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Manuel Lanzini is currently one of West Ham’s longest-serving players and at just 28 years of age, he should be in the peak of his career.

But things haven’t gone completely to plan for the Argentine attacking midfielder as he struggles for regular game time under David Moyes at the London Stadium.

As a direct consequence, the 5 foot 6 maestro has seen his transfer value suffer for it.

Lanzini hit a career-high worth of £18m in May 2018 and it remained at that level for nearly 18 months but with the return of the Scotsman to the dugout in east London, it has since regressed at an alarming rate.

As per Transfermarkt, his value now sits at just £9m, a decrease of 50% from over three years ago, merely highlighting the fact that he’s either not delivered on the pitch consistently or the fact that he’s just not been given a chance.

Either way, it should be a massive cause for concern for both the player and the club.

Lanzini should be hitting the best form of his career around about now, but with only 233 minutes of action this season and only five league starts last term, it’s evident that he’s hugely out-of-favour at the Hammers.

It comes with knock-non consequences – He isn’t getting picked for his national side. He isn’t delivering on the pitch. And the club will struggle to garner substantial funds should they ever look to sell him.

According to the Evening Standard’s Jack Rosser, the £9m-rated midfielder was one of the players that the Irons were prepared to sell for the right price this summer. He told Football FanCast:

“Lanzini is another one who could potentially move on and free up some wages, although Moyes did really like him. Lanzini is an option that if a bid comes in, they would be happy to let him go.”

In recent times, Lanzini has been lambasted for his performances, whenever he has been given that opportunity. For example, The Athletic’s Roshane Thomas claimed that he has been “too anonymous” for large parts of his Hammers career, whilst The West Ham Way’s Dave Walker believes he’s “completely ineffective” sometimes.

He is also among the club’s highest-earners, raking in a reported £70k-per-week, which is more than the likes of Declan Rice (£60k-per-week), club captain Mark Noble (£50k-per-week) and Vladimir Coufal (£30k-per-week).

That’s another factor that may make it hard to shift him on.

Lanzini is now even further behind in the pecking order, following the arrival of Nikola Vlasic this summer, so it could be time to move him on in the winter window, though GSB will be fuming that they won’t be able to get as much as they once could have done, going by the above evidence.

AND in other news, “I’m hearing”: West Ham hero drops huge behind-the-scenes claim, fans will be buzzing…

Wayne Rooney’s Derby County side could be handed yet more transfer sanctions by the EFL.

What’s the talk?

That’s according to Alan Nixon’s report for The Sun, in which the journalist revealed that Derby could be handed a two-year transfer ban by the EFL – if the Rams do not settle their outstanding transfer debts.

Nixon continued by stating that these reported unpaid transfer fees are now late for a second time, with the governing body giving Mel Morris until the end of September in a final chance for the owner to settle the debts, or else the Championship club could be restricted from signing players until the summer of 2023.

Fans will be fuming

With Rooney already having to operate under strict EFL transfer guidelines this summer, with the 35-year-old having brought in five free agents on restricted wages, the news that the former England captain may now not be able to bring in any further new signings over the next two years is sure to have left fans of the club fuming.

Indeed, while the Rams boss has done an impressive job so far this season considering the testing off-field circumstances – with Derby picking up six points over their opening five fixtures of the Championship campaign, suffering defeat just once – should the club indeed be forbidden from bringing any fresh faces in over the next two seasons, the chances of Rooney’s side remaining in the second tier of English football by the end of the potential transfer ban would appear to be slim to none.

As such, the 35-year-old manager and fans of the club alike will undoubtedly be hoping that Morris can resolve the situation prior to the EFL’s deadline, or else the owner could well be consigning the club to relegation to the third tier come the end of the season.

In other news: £180k-rated Derby County flop who lost possession 22x let Rooney down badly vs Blades

Watford continued their poor run of form in the Premier League as they succumbed to a third straight defeat in the division on Saturday.

The Hornets lost 2-0 at home to Wolves, with Francisco Sierralta scoring an own goal to hand Bruno Lage’s side the lead before Hee-Chan Hwang prodded home from close range to seal the three points for the away side after a goalmouth scramble.

This followed on from the 2-0 defeat to Brighton and the 1-0 loss against Tottenham, with Watford failing to build on their opening day win over Aston Villa.

