A key update has emerged in Sunderland’s pursuit of a new manager, with the club now able to land an experienced English coach…

What’s the talk?

According to the Northern Echo, Neil Warnock has made contact with the club to make them aware of his interest in the vacant position.

The report claims that he would be open to signing a short-term contract until the end of the season to take over from Lee Johnson.

Buzzing

Fans will surely be buzzing with this news for multiple reasons.

Firstly, they will be delighted to read that he is interested in the role. It shows that he is hungry for another promotion and up for the battle of taking the Black Cats back to the Championship. Supporters will be pleased to know that he would not be in it just to collect another payday before he ends his career, this leaving them reassured that he is the man for the job.

One of his former players, Chris Morgan, previously summed up the veteran manager’s desire to succeed in whatever job he takes, saying:

“The Neil Warnock people see on the touchline is a passionate man at work. He hates losing and will do everything he can to win a game of football, and if that’s winding people up, or getting right into his players, he’ll do whatever he needs to do. The cliche is that it’s the pantomime villain – and he loves playing it.

“But if you were to do an interview with his wife Sharon she will tell you when Neil’s at home with the family, he’s laid back, he’s a doting father and a loving husband. People find that hard to believe but sometimes it’s split personalities – when you pull that shirt on and cross the white line you become a different person.”

The supporters will also be buzzing with his potential appointment as he is a proven winner in the EFL. He holds the record for the most promotions in the Football League, having won his eighth with Cardiff – taking them to the Premier League in 2018.

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This suggests that there is no one better to help Sunderland in their bid to finish in the automatic promotion places by the end of the campaign. Warnock has done it more than anyone else in the country and could be their best shot at getting back to the second tier, which is why Black Cats fans will be delighted with his interest in taking the role.

Kristjaan Speakman must now agree a deal with the former Middlesbrough boss to come and take over at the Stadium of Light.

AND in other news, Roberts starts, no Defoe & £5k-p/w dud axed: How SAFC’s XI may look after Jan window…

A big Sunderland update has emerged in their search for a new manager, regarding out-of-work coach Grant McCann.

What’s the talk?

The Sun journalist Alan Nixon has revealed that the former Hull City boss is poised to meet with the club over a potential deal to replace Lee Johnson.

He Tweeted: “Grant McCann will have talks soon. Won’t be only one. But no compo and experience of League One.”

Elation

Sunderland fans will surely be elated by this news for multiple reasons.

Firstly, it shows that the club are making swift moves to bring in a replacement. They are not biding their time and dallying over what their next step will be and are, instead, looking to speak to potential appointments as quickly as possible.

Fans could love this as Sunderland do not have time to waste. They are third in the League One table and straight back into action on Saturday at the Stadium of Light against Doncaster, which is why they need a coach in sooner rather than later to avoid potentially missing out on crucial points.

The Black Cats faithful may also be elated with this update as McCann could be an excellent appointment. He has proven that he knows how to get a side out of the third tier as he led Hull to promotion last season, winning the division and racking up 89 points – averaging 1.93 points per game.

Johnson, meanwhile, picked up 53 points – 1.66 per game – in League One for Sunderland during the same campaign. The ex-Bristol City boss was relieved of his duties after the 6-0 defeat to Bolton left him averaging 1.86 points per game this term.

This suggests that McCann could be an improvement on the 40-year-old as he has shown that he has what it takes to get a team promoted from this division. He also has 73 Championship matches managed under his belt, which could come in handy if he ends up joining the club and taking them up to the second tier.

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Supporters will surely be pleased to read that the club are attempting to bring a coach in who has experience of managing in League One and doing so successfully on top of that. Kristjaan Speakman will now need to assess whether he is the right fit for the squad the club currently have available, with the next few days potentially being an exciting time for the fans as they wait to see who the new manager will be.

AND in other news, Journo claims exciting SAFC manager news could emerge by “Saturday”, fans will love it…

Rangers won the Premiership title last season to stop their arch-rivals from reaching 10-in-a-row and are currently one point off the top of the table and battling for another trophy this term.

