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It’s crazy to think Ryan Sessegnon is still only 18-years-old.

After breaking out in the Championship last season and guiding Fulham to Premier League promotion, hopes were high of Sessegnon replicating the form that won him Championship Player of the Season and claimed him the accolade of becoming the first player outside the top flight to be nominated for PFA Player of the Year, Sessegnon has had a turbulent time in the Premier League this season.

The English youngster has had been in and out of the Fulham team for the majority of the season, and problems around the club on and off the pitch mean the west London side are one of the most likely teams to be relegated.

Relegation for a side as good as Fulham has perked the ears of many top Premier League sides, who will be eager to pick some of the Cottagers best players at a cut-rate deal, with Sessegnon being one of the likeliest to make the move should Scott Parker’s side suffer the drop.

And according to the Daily Mirror, Tottenham Hotspur are preparing a £50 million bid for the English wonderkid in the summer. So what would the consequences be if this move is to happen?

Gareth Bale 2.0

An exciting player who started off as a left-back but was so good in attack they transitioned into a winger, sound familiar?

Although Gareth Bale took a lot longer to make the transition from defender to attacker, the similarities the Welsh international and Sessegnon have long been made since last season, which is why Spurs fans are eager to see the Fulham player make the switch to north London.

Comparisons to Bale aside, Sessegnon looks like a player that could benefit a lot under a manager like Mauricio Pochettino. The Argentine already has a great track record of signing English talents and developing them into international-calibre players, with the likes of Dele Alli and Eric Dier flourishing at Spurs.

Adaptation for Son

With Sessegnon’s future seemingly at left-wing, what does that do for Heung-Min Son?

The South Korean star has been one of the best players in the Premier League this season, playing a major role in Spurs’ quest for Champions League football, which is why is the north London club are to sign Sessegnon you really can’t envision the club letting their No. 7 leave.

Sessegnon’s signing could mean we see Son change from a left-sided attacker to playing on the opposite wing. The 26-year-old winger has experience playing on the right during his Hamburg and Bayer Leverkusen days, meaning Poch could tinker the system to fit both players in the team and have Dele Alli or Christen Eriksen operate as the No. 10 in the squad.

Spurs make big sales

At £50 million, Sessegnon would be far away Tottenham’s most expensive signing of all-time, and with the team on the brink of moving into their much-anticipated new stadium, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see players make way in order to meet financial quotas.

Eriksen looks likely to be the big money move that could facilitate cash flow into Spurs, as well as Toby Alderweireld who in the summer will have a release clause of £25 million.

If Spurs are to sign Sessegnon, it will be in the interests of Daniel Levy to ensure the club are in the green before such a move happens.

Spurs fans, would you want Ryan Sessegnon as a summer signing?

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Kurt Zouma was one of Everton’s most impressive performers as the Toffees held Liverpool to a goalless draw in the Premier League on Sunday afternoon.

It was a huge game for the Reds as they looked to return to the top of the table, but a strong display by the hosts meant that the points were shared at Goodison Park.

It would be fair to say that Jurgen Klopp’s side had some excellent chances to take all three points, but Marco Silva’s men certainly had to defend well to secure a point.

And Zouma put in a strong performance in central defence.

The 24-year-old, who is on loan from Chelsea, won two aerials and had a pass success rate of 65% on Sunday afternoon, according to WhoScored.

There were players easier on the eye, but Zouma performed a very important job for his team alongside the equally impressive Michael Keane.

The Everton fans were very pleased with what they saw from the Frenchman in the Merseyside derby and a selection of their Twitter reaction can be seen below:

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Nottingham Forest fans have taken to Twitter to react after the club announced that they had sold defender Danny Fox to Wigan, as seen on the club’s official Twitter account.

The 32-year-old spent five years of his career at the City Ground, making 123 appearances for the Reds (via Transfermarkt), and certainly couldn’t be accused of lacking fight or spirit on the pitch during his spell at The City Ground.

However, following Martin O’Neill’s arrival and the signing of Yohan Benalouane from Leicester (as per the BBC), Fox has slipped down the pecking order and has been allowed to leave the club in order to join the Latics.

