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This article is part of Football FanCast’s Pundit View series, which provides opinion and analysis on recent quotes from journalists, pundits, players and managers…

Sky Sports journalist Michael Bridge has said on Twitter that he expects Crystal Palace to spend money this summer with a prolific striker a priority, but some fans may be left with mixed emotions after Leeds United’s Kemar Roofe was named as a potential target.

What’s the word, then?

Well, with Christian Benteke and Connor Wickham scoring one goal in all competitions between them last season, Michy Batshuayi returning to Chelsea following the end of his loan spell and Alexander Sorloth – who has come under recent heavy criticism from Eagles supporters – still yet to get off of the mark for the club in the Premier League, it appears clear that a new centre-forward is needed.

The south London outfit are yet to spend any money at all in the transfer window with goalkeeper Stephen Henderson the only arrival on a free, which prompted one individual to ask Bridge on Twitter whether Palace were planning to splash the cash or not.

He responded by saying a ‘prolific striker is a priority’, and confirmed Roofe is a target although there are ‘many more on the list’.

Mixed emotions for Palace fans

There is no doubt that the first part of Bridge’s update will be music to the ears of many of the Selhurst Park faithful, who have been calling for the signing of a striker – who’s presumably proven given their current players’ recent form – for a while now.

However, there would be some big question marks as to whether Roofe would be the answer to their issues.

The 26-year-old’s best goalscoring season to date came during the 2015/16 campaign when he netted 25 in all competitions for League Two outfit for Oxford United, with him hitting 29 in 110 Championship appearances for Leeds since making the move to Elland Road.

Considering that is a level below the Premier League, it could be difficult for him to even replicate those numbers in the top flight.

In the video below, find out which Chelsea academy prospect is reportedly being lined up to replace Aaron Wan-Bissaka at Crystal Palace…

It won’t be easy for a club like Crystal Palace to buy a striker who can guarantee them 15-20 league goals next term, but bringing in one who has never before played in the top tier of English football would surely be a big risk, and some fans clearly already feel like that would be the case.

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Champions League contenders Lille are set to bid £5m for Celtic central defender Jozo Simunovic, according to The Scottish Sun.

What’s the story?

The French club have already made early contact with Celtic over the 24-year-old defender, per The Scottish Sun. It’s believed that Neil Lennon wants to keep the Croat as he’s become a key player since the Northern Irishman has returned to Parkhead, racking up 30 appearances by the end of the season.

With Kristoffer Ajer continuing to develop and impress as well as the signing of Christopher Jullien, Simunovic faces strong competition this coming season. Lennon also looks like adding another man capable of featuring in central defence, with Hatem Abd Elhamed close to joining the club, per The Scottish Sun.

Simunovic has looked comfortable in the two Champions League qualifiers so far this term, so what should the future hold for the 24 year-old?

Former Wigan & Fulham man, Jimmy Bullard recently showed that he’s still got it! Check out the video below…

Big season for Simunovic

Signing from Dinamo Zagreb for £4m in 2015, the defender has been a regular at Celtic throughout the reigns of Ronny Delia, Brendan Rodgers and Lennon. Yet he’s never quite reached the consistent levels required to earn a big-money move away from Parkhead.

The likes of Moussa Dembele, Stuart Armstrong and potentially Kieran Tierney have all played at such a high-level for Celtic that the club couldn’t take them any further and they moved on.

Simunovic however hasn’t done that yet, and while a move to a side that finished second only behind European giants PSG last season may seem enticing for the feisty centre-back, has he really reached that level?

Watch Celtic Live Streams With StreamFootball.tv Below

The 6 foot 3 stopper could do with a proper breakout year in which he forces big clubs to really take notice of him, and is perfectly placed for this to become that very season, so long as he can either keep one of Ajer or Jullien out of the team or thrive alongside the pair in a back-three.

Most fans will tend to understand when a player proves their worth and earns a big-money move to Europe or the Premier League, so long as they have given their all while at Parkhead and brought the club some silverware.

Quite simply though, Simunovic hasn’t earned it yet.

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According to The Yorkshire Evening Post, Leeds United have agreed to sell goalkeeper Bailey Peacock-Farrell to Burnley ahead of the 2019-20 campaign.

The report claims that the Clarets will pay £3.5m for the 22-year-old, who is behind Kiko Casilla when it comes to the pecking order at Elland Road.

Peacock-Farrell was due to see his contract with the Whites expire next summer and he is now set for a move to the Premier League.

