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The January transfer window is fast approaching and Tottenham Hotspur boss Antonio Conte may be in the market to improve his squad heading into the second half of the season.

Spurs are currently sitting fourth in the Premier League table and the Italian head coach could bolster his side in an attempt to ensure that Champions League football is secured for another campaign.

However, he may also be on the lookout for signing for the future by snapping up young gems who could improve the starting XI in the long term.

The Sunday Mirror (via Glasgow Live) have claimed that Spurs sent scouts to watch Maccabi Tel Aviv midfielder Oscar Gloukh in action earlier this year and the club must now swoop for him in the January window.

Conte could land Tottenham their next version of world-class midfield talent Luka Modric by sealing a deal to sign the 18-year-old playmaker.

Spurs signed the Croatian international from Dinamo Zagreb in the summer of 2008 and the gem went on to score 17 goals and assist 26 in 160 matches for the club before signing for Spanish giants Real Madrid.

The mercurial magician has gone on to play 454 times for the La Liga outfit in all competitions, winning the Champions League five times and being crowned the best player in the world by winning the Ballon d’Or in 2018.

Modric is a central midfielder, who can also play in the no.10 role; one that can dictate the play with his immense ability on the ball and has the quality to make contributions in the final third – scoring 36 goals and providing 74 assists for Real Madrid to date.

Gloukh could be the next generational talent in the middle of the park to be unearthed by Tottenham as he has shown great promise in his short career to date.

Israeli journalist Nisim Haliva previously described him as a “mega talent”, whilst reporter Raphael Gellar hailed him as “the most exciting talent since Manor Solomon” in Israel.

This is backed up by his seven goals and five assists in 27 matches for Tel Aviv’s first-team despite only turning 18 in April of this year, whilst he has also scored once in two caps for his country.

Gloukh is making a huge impact at senior level, with four goals and five assists in 12 league appearances this season, at an incredibly young age and Spurs must now take a gamble on the teenager to see if they can develop him into being Modric 2.0 at the club.

Like the Croatian superstar, the Israel international can play as a no.8 or no.10 in midfield and has shown that he has the technical quality to be a difference-maker in the final third, although it is now down to him to prove that he can do it consistently at the very top level in order to replicate the ex-Tottenham man’s success.

Everton will be desperate to make it three games in a row unbeaten this evening as they host a resurgent Leicester City who have won two of their last three matches.

Despite a poor start to their Premier League campaign, two convincing wins over Leeds United and Wolverhampton Wanderers and a fine display despite the defeat to Manchester City underline the improvement from Brendan Rodgers’ side.

Frank Lampard admitted in his pre-match press conference that this was arguably the cleanest bill of health the Toffees have boasted since his arrival at the club in January, and he will have a near-full squad from which to select for this game under the Goodison Park floodlights.

With that in mind, the 44-year-old is unlikely make wholesale changes to the side which earned a draw at Fulham last weekend, with just two alterations expected.

Jordan Pickford, who earned the highest SofaScore rating of anyone on the pitch that evening, will be hoping to continue his fine form with the World Cup approaching.

Whilst Vitaly Mykolenko will continue at left-back, Lampard confirmed that Nathan Patterson is available should he be deemed fit. A 26-minute substitute appearance at Craven Cottage signals the youngster’s likely availability to start today, and it will be a delight for Evertonians to see such an “amazing player”- as his international team-mate Che Adams labelled him – return to the side.

Conor Coady and James Tarkowski shall remain at the heart of the defence, propping up a team with the Premier League’s fourth-best defensive record going into this weekend’s fixtures.

Also unlikely to change is the midfield trio, although James Garner is pushing for a start given his stellar recent cameos, earning a 7.0 Sofascore rating after coming on against Fulham last week.

Amadou Onana, Idrissa Gueye and Alex Iwobi will likely be crucial to any success that Everton might have today, especially to neutralise the threat of James Maddison, who already has six league goals to his name this term.

Demarai Gray was the Toffees’ bright spark in an otherwise dull offensive unit against the Cottagers, but Anthony Gordon could drop out for Dwight McNeil in order to freshen things up. The 21-year-old completed just 10 passes in 86 tepid minutes of action in the draw at Fulham, so he could miss out today.

Dominic Calvert-Lewin will again lead the line as he battles to regain full fitness after recording more minutes under his belt over the last few weeks.

Everton predicted XI: Pickford, Mykolenko, Coady, Tarkowski, Patterson, Onana, Gueye, Iwobi, Gray, McNeil, Calvert-Lewin.

