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This article is part of Football FanCast’s Transfer Focus series, which provides opinion and analysis on recent transfer news…

According to Danish tabloid Ekstra Bladet, via Sport Witness, Wolves have been regularly scouting Lyngby BK centre-back Frederik Winther this season after making a fourth trip to watch him over the weekend.

What’s the word?

The reports suggest that the west Midlands side sent scouts to Denmark on Sunday as Lyngby BK were defeated 3-0 at home by Brondby IF in the Superliga.

The 18-year-old has started 13 matches this campaign for the first division playoff winners, but Ekstra Bladet (via Sport Witness) claim he is ‘far from fully developed’ with them also stating that the club’s sporting director Birger Jørgensen would find it hard to say no to any Premier League advances.

Birmingham Live understands that Wolves want to add a central defender in the January transfer window, so with them checking out the young Danish starlet on more than one occasion, he could well be high on Nuno Santo’s shortlist.

An unlikely future

All these reports surrounding Wolves and potential centre-backs can only mean one thing for Jesus Vallejo.

He is currently on loan at the west Midlands club, but having played just 522 minutes of football this season, his spell is unlikely to extend beyond its current terms.

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He has failed to live up to the hype that a Real Madrid and Euro U21 winning player should command, as seen with the Molineux faithful blasting his performances on multiple occasions this season.

The 22-year-old put in a dire display last time out against Southampton as he was partly at fault for their opening goal after his aimless clearance soon found its way back past Rui Patricio. As well as that, he made just one tackle and gave away a foul in the process too.

It’s clear his time in the Midlands hasn’t gone well but this could mean Wolves are planning for his exit, rather than thinking about possible plans to bring him in permanently.

With Nuno sending scouts to watch Winther, he is surely planning for when the Spaniard’s loan deal expires at the end of the season – that’s if he doesn’t want the emerging talent to make an immediate impact as early as January.

Who will be the hero of a potential return to the big time at Leeds?

It’s an open question, one that would provoke many a response. Marcelo Bielsa is the brains behind the team but Victor Orta was the man to thank for bringing the likes of Ben White and Eddie Nketiah to the club.

Andrea Radrizzani, however, has changed the landscape – certainly from an investment point of view.

While the Italian has made mistakes in the past, something he’s willingly admitted to, he could be on the verge of securing a colossal deal that puts Leeds back at the top table.

For better or for worse, it might change the face of the football club. If it doesn’t however, there would be no excuses left for a businessman who has come so far, yet still missed out on promotion.

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Leeds’ owner has been open in the past about possible investment at Elland Road but never has it felt so close and such a feasible option for Radrizzani.

The club is stuck at a crossroads now where investment this season would be massive, yet they also risk upsetting the upper powers who deal with profit and sustainability laws.

A few weeks ago he was his most transparent about new assets. In a lengthy interview with The Times, he claimed that Qatar Sports Investments could put them on a par with Manchester City.

Since he walked through the door at Thorp Arch, this was perhaps his biggest statement yet.

The 45-year-old has overseen a revival of sorts at Leeds. Before he appointed Bielsa, they were a team languishing in mid-table.

They now stand on the verge of the Premier League – they can nearly taste England’s top-flight again. Yet, at the same time, it has never felt so far away.

A third-placed finish and ultimate playoff failure last season has put the club under huge pressures, particularly with a wage bill now nearing £40m.

If they don’t achieve promotion in 2019/20, they will be staring at the need to cut that down significantly. Will Bielsa leave? It’s not beyond the realms of possibility given his track record.

After all, it was a surprise he even signed a new deal back in May.

But the sheer revenue QSI have earned from their relationship with European heavyweights PSG has been gigantic. It’s money that if replicated at Leeds would surely see them back among some of the elite clubs.

That is a distant dream but it’s certainly not impossible.

However big a stake Nasser al-Khelaifi does end up investing in Leeds, that’s if he even does, would leave Radrizzani and the club with huge demands.

The PSG owner is incredibly wealthy and if he does indeed plough money into Leeds this term, they’d be left with no excuses in terms of earning promotion now or further down the line.

