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Jairo Riedewald has signed a new three-year contract with Crystal Palace which will keep him at Selhurst Park until 2024.

While it’s a welcome boost for Roy Hodgson, the same can’t be said for James McCarthy, who faces an uncertain future in south London.

Riedewald scored a worldie of a goal after his 20-yard screamer took a deflection off Ciaran Clark to ensure the Eagles recorded back-to-back-wins in the Premier League for the first time since September as they overcame a spirited Newcastle United on their own home turf at St James’ Park.

He then marked the special occasion by putting pen to paper to a new deal to commit his future to the club.

McCarthy, on the other hand, has struggled for game time under Hodgson this season, with Luka Milivojevic and James McArthur often preferred in his place, having made ten appearances across all competitions, earning a rather disappointing WhoScored match rating of 6.36 overall for his efforts.

By comparison, the 24-year-old has been in superb form for Hodgson’s side since the start of the season, averaging a solid 6.44 for the Eagles in all competitions.

In fact, it’s fair to say that Hodgson’s midfield is pretty well-stocked at present. He’s got Milivojevic, McArthur, McCarthy and Riedewald at his disposal, with the first two making at least 37 appearances between them this season thus far.

And the Eagles also have Cheikhou Kouyate on their books, albeit the 31-year-old has shifted to more of a defensive role as of late.

With Riedewald now penning a new deal, you do worry that McCarthy could soon be deemed surplus to requirements by the south London club.

Hodgson previously praised McCarthy for his role in Palace’s 2-2 draw with Manchester City last season, saying: “He’s been excellent and he’s getting better and better. We knew it would take a little time. He was training with Everton, so when he came to us he was technically fit and there was nothing wrong with him but of course he was not that close to the first-team for periods of time, not knocking on the door if you like.

“I knew the more he did with us, the chances he would get, he would get stronger and stronger. The action he performed for our equalising goal was quite incredible. That amount of running at that point in the game and to produce that pass was a class act. My faith in him and his faith in himself and determination to get back to that level of football has been rewarded. When you get these serious injuries which take you out of football for a long period of time it’s not easy.”

Unfortunately for McCarthy, since those promising comments, he has still been forced to settle for a spot on the bench more often than not so far this season and with Riedewald seemingly here to stay, the Irishman may have to get used to a place on saidthe aforementioned bench.

If he can’t re-establish himself in the first team between now and the end of the season, then it wouldn’t be a a surprise at all to see him leave Selhurst Park in the summer.

AND in other news, Crystal Palace will rue not signing Bayer Leverkusen winger Demarai Gray…

Connor Goldson was Steven Gerrard’s unsung hero as Glasgow Rangers ground out a routine victory over St Johnstone in the Scottish Premiership.

Gerrard’s side now need just six more wins to claim their first league crown in a decade after an inspired Ianis Hagi scored in the second half to give Rangers a 1-0 win over Callum Davidson’s side.

Hagi looked back to his very best as he ran the Saints ragged at Ibrox, while Borna Barisic also had a big part to play on the left-hand side of the defence, but the man who caught the eye the most was Goldson.

Goldson was nothing short of immense on the night, as he cut an imperious figure for the Gers, helping them to a third successive victory across all competitions.

Under Gerrard, the 28-year-old has been colossal at the back, and was hardly troubled at all as he put in a tremendous shift in a show of physical strength and exertion.

In total, he won 81% of his duels overall, including seven from eight individual battles in the air – that being the most out of any player from either side.

He also emerged victorious from one tackle, one clearance and three interceptions, while he wasn’t dribbled past once, such was his level of dominance. The next few months are going to be very demanding and Goldson has shown he is the sort of player who can compete and lead by example.

All credit to the Rangers manager Gerrard, as he has played a huge part in transforming the career of a player whose life-threatening heart condition threatened to derail his career entirely.

Goldson also took 119 touches, that being bettered by none other than James Tavernier himself, and also won more aerial duels than any other player on the pitch.

In fact, it was the Rangers defender’s all-round display that overshadowed the performance of Barisic. He may not possess the ball-carrying ability of Barisic, but his no-nonsense attitude has kept them out of many a tight spot on multiple occasions so far this season.

He may not be the most naturally-gifted centre-back at the club, but he’s certainly become Mr Dependable.

AND in other news, Ianis Hagi stars in Rangers’ 1-0 win over St Johnstone…

Liverpool are interested in bringing Udinese midfielder Rodrigo De Paul to Anfield, according to reports.

Rodrigo De Paul to Anfield?

The 26-year-old is a highly respected captain over in Serie A and Italy, having been described as a player who “can play under any conditions” by Argentina legend Juan Pablo Sorin, via Mundo Albiceleste.

