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Many Wolves fans have been left to laud a transfer update on Lucas Ocampos as Football Insider have reported that they are in the hunt to sign him.

As per the news outlet, a source from the Midlands club has claimed that the Sevilla ace is firmly on their radar, as he was watched when he was at Marseille and now at the La Liga team.

Ocampos has three years left on his current deal and a release clause of £62m, but it is likely that Sevilla would be fine with selling him at a cheaper price due to the financial implications of the pandemic, claim Football Insider.

However, Nuno Espirito Santo’s side would still likely have to sell one of their key players in the first team in order to raise the funds needed to buy him.

Nonetheless, it could be a very shrewd signing for a man who is very experienced at playing in some of the top clubs in football, with no fewer than 74 goals and a further 36 assists in 363 games in total over all competitions across the last 10 seasons (Transfermarkt).

Wolves fan reaction to Ocampos transfer update

These Wanderers lauded the transfer update on Ocampos on Twitter, with one WWFC supporter calling it ‘huge’ while another went as far as to claim that the Argentina international is a ‘fantastic’ player:

“Strike force.. Pod, Raul, Pedro, Lucas. Now we’re talking!”

Credit: @chris7mac

“Yes would be all over this, fantastic player.”

Credit: @JonnyQ88

“Now this guy is a baller. Would be some serious statement of intent if we can get him”

Credit: @cal_wolvesfc

“Would be an amazing signing”

Credit: @ReisangHuileng1

“We can only dream”

Credit: @juranceb01

“Huge if true”

Credit: @deathblossom69

In other news, find out which Premier League star Steve Bull has called for Wolves to sign here!

Crystal Palace are having a steady season, however there is uncertainty around a lot of players’ futures and Roy Hodgson has commented on this situation.Hodgson discusses contractsThe manager, when asked about the numerous players whose deals have expired, said: “It’s not been discussed as yet. I’m certain that when the day comes – I’m pretty certain that the club are informing players about their intentions in terms of when they intend to sit down seriously and discuss what the next step is.”There’s a third of the season still to go, these players are still under contract. It’s not unfair, I don’t think, of us to ask those players to keep giving their best, to keep playing to the absolute top level of their ability in order to earn the amount of money we’re paying them.”But there will come a time, I’m sure, when they’ll want to know: ‘What is my future – is it here with you or am I going to be allowed to leave?’ Because they’ll be looking to find other clubs if they don’t get the contract here. I know that both the chairman and the sporting director are both fully aware of that.”But I think it’s sometimes not a good thing if you very early on let players know that you don’t want them any more, all the time we are depending very heavily on them. There will no doubt be some who don’t necessarily get a new contract.”The club have a big problemIt is a crazy situation that the club find themselves in. If you include the loan of Michy Batshuayi expiring, the club currently have seventeen players whose contracts expire in June 2021 (Transfermarkt).Therefore the Eagles need to be making decisions immediately on the future of their players so that they can have a plan and structure for next season.It is even more of a peculiar situation because Hodgson’s contract is also expiring in the summer. The club might know their plan for next season, but the South London fan base do not, and it is unfair to an extent to leave them in the dark on such a serious matter.Therefore it would be great for all associated with the club if they tied some of the players down to a new deal, and allowed others, who are surplus to requirements, to leave.In other news, Palace fans reacted to Hodgson’s comments following the win over Brighton!

In an exclusive interview with Football FanCast, former Premier League striker Marlon Harewood revealed he has not been surprised by the impact Dominic Calvert-Lewin has made at Everton this season.

The 23-year-old has been spearheading the Toffees’ push for Champions League football, scoring an impressive 13 goals in English football’s top flight so far.

Not always being a regular at Goodison Park, Calvert-Lewin’s explosion may have come as a surprise to some. That, however, has not been the case for Harewood, who shared his long-time admiration for the player.

On £40.5m-rated Calvert-Lewin, the former West Ham and Aston Villa centre-forward told FFC:

“I haven’t been surprised because I’ve followed him, obviously strikers follow strikers, and he’s been a very top-class striker for many years. It’s just he hasn’t really had the time to shine. Since the new manager’s come in, he’s put a lot of faith in him and helped him along the way because he’s worked with a lot of top-class strikers.

