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This article is part of Football FanCast’s Transfer Focus series, which provides opinion and analysis on recent transfer news…

According to Portuguese media outlet A Bola, Tottenham Hotspur are still interested in signing Sporting Lisbon attacking midfielder Bruno Fernandes, and one of his under-the-radar traits mean that he is perfect for Spurs.

What’s the word, then?

Well, A Bola report that having failed with an attempt to bring the Portugal international to north London during the previous summer transfer window, they are ready to try again.

The report says that Tottenham remain interested in the 25-year-old, who has started the season well with the Portuguese giants – scoring seven goals and providing a further five assists in 10 matches in all competitions, according to Transfermarkt.

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A Bola also hint that the 25-year-old could be seen as a potential replacement for Christian Eriksen, who is attracting interest from Real Madrid.

Fernandes is a leader

When most Tottenham fans see this latest link to Fernandes they will automatically think about his brilliant record in the final third for Sporting – 55 goals and 43 assists in 119 outings – but there is something else, which tends to go under the radar, about him that catches the eye.

The attack-minded player is also the Liga NOS outfit’s captain, showing his leadership skills by skippering the team in every game he has played so far this term.

That suggests the 25-year-old is clearly admired at the club and in the dressing room by his peers, and he is trusted to be vocal on the pitch when he needs to be.

It is something that has sometimes been missing when you look at Spurs at times this term, with nobody really grabbing things by the scruff of the neck when they have been struggling – see the 7-2 defeat against Bayern Munich and the 3-0 loss against Brighton and Hove Albion last time out as prime examples.

A lot of their so-called senior players have ultimately gone missing when things have gone wrong on the pitch, and the fact that Fernandes is Sporting captain suggests he would stand up and be counted if he was a Tottenham player.

Another strong character looks to be exactly what Mauricio Pochettino and Co need right now, and perhaps that is why they are exploring a potential January move for the Portugal international.

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The lads ??
A post shared by Matt Doherty (@mattdoherty20) on Oct 17, 2019 at 8:20am PDT

The pair both uploaded the same team photo with different captions.

Both captions show that they feel a great affinity with their teammates, and it shows that above all else they’re a team rather than just a group of individuals.

This sort of spirit within the camp will certainly help Wolves’ aspirations of another top seven finish or a decent Europa League run.

This article is part of Football FanCast’s Opinion series, which provides analysis, insight and opinion on any issue within the beautiful game, from Paul Pogba’s haircuts to League Two relegation battles…

It might seem sacrilegious to suggest, but it’s an option that needs to be explored.

Lukas Jutkiewicz so far has started every game for the Blues this season and has played 90 minutes in all but three of them (via Transfermarkt).

However, with Jutkiewicz currently aged 30, is it time that the Blues consider giving him a bit of time off so that he can be available for them throughout the season rather than risk him being out for a long stretch or simply being ineffective as a result of burnout?

We may be seeing those effects come into play already, as he has failed to find the back of the net since the Stoke City game at the end of August.

Journalist Brian Dick recently said in a Q&A that the forward role has to be the priority for the Blues in January, so it looks as if help may be coming, but with the window still being over two months away, Pep Clotet is going to have to make do with what he’s got.

Birmingham have been relatively short of goals, not just from Jutkiewicz, but from all departments as they struggle for a natural goal scorer.

Although they are having goals chipped in from other areas of the pitch, like Jude Bellingham, Alvaro Gimenez and Fran Villalba, they haven’t been coming in the sort of numbers you’d hope would be able to tie a club over for a long period of time.

The fact that the main forward only has three as we approach the end of October should be a rather worrying sign.

If the rest of the team were to start bringing their fair share to the table, then they wouldn’t have to be relying on him so much to get goals and he’d essentially ‘earn’ a game or two to rest.

However, because that help isn’t particularly forthcoming, he might be at risk of burning out.

We have documented previously on FFC that they do have options in the academy to turn to if things do end up getting too desperate.