Corriere Dello Sport (print edition, page 25, 15/01/2021) revealed that Jurgen Klopp is ready to take on Leeds United in competition for his signature, coming after other reports (via TeamTalk) claimed that the Reds see him as a replacement for Georginio Wijnaldum.

The future of Wijnaldum remains unsolved. With six months left on his current deal, he has the right to negotiate a pre-contractual agreement with another club.

During the current campaign, De Paul has scored three goals and provided two assists from 16 Serie A appearances, and is valued at £31.5m (TransferMarkt), with Udinese just four points outside of the relegation zone before the weekend’s action.

Transfer Tavern Verdict

It appears that Liverpool are putting measures in place in case Wijnaldum decides to leave at the end of the season, which is a sensible decision from Klopp.

At the same time, it is an even better call to bring another leader into the dressing room. Because of this, he could be quick to adapt to his new teammates and the German tactician’s playing style.

Realistically, De Paul is just a backup plan. If Wijnaldum stays, we imagine that Liverpool will withdraw from the pursuit.

In other news, Jurgen Klopp confirmed £120k-p/w star will miss Manchester United table-topping clash.

Arsenal travel to Everton on Saturday evening looking to snap a torrid run of form that has seen Mikel Arteta’s side claim a sole win in their last nine Premier League fixtures.

The Gunners’ results have helped to capitalise their worst start to a season in 46 years, and languish in 15th place ahead of travelling to Goodison Park where Carlo Ancelotti’s Toffees are flying high and can move within the Champions League places with a win.

Everton will be fancying their chances of claiming only a second victory over Arsenal since the start of 2017 when the two sides meet at the weekend, having lost five and drawn one of their prior seven top-flight meetings.

But Ancelotti will be unable to name a full-strength line-up after injuries to several key players in recent weeks. So, with that in mind, here’s an XI the Italian could favour…

Ancelotti has confirmed that goalkeeper Jordan Pickford will return to his position between the posts when Everton host Arsenal on Saturday, after benching the England international for AS Roma loanee Robin Olsen at Leicester City during the week.

The decision was purely tactical as Ancelotti sought to keep his options well rested ahead of the hectic festive schedule, and always intended to favour Pickford at home to the Gunners no matter how well 42-cap Sweden colossal Olsen fared at the King Power Stadium.

“Just to rotate the players and keep him involved. He’s a serious professional, good goalkeeper with experience and that’s it. Saturday will be Jordan in goal,” Ancelotti said.

Everton’s makeshift backline of central defenders Ben Godfrey, Yerry Mina, Michael Keane and Mason Holgate all stood up to the task of keeping Brendan Rodgers’ Leicester quiet during the midweek encounter, so would expect to start once more on Saturday evening.

However, Ancelotti has confirmed that full-back Seamus Coleman is in line to make his return to Goodison Park following a reoccurring hamstring injury that has prevented the 32-year-old from featuring in Everton’s last five fixtures, likely at the expense of Holgate.

Ancelotti faces question marks over who he fields in midfield for the visit of Arteta’s Gunners to Goodison Park, too, after losing Allan for a “period of matches” after being forced off with a hamstring injury at the King Power Stadium.

Tom Davies should be the man who Ancelotti looks favourably upon to replace the summer arrival from SSC Napoli, having trusted the Toffees product to serve a similar role against Brighton and Hove Albion in October after losing Allan through injury.

Gylfi Sigurdsson will be heading into the Arsenal affair after one of his better performances of late, and will expect to join Abdoulaye Doucoure, Alex Iwobi, Richarlison and Dominic Calvert-Lewin in retaining their starting roles from the Leicester win.

AND in other news, an £18m-rated Everton ace once an automatic pick for Carlo Ancelotti faces a huge hurdle to regain his place at Goodison Park.

Aston Villa must surely consider going back in for Reading midfielder John Swift, after rivals Sheffield United appeared to drop out of the race to sign him.

What’s the story?

The former England U21 international was the subject of intense speculation over the course of the summer transfer window, with reports even going so far as to claim that Villa were ready to make a bid for him.

That however failed to materialise before the end of the deadline, but Villa could be tempted to go back in for Swift given what Sheffield United boss Chris Wilder had to say about possible incomings for the Blades.

He said: “There are conversations. There won’t be permanent transfers. There will be loans. There’s been discussions through agents who represent players and through clubs as well. It’s a fluid situation, as you can imagine. I’d like to use both loans and I’ll be putting my recommendations to the board.”

Potential McGinn upgrade

With John McGinn woefully out of form this season for Villa – he’s managed no goals or assists in the Premier League since mid October – Smith must surely be looking at Swift as someone who could add a bit of dynamism and spark to the centre of midfield.

The Reading ace hasn’t featured much for the Royals this season due to injury, but he does have a track record of being someone who can offer a goal-scoring threat, managing 45 goal contributions in 152 games for the club.

