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Aston Villa have been handed a major blow in their chase to sign River Plate starlet Julian Alvarez in this January transfer window.

What’s the story?

Reports in recent weeks and months had claimed that Fernando Hidalgo, the agent of the 21-year-old, was set to meet with Villa’s representatives over a move to Steven Gerrard’s side ahead of the new Premier League campaign.

That of course failed to materialise, and now, The Birmingham Mail’s Ashley Preece has revealed that the Argentine is instead set for a move to Old Trafford.

He said: “I believe he’s Manchester United-bound. Villa looked to have missed a trick for £17m. Trez, Traore and Bailey all missing for the next month.”

Blow for Villa

Like Emi Buendia, Alvarez is very much a creative attacker bagging four goals and setting up another seven in just 20 appearances last season – including a couple of games where he registered an impressive hat-trick of assists against Godoy Cruz and Central Cordoba.

This campaign however has seen him take his game to a completely another level, scoring 18 goals and providing another seven assists in just 21 games in the Argentine top-flight.

Given his ability to play anywhere across the front-line, and his age, Alvarez seems like the perfect profile of player that could have flourished alongside his fellow Argentine compatriots in Buendia and Emi Martinez.

The duo could have helped Alvarez settle into life at Villa Park a bit more comfortably than he may otherwise would have done, and the fact he’s now headed for a switch to United shows just how highly-rated he is.

Preece’s update is a major blow that will surely frustrate Villa fans that they have let an exciting young talent slip through the net.

Meanwhile, Villa are interested in this Serie A starlet…

Even though some Premier League teams have played more games than Everton at this point of the season, the Merseyside club have still managed to score fewer goals than the likes of Aston Villa and Crystal Palace among others.

This could be down to the fact that the Toffees have had to make do without star striker Dominic Calvert-Lewin for most of the season thanks to a toe fracture he suffered in the early stages of the campaign after scoring 16 goals in 33 league games last season.

Now that he has made his return to action during Everton’s recent 3-2 defeat against Brighton & Hove Albion, he could turn the team’s fortunes around if he’s able to stay fit and score goals on a regular basis from now until the end of the season.

In addition to Calvert-Lewin’s presence, with there still being some weeks left until the January transfer window closes, the Merseyside club could look to bring one player in that could help push the team forward and potentially create a deadly attacking duo with the England international.

Having been linked with a transfer move for Juventus winger Dejan Kulusevski in recent weeks, he could be Benitez’s answer to reinvigorate his squad at Goodison Park and end the season on a much-needed high note.

Whilst predominantly being a right-winger, the 21-year-old has played in a range of midfield and attacking positions across the pitch in his career so far, scoring a total of 53 goals and providing 45 assists in his career so far at senior and youth level according to Transfermarkt.

That shows how capable he is in front of goal and how he could complement Calvert-Lewin in the centre-forward position due to his clear versatility.

With the Merseyside club hindered by FFP rules, this could impact a potential swoop for the £27m-rated star, who has been labelled as a “champion” in terms of his mentality by former Juvsutis manager Andrea Pirlo.

However, if they manage to pick up a big enough transfer fee for the potentially departing full-back Lucas Digne, this could theoretically give Everton the leeway to start being active in the transfer market again.

If Everton aren’t able to launch a move for Kulusevski this month, they should definitely keep an eye on him for the next summer window if he’s still at Juventus and their financial situation improves.

In other news: “My understanding is”: Alan Myers drops EFC transfer claim that’ll have fans buzzing – opinion

According to reports in Italy, promotion hunting West Bromwich Albion have made an approach to sign Lazio striker Vedat Muriqi this transfer window.

Journalist of Italian news outlet Repubblica Enrico De Lellis revealed on his Twitter account that West Brom, as well as Leeds United, have approached Lazio for the striker, however, “neither club, at the moment, has reached an agreement with the club.”

The 27-year-old striker has been restricted to one Serie A start this campaign, making 11 appearances in all competitions. Moreover, the Kosovan is yet to score and has registered one assist.

However, the £5.4m-rated forward had been prolific at former club Fenerbahce before making the move to Rome in September 2020, scoring 17 goals and registering seven assists in 36 appearances for the Turkish giants.

With West Brom now into the second half of their season, it is vital that they continue winning matches to climb up the league table. Valerien Ismael’s side, in his first season at the Hawthorns, are currently fifth in the Championship, seven points off of the automatic promotion places.

The Baggies have been solid at the back, conceding the fewest goals in the second-tier. However, nine clubs have scored more than Albion’s 31 goals thus far. In fact, league leaders Fulham have scored over double the amount West Brom have in one game fewer with 64 goals in 25 games.

