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After the farcical scenes which emerged during Brazil’s clash with Argentina last weekend, Leeds United were one of a number of Premier League clubs who were worrying about the ensuing fallout.

For all the world it looked like Marcelo Bielsa would be without star man Raphinha for the clash against Liverpool on Sunday afternoon after the Brazilian FA’s attempts to block the winger, and several others, from playing for their clubs.

While losing the former Rennes man would have been a bitter blow for the Whites, the latest update on the situation means Raphinha is likely to take to the field against the Reds.

But while Bielsa will no doubt start the 24-year-old, he could be tempted to unleash one of the club’s exciting youngsters in Crysencio Summerville, perhaps in the place of Jack Harrison.

Harrison has yet to score or assist in the Premier League this season despite playing the full 90 minutes in each game, while Summerville could bring the surprising X-factor that could keep Liverpool guessing.

Hailed as a “bag of tricks” by Chris Powell, his former coach when he was a teenager at Dutch side ADO Den Haag, the 19-year-old has been a revelation for Leeds’ under-23s following his move last summer.

In fact, he scored a hat-trick against Burnley on just his second start last season, while in total he bagged an impressive six goals and provided a further six assists in just 12 Premier League 2 games.

Against Guiseley during pre-season earlier this summer, it was Summerville who put in the kind of performance which will have given Bielsa some food for thought.

After watching his goalscoring display, Leeds Live’s Joe Donnohue said on Twitter: “Cody Drameh and Crysencio Summerville were great together down the right flank for Leeds’ U23s last season. Seems like more of the same this year. Drameh an excellent carrier, weightless going forward. Summerville a wriggler, impossible to handle.”

The 19-year-old is an exciting winger who can play on either flank, and with his quick feet and agility, he is very reminiscent of Leeds talisman Raphinha.

With new signing Dan James still needing to get up to speed with Bielsa’s methods and Harrison not firing yet in the top-flight, Summerville has the perfect chance to stamp his mark if Bielsa starts him today.

He could well take Liverpool by surprise and give Bielsa another exciting prospect to work with in the first-team.

Meanwhile, Leeds are battling Real Madrid for this starlet…

Aston Villa crashed out of the Carabao Cup after a penalty shootout defeat to Chelsea on Wednesday evening.

And a number of Villa supporters hit out at Anwar El Ghazi on social media during the match for his display at Stamford Bridge.

The 26-year-old, who impressed in the previous round against Barrow, returned to the side for his fifth start of the campaign.

Villa managed to take the tie to penalties after youngster Cameron Archer cancelled out Timo Werner’s opener in the second half.

El Ghazi netted Villa’s first penalty, with Ashley Young and Marvelous Nakamba missing, but struggled in normal time, losing possession on 13 occasions. [Sofa Score]

The Dutchman also completed just 62% of his passes in London and failed to make a successful cross or long ball. [Sofa Score]

Villa fans react

His poor display resulted in a number of Villa fans taking to social media to talk about the winger, with one labelling him ‘a mess’.

“El Ghazi is clearly the worst player at our football club, the man lives off the penalty spot, such a wimp”

Credit: @matty__jeff

“El ghazi passenger, shock”

Credit: @tom_mills06

“El Ghazi a mess, Buendia giving the ball away too much, Sanson injured again, Traoré ouchy…need to tighten it up at halftime.”

Credit: @ConnorMcBride

“El Ghazi has been terrible”

Credit: @kconners10

“No bigger bottle job in world football than el ghazi when it comes to putting a foot in, Buendia clearly not impressed with him either”

Credit: @AmbitiousVillan

“If someone wanted him I’d happily let him go, just nowhere near consistent enough, seems to have an odd attitude, that’s the impression you get anyway”

Credit: @NeilPugh5

In other news: ‘Magical’, ‘Love to see it’ – Lots of Villa fans react as Sky Sports share ‘excellent news’.

Danny Ings may drop out of the starting line-up for Aston Villa’s clash with Everton on Saturday evening, Birmingham Live journalist Ashley Preece has said. 

The lowdown

The 29-year-old has started all four of Villa’s Premier League matches since his £25m move from Southampton, playing all but 21 minutes.

He has two goals to his name so far, having netted in the opening day defeat at Watford and in the win over Newcastle, while he lined up alongside Ollie Watkins in a 5-3-2 formation away to Chelsea last time out as Dean Smith went with two starting centre-forwards for the first time this season.

Villa are looking to return to winning ways following a 3-0 defeat at Stamford Bridge, but they face a stern test from an unbeaten Everton side with 10 points on the board from their first four games.

The latest

In a fan Q&A for Birmingham Live on Friday, Preece said that Aston Villa manager Smith will tweak his line-up today ‘as he sees fit’.