And after he put an impressive performance against Leeds United last season in the Championship, Marcelo Bielsa made it quickly just how much he likes him, saying: “Swift is a great player. I rate him a lot. He is a player who appears suddenly in attack and the same in transition. Especially when he passes from the defence to the attack.”

The £4.5m-rated man could give Villa an extra edge in the middle of the park.

Meanwhile, Villa could land a surprise bargain in this Premier League star.

West Ham United may be about to pay the price for Manuel Pellegrini’s calamitous decision to sign Sebastien Haller in a club-record deal, with David Moyes potentially open to selling the striker in January.

What’s the word?

According to ExWHUemployee, while speaking on the West Ham Way Podcast, there is a chance Moyes will listen to offers for Haller in the upcoming transfer market as the Scottish coach “isn’t convinced” by his potential.

Moyes may be forced into handing the 26-year-old his fourth start of the Premier League season when the Scot welcomes his former employer Manchester United to the London Stadium on Saturday, with Michail Antonio questionable after being replaced 45-minutes into his return from a hamstring injury.

But Moyes does not rate Haller highly, and may inform the Irons hierarchy that he would be comfortable with the east London side entertaining offers for the attacker Pellegrini brought to the club for £45million in 2019.

Haller struck his second goal of the league campaign in fine fashion to seal all three points for the Hammers at Sheffield United last month before falling to the bench against Aston Villa, while netting seven in 32 top-flight appearances during his maiden campaign.

Previous speculation has suggested Moyes favours Antonio over Haller purely through the English centre-forward’s relentless desire and high work rate to occupy the sole centre-forward position, while the former Everton head coach has also called for the Ivory Coast international to offer more.

Speaking on Haller and Felipe Anderson following West Ham’s Carabao Cup win over Charlton Athletic in September, via quotes by the Evening Standard, Moyes said: “I’ve got to say the two of them are great to work with, the two of them are really good lads – I like them a lot. Felipe is a terrific lad, so is Seb. But what I want them to be is terrific players every time they play, and I want them to make a difference.

“I think Seb, a 6 ft 4 centre-forward and you’re leading the line, I think you are expecting much more of that. Maybe Seb isn’t completely that type. We are still finding out exactly what Seb’s attributes are in that case.”

A costly blunder by Sullivan and Pellegrini

Should West Ham indeed listen to offers for Haller in January like ExWHUemployee has suggested could be the case, the decision would mark one mighty and expensive blunder by co-owner and Chairman David Sullivan, along with Pellegrini.

Since signing Haller from Eintracht Frankfurt for a club-record £45m in July 2019, the Irons have seen the striker’s TransferMarkt valuation drop to just £27m.

Add in the forward’s £115,385-per-week contract over the 72 weeks since his arrival, and West Ham would stand to lose £26.3m should they only receive offers matching Haller’s current TransferMarkt valuation.

West Ham’s decision to sign Haller can be deemed a failure in other ways, too, with the two-time Ivory Coast international so far costing the club £1.15m per appearance after 46 games or £4.1m per goal after 13 strikes in claret and blue across all competitions.

With his output reflecting those figures, Sullivan will surely urge Moyes to persist with handing Haller opportunities to impress rather than cashing in at one almighty loss come January.

AND in other news, David Sullivan is heading for another blunder in West Ham’s chase of an underwhelming £18m target.

Leeds simply must prioritise signing a new goalkeeper in January following their recent back-to-back 4-1 drubbings. In a campaign that had so much buzz around it, the Whites have now fallen onto a slippery slope and are at risk of throwing 16 years of hard work away.

Whilst Marcelo Bielsa’s attack is struggling, it’s arguably his defence that is in need of the most work. However, not all aspects of the Leeds backline are underperforming. According to WhoScored, a trio of Whites defenders are currently in the top ten list of players who have completed the most blocks so far this season.

Captain Liam Cooper has the seventh highest amount, whilst Robin Koch and Luke Ayling come in at fifth and fourth respectively. With solidly performing defenders, at least in that respect, it could mean that the main issue lies in the goalkeeper.

Leeds must sign to aid Meslier

Illan Meslier joined the club in the summer and has had a mixed bag of performances so far. Whilst he has shown flashes of brilliance, he has been left to look vulnerable on other occasions.

Chris Kirkland recently spoke to Football FanCast about Leeds’ goalkeeping issues and believes that Meslier could be the next Premier League No.1 to be dropped in favour of the second string option. Should this prediction come to fruition, it will certainly dampen the 20-year-old’s spirit, which is why it’s important that Leeds recruit someone who can help the youngster grow.

Bielsa and co have been linked to the likes of veteran Fraser Forster, who would be a solid option coming off the bench as well as behind the scenes to mentor Meslier.

