Wrexham star Paul Mullin shared his joy after the Welsh side pulled off a late comeback to beat Salford City 3-2 in League Two on Saturday.
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Yunus Musah has thanked the USMNT “for everything” after passing the two-year anniversary of his senior international debut for the United States.
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Harry Kane is enjoying playing golf with ex-Chelsea star Claudio Pizarro since joining Bayern Munich, while Thomas Muller has become his “best mate”.
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Fans have savaged the Confederation of African Football for omitting both Victor Osimhen and Stanley Nwabali from their AFCON team of the tournament.
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AC Milan poked fun at rivals Inter after a masked Kanye West watched them play at San Siro, jokingly welcoming some A-list celebrities at training.
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Liverpool suffered a huge injury blow in the Carabao Cup final against Chelsea as Ryan Gravenberch was forced off on a stretcher in the first half.
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Newcastle travel to face Burnley at Turf Moor in their final match of the 2021/22 Premier League campaign this afternoon.
The Magpies have enjoyed a stellar second half of the season, as they have gone from battling the Clarets to avoid relegation to now being safe and eyeing up a top-half finish.
Mike Jackson’s side head into the match just above the drop zone and need a win to secure survival, although they will achieve their target as long as they match Leeds’ result against Brentford.
Meanwhile, Newcastle have a top-ten finish to aim for as they sit two points off Brighton in 10th. This would be the icing on the cake for Eddie Howe’s first campaign in charge and set the standard heading into the summer.
Speaking of which, the upcoming transfer window may be a nervy one for fringe players at St James’ Park – and even some more regular starters – as PIF potentially invest more money into the squad.
Players will be wondering whether or not they have a future at the club, and one gem who could be in danger of being axed is Jacob Murphy.
The £35k-per-week dynamo has only started 13 matches this season and has averaged a SofaScore rating of 6.68 in the Premier League. This shows that the overall standard of his displays has been underwhelming at best, and PIF will surely not want to have underperforming players wasting a place in the squad.
The 27-year-old has been unable to break into the team on a regular basis, and he may be a player that the club have in mind as someone they can upgrade upon in the coming months.
Murphy does have the potential to come good for Newcastle, though. Howe has previously hailed the winger, saying: “He’s a very good player. He’s physically excellent and I think you can see that from the first goal [against Brighton] he created and the pace he gives you on transitions.
“He’s reliable defensively and tactically very good. There’s a lot to like about him. I think there’s a lot to come as well – there is a lot more [talent] in there.”
The Toon head coach clearly believes that there is something to work with regarding Murphy, and that is why the 27-year-old must be unleashed against Burnley, having only appeared as a substitute in Newcastle’s last three matches.
It is his last-chance saloon to show the club that the £12m signing deserves to stay at St James’ Park and remain a part of the long-term project. He needs to produce a big performance against the Clarets and finally click in a Magpies shirt to put down a marker, given that he has struggled for minutes and form throughout the current campaign.
If he fails to do so, then it may be time for PIF to cut ties with him and replace him with another winger in the upcoming transfer window. It could a huge day at Turf Moor for the ex-Norwich man…
AND in other news, PIF eyeing NUFC swoop for “highly-rated” £30m phenomenon, he can be Howe’s “Benzema”…
Leeds United are reportedly looking to sign Derby County attacker Tom Lawrence on a free transfer.
Lawrence, labelled as ‘magnificent’ by Wayne Rooney, has been with The Rams since 2017 but is out of contact at the end of June.
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The Wales international has made 185 appearances for Derby, scoring 37 times and registering 25 assists. He’s played against Leeds on 11 occasions and has been on the losing side seven times.
The 28-year-old also has history with Whites supporters following the club’s playoff semi-final with Derby during the 2018/19 season. Lawrence and a number of his Derby teammates teased the south stand over ‘Spygate’ after they booked their spot at Wembley following a 4-2 win at Elland Road, but it now looks as if Victor Orta is keen to sign the soon to be free-agent.
TEAMtalk shared a story on Thursday morning regarding Lawrence, claiming that Leeds are ‘battling to secure his signature’.
The Derby captain looks set to leave Pride Park following their relegation to League One and is attracting interest from three other Premier League clubs – Bournemouth, Fulham and Southampton
Lawrence has hit double figures for goals in each of the last two Championship seasons in what has been a struggle for Derby both on and off the pitch, however, a move to Elland Road does seem to be a strange one.