Ings ‘could well come out’ of the starting XI for the visit of the Toffees to Villa Park, with the journalist predicting plenty of tactical and personnel alternations over the course of the campaign given the depth of options available to him.

Preece replied to a supporter’s query by saying: “Dean will tweak as he sees fit [sic]. Ings could well come out tomorrow. I think we’ll see a lot of change in terms of shape and personnel this season which will be refreshing. Will it work? We’ll wait and see. A lot more options now.”

The verdict

If Smith is looking to give Ings a rest, perhaps it would be wiser to do so in midweek when Villa face Chelsea once again, this time in the Carabao Cup.

Villa supporters may want a cup run similar to two seasons ago, but that game remains a better rotation opportunity for a player as prolific as the 29-year-old.

Going forward, it will be interesting to see if Smith settles on a system which can incorporate both of his two main strikers or whether they’ll largely battle it out for one spot in the starting line-up.

In other news, Villa have been linked with this Championship ace.

Lee Johnson’s Sunderland head into Saturday’s League One fixture at the Stadium of Light in fine form, having picked up 16 points from their opening seven fixtures of the season, as well as securing their passage to the fourth round of the Carabao Cup in midweek.

In this cup fixture, despite ringing the changes to his starting XI, Johnson saw his team put in a dominant performance in a 2-0 victory over League One leaders Wigan Athletic, with a number of the Black Cats’ fringe players turning in very impressive displays.

One such man was 23-year-old Everton loanee Nathan Broadhead, with the centre-forward scoring one goal, making two key passes, winning two tackles, completing two dribbles and winning five duels over the course of his 90 minutes on the pitch.

These returns saw the £1.9k-per-week man receive a highly impressive SofaScore match rating of 7.4, ranking him as the third-best player to feature in the match.

The performance of the player who David Unsworth dubbed a “terrific” talent is sure to have given Johnson something of a selection headache ahead of the visit of Bolton Wanderers this afternoon, as Broadhead’s fellow centre-forward Ross Stewart has also been in remarkable form so far this season.

Indeed, over his seven League One appearances this term, the 25-year-old has scored five goals and averaged a SofaScore match rating of 7.36, ranking him as the Black Cats’ best performer in the third tier.

As such, it would appear unlikely that Broadhead will replace Stewart as the Mackems’ lone striker against the Trotters. However, with the £450k-rated youngster stating that he is more than capable of operating from the left wing, there would appear to be a way for Johnson to unleash the 23-year-old alongside Stewart in Sunderland’s attacking line up – a move which would likely strike fear into the Bolton defence.

In other news: Alan Nixon drops fresh claim on “excellent” 21 y/o gem, it’s good news for Sunderland

Liverpool managed to keep their Premier League unbeaten streak intact following their 2-2 draw against reigning champions Manchester City over the weekend.

Goals from Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah were cancelled out thanks to goals from Phil Foden and Kevin De Bruyne, resulting in the Reds dropping the lead twice and two points in the process in their latest league match ahead of the international break.

One player, in particular, that stood out for Liverpool on the day, but for all the wrong reasons, in our view, was Fabinho who played the full 90 minutes of the match in midfield alongside Curtis Jones and club captain Jordan Henderson.

From a defensive point of view, the Brazilian won just 25% of his ground duels (two out of eight), only made one tackle, lost possession on six occasions and was dribbled past five times. That ultimately earned himself a rather disappointing overall match rating of 5.9/10, the lowest rating of any Liverpool player on the day according to SofaScore.

What didn’t help was a glaring miss towards the end of the match too. With the goal at his mercy, the holding player had a chance to find the net but was tackled spectacularly well by Rodri.

Since joining the Merseyside club back in the 2018 summer transfer window from French club AS Monaco for a fee of £40.5m, the 27-year-old has been a reliable figure, however.

Currently earning a weekly wage of £180k-per-week according to Spotrac, he’s made a total of 130 appearances for Jurgen Klopp’s side across all competitions. During that time he has managed to score four goals and provide eight assists along the way.

So far this season, Fabinho has made eight appearances for the Reds in all tournaments, scoring one goal and providing one assist in the process.

Despite his poor showing against Pep Guardiola’s side, we feel as if Klopp should continue selecting Fabinho in his starting XI for the remainder of the season wherever possible and just hope his underwhelming display against City was just a bad day at the office.

However, with Fabinho currently being the only Liverpool player that predominantly plays in the defensive-midfield position, we feel as though his place in the team would be safe enough anyway.

In other news: £7.5k-p/w Liverpool gem has seen his value soar by £25.2m in 2 years, he’s exceptional – opinion

West Ham could land Jesse Lingard for a cut-price fee this January, according to reports…

What’s the word?