Liverpool journalist James Pearce has reacted to Jordan Henderson’s ‘brilliant’ assist during the Champions League game vs Ajax on Wednesday night, hailing the captain’s performance in Amsterdam.

The Lowdown: Victory in Amsterdam

The Reds were the visitors at the Johan Cruyff Arena in midweek and secured a comfortable 3-0 victory thanks to Mohamed Salah’s opener minutes before the break, followed by two second-half goals in quick succession from Darwin Nunez and Harvey Elliott.

One of the most notable moments though was the pass from the Premier League club’s captain into Salah to break the deadlock, which came as a surprise given an initial slow start to the game.

The Latest: Pearce’s reaction

Taking to Twitter, Pearce praised Henderson for his vision to create something in the final third after a quiet opening period. He wrote:

“Out of nowhere Liverpool lead. What a pass from Henderson. Brilliant with the outside of his right boot and Salah provides a quality finish.”

Pearce took to social media again on Thursday morning to praise the skipper: “Been a tough few months for the long-serving captain but he shone on the side of Klopp’s diamond.”

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The Verdict: Sign of things to come

Liverpool have made a hugely underwhelming start to the top-flight season, but their European performances have been encouraging, which could be a sign of things to come.

On the back of a shock 1-0 defeat to Nottingham Forest, it was vital that Jurgen Klopp’s side responded with a strong display, which they did, and have now secured themselves a place in the last 16 of the Champions League.

The Anfield outfit need to take this form and transfer it to the Premier League to string a run of results together should they want any chance of securing a top-four finish come the end of the campaign.

West Bromwich Albion have been linked with plenty of talent over the years, many of whom might have changed their status as a club seemingly perennially struggling to remain in the Premier League.

It is easy to speculate how big of an impact some of these names might have had, such as Virgil van Dijk for example, but arguably their biggest blunder was not signing Luka Modric when they had the chance in 2007.

The Croatian maestro, who has gone on to captain his country to a World Cup final and win a Ballon d’Or, has announced himself as one of the greatest midfielders of his generation.

Reportedly, the season before he would make his move from Dinamo Zagreb to Tottenham Hotspur, he was instead ready to make the switch to the Hawthorns.

The move depended solely on whether Tony Mowbray could steer his side to promotion, which unfortunately Derby County prevented in the play-off final. Jeremy Peace, the owner at the time, reportedly had a fine relationship with the Croatian club, but could not tempt them or Modric to transfer without Premier League football.

Whilst they would earn promotion the season following, they had already missed out on their target. He moved to Spurs for £15m, and just four years later make his £30m switch to Real Madrid, where he has since won five Champions Leagues and three La Liga titles.

His pass mastery and incredible longevity mean that even today he remains one of the Europe’s best, as he ranks in the top 5% for progressive passes, and the top 2% for assists per 90.

There are arguably few better on the planet who could thread a ball through like the 37-year-old and had he moved to the Baggies, he could’ve been “magic” in their midfield to promote them a year early and sustain them for the foreseeable future.

He has featured 445 times for Los Blancos, scoring 33 and assisting 73 from his deep midfield role. For country, he shoulders more of the offensive burden, however, as he has 23 goals and 24 assists during his 154 caps.

To think that his career truly took off in north London, it will always remain a great ‘what if?’ story with regard to whether Modric would have made a switch to the Midlands, and just how sensational he could’ve been for them.

If you were born on Merseyside, you’re probably either an Everton fan or a Liverpool supporter, but do you know which celebrities and other sports stars across the world wear Blue scarves instead of Red?

Frank Lampard saw his team grab their first win of the Premier League season in a 1-0 victory against West Ham United at Goodison Park in front of their own fans.

Neal Maupay grabbed his first goal for the club since joining from Brighton and Hove Albion in the summer, while Evertonians will be hoping that Dominic Calvert-Lewin can join the Frenchman for a run of games together in the attack after the international break.

But while you are waiting for the Toffees to return to your TV screen, why not try out our Everton Celebrity Fan Quiz! All you have to do is tell us if you think the celebrities in question are a Blue or if we’ve made it up…

The Athletic’s West Ham United correspondent Roshane Thomas called into question the performance of Kurt Zouma in the Irons’ 2-0 Premier League defeat at home to Brighton on Sunday.

The Lowdown: West Ham beaten again

After losing their first two league games of the season, David Moyes’ side were looking to get points on the board at home to Graham Potter’s visitors.

However, the Hammers sunk to the bottom of the table overnight after losing 2-0, with Alexis Mac Allister scoring a first half penalty and Leandro Trossard doubling the Seagulls’ lead midway through the second half.