Ismael has recently become reacquainted with former Barnsley loanee Daryl Dike, signing the American striker from MLS outfit Orlando City, but could do with adding extra firepower on top of the 21-year-old.

Striker Karlan Grant is the club’s top scorer with nine goals whilst Callum Robinson has six. However, Norwich loanee Jordan Hugill has only netted once this campaign.

The 29-year-old’s loan spell at the Hawthorns has failed to bare fruit yet this season, despite featuring in all bar one of the Baggies’ league games since his arrival in late August.

Compared to Muriqi, who is two years his junior, Hugill doesn’t have nearly the same sort of experience as the Kosovan, who has played in the Italian and Turkish top-flight as well as featuring in both the Champions League and Europa League.

Moreover, the 27-year-old has international experience, having made 37 caps for Kosovo and scoring 18 goals in that period.

He is a man mountain at 6 foot 4 and thus, earned the following appraisal from Smarter Scout who have previously described him as “utterly dominant in the air.”

As for Hugill, the 29-year-old has just three Premier League appearances from his spell at West Ham, playing most of his football in the Championship as well as featuring in League One, League Two and the National League.

If the Baggies are serious about securing an instant return to the top-flight, they will need to improve their goals output, something that Muriqi could potentially offer.

In other news: West Brom handed worrying transfer update that will have fans sweating

Everton officially sacked Rafa Benitez after just six months in charge at Goodison Park, and the race for finding the sixth manager in six years begins with many names already being thrown into contention, but one favourite for the job has reportedly already ruled himself out.

What’s the word?

Brighton and Hove Albion manager, Graham Potter, was named as one of the potential options on the shortlist for the Everton job yesterday, but Sky Sports have now reported that he “isn’t currently interested” in the job.

Reporting live last night, they revealed:

“Sky Sports News understands Graham Potter, one of the names being linked with the job, is very happy at Brighton and isn’t currently interested in talking to Everton about their managerial vacancy.”

The Toffees are on the hunt for the successor of Benitez, with many names including Wayne Rooney, Frank Lampard and Roberto Martinez being reported by Sky yesterday, however, no official talks or offers have been made as of yet.

Everton sacked Benitez after his tenth defeat in charge of the side, in an embarrassing performance against relegation battling Norwich City, who took all three points from the Toffees with a 2-1 win at Carrow Road.

Fans surely gutted

After a nightmare season so far, Everton fans will be relieved that Benitez has been sacked, but will also be concerned about the manager that succeeds him as many big changes clearly need to be changed, and an instant impact is integral in saving the Toffees season.

Fans will surely be gutted that Potter has ruled himself out of the job, as he became a talking point on social media last night, with many fans making him their number one choice. One supporter tweeted:

“Was always a strange decision to hire Benitez in the first place, Everton seem to get it wrong time and time again. Next one has to stick. Graham Potter would be my choice in the summer. Big Dunc in until the end of the year.”

There was no doubt that Potter would be linked after making impressive strides at Brighton, with only  Liverpool, Man City and Chelsea losing fewer Premier League games than the south coast side, with the manager leading them to six wins, ten draws and only four losses.

His attacking and progressive philosophy, meanwhile, will have surely been of interest to Farhad Moshiri but he will already have to consider other targets. They must regret not targeting the former Ostersunds boss more seriously last summer.

Everton will now continue in their search and simply have to appoint somebody as soon as possible to guide the club out of their current demise, sitting 16th in the Premier League only six points off the relegation zone.

In other news: Moshiri must axe Michael Keane after Benitez sacking

Speaking to Give Me Sport, journalist Dean Jones of Eurosport has made a promising claim as Tottenham Hotspur eye a move for Juventus star Paulo Dybala.

The Lowdown: Spurs join race…

As reported by multiple sources, the Argentine international is a target for Spurs and manager Antonio Conte as his contract in Turin winds down.

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Indeed, Fichajes say that the Italian has personally requested Dybala’s signing while journalist Xavier Jacobelli told Radio Radio (via Calciomercato.it) that Spurs are ‘at the window’ alongside Inter Milan and Barcelona.

Sharing what he believes, Jones has made what could be a promising claim to GMS.

The Latest: Jones makes Dybala claim…

According to the reporter, while this possible move to Spurs may not happen until the summer, Dybala is ‘definitely interested’ in a move to England if he opts against signing an extension with Juve.

“It’s definitely more of a summer move if it’s going to happen,” he explained to GMS when asked about Tottenham’s links.

“If Dybala was to leave Juve, then he’s definitely interested in coming to England.”

The Verdict: Get it done…

If Spurs can in fact persuade the player to leave Italy for the Premier League, there is little arguing that the £222,000-per-week gem would inject real quality into Conte’s team.

