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Phil Hay has dropped a promising injury update concerning Leeds United centre-forward Joe Gelhardt.

What’s the latest?

In a recent post on Twitter, The Athletic journalist suggested that the 19-year-old was left on the bench for the 3-0 win over Watford on Saturday afternoon as a precaution, as the England U21 international had only returned to first-team training on Friday after recovering from a dead leg.

In his post, Hay said: “Gelhardt only returned to training yesterday [on Friday].”

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Great news for Leeds

Considering the fact that Leeds’ first-choice centre-forward, Patrick Bamford, will remain out of action for around another four weeks, the news that Gelhardt is back in training with Jesse Marsch’s squad, as well as the suggestion that the teenager was only left out of the Watford win as a precaution, is undoubtedly great news for the Whites.

Indeed, the £4.5m-rated youngster has become a regular feature in Leeds’ first team this season, having been selected in the Whites’ 20-man matchday squad on 25 occasions, going on to make 14 appearances – two of which have come as starts.

However, the £16.5k-per-week prodigy has far from just made up the numbers for Jesse Marsch’s side, as he has often had an important impact within games, bagging two goals and registering three assists in the top flight this term.

As such, while the Whites’ victory over Watford afforded the club some much-needed breathing space between themselves and the relegation zone, with the 48-year-old manager being well aware that his side need at least three more points to ensure their Premier League survival this season, the news that – barring any further setbacks – Gelhardt will be fit to face Crystal Palace on April 25 will certainly have come as a huge boost to the American and his side.

AND in other news: Leeds plot £20m bid for “unplayable” £52k-p/w “magician”, it could be bye-bye Harrison

Everton are reportedly now in ‘pole position’ to land Steve Hitchen as their new Director of Football (DoF).

The Lowdown: Hitchen leaves Tottenham

Tottenham Hotspur announced the exit of Technical Performance Director Hitchen on Wednesday evening, and football.london journalist Alasdair Gold revealed that he sent a heartfelt email to staff at the North London club explaining why he left.

The move was apparently due in part to the presence of new Spurs transfer guru Fabio Paratici, whose ex-Juve fingerprints are all over their deadline day moves for Rodrigo Bentancur and Dejan Kulusevski.

With the Goodison Park faithful rapidly making changes of their own, as both Marcel Brands and Rafa Benitez have already left midway through this season, Hitchen is now being eyed for a role in Merseyside.

The Latest: Everton favourites

As per The Athletic journalist Jack Pitt-Brooke, Hitchen is now in ‘pole position’ to land the DoF job at the Toffees following his resignation from Spurs:

“Steve Hitchen in pole position for Everton DoF job after resigning from Spurs.

“- Signed Suarez for Liverpool in 2011

– Returned to Spurs 2017, close bond with Poch

– Convinced Poch to sign Lucas Moura. Got him Ndombele

– Tried to get Poch back in 2021.”

The Verdict: Shake-up needed

With the Blues lurking just outside of the relegation zone in the Premier League and the mood around the club at an all-time low before Benitez’s exit, a real shake-up is needed on the pitch and at boardroom level.

Described as a ‘shrewd operator’ by Pitt-Brooke, Hitchen does not seem to someone that would take anything lightly at EFC, and so could be the exact kind of character that they need to come in and shake things up from the outside.

Gold has claimed that he had little involvement in the Lilywhites’ last two transfer windows, with Paratici doing most of the work. Given the north London outfit’s failures to sign both Adama Traore and Luis Diaz in January, perhaps Hitchen is someone who should have been given more trust with regards to recruitment, something Everton in particular have been heavily criticised for in recent years.

In other news, find out which seven players will miss Brentford here!

Graham Roberts insists that Tottenham Hotspur will only allow Tanguy Ndombele to move to Bayern Munich if they receive a big fee or Robert Lewandowski in part-exchange.

Ndombele is reported to have informed Spurs that he would be open to an exit from the club prior to the transfer deadline.

That has led to links with Bayern Munich, and a mooted swap deal involving midfielder Corentin Tolisso.

Roberts, though, insists that Spurs have no interest in the players that are currently being offered, and that Bayern need to pay up.

Ndombele, of course, is Spurs’ all-time record signing after arriving from Lyon for a fee of £54m.