Zouma made his third league start of the campaign this afternoon, but in Thomas’ view, the Frenchman had a day to forget, just like his team in general.

The Latest: Zouma was ‘off’ it v Brighton

Shortly after Trossard put the game out of reach for West Ham, Thomas took to Twitter to share his concerns over the 27-year-old defender’s performance, believing him to be partly culpable for both of Brighton’s goals.

The Athletic reporter tweeted: “Something seems off with Zouma. Partly at fault for both goals. I can’t recall the last time he’s struggled like this.”

The Verdict: Tough day at the office

It’s understandable why Thomas was questioning the defender’s performance today, with Sky Sports reporter Zinny Boswell noting how the Frenchman struggled with Brighton’s high press and was beaten by Mac Allister in the build-up to the visitors’ second goal.

While Zouma was by no means the Irons’ lowest-rated player from Sofascore, some of his statistics from today don’t paint a pretty picture. He gave the ball away 12 times, failed to win a tackle and was dribbled past once.

In his defence, though, the team as a whole struggled this afternoon, while WhoScored’s performance metrics actually list him as the Hammers’ best-performing outfield player in the early weeks of the season.

Perhaps today was merely an off-day for the 27-year-old, but neither he nor his team-mates can afford many more of them, given West Ham’s dreadful start to the Premier League season.

There is ‘serious interest’ in Liverpool defender Sepp van den Berg ahead of a potential loan move this summer, according to reliable journalist James Pearce.

The Lowdown: Injury crisis

The Dutchman is back at Anfield after impressing on loan at Preston last season, where he started 43 of his side’s 46 Championship matches.

Virgil van Dijk, Joel Matip, Ibrahima Konate and Joe Gomez are all ahead of Van den Berg in the pecking order, but the Reds have been hit hard by pre and early season injuries.

Indeed, the likes of Konate, Diogo Jota and Thiago Alcantara feature on a lengthy list of concerns for Jurgen Klopp and Julian Ward, but it appears they are still happy to allow one piece of depth depart.

The Latest: Pearce makes fresh claim

Taking to Twitter on Monday, The Athletic‘s Pearce claims that there is lots of interest in Van den Berg ahead of a potential temporary exit, namely from Burnley:

“Burnley want Sepp van den Berg on loan but there’s also serious interest from Germany. Player weighing up his options.”

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The Verdict: Right move for everyone

This makes complete sense for everyone concerned, allowing Van den Berg a chance to continue his development and enjoy regular playing time away from Liverpool.

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With Nat Phillips now expected to stay put after Konate’s recent injury, Klopp will of course be praying no more issues force him to keep the young Dutchman around in a similar fashion.

Van den Berg can still be a future squad player for Liverpool, given his age, so he should be considered a long-term prospect who needs regular playing time to fulfil his potential, though perhaps Klopp and Ward should consider a recall clause for January in case the injuries really mount up.

Marco Giordano has dropped an update on reported West Ham United transfer target Piotr Zielinski.

What’s the latest?

In a recent post on Twitter (via Sport Witness), the CalcioMercato journalist revealed that, following reports suggesting that the Napoli forward was not overly convinced by West Ham’s salary proposal in initial discussions with the Premier League club, Rob Newman is now set to offer the 28-year-old an increased wage of €6m (£5m) per year – roughly £96k-per-week.

Further reports have also revealed that the Hammers’ opening offer for the attacking midfielder – believed to be in the region of €25m (£21m) – has also been rejected by the Serie A club, with Aurelio De Laurentiis said to be holding out for a figure closer to €40m (£33.7m) in order to sanction the attacking midfielder’s sale this summer.

In his tweet, Giordano said: “Zielinski update. In the last few hours, West Ham have raised the salary – working on the psychological threshold of about €6m per season. To convince Napoli you need €38-40m (including bonuses). New contact in the next few hours.”

Supporters will love Giordano’s update

Considering just how exciting an addition Zielinski would undoubtedly be to David Moyes’ first-team squad, Giordano’s update that Newman is set to return to talks with both the player and Napoli regarding a deal for the 28-year-old is sure to be news that the London Stadium faithful will love.

Indeed, over his 35 Serie A appearances in 2021/22, the £36m-rated forward was in fantastic form, scoring six goals, providing five assists and creating five big chances for his team-mates, along with taking 1.2 shots, making 1.4 key passes and completing 0.5 dribbles per game.