Claret and Hugh correspondent Terry Robbins claims Manchester United are prepared to sell the 31-cap England international for just £10m this winter transfer window after he rejected their offers of a new contract extension.

The 28-year-old midfielder will be free to leave the Red Devils in the summer after turning down a deal that would see him earn around £150k-per-week at Old Trafford.

The Irons were quoted a fee in the region of £20m to £30m throughout the summer but the United hierarchy are now worried that Lingard could indeed run down his contract over the next eight months.

West Ham are said to remain keen on the attacking midfielder.

A source told the website:

“Lingard is still holding all the cards but United would now rather get £10m in January than zero in July. It’s hoped an agreement can be found but United believe a number of clubs would be takers at the major discounted price.”

Bargain

Whilst the £19.8m-rated Englishman has been a long-standing target for both manager David Moyes and his assistant Stuart Pearce, new head of recruitment Rob Newman can begin his reign with a bang by launching a move for him this January.

Nikola Vlasic has struggled since returning to England this summer. He still needs plenty of time and he’ll get it at just 23, but the former Everton flop is nowhere near looking like the ideal Lingard replacement.

The United loanee bagged nine goals and provided five assists in just 16 appearances at the London Stadium but back in Manchester, he’s been restricted to only 136 minutes of action, as per Transfermarkt.

“He’s a special lad and was very good around the players,” Pearce revealed to talkSPORT back in August. “His ability shone out last year and gave us a great option in our squad.”

Lingard was not only a favourite in the dressing room but also with the Hammers faithful, so if Newman returned with a bid to try and sign him this January, then you’d imagine that many fans would absolutely love to see him return.

For just £10m, it would be an absolute bargain and it would certainly stop him from signing a pre-contract with any interested teams from abroad, too.

Newman and the Irons’ recruitment team must look to bring Lingard back to east London when the transfer window reopens for business.

AND in other news, West Ham dealt fresh injury blow to key 24-cap star, Moyes will be hugely concerned…

Many Everton fans have been left flocking to some comments made by Rafa Benitez.

Speaking to The Liverpool Echo, the Spaniard said when asked about his targets for this season: “To be in the middle of the table is not my target, my target is to be sure we can go higher and higher. Some people say to finish eighth is a great target. That means nothing for me.”

The Goodison Park faithful currently sit in fifth spot in the table in the Premier League ahead of their game against West Ham United on Sunday afternoon, and Benitez clearly thinks that there is no reason that they cannot clinch a European place.

It is the mindset of an elite manager who has been at some of the top clubs in European football, including the likes of Liverpool, Inter Milan and Real Madrid, and the fact that he is aiming so high should help motivate his players for the campaign ahead.

Nonetheless, the comments were very much welcomed by several supporters of the Merseyside club.

Everton fans on Benitez comments

These Toffees were left flocking to the comments made by Benitez as they were shared on Twitter:

“Love to hear it from him, really trying to put his point across that he wants to succeed and slowly changing the sceptics views!”

Credit: @TOwen2011

“RB once again saying what we all want to hear, been very impressed so far”

Credit: @dbignall85

“Mindset of a winner”

Credit: @NSNOCOYB

“Finally someone who understands the meaning of NSNO”

Credit: @NSNO39

“We’re in good hands”

Credit: @murph6210

“Shudders down Kenwright’s spine quotes like that”

Credit: @pdefc84

In other news, find out what transfer news has Blues buzzing here!

Leeds United could be facing another Seth Johnson-esque nightmare by making a move for Chelsea midfielder Ross Barkley.

What’s the story?

According to recent reports from 90min, the English ace is free to leave Stamford Bridge in the January transfer window, and is wanted by the likes of Leeds, Newcastle United and Burnley.

Shades of Johnson

A profile done by Goal, said: “Having starred for Derby County, Johnson was being tipped as the future of England’s midfield, and as such Leeds forked out £7m for his services.

“Injuries plagued his time in West Yorkshire, though, and he made just 54 league appearances in four seasons with the club. His massive wages, meanwhile, are cited as the best illustration of the mass overspending that crippled the Whites during the early 21st century.”

Leeds Live added: “The poster child of the Ridsdale era of over-indulgence. A £7m signing with a hefty wage packet who turned out just 54 times in four years.”

If Johnson’s career at Elland Road could be mirrored by a modern player, then Barkley arguably fits that bill the most.

Earning a reported £100k-per-week, the midfielder just endured a shocking season while on loan at Aston Villa, managing only three goals and one assist in the Premier League – indeed, he had a shocking second half of the season in particular, with no goals in the top flight since the end of January when he netted in a 1-0 victory over Southampton.

