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Luke Edwards has dropped a worrying claim involving Newcastle United and the chances of late transfer business.

The Lowdown: Low-budget deals

The St. James’ Park faithful have been linked with a number of low-budget deals involving players such as Hamza Choudhury, Mouctar Diakhaby and Lee Kang-In.

However, with only a few days left until the summer window ends, they need to seriously get a move on if anyone else is planned to arrive in the North East.

The Latest: Edwards on transfer

Writing in his official Twitter page, Edwards has claimed that now ‘there is a growing possibility’ that the Tyneside club will not add any more players to the squad before the deadline hits.

This is because the Magpies are saying that ‘there isn’t money to do it’, even on loan, meaning that they may need to sell players first.

The Verdict: Worrying

It is certainly worrying to hear for the Toon Army that they may not be able to bring anyone else in before the deadline.

Joe Willock has been the only player that has been brought in on a permanent deal so far from Arsenal, and he was in the squad last season anyway, albeit on loan.

Nonetheless, serious questions will need to be asked of the board and Mike Ashley in particular that Steve Bruce is not been given more money to spend in this window.

In other news, find out whose display against Southampton was criticised here!

Three Tottenham Hotspur players are set to be fined by the club for going away on international duty after the red list countries agreement was put into place, according to Alasdair Gold for football.london.

The Lowdown: Premier League agreement

Towards the end of August, it was announced that Premier League clubs would refuse to release players who play for red list countries during the current international break.

It was thought that the agreement would impact between 50 and 60 players. The agreement was put into place amid the concerns of players’ risk to injury or being forced in a hotel for 10 days, whilst there were also concerns over the suitability of food available to players when quarantining in hotels.

Any players who went on international duty would be banned from playing for their clubs for the international window, which is until September 9 plus another five days, duly excluding them from next weekend’s games.

The Latest: Spurs fuming with trio

According to Gold for football.london, Argentina internationals Cristian Romero and Giovani Lo Celso are due to be fined when they return to Tottenham, with club bosses reportedly angry with the pair for travelling in the first place.

Davinson Sanchez is also set to be fined for his decision to go against club wishes, with the Colombia defender playing in both 1-1 draws with Bolivia and Paraguay in the World Cup qualifying stage in recent fays.

Gold said that there is confusion over the return of Romero and Lo Celso, especially after Sunday evening’s dramatic events between Argentina and Brazil, where ANVISA claimed that four Premier League players had entered the latter country without declaring that they had arrived from the UK.

The Verdict: Troubling situation

With Premier League clubs’ decision to not release players for international matches, the players who didn’t follow their employer’s demands can justifiably face punishment.

The drama in the Brazil and Argentina contest could spread further concerns regarding future international breaks, the next of which comes in October.

For Spurs, who are now set to be without three players for their London derby with Crystal Palace on Saturday lunchtime due to quarantine, manager Nuno Espirito Santo won’t be happy with the conduct of the trio, who will hopefully learn from their reckless actions.

In other news, Fabio Paratici has been full of praise for ‘most talented in Europe’ starlet. Find out more here.

Tottenham Hotspur have entered the race to sign highly-promising central midfielder Ilaix Moriba…

What’s the word?

That’s according to the Daily Mail, who claim Spurs are exploring a potential move for the 18-year-old Barcelona prodigy before next week’s transfer deadline.

It’s thought that the north London outfit has held talks with representatives of Moriba in the past week but are cautious over their prospects of sealing him due to the competition vying for his signature.

Arch-rivals Arsenal, as well as fellow Premier League sides Chelsea and Manchester City have been mooted with interest, whilst the youngster rejected the La Liga giant’s initial offer of a new deal.

Moriba’s contract runs out in a year’s time, so the Catalan outfit may be forced into a sale sooner rather than later.

Get it done!

After the signing of Bryan Gil and links to another young midfielder in Pape Sarr, it seems as if the club’s hierarchy, led by new sporting director Fabio Paratici, are planning for an exciting future at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

The arrival of Moriba would add an interesting dimension to Nuno Santo’s midfield and following his breakthrough last season, he could compete for a first-team place right off the bat.

Already valued at £22.5m, the teenage wonderkid made 14 league and four European and domestic cup appearances, in which he scored one goal and provided three assists, as per Transfermarkt.

Whilst these numbers hardly jump off the page, the glowing endorsement over the type of player he is, should do.

“He’s physically very strong, but he’s also a very intelligent player,” claimed Denis Silva Puig, who coached Moriba on Barcelona’s Juvenil A team. “Most people don’t appreciate this. Here he’s called the ‘[Paul] Pogba of Barca’ because he’s like a young Pogba, but also he is very, very intelligent—and that is his big potential. He is a top player, no doubt.”