It has been a frustrating transfer window for the Leeds fans, but not too many are bothered to see the back of Peacock-Farrell.

The stopper actually kept 10 clean sheets in 28 Championship appearances for Marcelo Bielsa’s side during the 2018-19 campaign.

Watch Leeds United Live Streams With StreamFootball.tv Below

However, the news that the Northern Ireland international is on the verge of leaving Elland Road has been welcomed by many of the Leeds supporters on social media.

A selection of the Twitter reaction can be seen below:

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Lots of Liverpool fans have taken to Twitter to react after it was revealed on the club’s official website that Ovie Ejaria had joined Reading on a season-long loan deal.

The move will be made permanent next summer for a set sum of £3m which could potentially rise to £3.5m, as reported by The Athletic’s James Pearce.

Ejaria returns to the Madejski Stadium having made 16 appearances for the Royals in the second half of last season, after a loan spell at Rangers under Steven Gerrard was terminated following the first half of the campaign.

The 21-year-old was given his debut by Jürgen Klopp in a League Cup tie against Derby County in September 2016, and went on to make two Premier League appearances for the Reds before heading to Ibrox.

Let’s take a look at how the Liverpool fans on Twitter reacted to the news of the youngster’s departure…

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In many ways, Manchester United simply couldn’t have wished for a better start to the new 2019/20 Premier League season.

Not only have they claimed all three points against a really tricky opponent in Chelsea, but they also did it in incredible fashion in front of their fans at Old Trafford.

The Red Devils slotted four goals past Frank Lampard’s team and really ran away with the game.

Watch Manchester United Live Streams With StreamFootball.tv Below

It was quite a special moment for three of their newcomers. Aaron Wan-Bissaka, Harry Maguire and Daniel James all got their Premier League debuts with their new team after arriving at the club just this summer.

But James also managed to bag a goal in the process, helping his team clinch all three points on the day.

Naturally, he quickly took to

/B1CVQXmnpRW/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link” data-lasso->Instagram to celebrate and was swarmed by praise and great messages.

James captioned it as “no better feeling” and that’s probably the best description for what happened on the day.

His teammates were all over his social media account, flooding to the comment section with all sorts of praise.

It seems that the young newcomer is already becoming quite a popular figure at Manchester United, and it’s probably something Ole Gunnar Solskjaer will be very happy to see.

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This article is part of Football FanCast’s The Chalkboard series, which provides a tactical insight into teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…

Southampton weren’t one of the busiest clubs in England this summer having moved to secure the signatures of just three new arrivals, although the most recent of those captures may have a big part to play against Liverpool this weekend.

Who are we talking about?

Kevin Danso. The Saints managed to bring the centre-back in on deadline day having previously signed Che Adams and Moussa Djenepo, with the 20-year-old being the latest new arrival to the Premier League having signed a whopping 17 hours after the deadline had passed.

The man on loan from Augsburg has already achieved a lot in his short career. Danso was named as the 2017 ‘Rookie of the Year’ in the Bundesliga, whilst he has already amassed six caps for the Austria national team.

He was originally a striker in Reading’s youth ranks, as well as a midfielder in MK Dons’ academy where he played alongside Dele Alli.

Why must Danso be handed his debut?

The 6 foot 3 defender possesses raw pace. Frightening pace even for a man of his size.

Last season in the Bundesliga, Danso hit a top speed of 21 miles per hour and it is this particular component of his game that will be crucial against Liverpool.

The Reds will presumably have Mohamed Salah and former Saint Sadio Mane in their starting lineup, two players who are absolutely rapid and often cause chaos with their runs in behind.

We saw in the embarrassing opening day defeat to Burnley that even Ashley Barnes can run onto a long ball over the top and cause issues for Jannik Vestergaard, so imagine how the Dane will fare against Salah and Mane.

The tactics in football nowadays can make it a complicated game, to say the least. However, it can sometimes be boiled down to sheer athleticism and being able to compete physically with your opponents.

If Jóhann Berg Guðmundsson and Barnes can run riot and stick three goals past a backline of the fairly slow Vestergaard and Jan Bednarek, Danso’s raw pace must be utilised against Jurgen Klopp’s men.

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Pre-season looked extremely shaky for Real Madrid, to say the least. But the Galacticos rose to the occasion on their opening day of La Liga and made a statement. So here are three things we learned from that clash.