Be sure to check out the incredible story of the man who rose from a Tanzanian refugee camp to become one of Australia’s biggest football stars in the video below…

The former Southampton and Coventry City man has captained Forest for most of this season, in what has been a somewhat turbulent campaign which has seen Aitor Karanka depart the club, and also seen the promotion hopefuls slip away from the play-off positions.

Despite all the chaos going on, however, Forest fans have taken to Twitter to commend Fox for his fine service at the club…

Jordon Ibe was expected to blossom into a fine Premier League talent at Liverpool but instead he has turned into a sorry tale of unfulfilled promise.

The flying winger made 12 league appearances for the Reds in the 2014/15 season and showed enough fleeting glimpses of quality to suggest he was destined for a bright future at the club.

Following a five match absence through injury, Brendan Rodgers lauded his performance levels in training.

“Young Jordon Ibe will come back in and I’ve got to say he’s looked absolutely sensational in training.”

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The following season proved to be a breakthrough for the youngster as he made 41 appearances in all competitions, but didn’t do enough to convince Jurgen Klopp of his ability.

Indeed, he was eventually sold to Bournemouth for £15m in a club-record deal for the Cherries at the time.

The fact Eddie Howe’s outfit were willing to fork out a record fee for his services proved there was genuine hype surrounding Ibe’s development, but he has since failed to live up to expectation on the south coast.

Where is Ibe now?

Ibe’s career has not continued on the upward trajectory many predicted it to.

In his first season with Bournemouth he made 25 Premier League appearances, yet he failed to muster up a single goal contribution in the 2016/17 campaign.

He fared far better in his second season and begun to repay the faith the club showed in him, with a return of two goals and six assists from 32 games representing a marked improvement.

That season, however, remains the highlight of his career and that in itself is a damning indictment on his failure to progress.

Injuries have played their part in stunting his progress but, with his contract due to expire in June this year, the 24-year-old, who is valued at just £5.4m by Transfermarkt, finds himself in no man’s land.

Having made just four appearances in all-competitions this season, it’s looking unlikely that Ibe will remain at the Vitality Stadium beyond the summer and his next move may well represent his last opportunity to fulfil his potential.

Regardless of what happens, it seems Jurgen Klopp played a blinder by bringing in £15m for Ibe’s services.

In other Liverpool news, these fans want to see £121.5m-rated duo arrive at Anfield…

Aston Villa’s Jota could be loaned out to Fulham for the rest of the season, as has been reported by The Daily Mail.

The Spaniard is in talks with the Championship club about temporarily moving there, having struggled during his first half-season at Villa Park.

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Villa fans have been reacting to the report, with the general consensus seemingly being that this move could work out well for their club.

There are some fans who feel that he is simply not good enough to be a Premier League player, with one claiming that he is “too slow”, while another suggested that he is “not fast or strong enough”.

It is also shown through statistics that he has been unable to make much of an impact for the club, as he has only made four starts and four substitute appearances.

Did he really play for us?! No Villa fan has managed to name all of these obscure Villans….

During that time, he has made one assist, while averaging 0.5 key passes and 0.8 dribbles per game – showing how minuscule his attacking threat has been.

This has also led to some speculative excitement about the idea of someone else coming in to replace the 28-year-old.

One fan has suggested that they should be looking to bring in Hull City’s Jarrod Bowen to replace him, with his Championship return currently standing at 16 goals and seven assists.

However, it has been suggested in the report that the wages freed up from the deal could be used to bring in a striker, which makes that unlikely.

Meanwhile, Villa fans have reacted to links with an international striker.

Marina Granovskaia is Chelsea’s transfer chief, and she’s largely taken over the mantle from Michael Emenalo at Stamford Bridge. Typically, she’s involved in everything from contractual renewals to big money signings to handling incoming transfer offers.

She’s had a big role to play, then, in the future of Callum Hudson-Odoi. Indeed, according to the Telegraph, she has informed Bayern Munich that Chelsea’s talented teenager is not for sale – which is a huge decision. The Blues have, as a result, turned down millions of pounds in an effort to give a young player a chance.