It would lift the burden on the wage bill but it would also serve as a double-edged sword. Investment is a good thing but it might actually be the factor that sees Radrizzani leave Leeds altogether.

BBC journalist Adam Pope claimed in September that it wouldn’t be a surprise if he’d left in a year’s time. That tells you all you need to know.

Even if the Whites end up achieving promotion and backing from Qatar subsequently comes in over the summer instead, the pressure would be felt again.

The stresses of living up to what Radrizzani has documented about Man City would become a reality.

There is clearly a plan in place at Leeds. Angus Kinnear has a vision for a 50,000 capacity Elland Road if they go up and further investment would almost definitely benefit that.

It’s easy to forget just where added monetary muscle took Aston Villa. They were a club spiralling down until Wes Edens and Nassef Sawiris pumped their financial prowess into the Midlands.

They eventually went up and a similar scenario could play out further north in England.

However, there would be a larger weight of anticipation. Not only would Leeds be expected to merely stay up in the Premier League, but competing among some of the best in the division seems to be on the agenda too.

If they failed to achieve promotion and eventually compete with the top ten Premier League clubs following QSI’s backing, the investment would surely be regarded as a big failure.

This deal has the potential to be game-changing for Leeds, but it might also be the tectonic shift that sees Radrizzani lose his job.

He and Leeds need to tread very carefully and come to the best possible agreement for the club’s future.

QPR fans have taken to Twitter to react after the club’s official account tweeted what seems like a daunting fixture list for the R’s throughout November.Mark Warburton takes his side to Leeds to kick off the month, in what looks to be a tough game on paper at least – Marcelo Bielsa’s side are currently 3rd, just two points off the top of the table.

After the match in Yorkshire, the Londoners then take on Middlesbrough at the Kiyan Prince Foundation Stadium – this is probably the kindest fixture with Boro sat in the relegation zone.

After that, games against Fulham and Nottingham Forest arrive within the space of five days, where individuals such as 11-goal Aleksandar Mitrovic – the Championship’s top scorer – Tom Cairney, Lewis Grabban and Joe Lolley may well give Warburton something to think about.

QPR then end the month away to Derby, who also have players who can cause problems such as Tom Lawrence and Martyn Waghorn – it is a fairly daunting run of fixtures, and one that the R’s supporters on Twitter don’t seem too confident about – perhaps given the fact that they are the only Championship side yet to keep a clean sheet.

Let’s take a look at some of the tweets…

Having sold Romelu Lukaku to Inter in the summer, Manchester United have since come under heavy criticism for letting the Belgian go without signing a replacement.

The Red Devils have endured a difficult campaign in front of goal this year, netting just 13 times in their first 11 Premier League games. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the club have been linked with numerous strikers in response, like Mario Mandzukic and Callum Wilson to name just two.

Further fuel to the fire was added when Ole Gunnar Solskjaer himself admitted that it doesn’t take a “rocket scientist” to work out the club’s next priority is to add to their depth at centre-forward. And one man who has seen his name linked with a move to Old Trafford, is Lukaku’s teammate at Inter, Lautaro Martinez.

The Argentina international has been in excellent form this season, scoring eight goals in 15 games across all competitions. And against Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League on Tuesday night, the 22-year-old impressed again, scoring the opening goal of the contest.

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After seeing his display, United fans took to Twitter to share their thoughts about their rumoured transfer target.

Many Red Devils supporters insisted Martinez looked like an excellent player to potentially bring in, with a few even urging the club to sign the £36m-rated ace as soon as possible.

You do wonder if this is a case of ‘small club syndrome’.

Whereby he’s getting ignored just because he doesn’t play for one of the more fashionable or ‘big clubs’.

That’s the situation that Dean Henderson finds himself in having been left out of Gareth Southgate’s England squad.

He is joint top of the Premier League in terms of clean sheets, sharing that honour with Manchester City’s Ederson, and the Blades have one of the better defences in the league, having only conceded eight goals.

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It’s not like you can give the defenders like Jack O’Connell and Chris Basham the credit for all the results either, or they’d be included in the squad ahead of him.