These returns saw the £106k-per-week talent average an impressive SofaScore match rating of 6.92, ranking him as Luciano Spalletti’s 13th-best performer in the top flight of Italian football last time out.

The 28-year-old also impressed over his seven outings in the Europa League last season, bagging two goals along the way, in addition to taking 1.7 shots, making 1.7 key passes and completing one dribble per game.

These metrics saw the former Udinese ace average an even more eye-catching SofaScore match rating of 7.03, ranking him as Napoli’s fourth-best player in Europe.

As such, it is clear to see that Zielinski would make a fantastic addition to Moyes’ attacking arsenal ahead of West Ham’s Premier League and Europa Conference League campaigns next season. That leads us to believe that Giordano’s latest update on the Irons’ pursuit of the forward is fantastic news for everyone involved with the east London club.

AND in other news: Moyes can now form “unreal” duo as West Ham given green light for “limitless” £13m signing

Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag has been given a golden opportunity to finally end Phil Jones’ time at the club this summer.

What’s the story?

According to The Daily Star, former United striker, and club legend Wayne Rooney is interested in signing the out-of-favour centre-back for his DC United side.

Rooney recently took charge of the MLS outfit after quitting his job at Derby County and wants to reunite with his former teammate stateside.

A move would end Jones’ 11-year career at Old Trafford, and with the pair good friends, it could likely happen.

Supporters will be buzzing

The 30-year-old joined the Red Devils back in 2011 in a £16m deal from Blackburn Rovers. Whilst he had a promising start to his United career, the retirement of Sir Alex Ferguson saw a massive drop-off.

Once touted as having the potential to be the club’s “best ever player” by the legendary Scotsman, things only went from bad to worse for Jones.

He has suffered a lot of criticism from United supporters since, and whilst a lot of that has been justified due to his below-par performances, he has shown desire and pride whilst wearing the shirt which is something the club has lacked lately.

After making just six Premier League appearances over the last three seasons, the writing has been on the wall for Jones for a long time and it’s best for everyone if he moves somewhere where he will be given regular playing time.

However, a major obstacle that could prevent the move is the high wage that the defender is on at Old Trafford. Jones earns £110k per week at Old Trafford, which is more than regular players such as Bruno Fernandes and Scott McTominay.

With just a year remaining on his contract, he could decide to run it down in the hope of getting a better deal when he can leave the club as a free agent.

Ultimately, though, he’s just tarnishing his United reputation by sticking around, with his former United teammate Rio Ferdinand even describing him as a “waste of time”.

Rooney is offering a quick escape to a club in a league that will help Jones prolong his career, and he should take it – while the 30-year-old’s potential move away from the club is sure to be an eventuality that will leave the Old Trafford faithful buzzing.

AND in other news: “United fans would love…” – Journalist drops verdict on “brilliant” Keane-esque Man Utd target

Sky Sports journalist Dharmesh Sheth has now made a claim involving West Ham United  transfer target Jesse Lingard as the east London club step up their pursuit of the 29-year-old.

The Lowdown: Moyes keeps moving…

The arrival of Nayef Aguerd in a £30m deal from Rennes is expected to be followed by even more additions at Rush Green, with manager David Moyes said to be chasing a host of new Premier League signings.

West Ham allegedly want ‘at least’ six new additions and have been tipped to be ‘very busy’ this summer, with attacking midfielder and soon-to-be free agent Lingard a target for the Irons.

The east Londoners want to strengthen in attack as the England international, alongside the likes of Chelsea striker Armando Broja, enter Moyes’ thinking.

The Latest: Lingard ‘offer’ made…

It is claimed that West Ham, setting their sights on Lingard, have now moved to potentially secure the 29-year-old on a Bosman deal.

Sharing news on Twitter, Sky reporter Sheth has updated Hammers fans about an ‘offer’ which has now been made by GSB and co.

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He explained (via Twitter): “West Ham United have made an offer to Jesse Lingard’s representatives over signing the player on a free transfer. Lingard officially becomes a free agent on July 1st following the expiration of his Manchester United contract.”

The Verdict: Make a move?

Having dazzled during a half-season temporary spell at West Ham in 2020/21, scoring nine goals and racking up five assists, Lingard has already proven that he can be an asset under Moyes.

It’s hardly a surprise that some members of the media, like pundit Paul Robinson, stated that the 29-year-old would be a ‘massive signing’ at the London Stadium, and this is arguably even more relevant since he could now sign for zero transfer cost.

Depending on Lingard’s demands in terms of salary and personal terms, West Ham could be working on a very shrewd major incoming.