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Aston Villa journalist Luke Hatfield has told Football FanCast that he would not be surprised to see the Midlands club offer Jack Grealish a new £200,000-a-week contract.

Grealish continues to be heavily linked with a move to Manchester City as Pep Guardiola looks to give his attack a revamp.

However, according to The Sun, Villa are ready to hand their captain an incredible £200,000-a-week deal in a bid to fend off City’s advances.

And if such an offer is eventually made, it would come as no shock to Hatfield, who covers the Villans for the Express & Star.

“It wouldn’t surprise me. I mean, Grealish is already the highest-paid player at Villa,” Hatfield said when asked if he could see the Premier League outfit offering their star man the amount of money that has been mentioned.

“With this interest from Manchester City obviously not going away, they’ll want to do their best to keep hold of him and the easiest way to do that is to tie him down to a new deal.”

Grealish, who provided more Premier League assists than any other Villa player last season, is the Villans’ most prized asset. It is a lot of money, but ultimately it looks worth it. If the club can afford it, then why not?

Reliable Leeds United reporter Phil Hay thinks Luke Ayling, Patrick Bamford and Junior Firpo all have a chance of featuring against Norwich City this weekend.

The Lowdown: Injured trio

Marcelo Bielsa has been without a number of key players this season, with the Whites flirting above the relegation zone as a result.

Bamford and Ayling have missed Leeds’ last six in all competitions with ankle and knee issues respectively, whereas Firpo hasn’t been seen for the last three.

However, ahead of the trip to Carrow Road on Sunday, Hay believes all three could feature in some capacity following Bielsa’s comments last week.

The Latest: Hay’s tweet

Hay replied to a Whites fan on Twitter on Wednesday morning who asked about Bamford’s situation.

The Athletic reporter claimed that after Bielsa admitted Ayling and Bamford would be missing for Wolves and Arsenal, the media took that as ‘they had a chance of Norwich’ – a big six-word update.

The same goes for Firpo, as Hay mentioned.

“Bielsa said last week that Bamford and Ayling would miss Wolves/Arsenal. We took that to mean that they had a chance of Norwich. Same with Firpo.”

Hay’s tweet was liked just 60 times as of Thursday lunchtime – 0.028% of his 211,000 followers, so it seems to have gone under the radar due to it being a reply in a thread rather than a regular post.

The Verdict: Fingers crossed

Bielsa already has a relatively small Leeds squad when everyone is available, so being without three players for a period of time, especially the likes of Bamford, Ayling and Firpo, was always going to make life difficult.

Hopefully, Hay’s interpretation regarding the trio will prove accurate, and that they can all feature in some capacity on Sunday.

Even if it is a place on the bench, it may give Leeds a boost they need in their attempts to gain a second league win.

In other news: Pundit spots Bielsa fury at something 18-cap Leeds man did. 

Aston Villa were involved in one of the biggest transfer deals the Premier League has ever seen last summer when they sold Jack Grealish to Manchester City for a fee of £100m.

Now that the next summer window is on the horizon, it seems as though the Villans and Steven Gerrard could be set to cash in on another player that has been a part of the club for a fairly significant period of time.

What’s the news?

According to Football Insider’s sources, Norwich City are eyeing up a summer transfer move for striker Keinan Davis.

The report also claims that Gerrard is expected to give the green light to allow the striker to leave Villa Park this summer, with a reported transfer fee of £4m being touted for Davis’ signature.

Great news for Gerrard

Having joined Villa’s U18 side back in 2015, the centre-forward has gone on to make 122 appearances for their U23 and senior teams combined.

In those appearances, the striker found the back of the net 16 times and delivered 16 assists along the way.

Back in the previous January transfer window, the Englishman joined Championship club, Nottingham Forest, on loan until the end of the season.

Since joining the Reds, the 24-year-old has scored five goals and provided three assists in 19 appearances across the Championship and FA Cup.

To highlight how impressive the Villa man has been on loan, he is currently listed as Forest’s highest-rated player by WhoScored with a rating of 7.27.

He is also listed in the top five out of Forest’s players for the average of shots, key passes and dribbles per game he’s made in the second division.

Unfortunately, the attacker will have to spend the rest of the season on the sidelines after picking up a campaign-ending injury.