Also lauded as a “box-to-box” no.6 by another former youth coach Oscar Hernandez, Moriba is likely to be the next big thing to emerge from Barca’s famed La Masia academy.

His sort of presence alongside the likes of Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg and the re-emerging Dele Alli could be one exciting prospect – especially for the latter, who could do with a box-to-box sort to allow him to thrive in a more advanced role, something that was executed every so well under Mauricio Pochettino.

Moriba and Alli could spearhead the engine room for several more years to come.

AND in other news, Bye-bye Ndombele: Paratici could find Spurs’ next Dembele in £26m “outstanding talent”…

Celtic might not have removed all of the rubble from a dismal 2020/21 campaign at Parkhead but Ange Postecoglou’s Bhoys team look like they’re on the right track again.

The Hoops have secured three consecutive wins, scored 13 goals in the process and kept successive clean sheets. They have also moved into the next round of European qualifying after a 7-2 aggregate win over Czech opposition Jablonec.

The performance last week in their 4-2 victory was swashbuckling, but while the offensive play was again dominating on Thursday night, it was a more professional performance at the back in their 3-0 win.

Joe Hart made some top-class saves to prove his worth to the club after arriving from Tottenham, and together with Carl Starfelt, they look like they could be a phenomenal partnership.

Starfelt hasn’t had the easiest of rides since arriving at Parkhead but the big Swedish defender showed signs of stealing the show last night, putting in a combative and elegant performance.

He’s attracted criticism in his opening few matches in Glasgow, with a bizarre back pass towards Scott Bain almost costing Celtic a goal in their defeat to Hearts.

The Swede was fortunate not to give away a penalty against Jablonec this week, but otherwise it was an impressive display.

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We know that Starfelt is a fantastic passer of the ball and that was apparent on Thursday evening as he completed a whopping 91% of his passes in front of a raucous Parkhead crowd. Furthermore, the centre-back won back possession on nine occasions, the second-highest number by a Celtic player.

Speaking at full-time on A Celtic State of Mind, Paul John Dykes was keen to praise him: “Starfelt had his best game in a Celtic jersey so far,” he began.

“He might have given away a penalty and got away with that one but he’s starting to look like the player we thought he was when he first came in.”

Dykes concluded: “He’s got a bit of Tony Mowbray about him. He reminds me of Tony Mowbray with the way he moves about the park.”

Although there was a slight mishap, the Swede was much improved beyond that and looks as though he could be a real find for the Hoops.

After a turbulent start to the new campaign for Nir Bitton, it will delight Postecoglou that he can now rely on Starfelt and Stephen Welsh to set the tone at the back.

AND in other news, Celtic must sign 25-goal “great talent” who could become “better” than Henrik Larsson…

CSKA Moscow forward Adolfo Gaich has an offer from Leeds United, according to TUTTOmercatoWEB.

The Lowdown: Gaich profiled

Gaich, an out-and-out centre-forward, spent last season on loan at Italian side Benevento.

The 22-year-old, known as ‘The Tank’ back in Argentina, scored twice in 15 appearances in Italy.

On £22,000-a-week, he has netted 10 times in 60 senior appearances throughout his career so far and turned out three times for Argentina at this summer’s Olympic Games.

He stands at 6 foot 2 and still has four years remaining on his CSKA Moscow contract, but it appears as if he could be on the move again in the current window.

The Latest: Leeds offer

TUTTOmercatoWEB shared a story on Wednesday evening regarding Gaich.

They suggested that he looks set to leave on loan, believing there is an offer from the Whites and Marcelo Bielsa.

Gaich, however, would like to return to Italy following his time with Benevento.

The Verdict: Additions needed in other areas first

It is thought that a central midfielder is a ‘priority’ at Elland Road, with a new winger also possible later in the window.

So, with Gaich a traditional number nine, it doesn’t appear a move to Yorkshire will gather pace anytime soon.

He could well be a player Bielsa is aware of due to the Argentine links, but Leeds have other areas they need to add to first before they can think of bringing in a striker to rival Patrick Bamford and Rodrigo Moreno, namely some additional depth behind Kalvin Phillips in midfield.

In other news: Phil Hay addresses Lewis O’Brien links, find out more here. 

Ange Postecoglou gave a curt response to the suggestion that Tottenham are merely fighting for a fourth-place finish in the Premier League.

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• Spurs sitting fifth in Premier League table
• Postecoglou asked about their targets
• Suggested they could dinish higher than fourth

• WHAT HAPPENED?

