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Lille have been pursuing the signing of Alfredo Morelos quite openly and for a while, it seemed like the Ligue 1 outfit was actually getting really close to sealing the deal. However, following their signing of Gent’s Jonathan David, Rangers seem to be out of the woods for now.

Not only that but the president of the French club, Gerard Lopez, joined talkSPORT and discussed the whole situation with the Colombian striker and their £16m pursuit of his signature.

Here’s what he said for the aforementioned outlet: ‘We have (bid £16m). He’s obviously a good player. We had a primary target who was Jonathan David and who we got. He’s locked into a certain system with a number of players already around him. We know we have a lot of talent. We have lots of offensive material and we’ve hit the pause button at this stage.’

This will, of course, come as huge relief for Steven Gerrard as it seems like Lille have indeed decided to stop their chase for now, reassess and then decide what to do next. It has to be said that Lopez never confirmed they will stop the pursuit indefinitely so it is likely the French club does indeed come back for Morelos somewhere further down the line.

However, at this point, it seems like Rangers are safe and their star man up front will be staying at Ibrox for at least a while longer.

For how long though? That remains to be seen.

Verdict

It does feel like Gerrard was already preparing for life without Morelos in the squad. After all, Rangers had already secured Kemar Roofe from Anderlecht and Cedric Itten from FC St Gallen prior to this revelation and the duo seems like an attempt to plug a huge Morelos-sized hole in the team.

Now, however, it seems that the Colombian will indeed stay at the club.

West Ham legend Mark Noble is entering the twilight years of his Irons career and whilst he’s still got plenty more to give, it would be wise to find his long-term replacement sooner rather than later…

What’s the word?

According to 90min, the Hammers are one of a host of Premier League teams taking a keen interest in signing Schalke 04 midfielder Weston McKennie this summer.

It’s claimed that the Bundesliga outfit need to raise funds through sales and the USA international hasn’t hid his desire to one day play in the English top-flight.

The report goes onto suggest that a bidding war could ensue with the likes of Southampton, Everton, Aston Villa and Newcastle United all keen.

He could cost in excess of £20m.

Perfect Noble successor

At 33, Noble doesn’t have too many years left at the London Stadium so a move for 19-cap 21-year-old begins to make the world of sense, even more so when you look at his playing style.

McKennie has been compared to Barcelona powerhouse Arturo Vidal due to the way he ‘breaks down opposition attacks and wins back possession’ and is able to play anywhere in the middle, whether that be a defensive No. 6 or a more advanced no.8 or 10.

Bundesliga.com once described the American as a “true midfield warrior,” which has been echoed by his current boss David Wagner, who said: “He’s an outstanding talent. In the No.6 or No.8 position he has the mentality, a real working mentality that you need. And he’s brave on the ball as well.”

Noble has played an array of midfield roles for the Hammers over his long 16-year career, including surprise appearances in the hole towards the end of the season, which makes McKennie even more viable.

Per WhoScored, the young enforcer averaged 1.6 interceptions, 1.4 tackles, 1.1 shots and 1 dribble per appearance in the Bundesliga last season.

He may not quite be the finished article just yet, but a season or two learning from Noble could help David Moyes make the transition when that day finally does arrive.

AND in other news, West Ham should forget Shane Duffy and sign “unplayable” PL colossus…

Sunderland midfielder Max Power has revealed that he is delighted with his new advanced midfield role and that he wants to add more goals to his game.

Following the Black Cats’ 1-1 draw with Bristol Rovers at the weekend, attention has now turned to Saturday’s fixture with Oxford United.

Power, who was named team captain prior to the start of the season, featured throughout the draw with Rovers, playing in a more advanced midfield role than his accustomed holding midfield position.

Former Wigan Athletic midfielder Power has made 85 appearances for the Black Cats, netting seven goals and gaining 4 assists.

And he has now revealed his ambitions to add more goals to his game, speaking with Northern Echo on Tuesday.

“I’ve spoken to the gaffer and said I want to improve on the goal return,” said Power. “In the last few games, I’m getting in the box a lot more now.

“It’s something I want to add to my game. I’ve been given more of a licence to go forward, so I feel as though I’ll be able to arrive in the box and get shots off.

“I’m a team player and I’ll always do what’s asked of me. But I won’t hide the fact that I do enjoy playing higher up. I feel as if I can get more goals there. Over the last two seasons, the goal return has probably been in question, but I’ve been playing a disciplined role in front of a back four. I want to justify the manager’s faith for playing me ten or 15 yards further up the pitch.”

Sunderland boss Phil Parkinson will be hoping his side can bounce back from the 1-1 opening day result which saw George Dobson sent off in added time to hand the Black Cats boss a selection headache.