Indeed, the club legend believes that the Bundesliga giants would need to offer a player of the quality of Lewandowski to convince chairman Daniel Levy to swap Ndombele.

Lewandowski has also told his current club that he would like to take on a new challenge, per reports, and has been a legendary player at Bayern, scoring a staggering 298 goals in 332 games for the club.

Speaking exclusively to The Transfer Tavern, he said: “It will if they want to pay the money.

“We don’t want the players that they’re throwing at us. If they want to throw Lewandowski in it, then yeah we’ll take him and we’ll swap you, but they don’t want to do that.”

Former Sheffield Wednesday midfielder Carlton Palmer has warned the Owls that they need to win promotion this season if they are to have any chance of signing Bailey Peacock-Farrell permanently.

The 24-year-old goalkeeper joined the club on loan from Burnley in the recent transfer window and has thoroughly impressed since his arrival.

After a strong start to the season, Peacock-Farrell was voted as the official swfc.co.uk August Player of the Month, while he has also impressed while on international duty for Northern Ireland, saving Haris Seferovic’s penalty in his nation’s recent 0-0 draw with Switzerland.

It would now not be a surprise to see Wednesday try and sign the former Leeds United shot-stopper from Burnley permanently, with Palmer believing promotion back to the Championship is key to any potential deal.

“He’s a talented ‘keeper,” the ex-Wednesday player said to TT in an exclusive interview. “They’ve got a season-long loan for him. I doubt for one minute – he’s an international – that he’s going to sign for a club in League One.

“For Wednesday to have any chance of signing him, they’ve got to get promoted at least back to the Championship.”

If he maintains this form, you would expect Peacock-Farrell to attract a lot of Championship interest next summer. So if Wednesday are not in that division, it is hard to imagine him returning to Hillsborough.

Liverpool fans want to sign Franck Kessie after the Reds were linked with a move for the AC Milan midfielder.

Over the past few years, 24-year-old Kessie has evolved into one of the best midfielders in Serie A. He started out at Atalanta, where he scored seven goals and provided three assists in 31 appearances for the club (Transfermarkt). That earned him a move to Milan, one of the biggest clubs in the country. He has continued to impress, missing just 10 league matches since making the move in 2017.

However, his contract is set to run out at the end of the season. And, according to Gazzetta dello Sport, the Reds are prepared to pay the €8m-a-year (£6.8m) contract the Ivory Coast international is looking for.

The news was shared on Twitter by @AnfieldEdition, and it attracted plenty of attention from the supporters. They took to the social media platform to share their thoughts on the rumour, with one fan claiming Kessie is ‘perfect’…

Let’s see what the fans had to say about the Kessie news below

“The Wijnaldum replacement. Not bad tbh decent player”

Credit: @Gho1stR7

“Masterclass”

Credit: @GxlDeSalah_

“Hed be a perfect signing.”

Credit: @joshambrown_

“Hopefully we can get him.”

Credit: @Seyjith

“Would be a quality player for us”

Credit: @ShayTreanor2

“Good player and still relatively young. Free transfer? Surely fsg are interested.”

Credit: @umxr168

In other news, Liverpool fans want this man to leave the club.

Many Everton fans have been left reacting as some early team news emerged ahead of their away game at Leeds United on Saturday afternoon.

Speaking in his pre-game press conference ahead of the match, Rafa Benitez said with regards to whether Jean-Philippe Gbamin will play (via Toffee TV): “It will not be easy because we have some players in isolation.”

The central midfield player was pictured in training earlier this week, but strangely looks set to miss out against the Whites at Elland Road due to protocols.

Gbamin has barely featured for the Goodison Park faithful since his move a couple of years ago and did not play in their 3-1 opening day win at home to Southampton.

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A lot of supporters of the Merseyside club are simply desperate to see him in action more, and so have been left frustrated by this latest setback.

Everton fans on Gbamin news

These Toffees gave their reactions as the news was shared on Twitter, with one Blue even going as far as to claim that it was ‘bizarre’:

“Wasn’t he photographed training yesterday. All getting a bit ridiculous. Is Gomes injured or isolating as well?”