Despite Sierralta scoring an own goal, the Watford central defender was not the most disappointing player on the pitch for Xisco Munoz. Instead, the player with the lowest SofaScore rating (6.2) in the side was winger Emmanuel Dennis.

The summer signing, who scored on the opening day against Villa, struggled to show off his quality as he was deployed out wide on the left with Josh King operating as the central striker. He was found wanting at both ends of the pitch as he let Xisco down with his dreadful display.

Defensively and in transition, Dennis was poor. Per SofaScore, he lost 60% of his duels on the pitch – losing 12 battles in total. He also lost possession of the ball 18 times from 43 touches – giving it away every 2.38 touches – whilst also being dribbled past four times in the game.

This shows that he was too sloppy with the ball at his feet and not switched on enough defensively to stop players from getting past him. The fact that he allowed four players to dribble past him suggests that he was not set in the correct defensive position to either force them to pass the ball or to fail to get the other side of him.

Offensively, he was almost non-existent. Per SofaScore, he created zero chances for his teammates whilst failing with both of his attempted crosses. He was also unable to work any worthwhile openings for himself as he registered one shot in the entire match, which was off target.

Therefore, he let Munoz down with his performance as he was a liability defensively and offensively out on the left wing. He was not able to offer any quality going forward and his lack of defensive nous meant that he was hurting Watford’s performance by being on the pitch, which is why the head coach will surely be fuming with his display.

After a long summer dominated by Euro 2020, Leeds United fans finally get to see their team back in Premier League action when they take on Manchester United on Saturday afternoon.

Marcelo Bielsa’s side make the trip to Old Trafford to get their second season back in the top-flight underway, and the Whites boss has a number of big calls to make as he decides on his first starting line-up of the new campaign.

Much of Leeds’ team selection will depend on the call Bielsa makes on talisman Kalvin Phillips, with the midfielder’s potential absence prompting a number of reshuffles were it to happen.

Here is a look at how Leeds could line up when they visit the Red Devils.

In goal, Illan Meslier will be hoping to round off what has been a superb week for him on a personal level, having signed a bumper new contract to stay at Elland Road on the eve of the game.

The back four should see summer signing Junior Firpo handed his competitive Leeds debut following his arrival from Barcelona, with the likes of Luke Ayling, Robin Koch and Liam Cooper joining him – Diego Llorente has been ruled out with injury.

In midfield, despite only playing 45 minutes against Villareal last weekend in pre-season, Bielsa may opt to throw Phillips straight into the starting line-up against Manchester United.

Stuart Dallas and Mateusz Klich should play alongside each other in the middle of the park, with Raphinha and Jack Harrison renewing their wide partnership from last season.

Up front, 2020/21 top scorer Patrick Bamford will once again be tasked with leading the line, so there is no place in the starting XI for £100k-a-week earner Rodrigo.

Predicted XI: Meslier; Ayling, Koch, Cooper, Firpo; Phillips, Klich, Dallas, Raphinha, Harrison; Bamford.

Meanwhile, Leeds could form an exciting partnership by signing this ace…

A number of Manchester City fans were disgusted with the performance of Benjamin Mendy during their 1-o defeat to Tottenham on Sunday.

The Citizens came into this game as the Premier League champions, and after seeing Manchester United, Chelsea and Liverpool all win comfortably on Saturday, they will have been hoping to get their campaign off to the best possible start. However, Spurs had other plans, and Heung-Min Son scored the only goal of the game for the home side, who have now won this fixture for the third season in a row.

£18m-valued Mendy (Transfermarkt) was chosen to start on the left side of the back four, but it was a decision which backfired from Pep Guardiola. The France international did not look comfortable, losing ten of his 14 duels, being dribbled past four times, losing the ball on 16 occasions and finding a team-mate with just one of his nine crosses (Sofascore).

These fans were far from happy with what they saw from the left-back, with one even saying that he has worse than former Etihad Stadium flop Eliaquim Mangala, and they took to social media platform Twitter to share their thoughts.

Let’s see what these fans had to say about Mendy’s display

“Mendy should never play again, Zinchenko so clear”

Credit: @Kieran_MCFC_

“I’ve been negative about some players when they’re bad in games but that’s mainly cos I’m annoyed at losing apart from Mendy, I’ve never hated a player that much”

Credit: @MxckenzieMCFC

“Consistently playing Mendy will always hinder us”

Credit: @mcfc_JD

“Mendy is now officially worse than Mangala”

Credit: @PepBobbiola

“He must be wondering what he’s signed up for watching utter trash players like Mendy and Sterling.”

