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Aston Villa have taken young midfielder Taylor Clark on trial, according to Ashley Preece.

The Lowdown: Clark profiled

Clark is a midfielder who currently plies his trade with Suffolk-based Needham Market.

Described as an ‘unbelievably talented’ player by Needham manager Kevin Horlock, the 17-year-old has progressed through the club’s academy and recently started against Yeovil Town in the FA Trophy.

Villa bolstered their academy ranks in January with the acquisition of Kerr Smith from Dundee United, and although the deadline has now passed, it seems as if a cut-price move for Clark could be on the cards.

The Latest: Villa trial

Preece shared a story for Birmingham Live on Monday evening regarding Villa and Clark.

He stated that the youngster is set to train with Sean Verity’s under-18 side and will play in two academy games at Bodymoor Heath.

The Verdict: Interesting

It’s good to see that Villa are always on the hunt for young talent, and if Clark can impress sufficiently, he might just become the latest addition to the Midlanders’ ranks.

You’d expect that Villa may have to pay the non-league side a fee for the teenager should they wish to offer him a contract, but it could be a nominal sum due to his age and status with the lower league club.

It looks set to be one to watch out for over the coming weeks, with Villa potentially making a head start on their summer academy business.

In other news: ‘Hats off to the board’ – Sky Sports pundit purrs at ‘amazing’ out-of-the-blue Villa transfer news

Hopes for Boli Bolingoli will have been high at Celtic upon his £3m arrival at Parkhead back in 2019, with the Hoops subsequently selling first-choice left-back Kieran Tierney in the same transfer window.

Indeed, the defender had impressed over his 25 Bundesliga appearances for Rapid Vienna in the season prior, scoring two goals, registering two assists and helping his side keep eight clean sheets in the league, as well as making an average of two interceptions, 1.4 tackles, 1.2 clearances and winning 4.4 duels per game.

However, after making a mere 14 Scottish Premiership appearances in his debut campaign, things took a further turn for the worst for Bolingoli last season, when the left-back travelled to Spain without informing Celtic, as well as breaking quarantine restrictions on his return to Scotland.

This led to the left-back receiving a three-match ban from the Scottish FA, while Neil Lennon also took the decision to bomb the former Belgian U16 international out of his squad, with the club labelling his actions as “irresponsible” and the Northern Irishman sending him on loan to Istanbul Basaksehir for the duration of 2020/21.

In Turkey, the £12.5k-per-week man also failed to impress over his 12 Super Lig appearances, helping his side keep just two clean sheets, as well as making an average of 1.5 interceptions, 1.8 tackles, 0.9 clearances and winning 3.6 duels per fixture.

These returns saw the 26-year-old average a disappointing seasonal SofaScore match rating of 6.74, ranking him as Basaksehir’s 17th-worst performer in the Turkish top flight.

And, while Bolingoli has featured once for Celtic under the new leadership of Ange Postecoglou, the defender has been left out of the Celtic squad for the majority of their games this season, suggesting that the future does not look overly bright for the left-back at Parkhead.

Further still, as a result of this lack of game time over the past two seasons, Bolingoli’s value has plummeted from £3.15m at the time of his move to Scotland to just £1.98m today – meaning that, should Postecoglou wish to move the Belgian on any time soon, he will almost certainly have to take a loss in the transaction.

As such, with the benefit of hindsight, it would have to be said that Celtic’s former chief executive Peter Lawwell had something of a nightmare when signing Bolingoli back in 2019.

In other news: Forget Rogic: Ange could save Celtic millions by unleashing “fantastic” teen prodigy

As Tottenham Hotspur are set to hand a big role to sporting director Fabio Paratici, journalist Jack Pitt-Brooke of the Athletic has dropped an exciting behind the scenes claim involving the 48-year-old (Twitter).

The Lowdown: Paratici and Spurs…

Reports last week heavily linked the Italian with a role on Tottenham’s board amid all the noise surrounding talks with former Inter Milan boss Antonio Conte.

Both men have worked together closely in the past at Juventus, and while Spurs couldn’t get Conte through the door, Paratici is set to land a big role at the Lilywhites.

The Latest: Athletic journalist drops exciting Paratici claim

Indeed, Pitt-Brooke has explained on social media that Paratici will oversee all footballing decisions and ‘especially’ Spurs’ search for a new manager.