“[He’s] showing him what he needs to concentrate on and once you get that understanding of ‘I want you to score goals, I want you to get into the box, I want you to look at videos, I want you to react to things, I don’t want you coming out of that area’, it just shows really. He’s been in those positions where he’s been threatening on goal and it’s just worked out for him.”

Last season was hardly a terrible a campaign for the England international either, where he also managed to reach double figures in the Premier League.

He scored 13 goals, with Manchester City, Manchester United, Chelsea and Arsenal all clubs succumbing to the No.9’s finishing prowess, showing that he is also the man for the big occasion.

Calvert-Lewin has been making a name for himself on the international stage, too, scoring on his England debut against Wales before netting versus the Republic of Ireland.

The Everton man will now be hoping to get the call-up when England’s squad for the European Championships this summer is announced.

Celtic are set to face Livingston this evening for the second consecutive match as they hope to redeem some of their Premiership disappointment. The Hoops remain second in the table, trailing to runaway leaders and arch rivals Rangers.

The Gers have an enormous 21-point advantage thanks to their unstoppable form and some major dips in the road for Celtic. Neil Lennon and his men will return from their recent 10-day self-isolation period and look to hopefully get three points on the board.

Last time out, the Bhoys couldn’t find a way past Livingston’s defence, with the match ending in a 0-0 draw. They are now without a win in their last three outings and are in desperate need of boosting morale around camp.

Whilst the manager and 14 of his senior players were in quarantine, Gavin Strachan stepped in and was forced to field a skeleton crew squad. Youth players like Cameron Harper and Karamoko Dembele enjoyed some first team action, but it was some of the more senior players who weren’t up to scratch.

Diego Laxalt for example was particularly disappointing against Livingston at the weekend. According to Sofascore, the AC Milan loanee lost possession 26 times, with only Shane Duffy losing the ball more (28).

The left-back was also dribbled past twice and committed three fouls, showing how uncomfortable he appeared against the Livingston attack. Lennon will not want any mistakes hindering his chances of banking a win tonight and should maybe look at swapping Laxalt out of the squad.

Greg Taylor is waiting in the wings for his chance to re-assert himself at the club. He has made only sporadic appearances so far this season and has failed to make it off the bench for the last four matches, according to Transfermarkt.

The 23-year-old will relish the chance to show he can deliver the goods, especially with the uncertainty over whether Laxalt’s loan move will become permanent or not. If the £22,000 per week Uruguayan returns to Milan, Taylor has a golden opportunity to become Lennon’s first choice left-back. This could start with a solid performance against Livingston this evening.

In other news, signing Benjamin Siegrist would be the end of Scott Bain…

Ahead of Tottenham Hotspur’s Premier League clash with arch-rivals Chelsea this evening, Jose Mourinho has been cruelly dealt some troubling injury news…

What’s the word?

According to the Evening Standard’s Dan Kilpatrick’s update ahead of tonight’s game against Chelsea, two of Spurs’ injured players have now seemingly been ruled out for the remainder of February.

Giovani Lo Celso has been absent since pulling up with a hamstring problem in their 2-0 defeat to Leicester City on December 20th, and the reliable journalist claims ‘there is little prospect of the midfielder returning for at least three weeks.’

While Sergio Reguilon is another who is currently on the treatment table at present.

Kilpatrick has also delivered an update over his progress as he too is out with hamstring trouble, though just like the Argentine, he’s ‘set to miss most of February.’

Cruel blow

Given Spurs’ current form, this will quickly become a nightmare for Mourinho as he could really do with both players right now. Indeed, they have lost back-to-back matches and now face the Blues, who have a bit of a new manager bounce after appointing Thomas Tuchel.

Spurs have missed both players and their attacking influence substantially over the last few weeks and would have hoped to have them back as soon as possible.

Across their two defeats to Liverpool (3-1) last week and then Brighton (1-0) on Sunday, Mourinho’s side have only amassed an xG of 0.47 as per Understat.

Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg’s strike against the defending champions was a rare scorcher from long-range, so without that, they’d have failed to score in successive outings.

Lo Celso ranks third for key passes per 90 (1.88) but when you factor in those that have played at least ten league games, he sits top of the tree, so clearly, Spurs have lacked his presence in attacking midfield as he’s been the man providing those valuable chances to Kane and co.

Similarly, only Kane (11) and Heung-min Son (six) have delivered more assists for Spurs than Reguilon (three) in the Premier League this term, as per WhoScored.

No left-sided full-back is managing as many as his 0.7 successful crosses per 90 either. And that’s a problem as they attack most down this flank (37%).

It’s no wonder that Spurs have struggled to score in the absence of the duo, so to be without them throughout the rest of the month with games against Everton in the FA Cup, league leaders Man City and for the return of the Europa League knockout stages, is potentially one cruel blow to their chances of stopping the rot anytime soon.

Even when Kane hopefully returns next week, he’s going to struggle to score goals himself if Spurs aren’t creating chances, so having Lo Celso and Reguilon sidelined for such a long time is certainly going to keep Mourinho up at night.

AND in other news, Mourinho must unleash “exciting” £26m-rated beast tonight, he could be Spurs’ game-changer…

According to La Repubblica, via SportsWitness, Crystal Palace are still chasing Fiorentina striker Christian Kouame.

What’s the word?

It’s claimed that Palace are keen to land the 23-year-old, whose contract runs until 2023, and the Serie A outfit are open to offloading the versatile forward in January.

However, Roy Hodgson’s side will have to make a ‘really impressive offer’ in order to prise Kouame away from the Artemio Franchi Stadium.

After arriving at Fiorentina from Genoa in the summer, Kouame’s fortunes have somewhat taken a turn for the worse, with just one goal in 15 appearances across all competitions, via Transfermarkt.

However, this has done very little to deter Hodgson’s interest – but you’d imagine that his rapid decline of form will rightfully give the board some major cause for concern.

Avoid Kouame at all costs

Palace desperately need a new recognised striker, that much is blindingly obvious, as their overreliance on Wilfried Zaha has finally caught up with them.

Connor Wickham is currently spending another spell on the sidelines due to injury, while Michy Batshuayi has struggled to shoulder the burden having so far failed to find the back of the net this season, via Transfermarkt.

Christian Benteke, who has started two of the past three games in a row, has shown glimpses of his former self, but his contract will run out at the end of the season, which has cast doubts over his future at the club.

Kouame clearly has potential – 15 goals in 63 games for Serie B side AS Cittadella is a decent return – but he just simply isn’t the right man for the Eagles.

Is he any better than Batshuayi? Probably not.

The Belgian striker is several years older than the Ivory Coast U23 international but they both offer a very similar style of football. Both players like taking potshots, with Batshuayi topping the head-to-head battle with 1.2 shots per game, but they are both lack the ability to hold on to the ball and dictate play.

Hodgson needs a centre-forward who can hit the ground running and reach double digits, not a £15m-rated flop who has only managed to score twice in 22 appearances for Fiorentina.

A veteran striker like Olivier Giroud may be better-suited to the task at hand, as the Eagles were linked with a move for the French international last year, although it’s unlikely Chelsea will be willing to let him go in January, given their poor run of form in recent weeks.

AND in other news, Crystal Palace striker Christian Benteke badly let Roy Hodgson down against Leicester City… 

Liverpool were reportedly interested in signing Napoli centre-back Nikola Maksimovic this month and the Serbian international could be the man to ease their defensive woes.

It was suggested recently by talkSPORT’s Jim White that Napoli chairman Aurelio De Laurentiis claimed that Liverpool were previously interested in the 29-year-old, and expects them to still be interested due to their current injury problems, although he suggests that he has not heard anything of late about their interest.

If the stats are anything to go by, Maksimovic would go some way towards fixing Klopp’s problems in defence this season.

The German manager is set to be without the likes of Virgil van Dijk and Joe Gomez for the majority of the campaign, which has led to a frankly ridiculous number of different centre-back pairings so far this season.