One word of warning though if they do decide to give him a game off, as Nottingham Forest recently proved when they rested Lewis Grabban for their game against Wigan Athletic, it didn’t end up going well for them, so they’ll have to pick the games carefully.

In an exclusive interview with Football FanCast on behalf of the London Football Awards, Tony Cottee has revealed that he is concerned by Pablo Fornals’ start at West Ham, but insisted that the Spaniard should not be given up on.

Across the Premier League and Carabao Cup, Fornals has already made six starts and six more substitute appearances for the Hammers, but as of yet, has only managed a return of one goal, with that coming against Newport County, as per WhoScored.

Cottee has taken little encouragement from what he has seen of the 23-year-old since he was signed from Villarreal during the summer: “I’m concerned, obviously, because so far he’s really, really struggled with the pace of the Premier League.”

However, the former West Ham striker doesn’t think fans should be writing him off just yet: “What I will say is that he’s not alone in that. We’ve seen many players over the years who have struggled to start with in the Premier League.

“I can think of a young Thierry Henry, who I’m sure would tell you himself, found it very, very difficult the first three, four months of his time at Arsenal, look what a player he turned out to be.”

Henry managed to score just once in his first 12 Premier League appearances for Arsenal, before going on to amass 176 league goals for the North London club, as per Transfermarkt.

The lesson from this is not that Fornals is going to match the Frenchman, but that he should be afforded time, as Cottee explained: “I think everyone’s got to be patient with Pablo. It’s been tough for him, but when he gets these opportunities, you’ve got to try and take them.

“You just hope that maybe he’ll have a good game, maybe get a goal or something and then that’ll kick start his career but so far it’s been a really difficult start for him.”

There will need to be a drastic improvement from Fornals if he is to begin making a creative impact, as he is currently only averaging 0.6 key passes and 0.4 dribbles per league game.

Following the excitement of seeing him score twice and get an assist on his way to lifting the U21 Euros trophy during the summer, Fornals’ performances in claret and blue have been a bit anti-climactic so far.

Tony Cottee was speaking as a judge on The London Football Awards, due to take place on 5th March 2020 at Camden’s Roundhouse. Tickets are available from https://

londonfootballawards.org.

Barry Douglas was left out of the squad for Leeds United’s Championship clash with Sheffield Wednesday on Sunday afternoon.

The 30-year-old has made seven Championship appearances for the Whites this season but did not feature against Preston North End on Tuesday night.

Douglas did not even make the bench for the clash with Wednesday as Liam Cooper came back into the squad following his return from injury.

The left-back arrived at Elland Road off the back of a fine season for Wolverhampton Wanderers – contributing five goals and 14 assists in 39 league outings during the 2017/18 campaign.

It has just happened for the Scotland international at Leeds, though, with five assists in 34 matches not exactly the best of returns in comparison.

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As expected, a number of Leeds fans took to social media on Saturday to react to the news that the 5 ft 10 ace had been left out of the squad by head coach Marcelo Bielsa.

And a selection of the tweets can be seen below:

In our Transfers that shook the club feature, Football Transfer Tavern takes a look at deals that had many may not have seen coming and the impact that they had during their time by using statistical data and pundit remarks.

Given that Sheffield United have broken their transfer record a number of times in the calendar year of 2019 it seems a good time to look back on some of their biggest investments of the past as we approach 2020. Indeed, in August 2007, the club broke their transfer record to sign striker James Beattie from Everton for £4 million (via BBC Sport).

The Blades had just been relegated from the Premier League after one season in the top flight, but new manager Bryan Robson was given the funds to sign players who could help them bounce back.

Beattie was very much their main signing, and his arrival had Sheffield United supporters extremely excited. This was a player who had up until that point spent his entire career in the Premier League, and had netted double figures in five of his seasons in the top flight (Transfermarkt).

Signing him was, therefore, a real statement of intent from the South Yorkshire club, and he certainly showed why the Blades made him their record signing on the pitch.

In his first season at Bramall Lane, the former England international scored 22 goals and provided five assists in 39 appearances (Transfermarkt) and was the second top scorer in the Championship.