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As well as this, there is apparently huge confidence behind the scenes at Spurs in the chief’s ability to run and operate an efficient football club.

“Fabio Paratici on his way in to Spurs. Will be handed a big role overseeing all football decisions, especially the new head coach,” said Pitt-Brooke (via Twitter).

“Expectations are high inside Tottenham that Paratici’s networking and negotiating skills will help the club, that he will add more football expertise to the ‘Football Board’, and that he will drive up standards (which have slipped) across the board. Big job to step into!”

The Verdict: Interesting times ahead…

News that Paratici will be overseeing more of the footballing decision-making as an alternative to chairman Daniel Levy must surely come as exciting for Spurs fans.

Tottenham will now revert back to the sporting director model and the most interesting aspect of this development could be that Paratici will now be heavily involved in the manager hunt, something that has been hectic to say the least under Levy’s leadership.

Pitt-Brooke’s claim that there is much optimism inside the club could at least fill Spurs fans with confidence that he may make an informed and educated decision, rather than the scattergun approach which has seen countless names linked in the media over the last few weeks.

In other news: Paratici has his eyes on this ‘top class’ player for Spurs, find out more here.

West Ham United are one of the clubs who ‘have asked’ about Fiorentina goalkeeper Bartlomiej Dragowski, according to Italian transfer journalist Nicolo Schira.

Schira reported back in February that Bundesliga side Borussia Dortmund had expressed an interest.

But he’s now delivered an update, revealing that West Ham and their Premier League rivals Everton and Tottenham Hotspur have entered the race.

Dragowski’s contract at Fiorentina expires in 2023, Schira wrote, and the Serie A outfit are hopeful of agreeing an extension.

But an offer in the region of €20million could be enough to prise him away from the Artemio Franchi Stadium.

The lowdown on West Ham target Dragowski

Fiorentina signed Dragowski from Jagiellonia in Poland for a fee of £2.25million in 2016. Having spent time on loan at Empoli, Dragowski has racked up 85 Serie A appearances. In that time he’s conceded 131 goals and kept 18 clean sheets (via Transfermarkt).

The 23-year-old set a new Serie A record (via Football Italia) for saves in a single match at the back-end of the 2018/19 season. He made a quite frankly outrageous 17 stops as Atalanta miraculously failed to score against Empoli from 47 attempts on goal.

Transfer Tavern verdict

Dragowski may well have been identified as a potential successor to his compatriot Lukasz Fabianski, who has just turned 36 and is about to enter the final year of his contract at the London Stadium.

He could serve as no. 2 behind the veteran stopper next season as preparation for a handover, or even challenge him for the shirt given the mistakes that appear to be seeping into Fabianski’s game, such as against Newcastle.

Patience would be required, but given time we feel Dragowski could demonstrate his immense talent in East London.

In other news, West Ham are said to be keen on this forward.

It could be time for West Ham to finally offload Manuel Lanzini this summer…

What’s the word?

According to El Intransigente, the Irons are prepared to sell the 28-year-old midfielder as he’s no longer an integral part of the squad, often finding himself out of the starting XI, and his former club River Plate are keen to bring him back to Argentina.

Lanzini only signed a contract extension in 2019, keeping him at the Hammers until 2023 after joining the east London club for £9m three years earlier.

Claret & Hugh also believe the attacking maestro is available for transfer if the right price is offered, but it remains to be seen exactly how much that is. The five-time international is currently valued at just €7m (£6m) by CIES Football Observatory and is thought to be raking in around £70,000 per week as one of the Irons’ highest earners.

Stealing a living

Barring the odd stunner – that goal against Tottenham this season springs to mind – Lanzini has not been the same player since he ruptured his anterior cruciate ligament back in 2018.

Given his age, he’s rather unlikely to ever get back to his best – or at least the level required for a likely European battle next term.

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In the last three seasons, the Argentina playmaker has failed to score more than one goal and provide more than two assists in the Premier League. That’s a total of two goals and four assists across three years, as per WhoScored, and that is simply not good enough.

The Hammers also signed Said Benrahma in the summer transfer win dow and will push to keep hold of Jesse Lingard, so there’s really no need to keep Lanzini festering away on their books. As Frank McAvennie told Football FanCast exclusively this month, the 28-year-old is “a luxury player.”

Darren Bent once told Football Insider that the midfielder had “wonderful feet” and was “certainly a top player,” but on the above evidence, he hasn’t delivered for some time and is merely stealing a living at this point.

