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Kevin Phillips has predicted that Kyle Edwards would excel in the Premiership amid growing links with Scottish giants Celtic.

The Lowdown: Celtic set to scour far and wide for talent

With the 2021/22 season set to get underway, new Bhoys manager Ange Postecoglou will be keen to cast the net far and wide to find financially viable deals to facilitate a Premiership title charge.

Relaxed cross-border rules have proved to be an avenue of acquiring quality signings for nothing more than small compensation fees, illustrated by the additions of former Sheffield Wednesday pair Liam Shaw and Osaze Urhoghide in the last few weeks [Yorkshire Live].

Another man who would fall into this category is former West Bromwich Albion winger Edwards, who would be available for a development fee of just £300,000 due to his extensive upbringing in the Baggies academy.

The Latest: Phillips backs Edwards to ‘do really well’ in Glasgow

Celtic have opened talks with Edwards over a possible move to Parkhead, which has prompted Phillips to respond positively in an interview with Football Insider about the impact the 23-year-old could have in Glasgow. He said:

“If you’re going from the Premier League to the Scottish Premiership, I think he’d do really well up there.

“I think he needs a change of scenery. He can go and play regularly or hopefully at least be involved in matchdays, on the bench or whatever just to show what he can do.

“So it wouldn’t surprise me if he went up there and did really well. Then all of a sudden it might be one of those where West Brom fans are asking: ‘Why did we let him go?’”

The Verdict: Edwards would be an astute signing for Celtic

Former Sunderland striker Phillips correctly identifies Edwards’ previous disposition within an elite-level division such as the Premier League, which could bode well in the pressure-cooker environment at Parkhead.

He registered four goal contributions in 13 matches combined for West Brom’s first team and under-23s last season, with one goal and three assists [Transfermarkt].

Intriguingly, despite his limited time on the field, Edwards recorded a commendable 91.2% passing accuracy, which was actually the highest in the West Bromwich Albion squad across the campaign [WhoScored].

Lacking depth on the left hand-side of attack, Celtic should look to tie up a deal for Edwards as soon as possible, especially if they could get him for a measly six-figure fee.

In other news, Celtic have opened talks with this England international.

Manchester United have been having a quiet transfer window in terms of incomings, but rumours have been spreading of fall outs and potential moves for many of the current squad, with the latest development one that would potentially be welcomed by fans.

What’s the word?

According to Sky Sports Italia, as cited by MilanLive, Eric Bailly is one of a number of defenders that AC Milan are interested in signing this January to replace Simon Kjaer.

The Serie A side are said to be looking for a quick fix to replace the Milan defender, who has been ruled out for the rest of the season, and Manchester United’s centre-back is one that they have reportedly ‘focused their attention’ on.

Fans will be buzzing

Bailly has been previously criticised for his poor performances when given his opportunity to play in the side, with Trevor Sinclair ripping into the “poor” player after the 2-0 defeat Manchester United sustained to local rivals, Manchester City:

“What is Bailly doing? That is poor defending,” he began.

“We’re not surprised, are we? He’s a rash defender and he seems like he’s always got a mistake in him,

“You can’t teach an old dog new tricks and the ship has sailed for Bailly. He’ll never be the composed defender Man United need.”

The £87k-per-week flop has had his ups and downs at Old Trafford over the last five and a half years, and has only been given seven appearances in all competitions this season. Thus, fans will surely be delighted to see the back of him.

According to SofaScore, Bailly has not helped his side keep a single clean sheet in any of the Premier League games he has played in this season, as well as averaging less than one interception per game while only winning possession 0.3 times on average over the season so far in the league.

It’s safe to say fans would not be sorry to see the central defender leave the club this January, with one fan simply tweeting: “Bailly can leave.”

Ralf Rangnick has had a number of internal issues going on this week, with Bailly named as one of 11 players who are rumoured to want to leave the club this season, and with the FA Cup game against Aston Villa coming up this evening it will be interesting to see who the German coach plays in his starting line up amidst the drama.

If he does, it will be a mistake. After all, the defender should be brutally axed from the Theatre of Dreams this winter.

In other news: Ralf Rangnick eyes a swoop for Rudiger

Former Celtic striker Chris Sutton was fuming at referee Bobby Madden’s performance in the Hoops’ Scottish Cup semi-final defeat.

The Lowdown: Hoops beaten by rivals

Andy Postecoglou’s side were looking to keep their treble dream alive on Sunday afternoon, as they faced old foes Rangers at Hampden Park.

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When Greg Taylor fired Celtic in front, everything seemed to be going swimmingly, but Scott Arfield equalised and the game ended up going to extra-time.

It was left to Fashion Sakala to secure a 2-1 win for Rangers, as the Hoops were left to lick their wounds after a bitterly disappointing day at the office.