Adding someone such as Maksimovic would add experience and consistency into Liverpool’s backline, with the Serbian having enjoyed a relatively injury-free career thus far. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said of Joel Matip.

The Reds have scored just six goals from set-pieces so far this season, which has them seventh out of all the Premier League sides, whereas last season they finished joint-top of the rankings with 17, which certainly suggests that they are missing the aerial threat of Van Dijk, with the Dutchman scoring five goals in the top-flight last season.

If Liverpool were to return for the Napoli centre-back this month, he could help replace that aerial threat, as he stands at 6 foot 2 and winning aerial duels looks to be one of his main strengths.

The Serbian has won on average two duels per game in Serie A, and 3.3 duels per game in the Europa League.

Fabinho, meanwhile, has averaged 2.1 won duels in the Premier League and just 0.8 duels in the Champions League, so you could definitely argue that Maksimovic is stronger in the air than the Brazilian.

Therefore, Michael Edwards should return for the 29-year-old this month, as with Transfermarkt valuing him at just £13.5 million, he could be a relatively cheap, short-term solution for Klopp’s side this season.

And, in other news, Bye-bye Matip: Klopp must swoop for £50m titan destined for “an amazing future”…

When it comes to Stewart Donald, he hasn’t done an awful lot right since walking into the football club.

Of course, the primary objective has been promotion from League One, but obviously, that hasn’t happened for Sunderland.

Yet, he has also struggled to narrow down the club’s cash flow, spending £4m on Will Grigg and continuing to pay Aiden McGeady a ridiculous sum of £31k-a-week to not even play.

Sunderland fans have been on his back for a considerable period of time and must have breathed a huge sigh of relief when they saw that he was on the verge of selling his majority stake.

Juan Sartori and Kyril Louis-Dreyfus have reportedly agreed terms with Donald that will see him relinquish control of the club.

So with that in mind, what better way to celebrate than by assessing what he’s actually done right at the Stadium of Light. Cue the tumbleweed.

As much as supporters will hate to admit it, he did get one thing correct in the summer – signing Bailey Wright on a permanent transfer.

After an injury that saw the Australian quickly ruled out for the season following his loan move from Bristol City in January, the Black Cats gambled.

Again, money was thrown at a signing. This time Donald decided he’d part ways with a salary of £13k-a-week for the centre-back and it has so far been worth every penny.

The colossal defender has been imperious in the backline and has been the ultimate parting gift from Sunderland’s current owner.

If the Mackems do achieve promotion then it’s incredibly likely that Wright will have played a huge part.

So far this term, the 28-year-old has won a mighty 3.9 aerial duels per game, completing over 80% of his passes in the process.

Those are eye-catching numbers, particularly to Sunderland hero Kevin Phillips: “The stats just show what an important player he is. He’s almost to Sunderland what van Dijk is to Liverpool at the moment with those incredible stats,” he told Football Insider.

Wright combines defensive focus and leadership with an element of modern defending in how comfortable he is with the ball at his feet.

It’s no great surprise that Phil Parkinson thinks so highly of the Aussie. Earlier this season, the manager remarked: “Those characters, who are classed as leaders and will influence other people around them on the pitch or in the dressing room and the training ground, are hard to find.”

Parkinson continued: “Bailey is very good at that. He’s everything we want – he typifies how we want to play, and how we want to conduct ourselves on a day-to-day basis. He’s a great signing for us, and we’re enjoying working with him.”

If you looked at the squad that Jack Ross had then you can accuse it of lacking real leaders. Now, however, they have a man with captaincy experience in the Championship.

If ever there was a player that Sunderland needed to recruit it was Wright.

Donald deserves praise for getting a deal over the line, even if his wages are pricey.