Any fee accrued from his departure and the burden of his wages lifted off the club’s books could go towards a new signing or two, and we know how desperate Moyes will be for a striker, so it certainly makes sense to get rid of Lanzini sooner rather than later.

It’s time to show no mercy and offload the West Ham flop this summer.

AND in other news, Forget Abraham: £18m-rated “monster” could take West Ham to a new level…

Celtic saw a massive amount of transfer activity take place during the previous summer window in terms of the number of players that moved in and out of the club.

One player that ended up waving goodbye to the Parkhead club is midfielder Olivier Ntcham.

Having joined the Hoops back in the 2017 summer transfer window from Manchester City for a fee of £4.5m, the Frenchman ended up making 147 appearances for the Bhoys across all competitions.

In those appearances, the 26-year-old found the back of the net 24 times and delivered 13 assists.

After spending a short loan spell with Marseille between February and June last year, the midfielder finally found himself leaving Celtic on a permanent basis as he join Championship club Swansea City on a free transfer.

Since then, the former City youngster has made 33 appearances for the Welsh club in the Championship, prior to their match against Reading.

Despite scoring four goals and providing three assists in those appearances, the midfielder’s overall performances have not been particularly impressive.

Even though he has the second-highest number of shots this season in Swansea’s squad with 55, only 19 of them have been on target.

From a defensive point of view, the £14k-per-week former Hoops gem has only managed to make 12 interceptions and eight tackles in addition to committing 14 tackles and picking up three yellow cards.

His overall performances have earned Ntcham a rather underwhelming season rating of 6.55/10 according to WhoScored, which would put him among some of the lowest-rated players in Ange Postecoglou’s squad to start more than one league game by the same metric.

Having been labelled as a “disgrace” in the past for his performances for Celtic by Noel Whelan, there isn’t much in his time at Swansea that will have made many people at the Parkhead club wish they had kept hold of him.

As well as this, Alan Hutton claimed that the midfielder “downed tools” during the latter stages of his spell with the Bhoys, which also makes it easy to see why the club got rid of him and why they will now be having the last laugh.

Taking all of this into account, it seems as though it was a masterclass from Postecoglou to sanction this move for Ntcham to join Swansea.

With the Hoops boasting the best attacking and defensive record in the SPFL, it’s hard to imagine many supporters wishing they still had the Frenchman in their ranks.

In other news: Ange can finally axe £10.5k-p/w Celtic disaster with “unbelievable” £5m “terrier”

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!

While a number of clubs in the Premier League will have their transfer strategy firmly in place, Everton’s will be in disarray.

Carlo Ancelotti’s decision to flee Merseyside three weeks ago has meant that their plans have had to be ripped up and thrown away. After all, seemingly incoming manager Rafa Benitez may want to focus on other targets.

On the chalkboard

Ancelotti may have brought Allan and Abdoulaye Doucoure to the club last summer but signing a midfielder or two should be near the top of the new manager’s agenda.

Tom Davies has been linked with the exit door, while they could do with improving upon Andre Gomes. The former Barcelona midfielder is tidy on the ball but, when it comes to the physical side of his game, he is often bullied by the more aggressive players in the English top flight.

His form against the bigger clubs was particularly questionable as the Portuguese won just one of his 12 duels against Liverpool back in February. He then won only three of 14 duels against Chelsea in March.

Gomes suffered a horrendous leg fracture during the 2019/20 campaign but he’s arguably not been the same player since. That’s not Everton’s fault but they should look to provide him with some extra competition to help him improve his game, especially if Davies leaves.

The solution

Everton have had a profitable relationship with Barcelona in recent years, not only signing Gomes but also luring Lucas Digne and Yerry Mina to Goodison Park from Catalonia.

They could use that to their advantage again this summer to sign Miralem Pjanic.

Reports towards the beginning of the month suggested that Everton were interested in his services. That said, Marcel Brands will have to cough up a decent sum, with the Spanish giants refusing to sell him for anything less than €35m (£30m).

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The Bosnian playmaker has been described as “world-class” by Raphael Honigstein in the past but appears to be surplus to requirements under former Everton boss Ronald Koeman at Camp Nou.

Barcelona’s loss would be the Toffees’ gain, however, as he’s an exceptional midfielder capable of adding extra spice to their central options. Last season, the Bosnia international completed over 91% of his passes, a tally which easily usurps every single player the Merseysiders own.