The Latest: Sutton fumes at Madden

Taking to Twitter after the game, Sutton couldn’t hide his frustration at Madden’s performance, following some questionable decisions on the day:

“Celtic were poor but Bobby Madden turned in one of the worst refereeing performances I’ve seen in Scotland for a long time… and that’s saying something!!!”

The Verdict: Poor day all round

There is no doubt that Madden was poor on Sunday, somehow allowing John Lundstram to commit numerous fouls before being booked, among other errors.

That being said, Celtic must also look at themselves and accept that they were short of their best, as Sutton alluded to in his aforementioned tweet.

You could argue Rangers were the better team for much of the game, with their superiority eventually shining through, even despite playing 120 minutes in the Europa League around 72 hours earlier.

Celtic must now dust themselves down and focus on securing Scottish Premiership glory, hopefully fending off the Gers in the remaining weeks of the season.

In other news, a pundit has explained why Celtic will win the league title. Read more here.

Wolverhampton Wanderers signed Fabio Silva for £35m in a record-breaking transfer for the club, but Silva has since only been given 36 minutes of Premier League football so far this season under Bruno Lage.

The Portuguese boss hasn’t been playing the 19-year-old forward often, with just two starts for the side in the league cup, during which he has bagged two assists for the side.

The Wolves manager did speak out last week about why he hasn’t been included in the side much this season:

“Fabio is important for us,” Lage said. “He’s a young talent. Me and my staff have a pathway for the youth. Luis (Nascimento) worked with Fabio before so we see potential in him.”

“He needs to continue to work and wait for that chance. He needs to work for today and work for tomorrow.”

The teenager played 37 games in all competitions last season under Nuno Santo, scoring four goals and assisting three times for the side but has become out of favour for game time since the arrival of new manager Bruno Lage, in the summer.

Silva has been predicted to be an “extraordinary striker” by Sporting CP legend, Manuel Fernandes and even compared the teenager to Ronaldo.

“When Ronaldo was 17, he played as a centre-forward for Sporting’s youth teams. I saw him doing things that I’m now seeing a boy from FC Porto do, Fabio Silva.”

One of the main reasons that Silva did get so much game time last season was due to the fact Raul Jimenez suffered a horrific skull injury a few months into the season in November 2020, missing the rest of the season for Wolves, meaning that the youngster had the opportunity to step into his shoes quickly.

Although the Mexican has made his return to the side, Lage will need to look at future prospects for Silva, who will be keen to break back into the first team.

Wolves will be looking to capitalise on their fantastic first half of the season, with the view to securing a European spot by finishing in the top half of the Premier League.

The number of attacking options in Wolves’ locker still hasn’t deterred the rumour mill from working overtime when it comes to the imminent winter transfer window, with Enner Valencia linked to a move to the Molineux.

However, Lage could make smarter moves by saving millions and forgetting about the aforementioned target, utilising Silva in the team instead.

In other news: Hatfield hints at an early exit for Traore

Reported Manchester United target Declan Rice is not for sale this summer, according to Sky Sports News.

The lowdown

The Telegraph’s Northern Football Correspondent James Ducker reported earlier this month that United would target West Ham midfielder Rice this summer, with incoming manager Erik ten Hag set to be given access to a transfer ‘war chest’.

Irons manager David Moyes said recently that the Englishman was worth £150million at a ‘minimum’.

That would be the biggest transfer in Premier League history, smashing the £105.75milllion record set by Jack Grealish’s move to Manchester City.

Rice is under contract until the summer of 2024, but West Ham crucially have the option to extend that deal by a further year. He’s believed to have turn down three offers of an extension, one of which was worth around £200,000 per week (via The Guardian).

The latest

Live on air on Friday evening, presenter Mike Wedderburn relayed an update on Rice.

While West Ham won’t countenance a sale this summer, their stance could change at the end of next season, he told Sky.

“Our chief reporter Kaveh Solhekol has spoken to West Ham today. West Ham have said this: they will not sell Declan Rice this summer, even if he doesn’t sign a new contract.

“The Hammers would be prepared to sell Rice in the summer of 2023 if he doesn’t sign a new contract.”

The verdict

This presents Man. United with an interesting dilemma. They can either bide their time for Rice, who will only be 24 years old come the 2023 window. If he’s their no. 1 target, they may be patient.

Or they may decide that they simply have to furnish Ten Hag with a marquee midfield addition this summer, particularly with Paul Pogba set to leave on a free transfer.

They’ve been linked with Rice’s England team-mate, Kalvin Phillips, who is available for a fee of £60million (according to The I’s Mark Douglas). This cheaper, swifter deal could prove to be more desirable.

In other news, Fabrizio Romano drops a key update concerning Ten Hag. 