Down but not out

Real Madrid may be down based on their pre-season form but they are certainly not out. Zidane hasn’t miraculously solved all of their issues in one game, of course, but there is life in this squad and when everything is said and done, they are still a formidable side in Spain.

And now that their biggest rivals, Barcelona, have stumbled on their first steps, leaving the top of the table for Real instead, maybe we’re still in for a thrilling title race. But nonetheless, the challenge has only begun and while the first step is often a very important one, Zidane still has a long way ahead of him.

Check out an epic rant about Real Madrid fans that we can all relate to below…

Bale might have a role to play

Even though earlier this summer we were definitely under the impression that Gareth Bale is going through the exit door sooner rather than later, it appears that may well not be the case. Bale started the game against Celta Vigo on the weekend and helped his team cruise to a 3-1 victory with an important assist to his name.

Zidane also spoke highly of his player, saying he’s an important piece of the team and practically confirming he’s staying at the capital. It seems that either the two have solved their differences or the Frenchman has simply realised he’s going to need all hands on deck if he’s going to pull another trick out of his sleeve and lead Real Madrid to glory once again. Bale just might be a part of that trick after all.

If it ain’t broke

Real Madrid played well in Vigo at the weekend but one thing that may have caught the attention of the more observant ones is the lineup itself. Zidane, maybe a bit unsurprisingly, decided to put his faith into the old guard and reverted back to the tactics that brought him three Champions League titles in a row.

Nine out of 11 players fielded on the opening day were all amongst Real Madrid’s regulars last season. The only exceptions were Vinicius Junior and Alvaro Odriozola. Of course, that is also (mostly) the same squad Zidane used back when he was in charge. He had Cristiano Ronaldo in the team back then but the core of the squad remained unchanged and it brought a good result back home.

It still remains to be seen if Zidane is going to stay faithful to that lineup or if changes are on the horizon for the Galacticos despite a good start to the campaign.

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Rangers came up trumps against a difficult opponent on Thursday to gain entry into the Europa League group stages, and the performance of Nikola Katic has fans running out of superlatives for the towering Croatian.

The Gers faced a huge task after failing to find an away goal in the first leg in Poland, but earned a 1-0 win thanks to Alfredo Morelos’ late glancing header.

Of course, the Colombian’s big moment will steal all the newspaper headlines, but Katic is the man fans are all talking about.

The 22 year-old started last season impressively, but was left out of the side for a long period of time, with Steven Gerrard clearly thinking the break would do him good.

And it’s done exactly that, as he’s started this campaign in fine form, capping it off with an utterly dominant performance on Thursday night.

He received an 8.5 out of 10 in Football Scotland’s player ratings, with the outlet making reference to one particularly crucial intervention he made that lifted Ibrox to its feet.

Have a look at the best Twitter reactions down below, where fans are blown away by the 6 foot 4 ace…

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[ad_pod ]Roy Keane is at it again.We’re not entirely sure why the former Republic of Ireland international seems to hate everything with a pulse but he does. Put a foot wrong around the man and he’ll never let it go; have the last name ‘Ferguson’, and he’ll chase you down for the rest of your life.Watch Manchester United Live Streams With StreamFootball.tv Below

Indeed, for all the Keane fans out there, it’s your lucky day – he’s let loose again, on another matter of fact tirade about his former gaffer Sir Alex Ferguson (while we don’t agree with the disrespect he shows, he certainly makes some valid points).

Ah, Keane, you’re beginning to remind us of the angry old man who used to stick a nail in our football when it went over his fence.

Ferguson is football’s equivalent of a listed building. So, naturally, people have jumped to his defence – including talkSPORT hosts Darren Gough and Andy Goldstein…

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A number of Liverpool fans have called for their club to swoop for Sporting Lisbon attacker Bruno Fernandes during the January transfer window.

Fernandes was linked with a move to both Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur before the English window closed towards the start of last month.

Real Madrid were then credited with an interest in the Portugal international.

However, Monday night’s European transfer deadline passed with Fernandes still at Sporting.

There is bound to be more speculation surrounding the 24-year-old in the build-up to the winter window as he continues to put impressive numbers on the board.

Indeed, Fernandes has already managed two goals and four assists in five appearances for his Portuguese club during the early stages of the 2019-20 campaign.

And after being asked who the club should look to move for during the next transfer window on Twitter, Fernandes was an incredibly popular answer amongst Liverpool supporters.

Take a look at what they’ve been saying below…

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