Pjanic failed to contribute to a goal in his opening campaign with Barca but he was a passing master during his time in Italy with Juventus and Roma, capable of unlocking the sternest of defences.

The 31-year-old provided 12 assists during his final two seasons with Juventus, playing 2.3 key passes and then 1.9 key passes per game over those terms (WhoScored). Those numbers top every player at Goodison Park over the course of the 2020/21 season, including the aforementioned Gomes and James Rodriguez.

With that in mind, he would be a superb addition to the Everton squad this summer.

AND in other news, Greg O’Keeffe issues big Everton manager update, fans must be livid…

According to a report by TUTTOmercatoWEB, as translated and shared by Sport Witness, West Ham have now made ‘concrete moves’ for Cagliari forward Giovanni Simeone.

The Lowdown: West Ham scouring for striker…

West Ham have been monitoring new centre-forwards for some time, with ExWHUemployee previously claiming Ivan Toney, Tammy Abraham, Adam Armstrong and Youssef En-Nesyri were on the radar.

More recently, the likes of Paul Onuachu have also sprung into contention for a summer move to east London.

Star striker Michail Antonio suffered a variety of injury issues over 2020/2021 and West Ham need to bolster their forward line ahead of a busy campaign in the Europa League.

The Latest: West Ham have now made ‘concrete moves’ for Simeone…

As per TMW (via Sport Witness), West Ham have now made ‘concrete moves’ for Simeone alongside Ligue 1 giants Marseille.

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He is attracting a lot of attention from rival clubs this summer in Italy too, with Torino, Sampdoria and Bologna all interested in a swoop.

It is the Irons and Marseille, though, who have made ‘concrete’ moves for the player – with Simeone himself tempted by the prospect of playing abroad.

The 25-year-old has apparently ‘winked’ at interested clubs across the continent with a desire to test his abilities away from Italy.

The Verdict: Better options…

Simeone has bagged 50 Serie A goals in total since first moving to the division in 2016, having enjoyed stints at Genoa, Fiorentina and now Cagliari.

The fact he is eager to test himself abroad could also help West Ham make a move, but we believe the Irons are better targeting other forwards.

Strikers like Toney (33 goals), Armstrong (29 goals) and Onuachu (35 goals), who have all just enjoyed prolific seasons throughout all competitions, arguably come as better options.

In other news: ‘Yes yes yes’, ‘I soooo hope this is true’…West Ham fans flock to transfer claim, find out more here.

Celtic defender Greg Taylor has had his say on the possibility of Southampton winger Mohamed Elyounoussi making his loan move at the club permanent in the summer.  

The Norway international is approaching the end of his second loan spell in Glasgow. He has scored 15 goals and registered six assists in 40 appearances this season, with his standout displays coming against Lille and Motherwell towards the end of 2020.

Recent reports have suggested that the Saints could sell Elyounoussi in the summer to boost their transfer funds, with Ralph Hasenhuttl keen to take a look at the 26-year-old before making a decision.

Speaking to the Daily Record, Taylor admitted that the Celtic dressing room would be happy if Elyounoussi made his Parkhead stay permanent. He said:

“You need to ask Moi and the board what is going to happen. It is certainly not a decision for me.

“But we, obviously, always want to always keep our players. If there is an opportunity further down the line for him to stay at the club, then I’m sure the boys would be happy with that. Moi is a talented boy.

“You don’t move for the money he has in his career without being so talented.”

Transfer Tavern take

Elyounoussi’s Transfermarkt valuation stands at £10.8m and he still has more than two years remaining on his St Mary’s deal. However, reports in February suggested that his price tag could crash to just £5m this summer.

Should that be the case, we see a permanent deal as a no-brainer for the Hoops. Capable of playing on the left, behind the striker or as a centre-forward, Elyounoussi has proven his versatility and quality at Parkhead in what has been a disappointing campaign for the club.

He has averaged a goal or assist every 101 minutes in all competitions, taking his total Celtic tally to 62 appearances, 22 goals and 12 assists.

It seems as if he is approaching the prime of his career at 26, so if a £5m deal is achievable, it could be a smart idea to sign Elyounoussi up on a long-term basis, especially with his teammates seemingly on board with the idea.

In other news: Celtic could make embarrassing loss in Odsonne Edouard transfer, find out more here.