Called ‘world class’ and ‘phenomenal’ by ex-Spurs man Paul Robinson, the playmaker has bagged a brilliant 140 goals and 67 assists over his career (Transfermarkt) with there appearing to be little downside to signing him as a potential free agent in the summer.

While Spurs fans will re-call the infamous image rights saga once preventing his move to N17, with any luck they can avoid a debacle of that nature if they decide to take another punt.

In other news: Spurs ‘edging closer’ to signing ‘massive’ £15m defender, find out more here.

Manchester United have been taking advantage of the break in the season with the World Cup qualifiers taking place to step up their manager search for the next coach to lead the club back to their winning ways this summer.

Unfortunately, they have just been delivered a huge setback with one of their most admired candidates.

What’s the word?

Fabrizio Romano revealed on Wednesday afternoon that Luis Enrique has given an update on his position as the Spain national team manager amid speculation that he could be lined up for the job at Old Trafford this summer.

Romano tweeted: “Luis Enrique is understood to be only focused on Spain, nothing else. He’s lots of admirers in Man United board but it’s described as ‘more than complicated’.”

Glazers will be fuming

If the report from Romano is to be believed, there is no doubt that the Glazers will be fuming that they are struggling to tempt Enrique from his international job with Spain, especially when it is said that he has a lot of admirers on the Man United board.

Thus, it will clearly be a growing frustration for the owners and the club, who are still yet to make a decision.

Enrique is believed to be amongst Erik ten Hag and Mauricio Pochettino as front runners for the highly anticipated role, taking over from interim boss, Ralf Rangnick, at Old Trafford this summer. There is a huge project in place to revive the club back to their best, winning trophies after they have now fallen into their longest trophy drought in 40 years.

The 51-year-old manager is a proven winner which we saw throughout his time as Barcelona manager winning a Champions League, Club World Cup and two La Liga titles during his three-year tenure at the Spanish club.

Winning major trophies is something that Manchester United are surely desperate to achieve in the future, and Enrique clearly has the credentials and experience to bring those successes back to Old Trafford. So with that being said, they will either have to settle in defeat or make a more lucrative and tempting offer that the Spanish manager will struggle to refuse.

In other news: “Bad news..” – Fabrizio Romano update is worrying for Manchester United

After arriving as one of the ‘magnificent seven’ brought in to replace Gareth Bale in 2013, Paulinho’s career at Spurs failed to really ignite.

The Brazilian came in off the back of Confederations Cup success with his country over Spain just a week before his move, and there were even suggestions that the likes of Inter and Real Madrid were interested in signing him.

The midfielder struggled to really stand out in a team trying to compete for the top four under Andre Villas-Boas, with perhaps his back-heeled winner against Cardiff his most eye-catching moment.

Aside from that, Paulinho seemed to coast by in games, and his red card for a high boot on Luis Suarez in a 5-0 home thrashing at the hands of Liverpool largely summed up a hugely disappointing Spurs career.

It was no surprise that he was eventually sold by Daniel Levy to Chinese Super League side Guangzhou Evergrande for a reported fee of around £10m – a £7m loss from what the north Londoners paid to sign him for in the first place.

In a piece by The Guardian’s David Hytner following Paulinho’s departure to Guangzhou, he noted: “Paulinho was well liked within the club at Tottenham. He was a quiet and extremely religious family man and his professionalism was not questioned. His English was passable and he understood everything clearly. It was not that he failed to settle, rather that he could not make his mark.

“Yet it says much for Paulinho’s current standing in the game that many Tottenham fans have lauded their chairman, Daniel Levy, as a magician for not only removing the player’s £55,000-a-week wage from the club’s books but for receiving such a healthy fee for him. It still represents a loss on the £17m or so that Tottenham pledged to Corinthians but, frankly, nobody saw eight figures coming back for Paulinho.”

While the Brazilian’s performances in China eventually earned him a big-money move to Barcelona, he found himself quickly out of the picture with the La Liga giants after less than 50 games for them.

Now valued at just £4.5m, and plying his trade back in his native Brazil with former club Corinthians, Paulinho may be best remembered by Spurs fans as someone who had a ‘what could have been’ career.

AND in other news – Sold in 2020, now worth £34m: Spurs suffered double disaster over 26 y/o “machine”

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has confirmed that Ruben Dias will not be available to face Liverpool in the Premier League on Sunday. 

The lowdown: Hamstring issue for Dias

The 24-year-old has been sidelined since the beginning of March with a hamstring injury that he sustained in the FA Cup victory over Peterborough United.

Dias has been a revelation since arriving at the Etihad Stadium in 2020 and was named the Premier League Player of the Year for last season.

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Having already sat out six matches this term, the Portuguese defender looks set to miss out once again…

The latest: Dias not fit for Sunday

Speaking ahead of the crucial clash with title rivals Liverpool this weekend, Guardiola confirmed that Dias wouldn’t be available.