Power could very well be Sunderland’s key player this season, having been handed a more advanced role and the team captaincy role.

Having suffered a failure to gain promotion last term, Power’s words are positive and good to hear as the Black Cats look to return to the Championship.

Do you think Power will net a sufficient amount of goals this season? Let us know in the comments section below…

Glasgow Rangers romped to a 2-0 win at home to Ross County over the weekend but one player stood out from the rest of the crowd.

Rangers are currently enjoying a 13-game unbeaten streak as a result, stretching all the way back to a 1-0 win away at Aberdeen, meaning Steven Gerrard’s side are early favourites for the Scottish Premiership title.

If recent reports are to be believed, Gerrard is adamant that he wants a new attacking midfielder in the form of Juninho Bacuna as well, but he must hang on to James Tavernier for as long as he can after his masterclass against Ross County.

Rangers have already scored 35 goals in 13 games this season, with the club captain contributing a tally of seven goals and four assists so far, via Transfermarkt.

And Tavernier put in a shift all over the pitch with Gerrard keeping faith in his fellow Englishman despite switching from a 4-3-3 attacking formation against Galatasaray to his preferred 4-2-3-1 at the Ibrox.

Per SofaScore, the Bradford-born defender showed exactly why the Rangers boss cannot afford to lose him, winning 85% of his seven duels whilst scoring the opening goal, supplying two key passes and taking 117 touches of the ball.

Given their performances so far, it is hardly surprising the Gers enjoyed a staggering 72% possession of the ball, with 15 shots in total, but the fact that Tavernier once again got on the scoresheet underlines how their offensive success is heavily influenced by the full-backs bombing down the wings.

If it all goes to plan, Bacuna may very well come in and contribute to the supply chain, but having the likes of Tavernier, Borna Barisic and Calvin Bassey at his disposal is an important part of Gerrard’s style of play.

With West Ham reportedly waiting in the wings, Rangers must keep the 28-year-old at the club if they are to challenge Celtic for the title once again.

AND in other news, Rangers can land the perfect Steven Davis alternative in Bongani Zungu…

Jorg Albertz is no doubt a Glasgow Rangers legend and Gers fans have been sharing tributes to the German after he was featured in the club’s Old Firm buildup.

The German spent five years at Ibrox after joining from Hamburg for £4m in 1996. Despite being a midfielder, he had a fantastic scoring record, bagging 51 times in 137 matches in the league. That led to a lucrative trophy haul, with him winning the Premiership three times and the Scottish League Cup and the Scottish Cup twice apiece.

This week is obviously huge for the Gers, with them playing Celtic in the first Old Firm derby of the season on Saturday. The build-up, as ever, is huge, and throughout the week Rangers’ official Twitter account has been sharing photos and videos from previous Old Firm clashes. On Tuesday, they shared a photo of Albertz celebrating at Parkhead in 1999, and it delighted the supporters.

Mainly because it gave them the chance to reminisce about one of their former heroes – one fan even called him a “beautiful man” – and they took to the social media platform to do so.

Let’s see what the Rangers fans had to say about Albertz

Let us know what you think!

Michael Edwards continues to outdo himself with his savvy business decisions and his eye for a deal. Liverpool decided to send youngster Harvey Elliott out on loan this season, in order to help him gain valuable first team experience.

It has already been made clear that he is part of Jurgen Klopp’s plans for the future, as well as fellow teenagers Curtis Jones and Neco Williams. The 17-year-old has joined Blackburn for the 2020/21 campaign and has already made waves in the Championship.

His first appearance was a 3-1 loss to recently relegated Watford, but Elliott made amends for his quiet debut with a blinding performance against Coventry. The Liverpool teen showcased his class by opening up his Rovers account with a goal and an assist.

A bright Liverpool future for Elliott

Elliott only joined the Merseyside club last year and has already made a name for himself. The former Fulham man now holds the record as the youngest Liverpool player to start a competitive match for the club at Anfield. Already, he is on Klopp’s radar as a man for the future – this move could well be the making of him as a senior footballer.

The England youth international set the match alight against Coventry. According to Sofascore, Elliott made a whopping six key passes, won seven of his ten attempted duels and was successful in 100% of his long balls. He also drew in three fouls, which showed that Coventry struggled to deal with his quick feet and ability on the ball.

As someone who is clearly a fan of him, this performance won’t have come as a surprise to Klopp. He recently lauded the teenager for being an impressive player on the training pitch.

“He is an exceptional talent, absolutely, and he’s a nice kid as well,” the manager said after Liverpool’s win over Arsenal in the Carabao Cup (via PlanetFootball).