Having been described as being “a very difficult player to play against” by Lee Bowyer, Davis has shown that he has what it takes to play in the Championship and be an effective striker.

However, with only one goal in 34 Premier League appearances to his name for Villa, it’s safe to say that he hasn’t been able to cut it at that level.

With Norwich now looking likely to get relegated, it’s easy to see why they would want a player like the Villa loanee, who Dean Smith knows about, in their ranks for next season.

If Villa pick up a suitable transfer fee for the striker that they can then put towards adding some top-quality players to their squad, this would surely be great news for Gerrard.

In other news: Lange must seal £10m AVFC deal for “unplayable” £45k-p/w talent, Gerrard will love him

Everton are in an extremely vulnerable position right now in the Premier League as they battle relegation this season, but if Frank Lampard can keep them up there is the potential to add quality to improve the squad this summer by replacing some faces who haven’t been performing.

One of the biggest problems the Toffees have faced is a lack of goals, with the side conceding 20 more than they’ve scored, with only 32 goals so far, and if they were to stay up in the Premier League this is an area that will need desperately addressing.

Furthermore, both Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Richarlison have been touted with moves away from the club, with Calvert-Lewin strongly linked to joining Arsenal this summer and his Brazilian strike partner linked to a move to Manchester United.

Although losing both players would be disappointing for fans, it may actually be a blessing in disguise now that an approach has reportedly been made by Everton for Barcelona forward Memphis Depay.

Depay has scored ten times in 30 appearances at the club, but since his Achilles tendon injury has struggled to get game time for the La Liga giants featuring for less than 20 minutes per game over his last five appearances.

The 28-year-old who was hailed “one of the best” by Riqui Puig, had a much more prolific output at his former club Lyon, where he netted 76 times and contributed 55 assists in 178 appearances, with a goal involvement every 1.3 games, which is an attacking threat Everton desperately need to add to their team.

The report from the Spanish news outlet claims that the centre-forward’s future at Barcelona is looking doubtful and the club could put him onto the transfer market this summer, giving Everton the opportunity to swoop in and potentially cash in on their current attackers that are not delivering the output needed to maintain safety in the top-flight.

With that being said, Lampard has a huge task ahead of him to secure Premier League football next term and to even approach a player of Depay’s calibre at this point would seem a pointless venture with their chances of relegation growing. However, if he can keep the side up it is a potential transfer that the club should seriously consider.

In other news: Alan Myers drops four word Everton update that’ll leave supporters relieved

Reliable Aston Villa reporter Ashley Preece is expecting Dean Smith to unleash Emiliano Buendia against Wolves this weekend.

The Lowdown: Buendia’s struggles

Buendia, who joined from Norwich City in a club-record deal over the summer, hasn’t started a Premier League game since the end of August.

He’s made six appearances in all competitions under Smith, scoring his first goal against Brentford but has had to make do with substitute cameos against Manchester United and Tottenham prior to the international break.

However, with Jacob Ramsey recently playing 90 minutes for England Under-21’s in the week, Preece feels it could be time for Buendia to return from the off.

The Latest: Preece’s predicted XI

Preece shared his predicted XI on Birmingham Live for the Villa Park meeting against Wolves.

When it came to naming three central midfielders in a 3-5-2 system, Preece went with Marvelous Nakamba, John McGinn and Buendia, with the latter picked ahead of Ramsey due to his international run out.

He went on to admit it would be a bold move knowing Buendia has struggled centrally in a Villa shirt.

The Verdict: Correct

Gregg Evans also picked out Buendia as a player who should be getting more minutes, and this weekend feels like the perfect chance to give him another go.

The former Canaries playmaker, who Daniel Farke called ‘fantastic’, wasn’t selected for Argentina duty this time around, so he should be chomping at the bit and ready to go.

Smith has had success in September with a 3-5-2 system, so Buendia needs to fit that mould, as it doesn’t look like that will be changing anytime soon.

In other news: Ashley Preece shares big under-the-radar Villa update on Leon Bailey.

Liverpool are still reportedly interested in signing Sampdoria and Denmark midfielder Mikkel Damsgaard before the transfer window closes.

The Lowdown: Damsgaard linked with Liverpool move

The 21-year-old made a name for himself at Euro 2020, helping Denmark reach the semi-finals without key man Christian Eriksen, scoring twice and assisting once in the tournament.