Meanwhile, check out who could be the BIGGEST winner from Sunderland’s takeover…

Everton were dealt a crushing blow this week as their industrious vice-captain, Lucas Digne, was ruled out for at least two months after picking up an injury during training.Sky Sports soon reported that the 27-year-old would undergo surgery having suffered ankle ligament damage. A cruel sucker-punch ahead of a tough run of fixtures, which begins with hosting Leeds United at Goodison Park this evening.The Frenchman has become a crucial part of Carlo Ancelotti’s line-up and has only missed five matches since his arrival from Barcelona in 2018, one game being earlier this season through suspension.However, despite all the doom and gloom, the Toffees could well be fine in his absence thanks to some magic from director of football Marcel Brands this summer.Not only did he deliver a whole new midfield in the shape of James Rodriguez, Abdoulaye Doucoure and Allan, but too a promising young left-back who has the potential to be Digne’s long-term heir.Everton snagged Niels Nkounkou from Marseille’s grasp on a free-transfer as the 20-year-old rejected a professional deal with the Ligue 1 giants in favour of playing for Ancelotti.

We have already got a few glimpses of the young left-back this term. He has started all three games in the Carabao Cup, helping contribute to three resounding victories, whilst he also covered for Digne during the defeat at Newcastle.

A Premier League debut at St James’ Park isn’t the easiest of starts.

Arguably, his best game in a Toffees shirt came against Salford City where he recorded a 7.4 rating by SofaScore after two tackles, two interceptions, three key passes and four successful dribbles.

After announcing his transfer, Brands claimed: “Niels is a young, talented player with good technical and physical skills. We have been following him for months.”

Whilst Jeremy Smith of the French Football Weekly podcast has likened him to one Man City star, he said: “He is a little like a Benjamin Mendy in that he is strong, has a great engine and can patrol the whole flank all match and has a decent shot and cross on him too. He’s also a little raw though, and needs to work a lot on his positioning and particularly his concentration.”

He may not be Digne, but he is certainly a decent back-up to have. You could only imagine the chaos at Finch Farm right now if they didn’t sign Nknounkou this summer.

AND in other news,ÂAncelotti must offload Everton outcast this January, already cost over £40m…

Manchester United can’t moan too much about how their transfer window went. The Red Devils spent £75m on new players in the summer, bringing in the likes of Donny van de Beek, Amad Diallo, Alex Telles and Facundo Pellistri, as well as former Paris Saint-Germain striker Edinson Cavani.

In fact, Man United are the third highest spenders in the Premier League over the past decade, which is fuelled by big fees for players like Harry Maguire, Paul Pogba and Romelu Lukaku in recent years. But Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side didn’t sign Jadon Sancho, who was their top target all summer, as Borussia Dortmund refused to budge over his £108m transfer fee.

Whilst Solskjaer insisted Sancho was his number one target, United chief Ed Woodward was unwilling to cough up such a colossal amount, and the 13-cap England international will stay at the Signal Iduna Park for the rest of the season. Although the Red Devils are likely to return for him in 2021, the lack of money indicates that it may not happen.

In fact, it’s fair to say that the fact that Woodward couldn’t get a deal done could come back to haunt United in the near future, with both Barcelona and Real Madrid waiting in the wings, but one Old Trafford academy graduate will be counting his lucky stars. Mason Greenwood may be the biggest winner from the Sancho transfer fiasco.

Greenwood, who is naturally a centre-forward, has been asked to play out of position on the right flank while Solskjaer remains desperately short of wide options. Last season, the 18-year-old played 31 games in the Premier League, scored ten goals and supplied one assist, whilst he averaged 1.3 shots per game, via WhoScored. If Sancho had come in in the summer, then it may have limited his playing time on the pitch this season.

However, with the out-of-favour Daniel James and Jesse Lingard his only real competition on the right wing, Greenwood has the chance to nail down a spot in the starting XI, especially considering the fact that Amad Diallo won’t join the club until January.

After he made an “electric” start to last season for the United U18s, The Manchester Evening News correspondent Joe Bray noted “his performances have certainly caught the eye.”

Whilst Dan James’ stock has dramatically fallen after such a promising start, Greenwood must make the most of this opportunity, as the Sancho deal falling through means it is his time to shine, and he has to take it if he wants to continue to feature regularly in the future.

AND in other news, Man Utd can plan for life without Paul Pogba by starting Donny van de Beek…