The Blades failed to win promotion that year, finishing in ninth place but the form of Beattie was certainly a positive for them.

He then picked up where he left off in the 2008/09 season. After 23 games of the campaign, he had already racked up 12 goals and four assists (Transfermarkt), which attracted interest from Premier League clubs.

Ultimately he decided to leave Sheffield United in January 2009, joining Stoke City in the top flight. His departure was a major blow and the Blades ended up losing the play-off final that season, shaking their attempts to return to the top tier.

However, he certainly enjoyed a fruitful spell at Bramall Lane with 34 goals and nine assists in 62 appearances for the club between 2007-09 (Transfermarkt).

He remained their record signing until 2018 when the Blades signed John Egan (Yorkshire Post), and he should still a legend at the club due to his superb goals record in South Yorkshire.

Sheffield United fans, how good was James Beattie during his time at Bramall Lane? Let us know in the comments below…

This article is part of Football FanCast’s Opinion series, which provides analysis, insight and opinion on any issue within the beautiful game, from Paul Pogba’s haircuts to League Two relegation battles…

Exciting reports emerged late on Tuesday night as we finally received an update on QSI’s reported interest in investing in Leeds United.

The update states that discussions between PSG’s owners and the higher-ups at Elland Road are still ongoing, but there’s one big stumbling block that may stand in the way of a deal getting done.

Indeed, Qatari Sports Investments agreed that they value the club at around €60-80m (£51.6-68.8m).

However, this valuation is some way off what Leeds are actually worth.

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Firstly let’s look at United’s squad and their sellable assets. For a start, they’ve got a £15m player in Helder Costa, so for QSI to state that the entire club is worth just four times as much as one of their players is ludicrous.

In fact, Transfermarkt estimate that the overall value of Leeds’ squad is around £84.6m, which drops down to around £61.65m if you take away their loan players. Even then, you have to say that QSI’s assessment is way off on that basis as the club is surely worth more than the sum of its current squad.

Leeds have other sellable assets such as the stadium and the training ground, Elland Road was sold for a fee believed to be around £20m back in 2017, so let’s assume it’s price hasn’t decreased since that point.

It’s a similar story for Thorp Arch, the training ground was reportedly sold in 2004 for £4.2m. The worth of that facility will certainly have increased in the past 15 years, but for the sake of this piece let’s just say it hasn’t.

Why being the away goalkeeper at Leeds is the toughest job in football in the video below…

For anyone keeping a running tally that’s £83.85m of sellable assets from the squad, the stadium and the training ground, so you can see that QSI’s valuation of £51.6-68.8m comes nowhere near the actual value of what they’d be buying.

Of course, buying any business is about more than just the sum of its parts as you also have to consider the room for growth and the potential to make profits.

With Leeds knocking on the door of the Premier League harder than they ever have in the past 15 years, sitting in and around the automatic promotion places, it’s fair to say that their value should be inflated a little bit due to their chances of promotion.

If United go up this season it’s fair to assume that they’ll get at least £96m back even if they finish rock bottom of the Premier League, which is more than what QSI value their potential investment at.

For such savvy businessmen, the Qatari’s have massively misjudged what the Yorkshire club is worth and it’s hard to see a deal being made if they don’t budge from that valuation.

This article is part of Football FanCast’s Opinion series, which provides analysis, insight and opinion on any issue within the beautiful game, from Paul Pogba’s haircuts to League Two relegation battles…

Manchester City’s Bernardo Silva has been handed a £50,000 fine and a one-match ban for the tweet he sent to Benjamin Mendy.

The social media comment was deemed a breach of FA Rule E3, which has now forced the Portugal international to watch from the stands against Chelsea.

The clash with the Blues is set to be a huge one for Pep Guardiola’s men, with a nine-point gap now opened up by Liverpool. Plus, the form of Chelsea has put them narrowly ahead of the champions by just a point in the table.