Damsgaard has been linked with a move to Liverpool this summer, as he potentially looks for a bigger challenge away from Sampdoria.

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The Latest: Another update emerges

It appears as though the Reds’ interest in the attacking midfielder hasn’t gone away, with La Repubblica [via Sport Witness] reporting that they are ‘eligible candidates’ to sign him, along with Leeds United.

Damsgaard’s current Sampdoria deal doesn’t expire until 2024, however, so a sizeable bid may be needed to prise him away.

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The Verdict: Much-needed addition?

Saturday’s 1-1 draw with Chelsea was further proof that Liverpool lack attacking options from the substitutes’ bench, with Jurgen Klopp’s men running out of steam against ten men – the manager opted to bring on left-back Kostas Tsimikas when chasing a goal.

Damsgaard could be a player who comes in and provides that, producing guile in attacking areas and possessing the versatility to thrive centrally and out wide.

Admittedly, he remains relatively unproven, despite his performances at the Euros, but he could thrive working under Klopp and may be seen as a long-term investment.

In other news, some Liverpool fans are not happy at a new transfer story that has emerged. Read more here.

With Everton going through October and November without a win in the Premier League, Toffees boss Rafa Benitez has a tough test ahead of him to get December off to a good start with Liverpool making the short trip to Goodison Park on Wednesday evening.

On the chalkboard

In terms of which player Benitez could select to start in his first Merseyside Derby as Everton boss after losing 1-0 away at Brentford last weekend, one individual that featured against Thomas Frank’s side that should not be in the starting XI to face Liverpool is Andros Townsend.

In the 70 minutes he was on the pitch against Brentford before being replaced by Demarai Gray, as well as giving the penalty away that Ivan Toney scored to secure the three points for the home side, Townsend failed to display much of an attacking impact for the Toffees.

He took no shots at goal, didn’t complete any dribbles and misplaced six crosses and two long balls.

The Liverpool Echo picked up on this side of his game on this occasion by saying that “his attacking output was generally below-par.”

Things weren’t great for the experienced £48k-per-week winger off the ball either with Townsend losing six of the nine duels he was involved in and getting dribbled past on two occasions.

This latest Everton performance earned Townsend an underwhelming overall match rating of 6.4/10 according to SofaScore, making him one of the lowest-rated players on the day for Benitez’s struggling side.

That was even lower than fellow Toffees attacker Alex Iwobi who proved to be one of the only Everton players to deliver a decent performance against Brentford, as the much-maligned forward registered two shots and two dribbles in the final third.

The fact Townsend has not managed to score a goal or provide an assist for Everton since he found the net against Manchester United at Old Trafford back in early October suggests he’s holding the team back somewhat.

With the arrival of Liverpool on Wednesday in mind, Everton won’t be able to have any passengers in this game when you consider the Reds have managed to score a total of 39 league strikes so far this season and have won their three previous league games across all competitions.

That’s a run that’s seen them net ten goals, keeping three clean sheets in the process, which could put Townsend’s place in the team in danger on this occasion.

Either way, whether Benitez picks Townsend to start against Liverpool or not, the Toffees need to turn their poor results around as soon as possible and a win against their bitter rivals could be exactly what they need to push on and get the season back on track.

In other news: Brands could solve Rafa’s big Everton issue by signing “intelligent” £19.8m-rated ace – opinion

Arsenal midfielder Thomas Partey is an injury doubt for his side’s Premier League clash with Liverpool at Anfield.

The Lowdown: Crucial Premier League clash

The Reds return to action on Saturday evening, taking on an Arsenal side who are now fifth in the table and just two points behind Jurgen Klopp’s men.

A big response is needed from Liverpool after the defeat to West Ham and the home draw with Brighton, with more dropped points feeling costly in the title race.

They could face a tough examination from Arsenal, though, who have won their last three league outings and seem to finally be gaining some momentum with their young squad.

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The Latest: Partey could miss out

One player who could be absent for the Gunners is Partey, with Arteta confirming as much in his pre-Liverpool press conference on Friday [via Football Daily on Twitter].

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The Verdict: Good news for Reds

Partey has been a key figure at the heart of Arsenal’s midfield of late, averaging two tackles per game in the league this season, so him being out would be a boost for Liverpool.