But it’s Henderson that Sheffield United fans were most annoyed about being excluded as they took to social media to call out the England boss for leaving him out.

Perhaps he’s still being ‘punished’ for his error against Liverpool back in September, in which case he’s going to have to keep up the good work in order to make people forget about it.

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

West Bromwich Albion may be heading into the international break sitting top of the Championship table, but recent developments suggest they have actually been overachieving.

Last time out, Slaven Bilic’s resilient side clinched a 1-0 victory at Hull City to open up a two-point gap to those tied in second and third position, namely Preston North End and Leeds United.

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The Baggies have lost just the one match so far this campaign, to the last team mentioned above, but there have been many occasions where they’ve needed some sort of comeback to salvage points.

And the latest Championship xG (expected goals) table from Experimental361 tells a similar story.

On the Chalkboard

After game week 16, West Brom should be sitting sixth in the division, some 18 points behind Marcelo Bielsa’s Leeds, who should be running away with it by now.

In short, Albion should have won and drawn two fewer matches apiece, meaning they would have picked up four more defeats.

West Brom also should have conceded three more goals on top of the 17 they have let in so far this campaign – it did take Bilic’s men until the ninth week to keep a clean sheet, and since then, they’ve only added three more.

The side should have also scored nearly three fewer goals than the 29 they have netted, which undoubtedly contributes to why they are so low in the xG standings.

That is even despite the likes of Grady Diangana, Matty Phillips, and Matheus Pereira, contributing to 24 goals between them alone, per WhoScored.

Their result over Hull at the weekend further emphasises their poor figures.

Based on the graph above from Experimental361, the Baggies should have lost that game as the home side had done enough to warrant at least one goal, whereas the west Midlanders could only muster up half their xG total.

And that’s where their problem has been all season.

Charlie Austin has fired a dud so far with just one goal in 11 appearances while Kenneth Zohore only has two penalties to his name, and Hal Robson-Kanu failed to even register an attempt at goal on Saturday despite being rewarded with a start after three substitute goals in four games, via WhoScored.

Either way, based on xG alone, West Brom should be lower in the table, which must be a significant cause for concern for Bilic over the next two weeks.

But at the end of the day, they beat Hull and they do indeed sit top of the league. Make of that what you will.

This article is part of Football FanCast’s Opinion series, which provides analysis, insight and opinion on any issue within the beautiful game, from Paul Pogba’s haircuts to League Two relegation battles…

By this point, another transfer rumour linking Real Madrid with Manchester United’s superstar, Paul Pogba, is no longer a big surprise.

Indeed throughout the summer we kept hearing how Zinedine Zidane only had one man on his mind and that’s the aforementioned 27-year-old French midfielder.

“Zidane only wants Pogba”, Marca proclaimed, and back then, Real Madrid reportedly could’ve sealed the deals for either Donny van de Beek or Christian Eriksen but ended up with neither since they were hell-bent on chasing Pogba instead.

And now, El Desmarque have come out with a new update, claiming Los Blancos will go back for the midfielder and are ready to put Isco + additional €80m (£68.5m) to land the midfielder this time.

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At this point in time, this transfer seems like one of those bound to happen sooner or later and usually, if Real Madrid want someone, they get him, no matter what it takes.

And signing Pogba doesn’t necessarily seem like a good idea, especially since they have players like Toni Kroos and Federico Valverde, both of whom have enough quality to keep the Galacticos dominating the middle of the park for years to come.

But let’s entertain the thought of the Frenchman actually ending up at the Santiago Bernabeu, which looks rather likely, especially since El Desmarque also state the player’s status and form at Manchester United have recently dipped and that could play right into Real Madrid’s hands.

If and when this transfer does end up going through, it would also mean Florentino Perez and co. would rather invest huge sums of money into it than counting on their youth and existing players.

Needless to say, with such a big portion of their budget, time, effort and trust going into a single target that they don’t necessarily need, it would leave them with absolutely no margin for error.

Pogba’s transfer needs to work because it very much feels like Zidane and Perez are on a wild-goose chase when even the fans are calling for it to stop.