By no means should the club jump the gun and look to already replace the £5million signing. However, this season is massively important to Leeds and they must throw everything at it to ensure that they don’t slip back down into the Championship. Too much is at stake for them to risk ending their returning Premier League season with relegation.

In other news, Leeds could have benefitted from keeping Andy Lonergan at Elland Road…

Liverpool missed the chance to return to the top of the Premier League as they were held to a 1-1 draw against Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday afternoon.

It could have been worse for Jurgen Klopp’s side, however, had Kevin De Bruyne not put his first-half penalty wide of Alisson’s post, following a handball from Joe Gomez.

Diogo Jota was handed a start by the German boss for the game against Pep Guardiola’s side, although he seemed to be playing slightly deeper than he has in recent games, perhaps to accommodate for the inclusion of Roberto Firmino.

Unfortunately for the Reds, the Portuguese international was unable to have the same impact as he did against Atalanta in midweek, when his superb hat-trick earned him a lot of plaudits, with Michael Owen suggesting following the win that it was “a stunning hat-trick” (per Daily Mail).

As per SofaScore, the former Wolves man picked up a 6.2 rating for his display, which was the joint-worst of any Liverpool player during the game.

Whilst Jota was very accurate with his passing, with 23/25 of his efforts finding their mark, he managed just 41 touches during the game and made zero key passes, suggesting that he wasn’t able to have any real impact on the game in an attacking sense.

It can also be argued that Manchester City’s defence and midfield got the better of the 23-year-old, as he was able to win just three out of 11 of his ground duels during Sunday’s game.

However, it has still been an excellent start to life at Liverpool for Jota, with him having scored seven goals in 11 appearances for the Merseyside club since joining from Wolves in the summer, and at just 23-years-old, it can be argued that he still has a lot of time to improve in this Liverpool side.

The forward will be hoping to get back to his best in the Reds’ next fixture, which sees them take on top-of-the-table Leicester City in a crunch clash at Anfield following the international break.

According to Spanish outlet La Grada Online, Aston Villa are interested in signing Espanyol midfielder Marc Roca.

What’s the word?

Following Espanyol’s relegation to the second tier of Spanish football last season, it looks as though they are willing to let Roca go before the transfer window deadline on Monday.

La Grada Online claims that Roca has been granted permission to miss training in order to avoid any potential injuries, and that his club are hoping to get around £10m for his sale.

Villa’s own Xabi Alonso

Whilst Espanyol may have gone down last season, Roca, a Spain U21 international, was one of the shining lights of their campaign. A tough-tackling holding midfielder, the 23-year-old blends his physical style with a touch of class whilst on the ball.

As per Whoscored, he averaged an impressive 2.3 tackles per game in La Liga – a stat that ranked him 11th among all players in the division – and boasted an average of 47.7 passes per match.

Spanish football expert and pundit, Guillem Balague, raved about his abilities a couple of seasons ago, saying: “He is very good, his braveness, he’s not scared, he goes box to box but can also play positional football. He’s got quality as not too much a holding midfielder, but in front of the holding midfielder. He’s a big Espanyol fan, so I hope he remains at the club.”

With Espanyol seemingly keen on letting him go, Roca’s stay at the club may not be for much longer. And when you look at the kind of player he could develop into at Villa, then Dean Smith may be onto the club’s own Xabi Alonso.

The former Liverpool man was a typical Spanish play-maker, dictating things from deeper in midfield, and being capable of pinging 60-yard diagonal balls. Roca himself has previously admitted to idolising Alonso, saying: “From a very young age, I wanted to be like him. He’s an amazing player, and I hope one day to get close to what he did because I think he’s one of the best midfielders in history.”

Villa could land a major coup by signing him before Monday.

Former Everton defender Luke Garbutt has officially signed for Blackpool on a one-year deal.

The 27-year-old joins the Seasiders after being released from his boyhood club in the summer. He will be managed by former Liverpool under-23 coach Neil Critchley in their bid to improve on last season’s 13th-placed finish in League One.

Blackpool announced their new signing by using an inside joke that a lot of Everton fans have appreciated. Their screenshot of Carlo Ancelotti during a recent press conference comes from his reaction when asked about Garbutt.

The left-back departed the Merseyside outfit earlier this year after 11 years and the Blues boss was asked about his decision to release him. However, Ancelotti was none the wiser of the situation and simply replied by saying: “Who?”

Many Toffees fans are loving Blackpool’s tongue-in-cheek tweet and have flocked to the comments to applaud the joke. One fan has said the announcement is ‘brilliant’, whilst another thinks that the Seasiders’ media team is ‘class’.

Read more replies from the Goodison faithful below:

Everton fans, what do you think of Blackpool’s announcement? Join the conversation in the comments below!