With an average squad age of 27.3, Manchester City have the eight-oldest squad in the Premier League at this moment in time, with 36-year-old Fernandinho being the joint-oldest player alongside goalkeeper Scott Carson, who is the same age as the Brazilian.

Taking this into account, and with the midfielder’s current contract at the Manchester club set to expire next summer, it seems as though the Premier League champions should be thinking about his eventual exit and who they could get to replace him.

However, we think that the club may not need to go out and spend a significant amount of money on a new player, as they have done in the past, to replace Fernandinho, and instead turn to 17-year-old defensive midfielder Romeo Lavia.

The teenager joined City’s under-18 side back in the 2020 summer transfer window from Belgian club Anderlecht for an undisclosed fee.

Since then, the midfielder – who has been described as an “aggressive” player by former City defender Vincent Kompany – has made 14 appearances for the under-18 side, as well as 25 appearances for City’s under-23s in which he has managed to score two goals and provide three assists, which we feel is quite impressive for a defensive midfielder at such a young age.

Lavia, who is currently valued at £900k by Transfermarkt, has also made one appearance for Guardiola’s first team in the 6-1 win over Wycombe Wanderers in the Carabao Cup last month, where he played the full 90 minutes.

For his performance against Wycombe, Lavia earned himself a decent overall match rating of 7/10 from the Manchester Evening News, who said that he “clearly likes a tackle, and his passes over the top and through the lines were Fernandinho-esque”. That further highlights him as a potential ideal long-term replacement for the Brazilian at the Etihad Stadium, if the veteran leaves when his current contract ends in the summer.

Moving forward, if Lavia can keep playing regularly for the under-23 side and make the most of any future chances that he gets in the first team, we believe he could well find himself becoming a significant part of Guardiola’s squad in the coming years.

In other news: 95% pass accuracy, 91 touches: £140k-p/w MCFC ace was Pep’s only shining light against West Ham

Former Aston Villa centre-forward Gabriel Agbonlahor has claimed that Ivan Toney would be a brilliant fit for Villa.

What’s been said?

Speaking recently on talkSPORT (via Birmingham Live), Agbonlahor stated his belief that the Brentford forward has the ability to play for a team that is fighting for European qualification in the Premier League, before suggesting that the 25-year-old would make an ideal strike partner for Aston Villa’s Ollie Watkins.

Speaking about the centre-forward, Agbonlahor said: “I think he’s got what it takes to be in a team that’s fighting for Europe… somewhere like Villa as a target man, playing with Watkins.”

Lange must move

While there are no concrete links being reported regarding a potential Aston Villa move for Toney, considering just how impressive the 25-year-old has been for Brentford this season, it would be difficult to disagree with Agbonlahor’s claim that the striker would make an impressive addition to Dean Smith’s options in attack.

Indeed, over his eight Premier League appearances so far this term, the £28.8m-rated man has already scored two goals, registered two assists and created four big chances for his teammates, as well as taking an average of 2.3 shots and making 1.4 key passes per game.

These returns have seen the player Thomas Frank claimed boasts the “mindset of a lion” earn a remarkable average SofaScore match rating of 7.47, ranking him as the Bees’ best performer in the top flight, as well as the ninth-best in the entirety of the division.

As such, the prospect of the £21k-per-week Toney lining up alongside either Watkins – one goal in six league appearances – or Danny Ings – three goals over eight league fixtures – is certainly a mouthwatering one.

And, while it would appear an incredibly unlikely scenario considering their highly impressive start to the season, should Brentford find themselves being relegated to the Championship at the end of the current campaign, and the opportunity to sign Toney presents itself, Johan Lange simply must do everything in his power to secure the 25-year-old’s arrival at Villa Park.

In other news: “Outstanding” Aston Villa gem who won just one duel failed Smith in derby collapse

Out-of-favour Manchester United midfielder Donny van de Beek would be a good fit for Everton, Alex McLeish has told Football Insider. 

The lowdown

The £35m signing was limited to just four Premier League starts during his first season at Old Trafford and has only played five minutes so far this term (via WhoScored).

Furthermore, his agent has said that the return of Cristiano Ronaldo to the club is ‘bad news’, as it will further limit the 24-year-old’s game-time.

The player’s camp held talks with Marcel Brands and Farhad Moshiri over a move to Everton, but United stepped in to prevent any such deal.

Van de Beek has shown occasional flashes of his ability since moving to the Red Devils. For instance, Owen Hargreaves said he was ‘close to perfect’ in a 4-1 win over Istanbul Basaksehir in last season’s Champions League.

The latest

McLeish has said that the Dutchman should be willing to ‘drop down a little bit’ from a title-contending side to one on the periphery of Europe, as that is apparently his best chance of proving himself at Premier League level.

“He’d be going to a club who are really ambitious, trying to get into the top six,” the former Scotland manager told Football Insider. “Maybe just drop down a little bit.

