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A specialist in sports law has dropped an arbitration claim on the potential takeover of Newcastle United by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) group.

Speaking to The Chronicle, Peter Nunn has claimed:

“The arbitration can still go ahead, even if Newcastle are relegated.

“What matters is whether Newcastle were a member of the Premier League at the time of the “cause of action” – the point at which Newcastle are alleging the Premier League were in the wrong.

“It becomes an issue for the EFL to decide if the Saudis still want to buy a Championship club. But if they get promoted, they’ve still got the same issue where they have to meet the Premier League’s test.

“It’s in their interest to resolve it whether they go down or not, and get the Premier League’s okay for this takeover to go through.”

Newcastle should prioritise staying up

Even though the pending arbitration case between the St. James’ Park faithful and the Premier League can still go ahead even if the North East club were to find themselves relegated from the top flight down to the EFL Championship come the end of the 2020/21 term, Steve Bruce’s team should still be prioritising staying up in the division.

A bigger concern should also be if the KSA’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) were willing to come back onto the table if the Tyneside club were stuck in the Championship, as it would be a far less attractive proposition for them to take over than if they were still in the top flight.

Mike Ashley may also be a lot more reluctant to sell the Magpies given that he would not be able demand anywhere close to his asking price if they found themselves in a lower division.

Nonetheless, the Toon should be prioritising staying up in the league for now and then come to terms with the arbitration hearing once the season comes to an end.

In other news, find out which ‘very strong’ six-foot-two talent NUFC are in talks to sign here!

Aston Villa must seize their perfect chance to sign Celtic striker Odsonne Edouard in this summer’s transfer window.

What’s the story?

Reports in recent months have linked Dean Smith’s side with a move for the Frenchman, and now there has been a major update on his long-term future at Celtic Park.

Eurosport claim that “Edouard is being touted to clubs across England ahead of a potential summer transfer but there seems to be little concrete interest.”

It’s added that a deal to land the striker would be around the £20m mark, and while “it had been expected that there would be a tussle to sign him…at this stage that does not seem to be the case”.

Dean Smith will be buzzing

In Edouard, Villa would land themselves someone who’s been incredibly prolific in his fledgeling career. As well as bagging 20 goals in just 34 games this season – and that too for a Celtic side in turmoil and way off the pace behind Rangers – he’s scored 82 goals in 179 senior games in total.

His former boss at Celtic, Neil Lennon, has raved about the kind of importance he holds at Celtic Park, showering him with praise after one real stand-out display against Ross County.

He said: “He’s hugely important (to us), he’s an outstanding footballer, talismanic almost, he’s so talented, so cool and he had two great finishes. He’s up there with some of the best we’ve had over the last 20 odd years.”

Given Villa have been so heavily reliant on Ollie Watkins up top – he’s played in every single Premier League game thus far this season – bringing in Edouard would lift a massive burden off the striker’s shoulders.

With the suggestion that teams aren’t falling over themselves just yet to sign Edouard, it’s all perfectly set up for Villa to have a clear run at the Frenchman and get a deal done.

And landing him this summer would surely have Smith buzzing at having another top-quality striker in his ranks.

Meanwhile, Aston Villa played a blinder in signing this star…

Southampton are reportedly one of the Premier League clubs most interested in signing Brentford left-back Rico Henry, and if he were to make the move to St Mary’s, he could be a great addition to Ralph Hasenhuttl’s side.

According to the Evening Standard, Henry is likely to be a Premier League player next season regardless of whether or not the Bees earn promotion, and Southampton are leading the interest in the 23-year-old.

The Saints are clearly in the market for a left-back, as they have just Ryan Bertrand available as a natural option in the current squad, and his contract is currently set to expire at the end of the season.

Meanwhile, Jake Vokins’ lack of appearances on loan with Sunderland in League One suggests that he is some way off becoming a regular with the Saints, so signing someone such as Henry would make a lot of sense for Hasenhuttl.

The Englishman has been a key player for Brentford since signing from Walsall in 2016, making 121 appearances for the London club, in which he has contributed two goals and eight assists.

[snack-amp-story url=”https://www.footballfancast.com/web-stories/southampton-saints-ralph-hasenhuttl-martin-semmens-st-marys” title=”Latest Southampton news, transfer rumours and more”]

Henry was a mainstay in Thomas Frank’s side last season as they narrowly missed out on promotion after losing to Fulham in the play-off final, as he appeared in all 49 of their fixtures, averaging a solid 6.83 WhoScored rating.