Once Elliott returns to Liverpool, senior star Gini Wijnaldum may have left the club. His current contract runs out next season and it will leave a place to be filled in midfield. The teenager is a versatile player who can dominate the wings, and could be converted into a wide midfielder.

Whatever position he fits into, he is sure to make a name for himself at Anfield at the rate his is flourishing.

In other news, Liverpool may have identified a cut-price replacement for Virgil van Dijk…

West Ham United would be wise to ignore calls from Irons icon Frank McAvennie to sign Tottenham Hotspur outcast Danny Rose.

What’s the word?

Speaking with Football Insider, McAvennie has suggested Hammers boss David Moyes ought to look into signing Rose with the England international in the final year of his Spurs contract.

McAvennie feels Rose would offer Moyes much-need competition for places at left-back, having seen the defender’s future in north London thrust into further doubt by Jose Mourinho omitting the 29-year-old from his Premier League and Europa League squads.

Moyes has so far chosen to field Aaron Cresswell as his left-sided full-back once and trusted Arthur Masuaku in the role in four top-flight fixtures, while Rose has not featured in a Premier League game since the final day of last season when on loan with Newcastle United.

“He was a top player at Tottenham, but he seems to have fallen away recently,” McAvennie said. “A fantastic player on his day and he is not that old yet. I do not know if he would go to West Ham, but I always say it is good to have somebody pushing you.

“Cresswell is doing well at the moment but the team is doing well. He needs some competition to push him and Rose could do that.”

Rose, who earns £70,000-per-week with Spurs, snubbed a potential permanent move to Newcastle this summer following his half-season on loan in the North East, noting in August that he wished to play at least one more game for Tottenham.

Mourinho, however, overlooked the defender in Tottenham’s opening fixtures and will now no longer have the option of calling on Rose to feature in a league or European match until February at the earliest.

Moyes must ignore McAvennie

Like Mourinho, Moyes must overlook the prospect of calling on Rose to feature in his plans and ignore McAvennie’s suggestion to strike a deal for the 2021-free agent, as the Irons boss already has a better option in Masuaku.

Over his 23 Premier League appearances in the 2019/20 campaign – with both Tottenham and Newcastle – Rose only managed to record a mere 0.6 key balls, 0.4 accurate crosses, 0.7 successful dribbles and 1.7 tackles a game, per SofaScore. He also only managed to create just one big chance to score, never took a shot and committed two errors that led to goals.

Meanwhile, Masuaku has started the 2020/21 season in much stronger fashion with 1.5 key balls, 1.3 accurate crosses, 3.3 successful dribbles and 1.0 tackles a game. He has also already created two big chances to score and attempted 0.8 shots over his four appearances.

As well as Rose offering less in the Premier League last term than Masuaku has thus far this season, Mourinho’s comments on the outcast defender highlight further reasons why he would not aid Moyes in the way McAvennie has used to justify a swoop.

Speaking in September amid interest from the Serie A, Mourinho said of Rose via quotes by The Sun: “If Genoa get Danny Rose, they get a good player. If they get a good player in the last year of his contract, they’re in a privileged position to do a good deal.

“If Danny Rose goes there, I wish him all the best. It’s one of the things that was very clear from one of the Amazon bits is that Danny is the kind of guy who wants to play all the time.

“Some players are more adapted to belong to a squad with quality where competition is higher. Other players are only happy if they’re in a club where they play all the time.”

Rose falls into the latter category of wanting to play every game, but his form over recent years would not suggest he would be a certainty at the London Stadium.

AND in other news, West Ham frustrated a rival club with one of their summer deals and could spark greater anger by reviving efforts to sign a 6 ft 1 ace.

Sunderland boss Phil Parkinson must consider axing Danny Graham from the Sunderland starting line-up immediately after questioning the striker’s desire following defeat to Mansfield Town in the FA Cup.

The Black Cats were beaten 1-0 at home to the Stags on Saturday as Parkinson rang the changes to protect his favoured players for crucial League One fixtures, as he strives to guide Sunderland out of the third-tier.

Graham could not repay his manager’s faith by impressing at the Stadium of Light, however, as the 35-year-old twice hit the woodwork with Sunderland’s best chances of the game, which both came inside the opening 10-minutes.

Parkinson was fuming at the full-time whistle with the performance he’d seen from his attacking players, who allowed League Two Mansfield to secure their first win of the season in any competition and begin Nigel Clough’s reign in the best way possible.

He felt the Black Cats had produced enough chances to score at least one goal, having seen 38 crosses delivered into the box despite making eight changes to the starting line-up.