A big reason behind their recent successes has been their ability to pick out gems in the transfer market to improve their starting XI and overall squad.

One of those players has been centre-back Connor Goldson, who is now reportedly set to leave the club at the end of the season on a free transfer.

Blinder

With the defender’s time at Ibrox coming to an end, Rangers have pulled off an absolute blinder with him over the years.

He signed for the Scottish giants from English side Brighton in the summer of 2018 and Transfermarkt valued him at just £900k at the time.

Since joining the club, he has amassed 199 appearances for the Gers and could hit the double century when Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s side host Hibernian at Ibrox on Wednesday night. He has played 29 Premiership matches or more in every campaign leading up to the current one, highlighting how important he has been to the Light Blues over the years.

Former Ibrox boss Steven Gerrard once heaped huge praise on the defender, telling The Scotsman: “Connor has been an absolute mountain for this team, a warrior. I can’t describe to you how well he has done for this team, not just in terms of what you have seen on the pitch but also his leadership on the inside of the club and his availability every single day.”

These comments suggest that Goldson has also had an influence off the pitch as well as on it. He has been able to provide a leadership figure behind the scenes and play a key role in the dressing room, which shows that Rangers recruited a great character as well as a superb player.

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At the time of writing (08/02/22), Transfermarkt value him at £7.2m. This is a staggering 700% increase from his estimated worth upon moving to the Gers in 2018. His soaring valuation proves that he has been able to develop as a player over the years at Ibrox whilst remaining a crucial figure for Gerrard and now Van Bronckhorst.

Therefore, the club pulled off a transfer blinder with him in 2018, and losing him on a free transfer will not take away from the immense value he has provided on and off the pitch in the last three-and-a-half years.

AND in other news, Van Bronckhorst can save Rangers millions by unleashing “confident” gem who’s “totally at ease”…

Tottenham correspondent Alasdair Gold has made a worrying revelation regarding Sergio Reguilon ahead of the meeting with Manchester City on Saturday evening.

The Lowdown: Reguilon a regular

The Spaniard, who Gold labelled ‘phenomenal’ back in 2020, has been a regular under Antonio Conte in recent months.

The left-back netted the winner in Conte’s first home league game in charge against Leeds United back in November and has been involved in every Premier League matchday squad under the Italian.

The 25-year-old was an unused substitute last time out against Wolves, though, and he may well be missing this weekend if training ground images are any barometer.

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The Latest: Gold’s claim

Reliable reporter Gold shared a story on football.london on Thursday, looking at five things spotted at training.

One of the talking points to come out of Hotspur Way was that Reguilon, who Gold said is normally front and centre in training images, was nowhere to be seen.

The Verdict: A worry

Reguilon is yet to miss a Premier League squad all season, but he may well be missing against Pep Guardiola’s side on Saturday with no sign of the defender in training.

Hopefully it is simply a case of managing to dodge all camera shots at Hotspur Way, but judging by Gold’s claim, that may well not be the case.

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Ryan Sessegnon came in at left-wing back against Wolves but made way after just 28 minutes for Dejan Kulusevski, and Conte’s options could well be limited once again.

In other news: ‘Big’, ‘Very important for Conte’…Sky pundit thrilled by news out of Tottenham, find out more here.

New Everton boss Frank Lampard has already brought through a number of youth team players despite his relatively short time spent as a head coach after stints at Derby County and Chelsea.

While Anthony Gordon has already made giant strides this season and is showing great potential, Lampard will likely also be looking to find his new Mason Mount, someone who can create from deep but also play across the attacking-midfield positions too.

Bristol City’s 18-year-old sensation Alex Scott could be that man, after showing some incredible development across this season and turning into one of the Championship’s finest prospects – the same league where Lampard gave Mount his first minutes in English league football.

What’s the news?

According to the Daily Mail, Everton are just one team on a lengthy list of clubs interested in acquiring the teenager’s services in the summer, including the likes of Tottenham, West Ham and Leicester.