Not only that, but the 28-year-old was a dominant force for Atletico Madrid in the Champions League at Anfield in March 2020, receiving a match-high 7.55 rating from WhoScored as Diego Simeone’s side progressed to the quarter-finals.

Arsenal’s midfield would suddenly look more open without Partey in it, especially with Granit Xhaka still injured, so him being fit or not could be key to the eventual outcome.

Paul Scholes has hailed the Ghanaian as ‘brilliant’, which is high praise, and Liverpool could find it easier to create chances without him around to break up their attacks on Saturday.

In other news, some Liverpool fans have reacted to a Reds injury update. Read more here.

Aston Villa have seemingly joined Leeds United in the race to sign Marseille midfielder Boubacar Kamara, according to Fabrizio Romano.

The Lowdown: Kamara profiled

Kamara is 22 years of age and is primarily a defensive midfielder who can also line out at centre-back. A France under-21 international, he has already made 145 appearances for his current employers and has even captained the club this season.

His contract is set to expire at the end of the campaign, though, and it seems as if Steven Gerrard could make a move, with Villa looking for midfield reinforcements following Marvelous Nakamba’s injury.

The Latest: Romano’s update

Romano took to Twitter on Saturday afternoon, confirming Villa’s links to Juventus midfielder Rodrigo Bentancur.

However, he shared comments from Bianconeri manager Massimiliano Allegri, who claimed that the Italian giants won’t sanction any move for the Uruguayan this month.

Romano then added that Kamara is also on Johan Lange’s list when it comes to a new midfielder, tweeting: “Aston Villa are interested in Rodrigo Bentancur, confirmed as Tom Collomosse reported today. Juventus have not received any official bid yet – while Allegri today said they ‘won’t do any move in January’. Been told there’s also Boubacar Kamara in Aston Villa list.”

The Verdict: Shrewd move?

Kamara is valued at £22.5m, but due to his contract situation, you’d expect that Villa could land the versatile midfielder for a lot less than that in the final days of the January transfer window.

Should a move for Bentancur fail to materialise, Kamara could be an excellent alternative as he already has plenty of experience under his belt and is still in the early stages of his career. Also, he could improve Villa’s ball distribution, with his 90.7% passing success rate this season better than anyone to have started under Gerrard in the Premier League.

It seems as if the Uruguayan is Villa’s top midfield target, though, so it’ll be interesting to see what happens over the next eight days.

In other news: ‘Crazy to sell’ – Lots of Villa fans flock to update as Newcastle swoop for Gerrard regular

Celtic are reportedly closing in on the signing of an out-of-contract attacker… 

What’s the talk?

According to Football Insider, Celtic are discussing personal terms with out-of-contract forward Kyle Edwards as they attempt to bolster their attacking options this summer.

The report claims that the Hoops are poised to make him a contract offer following his release from West Brom, whilst they will still need to pay a compensation fee to the Baggies for their part in developing him.

Fans will be buzzing

Celtic fans will be buzzing by this news as this appears to be a deal that is not a million miles away from getting over the line. He would arrive as a player with a decent amount of pedigree with Premier League and Championship experience under his belt in England, helping the Baggies secure promotion from the second tier and then playing a bit-part role as they were relegated the following campaign.

Edwards is an exciting young winger who could get supporters off their seats during games. WhoScored lists his biggest strength as dribbling, with a career average of 1.4 dribbles completed per game – although that is skewed by the fact the majority of his appearances have been as a substitute.

This shows that his style of play could lend itself to being loved by supporters, as long as he is able to pull it off effectively and add quality end product to score and create goals for the club.

One of his West Brom teammates, Romaine Sawyers, said last year that Edwards is an “unbelievable” talent and said that his old academy manager, Mark Harrison, compared him to Barcelona superstar Lionel Messi.

He told The Athletic: “I remember Kyle when he was proper, proper small — he was an unbelievable player even then.

“Mark Harrison, our old academy manager, told my age group, ‘We’ve got this kid who is 10 years old and this is Messi'”. 

The 23-year-old gem also has plenty of room for development. He will not be arriving at Parkhead as the finished article and this means that he could be a project for Ange Postecoglou to work on in the short and long term for Celtic.

Therefore, he could be a smart addition next season – given his experience in the Premier League and his dazzling dribbling skills.

AND in other news, Ange must avoid Celtic blunder with “inspirational” £15m beast, fans would be livid…