“I picked a team that I felt was capable of winning,” Parkinson said, via quotes by the Chronicle. “There were players who were injured who didn’t figure and there were some who we chose not to play because they had played a lot of football, while others needed games.

“The team was strong enough to win and over the course of the game, we’ve put enough quality deliveries into the box to have won the match. Ok, our decision-making wasn’t always great and the quality wasn’t always great, but there were enough over the 90 minutes.

“Our desire and movement to get across people and get something from those moments wasn’t good enough. The one cross Mansfield put in, the lad [George Lapslie] has got in with real desire, got between two of our defenders and headed it in.

“I’ve just sat down and gone through all the deliveries that we put in and there were more than enough to have won the game comfortably.”

Parkinson’s comments, while not naming any players directly, show a clear displeasure to the performance given from Graham, who has now scored just one goal in 10 appearances across all competitions since returning to the Stadium of Light this summer – a pretty awful record for a man of his calibre.

Black Cats CEO Jim Rodwell’s decision to sanction the 35-year-old’s comeback is now appearing more of a horror by the day after defeat to Mansfield, and Parkinson must consider axing the striker Blackburn Rovers released when his side travels to Fleetwood Town in the EFL Trophy on Tuesday.

Sunderland could have benefited nicely from a run in the FA Cup, but that is now not to be after the likes of Graham – who previously scored just once in 42 games for the Black Cats – failed to offer anything worthwhile.

AND in other news, Phil Parkinson has confirmed a major blow for a Sunderland gem he begged to “let his football do the talking”.

AfterÂthatÂincident against Brighton at the back end of last season, it was no surprise to see Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta read the riot act to Matteo Guendouzi.The Frenchman had allegedly taunted the Seagulls about his superior wages, and was then caught grabbing Neal Maupay by the throat after the game had ended.For some, it may have been seen as the kind of fighting spirit and edge that the Gunners have lacked for a number of years. For others, and perhaps most importantly, for Arteta himself, he saw it as indiscipline that needed stamping out.Reports suggested that Guendouzi wasn’t in the mood to start apologising, and the former Lorient starlet eventually found himself out of his manager’s plans both for the short and long-term, with it being confirmed that he would be spending the new season out on loan at Bundesliga side Hertha Berlin.And whilst he is only just beginning to find his feet with his new club, his performance a couple of days ago in France U21’s 3-1 win over Switzerland proved that Arteta may have made a really hasty call on the Gunners’ 21-year-old.Get French Football News described his performance as a “masterclass” and pointed to the way he kept trying to hunt the ball down even in the dying moments of the game despite his team being down to ten men – his efforts were rewarded as he pinched the ball back and set up the third goal.

Described as a “pure talent” by one of his former teammates, Guendouzi made an error with his actions over the summer, but that is to be expected from someone of his age and with the kind of meteoric rise he has enjoyed since joining from a side in France’s second division.

What he desperately needed was for a manager to be strong, but fair, on him, instead of being ruthless and cold. Guendouzi is showing just what he can do if given a chance.

The mood around Celtic is incredibly bleak at the moment, with the Hoops winning just one game in their last six.

The latest update on Neil Lennon and his future

Sky Sports are reporting that the Scottish side are backing the manager after ‘positive’ talks took place on Monday.

The Daily Record have added to the report however, revealing a rather bizarre reason why Lennon is getting another chance. The club’s majority shareholder, Dermot Desmond, is ready to stand shoulder to shoulder with Lennon due to the reaction from some fans after the defeat to Ross County.

Desmond was reportedly outraged by the violent protests which saw fans clash with police following the Betfred Cup defeat as they called for Lennon to be sacked. Due to these protests, he wants to give the manager more time.

However, they also provided an update which suggests when Desmond may cave and sack the manager, claiming the Bhoys’ trip to Milan on Thursday is Lennon’s “one last chance”.

Is this the right decision?

The Hoops are bottom of their Europa League group and eleven points behind Old Firm rivals Glasgow Rangers in the Scottish Premiership. They have also now lost the opportunity of adding another domestic cup to their cabinet.

Therefore, it is definitely fair for the fan base to be frustrated with the manager, especially in such a crucial season as they embark to win their tenth consecutive league crown.

It seems like the decision from Desmond and his fellow higher-ups is a stubborn one, bizarrely focusing on fan frustrations rather than what he should be focused on – the performances and the results on the pitch.

That said, those supporters who do want Lennon dismissed can take solace in these latest reports – it appears defeat on Thursday could mean the end for the boss, regardless of Desmond’s stubbornness.

In other news, Celtic legend calls for Peter Lawwell and co. to sack Neil Lennon.