The consequences of that decision backfiring would be huge; Zidane and Perez would end up red-faced, the ability to evaluate top talent would come under scrutiny and the club would end up with a high-earner on their wage bill who doesn’t provide value for money. After all, Eriksen or van de Beek could have been signed instead – and probably for a lot cheaper.

But at the same time, we also shouldn’t disregard the other side of the coin. Pogba reinvigorating his career at the Spanish capital would be immense for both parties.

Unfortunately, Real won’t know which side that coin lands on until Pogba is their player.

Think you know everything about Bobby Moore?

Perhaps you see yourself as something of an English football historian or maybe you’re a die-hard West Ham United fan eager to prove your expertise on the most iconic Hammer of all time?

Regardless, take our ultimate 25-question Bobby Moore quiz and discover your level of knowledge on the seminal number six!

Born as WWII raged on in 1941, Moore progressed through the ranks at West Ham, the club he would skipper to both domestic and European success later on.

Simultaneously, it became apparent early in his playing days that the East Londoner was of international standard, leading to his England debut in 1962 and him being given the captaincy just two years later.

In 1966, Moore would enjoy his defining moment, captaining the Three Lions to their only major tournament glory in front of home fans at the World Cup.

This is not only an essential quiz for fans of West Ham and English football, however, it’s for anyone who’s ever shown an interest in “the beautiful game.”

Moore continues to be one of the most celebrated and important figures in football history all over the world.

He led the nation that invented football to their only world title to date, played and managed in America and Asia, left an incredible legacy in his wake and above all, was a true gentleman and a credit to the sport on and off the field.

Halt the press, Jesse Lingard just scored.

A day that some may have felt would never come again, but the ever-young Manchester United midfielder broke his long-standing goal-scoring duck against FC Astana in the Europa League on Thursday night.

Not exactly against Barcelona in the Champions League, but Lingard definitely won’t care. The England international has had a rough time of it over the past few months, going 28 games without a goal, and was in dire need of some good fortune.

Given the honour of captaining the Red Devils for the first time in his career, the 26-year-old capped off the occasion with a strike from outside the area after less than ten minutes of the game.

And after seeing him net for the first time since he did so in the FA Cup against Arsenal way back in January of this year, United fans flooded to Twitter to rejoice.

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Many supporters of the Manchester side simply lost their minds at seeing the midfielder break the curse, with some jokingly saying “Messi Lingard” has now returned.

Check out some of the reaction of United fans below:

Meanwhile, Manchester United fans hammer Tahith Chong after his horror showing against FC Astana.

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…

Jack Harrison has really come into his own in recent weeks.

The winger has scored three and assisted four in his previous eight games for Leeds United, and he’s quickly becoming one of the Whites’ most important players.

Of course, many Leeds supporters will now have more of a keen interest in his future. One fan, in particular, was desperate for an update, so he asked Phil Hay during his Q&A session on Tuesday night about Harrison’s future.

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What’s been said then?

The Scottish journalist was hosting a Q&A session with The Athletic after United’s 1-0 win over Reading, and one supporter posed what could happen to the Manchester City loanee next season.

“Not sure of the exact price but Leeds have the option to sign him permanently. Bielsa is a big fan of his so I’d imagine that he’d look for the club to exercise it if they go up.” Hay responded.

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Good, but worrying

This update will be music to the ears of some as Hay has confirmed that there is a chance that the Yorkshire outfit will sign Harrison at the end of the season, suggesting that the manager will eventually work towards that eventuality.

However, it’s rather ominous as the reporter also hints that the permanent signing of the Man City man hinges on Leeds’ promotion.

The 22-year-old has looked like a Premier League quality player in recent weeks with his goals and assists, so you can understand why Leeds need to go up in order to land him. However, the prospect of being without Harrison next season is a rather daunting one after his incredible performances lately.

The winger’s numbers have improved greatly recently and he’s registering 1.7 shots per game as well as amassing 1.6 key passes. That goes to show the huge influence Harrison’s having in the final third and why Leeds must hold onto him in 2020/21.

In other news, one Leeds star has been praising Marcelo Bielsa’s “carnage” training strategy.