debut in March 2018 when Paul Heckingbottom called on the then 19-year-old to start against Sheffield Wednesday.

Leeds fans had yearned for the full back to be handed a debut and cheered when the lad from Ormskirk was first involved in the action, but minutes under new boss Marcelo Biesla have been hard to come by after the club signed Barry Douglas.

Just two substitute appearances totalling 72 minutes is all the England U21 defender has played in the Championship but his childhood club remain interested in a potential return after reports first emerged in The Sun on Sunday, via HITC, as early as May 13th.

The latest update claims Leeds and Bournemouth are monitoring the defender’s situation closely after he agreed to a new contract at the start of the campaign.

Why sign another left-back?

Like Leeds, Everton acquired a new left-back of their own in the summer when Lucas Digne arrived on Merseyside from Barcelona in a move costing Marco Silva £18million.

Pearce would thus have to play a backup role to the 25-year-old Frenchman, but with no further options beyond the ageing legs of Leighton Baines, now 33, a potential return makes sense for the club in a bid to find the veteran defender’s eventual successor.

Convincing the 20-year-old that a return is worthwhile would be where this move gets tricky, but with Biesla currently showing limited faith in Pearce, the defender may look for game-time elsewhere.

Everton’s continued interest should show Pearce the club that once axed him values what he has been able to add to his game at Leeds and sees the international youth defender as part of their future.

Jose Mourinho will surely return to the transfer market for a new defender in the New Year.

The former Chelsea manager was desperate to bolster his defence in the summer after finishing 19 points behind Manchester City in the Premier League last season. Mourinho highlighted his back four as the main area of improvement, but United weren’t able to complete any deals.

Eager to make amends, the United board are willing to back Mourinho significantly when the window reopens. A defender is surely believed to be his number one priority. Therefore, the Red Devils should attempt to sign Espanyol defender – Mario Hermoso.

Valued at £18m by Transfermarkt, the defender joined Real Madrid at the age of ten and became a regular for their B team. Hermoso was unable to break into the first-team at the Bernabeu and was loaned to Real Valladolid.  The 23-year-old finally left the club for Espanyol last summer where he developed into a crucial first-team player.

Hermoso’s impressive showings have continued into the new campaign during his 10 La Liga appearances. The youngster is a fine defender who has no problem with the ball at his feet. Hermoso has also proven to be a goal threat from set-pieces, finding the back of the net twice already this term.

Still improving and developing, a move to Old Trafford could help take his game to the next level. Should his impressive performances continue in England, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see Hermoso receive a call-up to Luis Enrique’s Spain senior side. Unsurprisingly, the defender has been linked with a move back to Real – United must ensure they beat the Champions League winners to his signature.

Manchester United fans, thoughts?

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After their Scottish League Cup semi-final loss to Aberdeen, Steven Gerrard bemoaned the lack of quality in his Rangers side. However, after the Gers beat Motherwell 7-1 on the weekend it seemed as though Eros Grezda had changed the manager’s opinion.

What did he say?

“I’ve been waiting for this moment and Eros has been waiting for this moment.

“He had a really bad injury over the summer and he’s only really just coming out of his pre-season now. I’m really excited and confident that there’s more to come from him.”

What did he really mean?

Gerrard’s comments (from BBC Sport via RangersTV) hinted to those he made after the loss to Aberdeen a few weeks ago, where he claimed that making new signings was the only way to improve the quality in his ranks.

Grezda though, who joined from Croatian side NK Osijek in the summer, is only getting to full fitness now and he scored his first two Rangers goals with a brace in Sunday’s rout. This clearly pleased his boss and Gerrard now has another option going forward.

January signings

If Grezda continues to make a positive impact and fulfils Gerrard’s prediction, then it could have an impact on the Liverpool legend’s transfer policy in January.

The Rangers boss made it clear that the 23-year-old summer-signing is a hugely talented player and his return from injury could mean that Rangers don’t need to spend big on an attacker in the winter window.

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