Credit: @photogareth

“It’s very bizarre why he or the club won’t come out and actually tell us who’s isolating and who’s injured”

Credit: @EfcSl

“2 years of nothing. I’d just try and release him now”

Credit: @Conform1984

“Makes no sense at all he was pictured in training all getting a bit weird this”

Credit: @Ryanc10efc

“He’s such a weirdo”

Credit: @EFCbuggi1878

“Obviously this is a mind game but I’m not quite sure that’s even a sentence that makes sense…”

Credit: @1878_Shirts

In other news, find out what comments from one player has Evertonians fuming here!

David Moyes’ West Ham United side went into Sunday’s Premier League fixture against Southampton in something of a dip of form, with the Hammers having won just one of their last six league fixtures.

And, despite twice drawing level through Michail Antonio and Said Benrahma, after Mohamed Elyounoussi and then James Ward-Prowse had given Saints the lead in the fixture, Jan Bednarek’s 70th-minute header was enough for Ralph Hasenhuttl’s side to seal all three points at the London Stadium, with the visitors running out 3-2 victors.

As is to be expected after such a result, a number of West Ham’s players did not enjoy their finest of displays on Sunday afternoon, with centre-back duo Issa Diop and Craig Dawson, as well as Nikola Vlasic and Vladimir Coufal, all enduring something of a fixture to forget.

However, it was undoubtedly 25-year-old Pablo Fornals who let his manager down the most against Southampton, as the Spain international turned in a particularly anonymous display from attacking midfield.

Lost the ball every 2.1 touches

Despite having been in decent form over his 17 Premier League appearances so far this season, scoring four goals, registering two assists and creating four big chances for his teammates, the £18m-rated Fornals was far from at his best on Sunday afternoon.

Indeed, over his 45 minutes on the pitch, the £79k-per-week midfielder managed a mere 26 touches of the ball, completed just 14 of his 24 attempted passes – a completion rate of 58% – failed with both his one attempted cross and one attempted long ball and won just one of his three duels.

The Spaniard also lost the ball on 12 separate occasions, meaning he ceded possession with every 2.1 touches, and was dribbled past by an opponent twice, before being hooked by Moyes at halftime.

These returns saw the 25-year-old earn a SofaScore match rating of just 6.3, with only Lukasz Fabianski between the West Ham sticks receiving a lower score than the midfielder on the day.

Furthermore, the Evening Standard journalist Jack Rosser awarded Fornals a five in his own player ratings, writing of his display: “Not his usual energetic self. Couldn’t get anything going on the break against a Southampton side leaving big gaps.”

As such, it is clear for all to see that the forward badly let his manager down against Saints on Sunday, with it looking extremely unlikely that Fornals will retain his starting spot in the side when the Hammers visit Watford on Tuesday evening.

In other news: Moyes can finally axe “special” £115k-p/w West Ham flop by signing 21 y/o “phenomenon”

Liverpool have a multitude of attacking players in their squad who have contributed to keeping the Reds in the race to win the Premier League title, along with securing the Carabao Cup earlier in the season.

One figure who hasn’t been as active in the Premier League as some of his attacking team-mates this season is Roberto Firmino.

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With 17 league appearances under his belt, the Brazilian has only started nine times, which shows that he hasn’t always been a first-choice pick for Jurgen Klopp at times this season, in addition to having some injury issues.

Despite scoring five goals and providing three assists in the league, the 30-year-old’s overall performances have earned him a disappointing season rating of 6.84/10 from WhoScored, making him one of the lowest-rated Liverpool players to start more than three league games.

With this in mind and the £180k-per-week attacker’s contract at Anfield set to expire in the summer of 2023, it seems as though the Merseyside club could have identified a potential future long-term replacement for the Brazil striker.

According to a recent report from Record (via Sport Witness), the performance from Benfica striker Darwin Nunez against the Reds in their recent Champions League meeting impressed the hierarchy at Liverpool and a number of their players.

In 79 appearances for the Portuguese club, the 22-year-old has racked up 42 goals and provided 15 assists across all competitions.

Labelled a “tenacious” player and a “monster” on the pitch by journalist James Dodd, the £36m-rated attacker not only scored against Jurgen Klopp’s squad in midweek, he also made two key passes and completed all four of his dribbles, highlighting what a tricky player he is for opponents to handle.