Credit: @AntMcfc_

“Permanent problem is the fact Benjamin Mendy cannot play football.”

Credit: @Niall_Mcfc3

In other news, lots of Man City fans raged at this club decision.

Italian football expert Conor Clancy thinks that West Ham target Nikola Milenkovic would be affordable this summer. 

The Fiorentina defender has less than one year left on his current contract which expires June 30 next year, and the Serie A outfit could look to cash in on him this summer rather than risk losing him for free then.

West Ham insider ExWHUemployee has claimed that the club are in talks over a deal for the 23-year-old, however the Hammers face competition for the defender. The Athletic’s Charlie Eccleshare reported that Tottenham Hotspur also have an interest in Milenkovic and he believes a fee of around €15m could be enough to conclude a deal.

On the fee for Milenkovic, Clancy told Transfer Tavern: “I think he’d be affordable from an English perspective because Italian clubs tend to sell when English clubs come knocking. What an Italian club sees as a good fee and what an English club see as an affordable fee are usually quite similar.”

Milenkovic can also operate as a right-back and grabbed himself three goals in Serie A last season, and with the reported interest in him, West Ham are going to have to move swiftly if they are to capture the signature of the defender this summer.

Leeds United will ‘get there’ in their negotiations to tie Marcelo Bielsa down to a new contract, according to The Athletic’s Phil Hay

The lowdown

The manager is out of contract with Leeds this summer, with the 66-year-old signing a one-year contract with the Yorkshire club back in September 2020.

The Argentine guided the Whites to promotion back into the Premier League in his second season in charge and was hugely impressive in his first year in the top-flight. Leeds finished ninth in the Premier League table in the 2020/21 season, their first at that level in 17 years.

Speaking on talkSPORT, former Tottenham midfielder Jamie O’Hara showered Bielsa with praise, labelling him a ‘world-class manager’ who is adored by the Elland Road faithful.

The latest

The Atheltic’s Leeds United reporter Hay has revealed that Bielsa’s future is the same as it was at this point last year.

In response to a query on Twitter from a concerned Whites fan regarding the Argentine, the journalist reassured them with the seven-word response of: “Same as last summer. They’ll get there”.

Bielsa only signs contracts on an annual basis, and that doesn’t seem as though it’s going to be any different this year with the Whites. Managing director Angus Kinnear previously stated that the club were treating his new contract as a ‘formality’, although an official announcement is yet to be made.

The verdict

Hay’s update should come as a relief for the Elland Road faithful, who may have been fearing the worst that Bielsa would be tempted by a move elsewhere.

The Argentina has been nothing short of brilliant since being appointed as Leeds’ manager back in June 2018, as reflected in their ever-improving league finishes, and the club will be hoping that they can get the formalities of the deal concluded at the earliest opportunity.

In other news, Leeds are in the mix for this “really bright” Championship starlet

West Ham United have been dealt a major blow in their bid to bring Boulaye Dia to the London Stadium this summer.

What’s the talk?

That’s according to a report by French media outlet Le10 Sport, who claimed that, following intense talks with the Reims centre-forward, West Ham narrowly missed out on the signing of the 24-year-old, who now looks set to join Spanish side Villarreal CF in a €12m (£10m) deal.

It had been reported that the Senegal international was a key target for David Moyes in the summer transfer window, with the Scot desperate to bring in additions to his West Ham attacking arsenal after the January sale of Sebastien Haller left the 58-year-old with only Michail Antonio as an out-and-out striker in his first-team squad.

However, after missing out on Dia, who is believed to have signed a five-year deal with the Europa League winners, Moyes will now have to look elsewhere in his search for a new forward in the summer transfer window.

Fans will be gutted

With a new signing in attack very much a priority for West Ham this summer, and Dia impressing for Reims last season, reports that the centre-forward looks set to join Villarreal are sure to have left Hammers fans gutted.

Indeed, over his 36 Ligue 1 appearances for Oscar Garcia’s side last term, the £12.6m-rated marksman scored 14 goals, registered one assist and created two big chances for his teammates, along with averaging 1.8 shots and 0.8 key passes per game.