While Spurs are now believed to be the ‘front-runners’ for Scott’s signature, the possibility of working with Lampard, who himself was a world-class complete midfielder that loved to attack, would surely be tempting.

Lampard must develop youth

Dubbed the “the next Grealish” by a prominent West Ham insider also reporting the story, the England U19 international is a technically sound and versatile player, who has scored three goals and set up another two in 28 appearances, as well as winning over 50% of his duels across the season and averaging around 74% for completed passes.

Thus, with his ability to score and create consistently, comparisons with Mount start to emerge, someone that Lampard played a pivotal role in developing.

Should Scott choose the Toffees in the summer, he could well become another one of the top young players in the Premier League under the stewardship of the former Chelsea legend.

Furthermore, with the prospect having a market valuation currently at £270k (albeit Bristol City are likely to demand far more than that), not only could Everton gain a future profit, but the signing could facilitate the sales of current deadwood like Fabian Delph and Andre Gomes, who are on far too high wages for the amount of playing time they receive.

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The likes of Marc Guehi, Tariq Lamptey and Fikayo Tomori were all developed by Lampard during his time at Stamford Bridge, and have since made permanent moves to top tier clubs for a combined £45m.

If Lampard could replicate this at Everton, who have had close runs with financial fair play troubles this season, he would not only surely re-establish himself as one of the top up-and-coming managers in world football, but also potentially begin to turn things around at the club.

In other news: Everton’s “embarrassing” £34m mistake could now finally be revitalised under Lampard

Speaking live on talkSPORT, outspoken pundit and former Crystal Palace owner Simon Jordan has taken aim at Tottenham Hotspur star Harry Kane.

The Lowdown: Kane returns to form?

Following what was a questionable first few months of the campaign under ex-manager Nuno Espirito Santo, with Kane even accused of ‘sulking’ after his failed move to Manchester City last summer, it appears the England star is now starting to regain his best form.

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Spurs’ marquee striker even took time to lift off when Antonio Conte took over at the start of November – scoring his first goal under the Italian against Liverpool after a five-game wait.

Fast forward past January and Kane has now grabbed five strikes in his last six Premier League games, including braces against Everton and top flight champions Man City.

However, regardless of his improved record recently, Jordan says the Lilywhites forward still has plenty to prove.

The Latest: Jordan takes aim…

The talkSPORT pundit, claiming Borussia Dortmund’s Erling Haaland is on a ‘different level’ to Kane, goes on to say that Spurs’ star gets too much ‘credit’ despite his performances overall this season having not been ‘great’.

“I have to say, I listened to Teddy Sheringham last night and I don’t think that Harry Kane is the best striker in the world,” Jordan explained.

“I think he’s a very good striker, but we have an over tendency in this country to over-egg the pudding.

“Erling Haaland is on a different level to Harry Kane already.”

The 53-year-old insists that Conte’s favourite, who has played in every league game since the Italian’s appointment, simply ‘hasn’t been at it’ and has taken aim at Kane for his interview with Gary Neville.

“We give Harry Kane loads of credit and his performances this season haven’t been great.

“His goal return until recently hasn’t been great, he hasn’t been at it for whatever reason that is and if we want to attribute that to whatever he didn’t get what he wanted last summer then tough luck.

“We don’t always get what we want. He’s a big boy, he’s signed a big contract with Spurs for a significant period of time, he didn’t put a release clause in it so up your game and get a better agent.

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“Don’t go flapping your gums to Gary Neville about what you’re not in control of and do what you’re supposed to do and be an elite striker.”

The Verdict: Correct?

Kane’s goal record when compared to Haaland’s is a similar one when both men are at the peak of their powers with the Norwegian scoring just four more league goals than Tottenham’s main man last season, so there is plenty of room for debate there.

While he has failed to emulate last season’s sublime form which saw him clinch the Golden Boot and a place in the 2021 PFA Premier League Team of the Year, if Kane continues to gain momentum, there is no reason why he cannot finish 2021/2022 on a high.