Also, the Uruguayan has twice as many shots per game on average (2.8) in the Portuguese league this season compared to Firmino in the Premier League (1.4).

Taking all of this into account, if the 30-year-old ends up leaving Merseyside in the near future, signing Nunez as his replacement could be just what the Reds need to keep their lethal attack ticking over nicely.

In other news: FSG could replicate Elliott masterclass as LFC plot bid for “special” teenage sensation

As per TUTTOmercatoWEB, it appears that Tottenham Hotspur manager Antonio Conte has his eyes on yet another Serie A name in Juventus winger Dejan Kulusevski.

The Lowdown: Conte plots Italian raid…

There are reportedly a host of stars from Italy’s top division currently being eyed by Conte as Spurs become linked with many big players from the continent.

Indeed, according to Calciomercato, the likes of Federico Chiesa, Matthijs de Ligt, Stefan de Vrij, Marcelo Brozovic, Alessio Romagnoli and Dusan Vlahovic are all on his radar. Meanwhile, the likes of Franck Kessie have also been heavily linked, with a report by La Gazzetta dello Sport (via Get Italian Football News) recently claiming that talks were at a very advanced stage.

Another name has emerged in recent days as Spurs eye one of Serie A’s brightest young talents.

The Latest: Conte in awe…

As per TUTTOmercatoWEB, Tottenham could now sign the 21-year-old and are considered a ‘credible candidate’ for his signature alongside north London rivals Arsenal.

Additionally, both Conte and Spurs managing director Fabio Paratici ‘share the esteem’ for Kulusevski and consider the player to be a ‘gem’ with huge potential.

Funnily enough, the former Inter boss had wanted him at the San Siro, only to miss out to Paratici’s Juve at the time.

The Verdict: Big talent…

It appears that Spurs are still weighing future seasons as links also emerge to some of Europe’s brightest emerging prospects, as evident by their interest in Club Brugge starlet Charles De Ketelaere (Calciomercato).

Going by Kulusevski’s credentials, he certainly comes as a hugely exciting prospect, with the Champions League attacker even lavished by the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, who called him a “great talent”.

Another Portuguese footballing icon in Bruno Alves was also left amazed by the 19-cap Sweden international, hailing Kulusevski and his ‘incredible’ intensity as a player (via Forza Italian Football).

Valued at around €35m (£29.8m) in the summer (TUTTOmercatoWEB), his value will only increase if he keeps turning this many heads.

In other news: Spurs now close to signing ‘monster’ player as Conte seeks to solve severe problem, find out more here.

Leeds United manager Jesse Marsch confirmed to talkSPORT on Tuesday that Junior Firpo was expected to make a return to training.

The Lowdown: Firpo’s absence

The American, who told talkSPORT that he inherited a Whites squad which had been ‘over-trained’, lost Firpo to a serious knee injury in just his second game in charge.

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The left-back hasn’t been seen since the 3-0 defeat to Aston Villa, with Leeds picking up 10 points from a possible 12 during that time.

Stuart Dallas has filled in for Firpo during those four matches, but it looks as if the summer signing could be in line for a return when Leeds travel to Crystal Palace on April 25.

The Latest: Marsch’s comments on Firpo

Speaking live on talkSPORT, Marsch was quizzed about the injury issues at the club.

He confirmed on air that Firpo was ‘likely to be in training’ on Tuesday and took the blame for Patrick Bamford’s setback against Wolves last month.

The Verdict: Good news for Leeds

Leo Hjelde also returned to the squad against Watford last time out, so Firpo’s availability for the run-in will bolster Marsch’s defensive options even further, which can only be viewed as yet more good news for the manager.

The 25-year-old hasn’t had the best of debut seasons at Elland Road, missing 13 Premier League games throughout the season and receiving more yellow cards than any other Leeds player.

However, he has shown his quality in stages during his first year in England, posting the squad’s joint-third best tackling average, so hopefully he can remain fully fit under Marsch going into the American’s first full season in charge at Elland Road.

In other news: ‘I know’ – Journalist says Orta now ‘thinking’ of signing 28-goal midfielder alongside Aaronson