During the pre-match press conference, as quoted by Manchester Evening News, the Spaniard was dismissive of the Portuguese ace’s chances of featuring, saying: “Everyone is fit. Not Ruben. No.”

Despite initial hopes that the 37-cap Portugal star could return after the international break, it now seems that a comeback against Atletico Madrid next week is the earliest feasible date.

Aside from this blow, young striker Cole Palmer was also ruled out of contention for Sunday, but Kyle Walker is set to return to the fold following suspension in the Champions League.

The verdict: Huge loss for City

There can be no denying that the absence of Dias’ towering presence from the City defence will likely be felt hard by Guardiola’s side against Liverpool.

Although the 51-year-old has very capable backup in the shape of Aymeric Laporte, John Stones and Nathan Ake, Dias has often been the leader of the backline, as illustrated by an outstanding 7.10 average Sofascore rating this season whilst helping to keep 11 clean sheets from 25 Premier League outings.

Hailed as ‘incredible’ by Guardiola in the past, the manager will no doubt be hoping that the talismanic defender can make a recovery as the run-in intensifies, whilst in the meantime devising a plan to stop Liverpool.

In other news: Journalist shares news as Man City pursue striker deal, find out more here.

Arsenal are set to revisit their interest in Aston Villa midfielder Douglas Luiz this summer, according to Football Insider.

The lowdown

The Daily Mail’s Simon Jones revealed that Villa turned down three bids for Luiz during the January transfer window, and it appears that one of those was from the Gunners, with Football Insider noting that they ‘failed to land him’ in the winter.

Villa paid £15m to sign Luiz from Manchester City ahead of their first season back in the Premier League in 2019/20. His £32.9k-per-week contract is due to expire at the end of the 2022/23 campaign.

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The latest

A source at the Emirates Stadium has told Football Insider that Luiz remains on Arsenal’s radar ahead of the summer transfer window.

The expectation is that the north London giants will table a formal bid as Mikel Arteta eyes central midfield reinforcements, in addition to a new striker.

Significantly, Villa are reportedly open to letting the midfielder leave in order to ‘free up space’ for a new midfield arrival. Therefore, if Arsenal submit a reasonable offer, then they could snap up the Brazilian with relative ease.

The verdict

Villa’s willingness to sell is a little surprising given that Luiz appears to be one of Gerrard’s most trusted players.

When he is available, he almost always starts – only twice this season has he been left out of the line-up by choice.

The £31.5m-rated midfielder has been called ‘underrated’ by Ian Wright, who believes that the Brazilian is ‘ready to be one of the best midfielders in the Premier League’.

The Athletic’s Gregg Evans has perhaps been even more complimentary, dubbing Luiz ‘a joy to watch’, ‘an absolute star’ and ‘the best player in the team’ at one point.

On that basis, you’d think that Gerrard and sporting director Johan Lange would put up more of a fight to try and keep the 23-year-old at Villa Park.

In other news, a new English target has emerged for Gerrard and Villa

The Times have now shared some transfer news out of Tottenham Hotspur involving free agent target and West Bromwich Albion goalkeeper Sam Johnstone.

The Lowdown: Spurs eye Bosman move…

A plethora of reports linking the Lilywhites with a move for the 29-year-old have emerged in recent weeks, and from reliable sources too.

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Sky Sports back that Spurs are set to battle Premier League rivals Manchester United for his signature with Johnstone set to leave the Hawthorns on a free deal.

Other claims, meanwhile, say Tottenham are the favourites to sign him this summer – as backed by football.london correspondent Alasdair Gold recently (via This is Futbol).

Now, sharing an update, it appears The Times have now joined in with Spurs further backed in their pursuit of Johnstone.

The Latest: The Times share Johnstone update…

The big name outlet and their journalist Gary Jacob claim that transfer chief Fabio Paratici and co are indeed the ‘frontrunners’ to sign West Brom’s keeper.

Johnstone has been dropped for the final few matches of 2021/2022 by manager Steve Bruce amid these claims with his exit now looking set in stone.

The Verdict: Driving seat…

As another reliable source backs Tottenham are in pole position to sign Johnstone on a free deal, the keeper’s addition will potentially be a solid start to the summer transfer window.

Lauded as an ‘unreal’ keeper by pundit Paddy Kenny, the 6 foot 3 powerhouse can come as both a solid understudy/eventual heir to captain Hugo Lloris whilst also helping to fill their homegrown quota.

A no-brainer move, Johnston’s possible addition will come as a real boost for manager Antonio Conte.

In other news: Conte personally approves ‘monster’ player move as Tottenham take pre-summer action, find out more here.