Throughout her tenure, she’s made some huge decisions, like bringing in Maurizio Sarri and playing a part in the signing dozens of players, but it’s her decision on Hudson-Odoi that could end up being her crowning achievement at Stamford Bridge.

In the past, this isn’t a decision that Chelsea would have taken. The Blues have regularly been willing to cash in on young players in favour of bringing in more established names, and for a while, it looked like this would go down the same path.

However, Granovskaia has taken a different path, and if it works out, it could be huge for the club. If Hudson-Odoi is able to make an impact in the Chelsea first team, not only will her decision be vindicated, but it could also open the door for Chelsea’s other young players to force their way into the team. After all, if Hudson-Odoi is rated so highly and has proven his worth; why can’t they?

Of course, it could all go poorly. If he has a poor second-half of the season, Chelsea will live to regret not taking the money and running.

That’s a risk, though it had to be taken, and the results could be huge.

Forget the sackings and the hirings. This is a decision that could have huge consequences for years to come – and it could be a defining 6 months for Granovskaia as a result.

Thoughts?

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Nottingham Forest manager Aitor Karanka says he already knows the central midfield pairing he will deploy when his side face Stoke City at the City Ground on Saturday, as quoted by The Nottingham Post.

The Reds currently lie sixth in the Championship standings going into the weekend’s fixtures, and they have also taken seven points from the previous nine available having beaten then league leaders Sheffield United 1-0 at home last Saturday.

With Jack Colback absent, Claudio Yacob got his first start and minutes on the pitch for the east Midlands outfit having signed on as a free agent back in September, and he impressed alongside Adlene Guedioura to give his Spanish boss a real selection dilemma against the Potters.

What did he say?

Speaking via The Nottingham Post, Karanka said:

“I know, already, who is going to play.

“After the game, if I play with Claudio and we win, nothing will be said. If we lose, people will say that I should have played Jack. If I pick Jack, and we lose, people will say I should not have played him – but I know this. It is an easy decision for me to make.

“He was working really hard and has been since he arrived here.

“When he got his chance he played really well.

“It was a difficult game, because Jack is an important player for us. But we did not miss Jack and we did not miss Foxy. That was the main thing. The players who played in their positions – Claudio and Michael (Dawson) were perfect.”

What do his comments really mean?

Well, despite Colback being a key player for Forest already this season, the quotes from the 45-year-old certainly hint that Yacob took his chance in the Newcastle loanee’s absence, and having shone against the league leaders he should keep his spot in the starting XI.

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Karanka alludes to the Premier League experience the former West Bromwich Albion man has, and that of course could be vital against a side like Stoke who have lots of decent players in their ranks – no matter what their league position may be.

With Yacob and Guedioura seemingly likely to keep their spots with Colback as back-up, 33-year-old Ben Watson looks to be in real trouble having already been an unused substitute in five of the club’s previous seven Championship fixtures.

With game time severely limited, he could find himself surplus to requirements in the New Year if the fine form of Yacob, Colback and Guedioura continues.

It was a summer of change for the Hammers as the club brought in nine new players and new boss, Manuel Pellegrini.

After such a poor season last year, the Hammers needed to improve heavily on their squad this summer in order to try and push up the table this year.

With the likes of Felipe Anderson, Jack Wilshere and Issa Diop, the Hammers will certainly improve on last year but it will take time.

Pellegrini’s men suffered a disappointing opening day defeat to Liverpool but in truth, they were playing a side that’s going to challenge City for the title.

While not much should be taken from the defeat, Pellegrini must make one change to his squad, and that’s to drop Michail Antonio for Andriy Yarmolenko for his ‘creativity’ going forward.

The Breakdown

Against Liverpool, West Ham struggled to muster much of a threat going forward. At times Marko Arnautovic was incredibly isolated and although Felipe Anderson showed flashes of his potential, Antonio didn’t really provide much going forward.

The sense behind Antonio starting on the wing is that he provides defence cover and energy down the right but in truth, technically, he doesn’t have much talent.