During his time at Walsall, current Aston Villa manager Dean Smith suggested that Henry was destined for a career at the top, saying: “If I were to liken him to anyone it would be a young Ashley Cole. And it’s up to him how far he can now go in the game.”

He later described the young defender as “something special” as a result of his impressive performances for Walsall as a teenager, and having now established himself as a top left-back in the Championship, it seems clear that the 23-year-old is ready for a move to the top flight.

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If Martin Semmens can convince Henry to make the switch to the south coast, it could prove to be an excellent signing. Even if Bertrand ends up prolonging his stay at St Mary’s, Henry could then go on to be his ideal long-term successor.

In other news… Signed for £9m, sold for £20m: Southampton enjoyed rare transfer success with 31 y/o liability

Crystal Palace are trying to revolutionise their squad as they have a number of players with contracts expiring in the summer. One of the players they are keen on bringing in is Dion Sanderson.

The latest on Sanderson

According to the Daily Mail, the Wolves defender is attracting interest from Palace as well as fellow Premier League sides Brighton and Sheffield United.

This would be an interesting signing for Palace

The defender is currently on loan at League One side Sunderland and is clearly impressing. He has played 18 times (seven from the bench) and has been a rock at the back as he has averaged 1.1 tackles and 2.4 clearances per game (WhoScored).

He has received a lot of praise in recent times. Sunderland manager Lee Johnson said: “He’s a centre-half and at his age level he is an absolute Rolls-Royce”, whilst former Wolves striker Stephen Elliott claimed that “Sanderson has a huge future in the game”.

With the centre-back only 21, he looks to have bags of potential to succeed at a top level. A young defender is just what Palace need, as all their centre-backs who have featured in the league this season are over the age of 30, with Cahill the oldest at 35 (Transfermarkt). Therefore, if they could manage to tempt Wolves to let him go, then it could be a very good acquisition.

In other news, many Palace fans reacted to this update!

After bowing out of the FA Cup with a tame 1-0 defeat to Southampton on Saturday afternoon, Arsenal have the chance to exact immediate revenge when they travel back to St Mary’s tonight.

Mikel Arteta rang the changes for the cup clash against the Saints, seemingly indicating that the Gunners’ priority this season remains the Premier League.

The north Londoners have built up an impressive run of form in recent weeks, with four wins and a draw in their last five league games, but they’ll know that Southampton away from home present a very tricky test – as they saw at the weekend.

Arteta will surely recall a number of his first-team stars for Tuesday night’s game, and with that in mind, below is a look at how the Gunners might line up for the trip to the south coast.

In goal, Bernd Leno will keep his place in between the sticks despite the recent arrival of Brighton goalkeeper Mat Ryan on loan until the end of the Premier League season.

There may be changes in front of him, however, with Gabriel looking shaky in his first start since being forced to quarantine – the Brazilian was the man who inadvertently diverted the ball into the back of the net for Southampton’s winner on Saturday.

Hector Bellerin could also drop out, with Cedric moving back over to the right-hand side, and the Gunners will be hoping Kieran Tierney can shake off a calf problem to start at left-back.

In midfield, Granit Xhaka should start once more, whilst Thomas Partey is likely to be recalled to the starting line-up after being named on the bench for the FA Cup game.

Further forward, Nicolas Pepe and the 70-cap Willian are likely to be dropped after their respective displays against the Saints, with the Gunners’ young guns of Emile Smith Rowe and Bukayo Saka coming back in.

Willian, in particular, has been a disaster of a signing thus far for the Gunners, with no goals whatsoever for his new club, and his last assist coming in a 2-1 defeat to Wolves back in late November.

And with captain Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang confirmed to be out, Gabriel Martinelli should start on the left-hand side, with Alexandre Lacazette returning up front.

Predicted XI: Leno; Cedric, Holding, Luiz, Tierney; Partey, Xhaka; Saka, Smith Rowe, Martinelli; Lacazette.

Meanwhile, Arsenal can sign their next Ashley Cole in this Premier League starlet…

West Ham United were dealt a huge blow in their FA Cup defeat to Manchester United on Tuesday night with Angelo Ogbonna sustaining an ankle injury.

That’s according to the Evening Standard, who note that the Italian centre-half is due for scans after twisting his left ankle while blocking a goal-bound shot from Anthony Martial 16 minutes into the fifth round loss.

Ogbonna let out a hellish scream while down on the Old Trafford turf, but was able to limp back to the dressing room time with the help of the Irons medical team after receiving treatment for quite some.

Moyes will fear Ogbonna facing a lengthy spell on the sidelines having seen the 32-year-old establish a strong partnership beside Watford loanee Craig Dawson in recent weeks, and turn in several pivotal performances to help West Ham contend for European qualification.