These returns saw the £17,000-per-week hitman earn a seasonal SofaScore match rating of 6.96, ranking him as his club’s second-best performer in Ligue 1 as he played a key role in his team comfortably securing survival in the division.

As such, it would indeed appear that Dia would have been a highly astute addition to Moyes’ attacking options ahead of next season, especially for the relatively cheap £10m fee that the striker is believed to have cost Villarreal.

However, with a move for the 24-year-old very much seeming dead in the water, the Scot must now focus on other centre-forward targets, something which will undoubtedly frustrate the Hammers boss.

In other news: GSB enter into negotiations for “phenomenal” £25m dynamo, West Ham fans surely buzzing

Newcastle United ‘hold an interest’ in Chelsea’s Ross Barkley and the deal may not be contingent on their pursuit of Joe Willock. 

That’s according to Chris Waugh, the club’s correspondent for The Athletic.

The lowdown

Barkley spent the 2020/21 season on loan at Aston Villa, scoring three goals and providing one assist in 18 Premier League starts (via WhoScored). The Englishman averaged 1.6 key passes per game for Dean Smith’s side, beating every Newcastle player in that department.

The 33-cap ace has two years left on his contract at Stamford Bridge and is valued at £18m by Transfermarkt. Former Chelsea manager Frank Lampard described Barkley’s attitude as ‘first class’ and said that he was able to fulfil a ‘very complete role’.

The latest

The Athletic claimed that Newcastle have identified the 27-year-old as a possible target, but ‘not solely as a back-up’ if they miss out on former loanee Willock. The Magpies want to bring the Arsenal man back to St James’ Park but they are waiting to see whether Mikel Arteta will sanction the move.

It’s ‘likely’ that only one ‘advanced’ midfield option will be recruited, but ‘additional reinforcements would be welcomed’

The verdict

Barkley is probably one for Newcastle to avoid. He made a flying start at Villa last season, looking briefly like the player who was so impressive at Everton.

However, his performance levels dipped as the campaign progressed, and he fell well short of the stated goal of breaking back into the England squad.

Barkley is currently earning £96,000 per week, and unless Newcastle could agree to split the cost with Chelsea, that would make him their highest-paid player.

Ultimately, there must be more potent and reliable midfield options out there who they could bring in.

In other news, Newcastle are also keen on one of Willock’s team-mates.

Writing for football.london, reliable Tottenham Hotspur correspondent Alasdair Gold has made a claim involving Nuno Espirito Santo and promising young defender Joe Rodon.

The Lowdown: Big season ahead…

As Nuno prepares for his first full season at the Tottenham helm after signing a two-year deal, the Portuguese has the mountainous task of restoring pride in the club after a summer of shambles.

Tottenham took over two months to appoint a new boss, holding successive managerial talks with the likes of Mauricio Pochettino, Antonio Conte, Paulo Fonseca and Gennaro Gattuso (BBC).

Now the Lilywhites can finally focus on how they approach next season, with Gold revealing who Nuno may select more far more often over 2021/2022.

The Latest: Gold drops Rodon claim…

Writing for football.london, Gold has claimed that the new Tottenham manager could turn to Rodon next season as more of a mainstay in the team.

[web_stories_embed url=”https://www.footballtransfertavern.com/web-stories/spurs-latest-updates-3/” title=”Spurs latest updates!” poster=”” width=”360″ height=”600″ align=”none”]

Indeed, the Portuguese is now ‘expected’ to make ‘much more use’ of the Welshman, especially after an impressive Euro 2020 campaign for his country.

It is believed that the 23-year-old impressed plenty of people behind the scenes at Spurs during his debut season after he had to make the most of very limited game time.

Rodon could also return for pre-season training slightly earlier than expected in order to get a head start on pre-season training under Nuno.

The Verdict: Good news…

The starlet certainly impressed at points over 2020/2021 and he arguably displayed better form at times than the likes of Eric Dier and Davinson Sanchez.

Wales Online reporter Ian Mitchelmore has waxed lyrical over the ‘special player’ for his performances at international level and there is no reason he can’t replicate it for Spurs.

In what could be a major summer revamp for Tottenham at the back, it appears Rodon could have a larger role to play next season.

In other news: ‘I’d be excited, Spurs fans’…Stan Collymore thrilled by major news out of N17, find out more here.