  Spurs are currently fifth in the English top-flight and five points behind Aston Villa, who occupy fourth place. Although Liverpool, Arsenal and Manchester City are widely regarded as the only real candidates for the Premier League title, Postecoglou has suggested his team could still get into the mix.

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  WHAT POSTECOGLOU SAID

  Asked at a press conference if a fourth-place finish would make the season a success, the Australian replied: "I'm not really sure, I haven't read the competition rules but my understanding is that we're not just battling for fourth place at this stage."

• WATCH THE CLIP

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• THE BIGGER PICTURE

  Postecoglou walked into a difficult situation at Spurs given they sold star striker Harry Kane to Bayern Munich in the summer. While he is happy with the progress they have made over the course of the season, he admits they have a lot of work to do to get to the level he wants to reach.

  He added: "We still have a lot of work to do. Have we made progress? Yes, I believe we definitely have made progress from where we were at the start of the year and you don't lost sight of that because a lot of people have worked hard to get us into the position we're in right now."

Marco Arnautovic missed a number of big opportunities, but found the net when it mattered as Inter fought to a 1-0 first leg win over Atletico Madrid

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• Arnautovic scored the only goal of the game
• Griezmann had little impact, substituted with knock
• Second leg set for mid-March

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  TELL ME MORE

  Inter had a handful of good chances to take the lead early in the second half, but substitute Arnautovic squandered most of them. Then, in the 78th minute, he capitalised, turning home a rebound from a tight angle to give the home side a 1-0 lead. Atletico, for their part, offered little, failing to put a shot on target. The home side will feel this could have been more convincing, but the narrow margin is enough – for now.

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  THE MVP

  Arnautovic spent most of the evening missing chances. He blasted two over, dragged a header wide, and failed to get on the end of a teasing cross. Still, when his moment came, the big striker capitalised. His chance wasn't the hardest one, but he found the net from a tight angle. Inter should have won by three or four here. But one, from Arnautovic, might just be enough for now.

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  THE BIG LOSER

  These are the kinds of games that Griezmann is supposed to dominate. Instead, he was rendered toothless. The buzzing attacking midfielder constantly looked for spaces to operate in, but found few. By the end of it all, he only managed two touches in the Inter box, and created just one chance on the evening.

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• WHAT COMES NEXT?

  The two sides will continue their domestic campaigns before meeting for the second leg on March 13. Inter are set to face Lecce on Sunday, while Atleti travel to face struggling Almeria.

A number of Sheffield Wednesday supporters have been hailing Fisayo Dele-Bashiru’s performance in the friendly win over Port Vale.

The Owls are continuing to prepare for life in League One, with Darren Moore trying to mastermind a swift return to the Championship.

Bailey Peacock-Farrell and Lewis Wing both joined Wednesday on loan on Tuesday and the pair played a part in the friendly meeting with Port Vale.

[freshpress-quiz id=“359326”]

It was Moore’s side who prevailed 2-1 on the night, in what proved to be a good run out, as the League One opener away to Charlton Athletic a week on Saturday edges closer all the time.

Someone who caught the eye in the match was Dele-Bashiru, who only managed two starts in the Championship in the whole of last season.

The 20-year-old scored the winning goal with 79 minutes on the clock and impressed supporters in his all-round performance.

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Sheff Wed fans laud Dele-Bashiru performance

These Wednesday fans took to Twitter to heap praise on the youngster, having watched a video of his goal.

“The best player in the world”

Credit: @ejc18671

“That’s classy that”

Credit: @joshpars_

“Don’t you ever dare doubt this boy”

Credit: @__danknight__

“FDB>Ronaldo like if you agree”

Credit: @swfcsampo

“Bashiru is a beast”

Credit: @Adolphiggler

“Gonna be some player that lad”

Credit: @JonOwls1867

In other news, two clubs are believed to be eyeing up a move for one key Sheff Wed player. Find out who it is here.

The midfielder returned to the line-up and dictated the tempo as Mike Arteta's side maintained their superb domestic form to start 2024

Arsenal bounced back from their midweek European disappointment with a thumping 4-1 win against Newcastle on Saturday to move back to within two points of Liverpool at the top of the Premier League.

The convincing success continued Mikel Arteta's side's stunning start to 2024 in the league, with the Gunners having now become the first team in Premier League history to score two or more goals in seven consecutive halves of football.

Since losing to Fulham on December 31, Arsenal have won six league games on the spin, scoring 25 goals and letting in just three. It's a remarkable run of form which has seen them breathe new life into a title bid that had seemed to be faltering.