The Irons boss also lauds Ogbonna as an important part of his plans at the London Stadium, and confirmed that the former Juventus enforcer has sustained an ankle injury while speaking following Tuesday’s defeat.

“Angelo will be a miss because he has played very well for us. He is a player who has been in the team every game for us, he is important to us,” he said, via quotes by football.london.

The Manchester United affair was Ogbonna’s 25th start of the season across all competitions, having opened all 23 of West Ham’s Premier League games to date plus two of their FA Cup ties.

Moyes has only opted to rest the £4.5m-rated titan against League One side Doncaster Rovers in the fourth round of the FA Cup, as well as all three of his side’s Carabao Cup fixtures.

Moyes’ worst fears coming true and Ogbonna now facing a lengthy spell out of action may leave the West Ham boss with only two fit centre-halves for when his side host Sheffield United in the Premier League on Monday night.

Issa Diop came on to replace Ogbonna against Manchester United, but later became the first player in English football history to be substituted through the recently implemented concussion protocols.

The Frenchman was taken off at half-time following a clash of heads with Martial, to potentially leave Fabian Balbuena and Dawson as Moyes’ only fit out-and-out senior options.

That being the case will afford Balbuena a chance to step up and regain his place in the starting line-up, having fallen into the wilderness in line with Dawson’s progress and be linked with a potential Deadline Day move away from east London last week.

Balbuena had also been tipped to earn a new contract following his run in the side earlier in the campaign, but is now inside the final six-months of his £40,000-per-week deal and has not featured in the top-flight since December 27.

After starting 12 of West Ham’s first 15 league games, the £7m-rated defender has since been left an unused substitute on six occasions and omitted from two matchday squads, while also left on the bench at Old Trafford despite the injuries to Ogbonna and Diop.

Clearly, Moyes prefers a partnership of Ogbonna and Dawson at the back now, but that will likely not be the case against Sheffield United on Monday after the blows suffered in the FA Cup.

AND in other news, West Ham will have to pay in excess of £26.5m to land a prolific 18 goal striker in the summer…

Speaking to French newspaper L’Equipe, via Sport Witness, Eric Abidal has lifted the lid on Tottenham Hotspur and Daniel Levy’s failed coup for Barcelona star Frenkie de Jong – with the former Catalan technical secretary revealing that Spurs ‘made good progress’ but were ultimately beaten.

De Jong, who was a highly sought after midfield prodigy at the time, with Manchester City, Paris-Saint Germain and Bayern Munich all chasing his signature at one stage, also attracted keen interest from Spurs.

Abidal exposes failed Levy coup for de Jong

Indeed, speaking to L’Equipe, Abidal has sent a Tottenham transfer message revealing Levy’s failed coup for de Jong – going on to say that Spurs ‘made good progress’ on the matter but his ‘dream’ was the Nou Camp.

“I was already following Frenkie before arriving at the club. We had to recruit for this position and that was our priority.

“Manchester City, Paris, Bayern and Tottenham made good progress on the matter. But we are Barca and we knew that his dream was to play for us. We therefore decided to attack and first contact Ajax, with whom Barca has always had good relations, then his representative.”

Transfer Tavern take

As this revelation emerges that Spurs were genuine contenders for de Jong, Lilywhites supporters may be wondering what might have been with the 23-year-old ace.

Lauded as an ‘extraordinary footballer’ by Catalans legend Xavi, speaking on the 2022 World Cup’s Instagram account, the Dutchman also attracted praise from none other than former Tottenham boss Mauricio Pochettino.

Quizzed on the midfielder by football.london back in 2019, Pochettino heralded the ‘fantastic’ de Jong as a key player for Ajax – going on to say he fully understood why Barca paid £65 million for his signature.

In other news: Tottenham could lose this talent, find out more here.

Celtic must fend off transfer interest for Ryan Christie amid reports Arsenal are interested in signing him in the January transfer window.

What’s the story?

Recent reports have suggested that the 16-cap Scotland international is a wanted man, with Premier League new boys Leeds United eyeing him up.

Now, 90min claim that Arsenal have joined the race to lure him away from Celtic Park, and that with the attacking midfielder set to enter the final year of his contract next season, “that has put a number of major players in the transfer market on notice”.

The report adds that Christie is considering his options, and would think about a move away if Celtic were to accept an offer for him.

Celtic have to keep him

Whilst Christie might have gone off the boil over the past couple of months – he hasn’t scored in the Scottish Premiership since Aberdeen back in late October – there’s no questioning he’s a player who consistently gets a tonne of goals and assists each season.