As a result of the ban and the magnitude of the game, it has handed Riyad Mahrez a golden opportunity to impress Guardiola. The Algeria international has started only five Premier League games, whilst Silva has been preferred, starting eight times.

However, the form of Mahrez has been not too far off what Silva has shown. The tricky winger has two goals and three assists in the league, which has come in three games less than the former Monaco man.

On the other hand, Silva does boast a very impressive five league goals – only Sergio Aguero and Raheem Sterling have more.

If Mahrez gets the nod and puts in a positive performance against one of the most in-form teams in the Premier League right now, he could well convince Guardiola to start him on a more regular basis.

Last season, Mahrez made just 14 Premier League starts and has struggled to cement his place in the side on a regular basis this season despite showcasing a marked improvement from the previous campaign; the fact he was an unused substitute against Liverpool hints he’s still not fully trusted.

Against a prestigious outfit in Chelsea, the £60m man must take what could be a golden opportunity to underline his worth to the club.

Mark Warburton spoke at a QPR Fans’ Forum this week about his playing philosophy, and fans are split about whether he is right to stick to his guns.The QPR boss has come in and instilled a passing style this season, and in the main it has worked well. QPR sit 10th as a result of their 54% average possession – the fifth-highest total in the division.However, it has come at the detriment of the defence, and there is a concern that the insistence on playing out from the back is costing goals – with Nahki Wells’ back-pass leading to Britt Assombalonga’s goal last weekend a perfect example of that.Watch Queens Park Rangers Videos With StreamFootball.tv Below

Despite the errors, Warburton is determined in playing in such a fashion as he recognises and accepts that mistakes will occur. He isn’t concerned about that though, as learning from errors allows players to improve, and he thinks it will benefit his team in the long run.

Some supporters admire his stance and the confidence he has in his players and tactics, but others think the defensive issues must be addressed, and therefore something should probably change in terms of the playing style.

Here are some of the reactions from the split fanbase.

This article is part of Football FanCast’s Transfer Focus series, which provides opinion and analysis on recent transfer news…

As per reports coming from Corriere della Sera (via The Sun), Inter Milan have joined the race to sign Manchester United loanee, Chris Smalling, upon the end of his spell at AS Roma. This could be ideal for them in case they can’t retain Milan Skriniar.

What’s the word, then?

It seems that Roma will have some trouble keeping all the suitors away from Smalling come the end of his loan spell at the Italian capital.

Of course, the 29-year-old centre-back arrived from Manchester United on a loan as it was pretty clear someone would have to make way for the Red Devils’ new signing, Harry Maguire.

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But even though Smalling’s spell at Old Trafford was never brilliant or extraordinary, he seems a reformed man in Serie A, which has piqued many teams’ interest and among those are Juventus and Inter Milan, as per Corriere della Sera’s recent reports.

And seeing how their star in the back, Skriniar, is on the radar of some other giants of European football, namely Real Madrid and Barcelona, having a plan B could be beneficial for the Nerazzurri.

A suitable replacement

Losing Skriniar would no doubt be a big deal for Antonio Conte’s men but Smalling does look like more than just a decent replacement for the 24-year-old defender.

Let’s not forget that the 29-year-old former Manchester United man has improved drastically since swapping the Premier League for the Italian Serie A, and his numbers can surely attest to that.

So far, he has played eight games and even managed to score one goal for the Nerazzurri, tallying 1.3 tackles and 1.5 interceptions with 4.6 clearances per game in the process.

This is an improvement on his 1.3 tackles, 1.1 interceptions and 4.4 clearances per game in 2018/19 with the Red Devils, not to mention that his offensive output has risen as well, jumping from 0.5 shots and 0.1 key passes per game to 0.9 and 0.3 in Serie A respectively.

Of course, suggesting that he could outright just replace Skriniar would be a stretch but he could offer a good alternative in case the Slovak does end up leaving Inter in the foreseeable future.

With such big teams prowling around, sometimes it’s good to have a plan B in the books and Smalling looks like an ideal one, and who could prove to be a big scoop for the Italians.