Not only does Lawrence have previous with Whites fans, but he’s also primarily a winger. Jesse Marsch currently has a number of wide options and he may even look to implement his preferred narrow formation for his first full season in charge.
Brenden Aaronson’s arrival appears to outline Marsch’s plans for a potential 4-2-2-2 system, so signing a player with just four games of Premier League experience may not go down too well as Leeds aim to build on a disappointing campaign where they only just avoided the drop.
In other news: Phillips partner: Leeds now want ‘extraordinary’ int’l for free; Orta’s already spoke with agent
Ruben Neves is widely expected to leave Wolves this summer after five years at the club, but the Old Gold may already have an ideal replacement in their ranks.
While Morgan Gibbs-White is the name on many Wolves fans’ lips after his impressive loan spell in the Championship with Sheffield United, there was another Molineux academy prospect doing the business with St Mirren in Scotland.
Connor Ronan has managed just 13 first-team appearances in nearly eight years at the Midlands club, having joined from Rochdale’s academy as a teenager.
The 24-year-old has endured a plethora of loan spells away from Wolves without ever really being given an opportunity in the first team at Molineux.
The Irish midfielder failed to set the world alight in the EFL, struggling for regular game-time in spells at Portsmouth, Blackpool and Walsall, with frankly bizarre stints at Dunajska Streda and Grasshopper Zurich also featuring on the youngster’s CV.
However, last season saw him find his feet in Scotland with St Mirren, where he was a key player for the Buddies throughout the season. He made 30 appearances in total, in which he contributed an impressive eight goals and five assists, despite Stephen Robinson’s side finishing ninth from 12 in the Premiership table.
His performances in Scotland, which included some spectacular goals, were enough to see him win the Player of the Year and Goal of the Season awards, so he will surely return to Wolves in a confident mood ahead of the 2022/23 campaign.
Bruno Lage certainly has a decision to make on the 24-year-old, as another loan spell surely wouldn’t be beneficial to anyone. With Neves potentially on his way out, the Portuguese boss will need another creative midfielder in his squad.
Ronan can certainly offer that, as then-caretaker boss David Dunn testified during his time on loan at Blackpool by saying: “I thought he was excellent last week at AFC Wimbledon as well, he’s got such a good touch. He makes things happen for us.”
Although Gibbs-White has certainly done enough to warrant a spot in the first-team squad next season with his performances for the Blades, scoring 12 goals in the Championship, he is also being linked with a move away from Molineux, and Lage may well end up turning to Ronan as the heir to Neves’ throne.
In other news… Lage set to axe “unplayable” Wolves monster, it’s the right call
Celtic are reportedly closing in on securing a deal for Bayern Munich midfielder Christopher Scott ahead of the upcoming summer window.
According to a recent report from Ghana Soccernet (via Scottish Sun), the Hoops are favourites to sign the 19-year-old and will secure the signing if they pay Bayern’s asking price of £250k.
After making 61 appearances for Bayer Leverkusen’s youth sides in which he scored 32 goals and provided two assists, the midfielder joined Bayern’s U19 side back in the 2020 January transfer window.
Since then, the teenager, who turns 20 tomorrow, has gone on to make 53 appearances for the youth teams, finding the net 12 times and delivering 15 assists in the process.
The youngster also has two senior appearances for the German giants under his belt.
On the international stage, the player has made appearances for Germany across their U15, U16, U17, U19 and U20 sides.
The above shows the attacking and creative talent he has and why the Bhoys are reportedly close to signing him. However, it also underlines why supporters will be buzzing to see him sign.
According to Celtic Analytics on Twitter, Scott’s strengths are “offensive and on the ball as a strong passer and ball carrier,” as well as being a player who “generates a lot of threat from finishing and creativity.”
Thus, taking into account how Ange Postecoglou has shown that he is not against signing young players from abroad and giving them the chance to shine in his side such, notably Liel Abada, Scott could well be the next one in line to become a household name at Celtic.
With the likes of Nir Bitton, Tom Rogic and now Luca Connell waving goodbye to Parkhead, this could give the Bayern prospect an easier shot of making it into the first team at Celtic should he end up joining.
With all of this in mind, it’s safe to say that should the Hoops secure the German youth star’s signature in the coming days or weeks, it would definitely be an exciting signing for the club. He is capable of scoring goals and creating them for his teammates, something that makes him a real nuisance for defenders.
Given the talent he has at such a young age, the potential he has to grow into a senior star at Parkhead is a mouth-watering prospect for everyone connected to the club.