Speaking on The Athletic’s Aston Villa-themed 1874 podcast, journalist Gregg Evans said: “He doesn’t do enough for me now. I’ve seen enough of Ross Barkley now to realise that he’s becoming a bit of a liability for Villa. He’s not helping out enough as he should, really.”

And, speaking after he was taken off yet again in the second half against Leicester, Sky Sports pundit Alex Scott slammed him for his display, saying: “For me it’s another missed opportunity for Ross Barkley to show up and demand, he’s been subbed off again and you can see in his face he’s not happy. But how many chances does a player need?

“You need to take it upon yourself. There’s only so many chances that he can be deserving. He’s missed another opportunity today.”

Barkley has faced numerous injury problems that have really plagued his career since really making his breakthrough at Everton, and given his big wages too, he doesn’t scream a player who could really take Leeds to the next level.

The Whites must simply avoid a major disaster by going after Barkley.

Meanwhile, Leeds are eyeing this La Liga starlet…

Crystal Palace could face stiff competition for the signature of Rangers midfielder Joe Aribo in the coming months after Sky Sports journalist Michael Bridge claimed he was on the radar of several clubs.

What’s the story?

The Eagles have been heavily linked with a move for the 25-year-old in recent weeks as new manager Patrick Vieira looks to bolster his first-team squad this January, but they’re unlikely to be the only interest party.

Bridge told GIVEMESPORT: “I’m sure people are watching him. He’s a very skilful player. We can question the Scottish Premiership, sure, but he’s been brilliant in the Europa League.

“He’s got European experience and played in countless Old Firm games. The Motherwell’s, Hearts’ and Aberdeen’s away aren’t as done and dusted as people think.”

Crystal Palace fans will be worried

Palace have reportedly been monitoring Aribo’s situation at Ibrox amid speculation he was keen to depart Glasgow giants over the coming months, and Football Insider recently reported that the Gers will demand £10m-plus for one of their prized assets over the winter window.

The former Charlton Athletic ace was a pivotal part of the side that ended Rangers’ ten-year wait for a Scottish Premiership title last term, cementing his place in the club’s history as a result.

However, after scoring 19 goals and laying on a further 17 assists in 109 appearances for Steven Gerrard’s charges, it appears as though the 6-foot maestro is ready for a new challenge.

His arrival in south London would be warmly welcomed by the Palace supporters, with his tactical intelligence, tenacity and eye for goal all attributes that make his potential addition an exciting one.

As a result, Bridge’s claim that multiple people will be watching Aribo is likely to leave a large section of the capital club’s supporters feeling worried.

Conor Gallagher is only on a 12-month loan deal at Selhurst Park, and the Nigeria international would be an ideal replacement but it appears as if the Eagles will have to be drawn into a tussle to secure him, if Bridge’s claim is to be believed.

And, in other news…Vieira could unearth Palace prodigy in 19y/o maestro, he’s a “top professional” 

According to The Sun, Leeds United target Fabio Carvalho has turned down a new contract at Fulham, and will therefore be available on a free transfer next summer if the two parties cannot agree to a new deal.

The Lowdown: Leeds eye Carvalho

19-year-old Carvalho has impressed since making his debut against Sheffield Wednesday in the League Cup last year (three and provided one assist in six matches, although his progressed has been stunted by a toe injury and a positive coronavirus test.

The Whites are said to be interested in the England U18 international (The Daily Mail), with West Ham and Real Madrid also believed to be in pursuit of the starlet.

The Latest: Carvalho makes big decision

Now, there has been a big update in the future of the teenager – despite being offered a bumper new contract by the Cottagers, Carvalho has decided to reject it.

It was added Fulham will not make another offer for the attacking midfielder as insiders described the first one as ‘massive’.

Real Madrid are thought to be circling and a January exit is even possible, while a number of Premier League clubs are also interested.

The Verdict: One to watch

Carvalho has been tipped for a big future. Although Fulham were relegated back to the Championship last term, former boss Scott Parker called the player a “shining bright light” (via The Shropshire Star), with him scoring his first senior goal against Southampton, albeit in a 3-1 defeat.

In August, he won the EFL Young Player of the Month award after scoring three times in his first five outings (EFL.com). Even despite the amount of games he has missed this term – BBC), while only Harry Wilson has managed more than his two key passes per game (WhoScored).

He has lofty ambitions too, previously stating he wants to win the Ballon d’Or in the future (via The Athletic), showing the sort of professional drive that every scout looks for in a young talent.

Still so young, he has plenty of time to develop and, under a boss such as Marcelo Bielsa, he could develop into a fine player if Leeds follow up on their interest.

In other news, Leeds want to sign this Championship star.