Newcastle just had no answer to the home side's intensity, and after Sven Botman had put through his own net early on, Kai Havertz added a second after some fine play by Gabriel Martinelli.

Bukayo Saka scored an excellent third after the interval before Jakub Kiwior glanced in a fourth. Newcastle did pull a goal back late on through former Arsenal man Joe Willock, but it was no more than a consolation.

GOAL rates Arsenal's players from Emirates Stadium…

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  Goalkeeper & Defence

  David Raya (7/10):

  Didn't really put a foot wrong. Barely called upon to make a save, but his distribution was strong and he controlled his area well. Could do nothing with Willock's late header.

  Ben White (8/10):

  Looks to be enjoying the inverted full-back role he has been asked to play in recent weeks. Was heavily involved in Arsenal's build-up, especially in the first half.

  William Saliba (7/10):

  As calm as always. Cruised through the first half and kept things tight after the interval as Newcastle provided more of a threat.

  Gabriel Magalhaes (8/10):

  Saw his close range header saved in the move that led to the early own goal. Handled the threat of Isak well.

  Jakub Kiwior (7/10):

  Another solid display from the stand in left-back. Continues to deputise well for Zinchenko and Tomiyasu, and was rewarded when he headed home the fourth goal in the second half.

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  Midfield

  Jorginho (9/10):

  Absolutely outstanding. His first half display is as good a midfield performance as you will see all season. Pulled the strings all evening with his passing. Arteta's decision not to start him at Porto looks all the more baffling.

  Declan Rice (7/10):

  Newcastle really struggled to stop his driving runs forward. Unlucky not to score when he saw his shot saved by Karius.

  Martin Odegaard (8/10):

  It was tiring just watching the way he pressed all night. He didn't give the Newcastle backline a second's rest. Led by example.

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  Attack

  Bukayo Saka (8/10):

  Unlucky not to score in the first half when he was denied by Karius. Linked up so well with Odegaard at times. His set-piece delivery was excellent all night and deserved the goal he bent into the far corner in the second half

  Kai Havertz (7/10):

  Set the tone for Arsenal's performance with his work-rate early on. Led the line really well and popped up with another important goal, but missed a golden chance to make it 3-0 early in the second half.

  Gabriel Martinelli (7/10):

  Brilliant run and cross for Havertz's goal. Didn't stop making runs all night. A real handful.

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  Subs & Manager

  Leandro Trossard (6/10):

  Lively second-half cameo. Busy down the left.

  Emile Smith Rowe (6/10):

  So unlucky not to score when his late shot was cleared off the line.

  Reiss Nelson (5/10):

  Had one nice run down the right

  Eddie Nketiah (5/10):

  Couldn't really get involved.

  Mohamed Elneny (N/A):

  On for the final few minutes.

  Mikel Arteta (8/10):

  He will be delighted with what he saw from his team, especially after such a demanding week. The decision to start with Jorginho in midfield certainly paid off.

According to a report by The Telegraph, Fabio Paratici and co have made Southampton striker Danny Ings Tottenham’s new transfer priority this summer.

The Lowdown: New striker incoming?

Tottenham did not take up the option to make Carlos Vinicius’ 2020/2021 season-long loan a permanent move, with Sky Sports recently detailing that the club will be on the look out for a new forward.

Ings has been loosely linked to Spurs this summer but now The Telegraph have taken that one step further.

The Latest: Spurs make Ings priority…

As per the outlet and reliable journalist Matt Law, Paratici and co have now earmarked the 28-year-old as a possible partner for Harry Kane this summer.

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It is believed the club have now made Ings a priority signing for Spurs with a firm belief he can play alongside Kane under Nuno Espirito Santo.

Tottenham’s new manager allegedly wants to play two up front with a ready-made Premier League goal scorer next to their superstar talisman.

This comes after recruitment meetings, which followed the appointments of Nuno and Paratici, where it has been recommended that Spurs pursue Ings this summer.

The Verdict: Do it Paratici…

We could think of no better possible partner for Kane next season as Nuno eyes a dynamic duo up front.

Scoring 12 goals and assisting four others in the English top flight over 2020/2021, he also averaged more shots on goal per game (2) than the likes of Son Heung-min and Gareth Bale (WhoScored).

His threat in the final third is perhaps best summed up by Alan Hutton when speaking to Football Insider, who called simply him a ‘proven goalscorer’.

Jamie O’Hara also believes he would be a great Tottenham acquisition, labelling Ings the ‘perfect fit’ for Spurs when speaking to talkSPORT.

He could indeed be a worthwhile acquisition for Spurs this summer.

In other news: Tottenham chiefs perform Kane U-turn as report shares behind-scenes developments, find out more here.