It might seem a gamble but starting Yarmolenko instead of him could be a good move. The Ukranian may not provide much help in defence but when he’s on the ball, he has the talent to score goals.

At Dortmund he didn’t score too much but aside from his final half a season with Dynamo Kyiv, he was a consistent scorer and regularly reached double digits in goals.

So West Ham fans, would you drop Antonio?

The first few months of the new Premier League season certainly haven’t disappointed, with 173 goals scored and 193 points already claimed – mostly by the two clubs from Manchester. Much like the 2017/18 title race which is already hotting up, there can be only one winner of the PFA Bristol Street Motors Player of the Month Award – so here’s a look at the six nominees for August and September.

Romelu Lukaku

Second-place Manchester United have started the season with a near-perfect run, the only slip-up coming in the form of an away draw at Stoke City, and star striker Romelu Lukaku has unsurprisingly played a crucial role, netting seven times in as many fixtures for the Red Devils and grabbing an assist against former club Everton. That was achieved with a whopping 31 shots at goal in a potent few months for the Belgium international.

Alvaro Morata

Just one behind Lukaku in the Premier League scoring charts with six, Alvaro Morata has also started life at his new club in deadly fashion. The Spaniard’s strikes haven’t been spread out with the same consistency, however; he failed to find the net against three of Chelsea’s biggest divisional rivals in Arsenal, Tottenham and Manchester City, but made up for it with an emphatic hat-trick against Stoke at the Bet365 Stadium. Perhaps most impressively, Morata’s tally was achieved with just 13 shots on target, giving him a strike success rate of 46%.

David Silva

David Silva rarely relieves the acclaim he deserves but even by the Spain international’s usual standards his form has been exceptional so far this season, notching up six assists in seven appearances and averaging the second-most key passes per match, 3.3, of any player in the division. Four of those assists came in September alone as Manchester City enjoyed a perfect record of four wins from four games, with an aggregate scoreline of 17-0.

Kevin De Bruyne

He’s not quite been as prolific as Silva in terms of output but Kevin De Bruyne has been at the heart of City’s domineering run, orchestrating play from a slightly deeper midfield role yet still venturing forward enough to find three assists and one goal from seven appearances. That solitary strike came against Chelsea on Saturday, when the Belgian playmaker powered on from the engine room and unleashed a fierce shot into the bottom corner against his former club. All in all, De Bruyne has created a division-highest 24 chances this season, while winning nine tackles and taking 14 shots at goal.

Sergio Aguero

Sergio Aguero’s made one appearance less than the majority of his rival nominees this season, having missed last weekend due to injury. But the Argentine striker has still found time to notch up six goals and three assists in the top flight – including a hat-trick and an assist in a stunning 6-0 victory over Watford at Vicarage Road. In fact, all three of Aguero’s Premier League outings in September produced at least one goal and one assist.

Harry Kane

In stark contrast to a barren August in which he failed to score a single goal in any competition, September saw Harry Kane hit the net six times in a run of three braces that was only disrupted by a goalless display against Swansea City at Wembley. More than just his goals, however, it’s the way the Tottenham striker has taken the game to the opposition this season, especially away from home, that has stood out most, driving at defences with immense power and constantly threatening the space behind them. He’s quickly developing a reputation as the Premier League’s most frightening attacking prospect.

Tottenham Hotspur star Dele Alli picked up his first ever red card last month and now he has been banned by UEFA.

The governing body has confirmed that Alli will serve a three-game suspension the next time Spurs compete in a European competition.

The England international was shown a straight red card for a dangerous tackle on Brecht Dejaegere in a 2-2 draw with Europa League opponents Gent at Wembley in February.

If Spurs finish in the top three of the Premier League, then Alli will be unavailable for half of the team’s group games in the Champions League.

If Mauricio Pochettino’s men finish fourth, then the qualifying games will be included in the ban.

Similarly, if the North London outfit seal a Europa League spot, Alli will be absent for the early stages of the competition.

Even though it is not an immediate issue for Spurs, it will be a huge blow to lose Alli, who has scored seven goals in all competitions so far this season.

After the news was announced by UEFA, football fans have given their reactions on Twitter.

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