In other news: Tottenham official sent to club as Conte now eyes ‘monster’ player who wanted to join in 2020, find out more here.

Carlton Palmer thinks Crystal Palace striker Odsonne Edouard will be hurting over his lack of game time but has urged him to remain patient. 

The former West Bromwich Albion, Sheffield Wednesday and Leeds United midfielder was speaking to Give Me Sport.

The lowdown

Edouard became the sixth-most expensive signing in Palace’s history when he joined from Celtic last summer for a fee of £14.67million.

But he’s been unable to nail down a starting spot in his first season at Selhurst Park, with Vieira only selecting him for 15 of their 27 Premier League games so far.

To make matters worse, in the 1-0 defeat against Chelsea last month, Edouard was an unused substitute for the first time since joining The Eagles.

And the £79,000-per-week hitman watched on from the sidelines again as they were held to a draw against Burnley last time out.

The latest

Palmer thinks Edouard will be somewhat frustrated with Patrick Vieira but says his situation could be very different further down the line.

“The player will be disappointed that he’s not getting more game time,” he said. “But sometimes, these things take time to set up.”

The verdict

Edouard will surely feel he deserves to play more often. He’s bagged six goals and provided three assists so far this season, ranking him third in the Palace squad (behind Conor Gallagher and Wilfried Zaha, who both have eight).

Of all the players who have netted more than once, he boasts the best minutes per goal ratio, and it’s worth noting that he’s outscored fellow striking options Christian Benteke and Jean-Philippe Mateta.

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Vieira can be questioned for refusing to turn to Edouard against Chelsea and Burnley when his side needed a goal.

Instead, he looked to Mateta for the final 30 minutes against The Clarets, and he failed to muster a single shot, registering a mere eight touches (via SofaScore).

In other news, Palace have been linked with this Championship star.

West Brom managed to snatch a point in their latest Championship clash last night against Huddersfield Town at the Hawthorns.

The Baggies found themselves 2-0 down with 74 minutes on the clock thanks to a brace of goals from Daniel Ward, only for the home side to grab two quickfire goals in the space of a minute with Karlan Grant scoring a penalty followed by Andy Carroll getting his first goal for the club with a header.

Despite this comeback, not every player in a West Brom shirt put in the sort of performance that Steve Bruce would have been totally happy with.

One player that falls into this category is right-back Darnell Furlong, who started the match but was replaced by Carroll in the 69th minute, which ended up being a masterstroke from the Baggies boss.

Dubbed as an “integral” player for the club in the past, the defender had 46 touches of the ball yesterday but could only complete 16 of the 29 passes he attempted, which is fewer than goalkeeper Sam Johnstone (18) managed to make.

With five crosses attempted, none of them found their intended target, as well as five of the six long balls he made ended up being inaccurate, ultimately seeing the Englishman lose possession of the ball 21 times before coming off.

Things weren’t great for him off the ball either, as the 26-year-old lost 71% of the duels he was involved in, gave two fouls away, got dribbled past once and failed to make even one tackle or interception.

Taking all of this into account, it’s easy to see why the Baggies boss chose to take him off when Carroll came on.

This display ultimately earned Furlong an uninspiring overall match rating of 6.4/10, making him the second-lowest rated player for the Midlands club according to SofaScore, which goes to show that he failed his manager on this occasion.

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Birmingham Live also picked up on his shaky performance by saying that he “showed that he was susceptible when turned in the opening minute.”

Moving forward, while Bruce will be happy that his side managed to secure a point, he won’t want to see Furlong deliver another sort of performance as he did last night, as he could start to become a liability for the side if he can’t be a solid defensive figure for them.

In other news: Huge boost: Joseph Masi drops fresh West Brom injury update that’ll have Bruce buzzing – opinion

Ange Postecoglou’s Celtic side continued their incredibly impressive Premiership form on Saturday afternoon, with the Bhoys’ putting four past Ross County in a demolition job at Parkhead.