He’s already got 15 goals contributions this term, whilst his previous two campaigns with Celtic have also seen him break double figures for both goals and assists each.

Dubbed a “manager’s dream” by Chris Sutton, he’s been one of the first names on the team-sheet this season for Lennon, missing just two games in all competitions, and both of them were for enforced reasons too.

His former teammate at Celtic, and fellow Scotland midfielder Stuart Armstrong, said: “Especially in these last couple of seasons, he’s taken it to another level with Celtic and has been fantastic.

“Even in the European games, he excels. He has so much energy. His technique is spot-on, especially his first touch at speed – that’s incredible. He just poses that attacking threat that every player likes to have.”

It would be a major howler from the Hoops to let him go right now, especially when you consider he’s just 25 and has got the peak years of his career still to come.

Leeds have the perfect opportunity to revisit their interest in Paris Saint Germain’s Julian Draxler, as he nears the end of his current contract in the France capital. The 27-year-old had an irregular 2019/20 season after missing a total of 14 matches through injury and illness and being dropped for a further 13 matches (via Transfermarkt).

Draxler’s four year deal with the Parisians is trickling down and it seems as though the Ligue 1 giants have settled on the idea of allowing him to leave as a free agent. This in itself is odd, considering the fact that they bought the midfielder for a respectable £35.5million. However, their ideology could boil down to the fact that Kylian Mbappe continues to be linked to a move away, which will bring in mega money.

Huge transfer boost for Leeds

For Leeds though, this is an almost ideal situation. Recent talks of attacking midfielder Tyler Roberts potentially leaving on loan could open up a spot in the squad for a player like Draxler. He would challenge Pablo Hernandez, who has disappointed Marcelo Bielsa with his recent outburst during the Leicester game.

Snapping up a worldwide known talent like the 27-year-old would be a huge coup for the Whites, especially signing him on a free contract. The only issue would be his wages, which are a reported £125,000 per week. However, with new signing Rodrigo being given a lucrative deal worth an apparent £120,000 per week, it indicates that Andrea Radrizzani is happy to splash the cash on players he sees potential in.

Draxler should certainly be one of these players. Despite being limited to just six appearances so far this season, he has found the back of the net twice, with his goal against Metz proving to be the difference between a draw and a win for PSG. The former sporting director at Draxler’s former team Schalke lauded him as an “extraordinary talent” whilst he was rising through the ranks of the club.

His numbers have been solid during his time in France, especially for a midfielder. Bielsa is crying out for a creative player who can help Patrick Bamford in front of goal. At the moment, Leeds are relying solely on the striker, which won’t be enough to see them stay in the Premier League for long. Adding Draxler to the ranks could give the Whites a much-needed injection of creativity and fire in the engine room.

In other news, This January loan links put Leeds in worrying position…

On a recent episode of Fabrizio Romano’s ‘Here We Go’ podcast, the Italian journalist revealed that should Manchester City be keen on signing a new centre-back, they could target Villarreal defender Pau Torres.

The 23-year-old defender has also attracted interest from Manchester United recently and it seems as if his time with Unai Emery’s side could soon be coming to an end, but the Citizens arguably don’t need to sign him.

Torres reportedly has a release clause of €50 million (£45.06 million), so it would be an expensive deal for director of football Txiki Begiristain if he wanted to bring him in.

The Citizens already signed both Ruben Dias and Nathan Ake for big money during the summer transfer window, so they are not exactly short of defensive options.

Whilst John Stones might have been the man axed in order to accommodate a new centre-back such as Torres, the Englishman’s recent performances have demonstrated that he is more than capable as a starter in Guardiola’s side.

Signing the Spanish defender would, of course, add to the quality of squad depth at Manchester City which is never a bad thing but considering the impressive performances from City’s defence of late, which has seen them keep six clean sheets in their last eight games, they really don’t need to splash the cash on Torres in January or next summer.

In addition to this, Torres has no experience in the Premier League and has just 55 senior appearances to his name at Villarreal, so he could hardly be considered experienced and would therefore likely be signed as a player for the future, which could harm the development of young defenders such as Eric Garcia and Taylor Harwood-Bellis.

Torres’ performances in La Liga this season have seen him average a sold 6.78 rating, which is significantly less than the impressive 7.25 rating Stones has managed thus far.

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Therefore, City should keep faith in the options they already have and potentially save themselves £45 million on Torres.

And, in other news… Manchester City missed out on a big talent in 2018, touted to be one of the best in the world