“He is highly regarded. The only way that we’re going to see how highly regarded he is is by seeing him on the field on a regular basis. I can see him at Everton.”

The verdict

In theory, Van de Beek would be an excellent signing for Everton if they could pull it off. Indeed, some might say it woud be following the ideal model of plucking talented players from the periphery of the elite clubs.

However, if Rafael Benitez is sticking with his 4-2-3-1 formation, then there could be issues. Van de Beek can’t really slot into the defensive midfield two and shouldn’t necessarily be seen as a number 10 either. If it’s all about game-time, he should be looking at clubs who play 4-3-3 instead.

In other news, many Everton fans were pleased with this transfer news.

Pundit Noel Whelan has been reacting to the news that Celtic forward Kyogo Furuhashi could be out of action for two to three weeks.

The Lowdown: Woes continue…

Furuhashi was brought on for Albian Ajeti on Thursday against Real Betis in a Europa League dead rubber clash, with the Swiss striker needing to be withdrawn with a hamstring problem.

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The Japan international also suffered a hamstring issue after coming on as a substitute and needed to be replaced in the 3-2 win over the La Liga outfit.

Ange Postecoglou confirmed on the weekend that the Celtic medical team believe Furuhashi will be out of action for ‘two to three weeks’, meaning he could miss the Glasgow derby on January 2 as well as the League Cup final next Sunday.

The Latest: Whelan’s comments

James Forrest was the latest Celtic player to suffer an injury at the weekend in a 1-0 win over Motherwell.

Whelan, who contributes for BBC Radio, was talking to Football Insider about Celtic’s injury problems and the latest on Furuhashi, to which he said:

“Every injury to that Celtic squad is going to be a massive blow – they don’t have the greatest depth.

“They’ve got the cup final coming up next weekend, and players like Jota, Forrest and Kyogo are potential match-winners.

“Those players have got the experience to make the difference in the title battle as well. This is a period in the season that can make or break your title challenge, and that’s the case now for Celtic.

“Big decisions are going to have to be made by Postecoglou, some players are going to have to step up and be that shining star.

“It’s not easy to get it right, they won’t want to be rushing these players back and risking them being out for longer.”

The Verdict: Will it ever end?

Celtic now have a shortage of attacking options with Ajeti, Forrest, Furuhashi, Giorgos Giakoumakis, Jota and Karamoko Dembele all sidelined.

Postecoglou has never really had a fully fit squad at his disposal since coming to Glasgow, but his attacking options have never been hit this hard during his Parkhead tenure.

Youngsters Liel Abada and Mikey Johnston are the only two fit and available senior attacking options at this moment in time, with David Turnbull starring in a false nine role against Motherwell.

The Hoops may need to go with that again on Wednesday, and hopefully at least one forward will be back in time for the League Cup final on Sunday.

In other news: Devlin claims ‘special’ Celtic ace may have broken bone amid ‘conflicting’ info. 

Slavisa Jokanovic is still waiting for his first Championship win with Sheffield United, as the Blades were held to a goalless draw with Swansea City on Saturday evening.

Having suffered defeat at the hands of Birmingham City last weekend, United would have undoubtedly been hoping to kick start their 2021/22 campaign with an impressive performance and result at the Liberty Stadium this time around.

However, it could easily be argued that neither of these hopes came into fruition, with the Serbian’s side managing just two shots on target over the course of the 90 minutes, as well as having just 37% of the ball and managing almost 250 fewer passes than Russell Martin’s Swansea side – with the game ultimately finishing 0-0.

Perhaps unsurprisingly considering their obvious lack of attacking edge, one of the worst performances in the fixture was given by a Sheffield United forward – in the shape of Oli Burke.

Indeed, over his 59 minutes on the pitch, the 24-year-old was extremely ineffectual, mustering no shots – either on or off target – failing with all three of his attempted dribbles, completing a mere six passes and touching the ball just 15 times – less than half of the 37 Aaron Ramsalde managed between the Blades’ sticks.

The £5.4m-rated man also lost all four of his duels (100%), made no key passes, failed with his one attempted cross and gave away possession of the ball on seven occasions.

His weak attempts on the right-flank were a large reason to why Jokanovic’s side struggled to create much in the attack against this much-changed Swansea side, who still dominated possession at 63%.

These returns saw the £19k-per-week forward earn an extremely disappointing SofaScore match rating of 6.2, the lowest rating of any player to feature in the game at the Liberty Stadium.

As such, should Sheffield United have any hope of going on to secure an immediate return to the Premier League this season, considering the distinct lack of wide attacking options Jokanovic currently has in his first-team squad, they will undoubtedly need Burke to up his game considerably in the coming weeks and months, as his performance against Swansea was simply not good enough.

In other news: Sheffield United dealt blow over “superb” £26k-p/w gem, Jokanovic will be fuming