Indeed, a hat-trick from Giorgos Giakoumakis as well as a first-half Daizen Maeda strike sealed a comfortable win that once again piles the pressure on the Hoops’ Old Firm rivals ahead of their trip to Dundee FC on Sunday.

Speaking about his side’s performance, Postecoglou said: “We had a couple of really tough away games where we’ve done really well but the playing surfaces haven’t allowed us to play our football. Today allowed us to be really good and bright and we were well in control of the game.”

Aside from the positive result, the performance of first-half substitute Matt O’Riley will have also pleased the 56-year-old Bhoys boss immensely, as the midfielder was dominant in the middle of the park – outshining both Tom Rogic and Reo Hatate.

57 touches

Indeed, coming on for the injured Rogic in the 33rd minute of the match, the £1.5m January signing turned in a level of performance that he had struggled to reach in the last few weeks – enjoying 57 touches of the ball, completing 39 of his 47 attempted passes – two of which were key – found his man with three long balls and successfully completed two dribbles.

The 21-year-old also did his fair share of the dirty work in the Celtic midfield, making one interception, blocking one shot and winning four duels, as well as breaking up Ross County’s play by committing two fouls.

These returns saw the Denmark U21 international earn a highly impressive SofaScore match rating of 7.5, ranking him as the fifth-best player to feature in the match – a quite remarkable feat considering he started the game on the bench.

Furthermore, The Athletic’s Kieran Devlin was also clearly impressed with O’Riley’s display on Saturday, stating of the midfielder: “[Reo] Hatate and O’Riley’s best performances in a month which is encouraging too. Very complete performance today, lots to be happy about.”

As such, with a potential title decider against Rangers up next for the Bhoys, the £405k-rated youngster’s display against County will have done him no harm in his bid to secure a starting spot in the Old Firm clash, something that could well present Postecoglou will a major headache ahead of the Glasgow derby.

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Indeed, after this performance, the 56-year-old will struggle to justify leaving the player who John McGinley dubbed a “Harlem Globetrotter” out of his starting XI on April 3.

AND in other news: Forget Doak: Ange can unearth his next prodigy in Celtic gem who’s “ready for it”

According to a report from Italian outlet Calciomercato (via Liverpool Echo), Liverpool remain interested in signing Stade Rennais winger Jeremy Doku. 

The lowdown: Long-standing admirers

The 19-year-old has been perennially linked with a move to the Reds ever since coming through the academy ranks as a ‘prodigy’ at RSC Anderlecht.

Following the switch from the Belgian Pro League side to Ligue 1 outfit Stade Rennais in October 2020, Doku has continued to impress for club and country.

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Having starred at Euro 2020 for Belgium, the talented teenager is seemingly on the radar once again at Anfield after a decent season in France. Despite struggling with injuries, he has managed a goal and two assists in 12 top flight showings.

The latest: Reignited interest

According to the Italian source, Liverpool are ‘evaluating’ the 10-cap starlet ahead of the summer transfer window.

Whilst also citing previous interest from Merseyside, it’s stated that the Reds remain attentive despite the forward’s current deal not expiring until 2025.

Albeit there is no mention of a fee in the latest report, Rennes president Nicolas Holveck has previously claimed it would take bids of €100million (£83million) to even consider a sale.

The verdict: Exciting prospect

Recently, Paris Saint-Germain superstar Kylian Mbappe admitted in an interview with France Football (h/t GFFN) that he had ‘never seen someone from a standing start demonstrate so much power’ as Doku.

And if Doku’s quick burst past defenders sounds similar to a young Sadio Mane then that’s because it is, with Jurgen Klopp even reportedly once telling Doku’s father the young winger could succeed the Senegal superstar.

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Despite enduring an injury-hit season so far, the Belgian wonderkid has managed to dazzle when called upon, completing 2.8 successful dribbles per game (Sofascore).

As Liverpool manager Klopp continues to develop the next generation of the attacking ranks at Anfield, adding the skilful Belgian to the squad would be a superb acquisition, though perhaps not for the eye-watering mooted fee.

In other news, Liverpool have made ‘offer’ for EPL forward. Read more here.