Derek Rae took to Twitter on Wednesday morning to provide Celtic with a boost in their attempts to sign VVV-Venlo striker Georgios Giakoumakis.

The Lowdown: Terms agreed

The Hoops have been linked with a move for the 26-year-old for just over a week now.

Ange Postecoglou personally called the Greece international over a Parkhead switch, with Giakoumakis impressed by the approach.

Terms have reportedly been agreed between the two clubs for the striker, and it now appears as if Werder Bremen are out of the running for Giakoumakis.

The Latest: Rae’s post

Giakoumakis held face-to-face talks with Bremen over a deal, however, the Bundesliga side struggled to finance a move.

The German side were moving on to alternative targets, with Rae revealing details of a transfer for Marvin Ducksch from Hannover, labelling it as an ‘important’ development when it comes to Giakoumakis.

“Important one here for Celtic as well as Werder Bremen fans. Bremen are on the cusp of signing Marvin Ducksch from Hannover. Medical expected tomorrow. This will have the effect of ending Bremen’s interest in Georgios Giakoumakis, as I expected”.

A move for Duksch has since been announced by Bremen.

The Verdict: Time for Celtic to wrap up a deal

With Bremen now seemingly out of the picture, it appears as if the Hoops have the perfect chance to get a transfer over the line.

The quicker the better for Dominic McKay and co, as securing Giakoumakis could then give Celtic the chance to cash in on Odsonne Edouard in the final days of the window.

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Should that materialise, Celtic may actually come out of the window with a profit, which could be viewed as a shrewd summer for the Hoops.

In other news: Celtic now looking at late swoop for ‘fantastic’ defender alongside Liam Scales move.  

Nottingham Forest have been handed a major boost in their bid to keep Brennan Johnson at the City Ground this summer.

What’s the talk?

That’s according to Daniel Taylor’s report for The Athletic, with the journalist claiming that Brentford have all but ended their pursuit of the 20-year-old attacking midfielder, as the Premier League side failed to tempt Forest into parting with the youngster with a number of bids – the latest of which was thought to be worth around £7m.

Taylor went on to state that Dane Murphy was not willing to sanction the sale of the Wales international unless Thomas Frank’s side offered a package worth £12m, which was comprised of a £10m upfront fee plus £2m in add-ons.

Hughton will be delighted

Considering the sheer amount of potential Johnson appears to possess, the fact that Murphy held firm on his asking price for the Forest forward will undoubtedly have delighted Chris Hughton, whose life would have been made much more difficult if the club decided to cash in on the youngster this summer.

Indeed, while the 62-year-old has seen his side get off to a disastrous start to their 2021/22 Championship campaign – having picked up a single point over their opening five-fixture of the season, leaving the Garibaldi rooted to the foot of the table – Johnson has nevertheless impressed for the club.

Indeed, over his five appearances in the league thus far, the £360k-rated man has scored one goal, registered one assist and created two big chances for his teammates, as well as taking an average of 1.2 shots and making 1.2 key passes per game.

These returns have seen the player Sabri Lamouchi dubbed an “unbelievable” talent earn an average SofaScore match rating of 6.84, ranking him as Hughton’s third-best performer in the second tier.

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As such, the fact that Brentford appear to have admitted defeat in their pursuit of the £2.5k-per-week forward not only looks to be good news for Forest’s Championship hopes this season, but also for the future of the club – as, if the 20-year-old continues at his current rate of development, the Reds will undoubtedly be able to command a much more substantial figure than the £12m they were looking for this season further down the line.

In other news: Dane Murphy has offer accepted for “rare” £14k-p/w beast, Forest fans will be buzzing

Manchester United boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is under immense pressure to win trophies after being backed in the transfer market, according to Dean Windass.

The Red Devils made four signings during the window as they look to end their four-year major trophy drought.

While the incomings began with goalkeeper Tom Heaton’s return to Old Trafford, Jadon Sancho then arrived from Bundesliga giants Borussia Dortmund.

World Cup-winning central defender Raphael Varane was the next big-name to head to the red half of Manchester as he completed a move with a reported £41million from Real Madrid.

But the signing that caught the United fans’ attention most came on deadline day, when the return of club legend Cristiano Ronaldo was sealed.

The 36-year-old, who has joined from Juventus, broke the world record for goals scored in men’s international football as he took his tally up to 111 for Portugal last week.

Former Premier League striker Windass now believes Solskjaer has to deliver silverware this season.

He exclusively told Football FanCast: “On paper, they are very strong. But you don’t play football on paper.

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“Ole will be massively under pressure. He needs to win the FA Cup and get in the Champions League. He will know that and a lot of Manchester United fans will know that.

“They will be the first ones to criticise him if they start getting beaten and struggling. People will be on his back but that’s the nature of the game and Ole will know that.”

Some Everton fans have been left bemoaning a transfer update on Donny van de Beek.

Speaking earlier on in the week to Ziggo Sport Voetbal (via The Daily Express), which has since been shared by The Everton End on their Twitter page, the Manchester United ace’s agent Guido Albers has revealed that him and his client opened up discussions with the Goodison Park faithful over a potential move: “We took the initiative to find a club and our search ended up at Everton. We opened talks with Marcel Brands and Farhad Moshiri.”

Given that both James Rodriguez and Gylfi Sigurdsson are yet to play a game for the Merseyside club so far this season (Transfermarkt), van de Beek would have been a smart signing to fill in the vacant number 10 role.

Even though he has had his problems at Old Trafford, there is no doubt that the Netherlands international has quality, emphasised during his time at Ajax, where he scored 41 goals and made a further 34 assists in 175 matches in total over all competitions across five consecutive campaigns (Transfermarkt).

Everton fans on van de Beek transfer update

These Toffees supporters bemoaned the transfer update as it was shared on Twitter, with one Blue even going as far as to claim that they were ‘gutted’:

“I was always impressed with him at Ajax, a bit like a Cahill but with better technique.”

Credit: @fergus_maximus

“Would have actually been all for this. He’s wasted at United.”

Credit: @TabbyEfc1991

“There’s a player in DVDB. He needs to leave to revive his career. I’d love him at Everton.”

Credit: @TacticallyEv

“May be true but I’ll never accept Everton being a step down for anyone. Would have been a cracking signing.”

Credit: @SK21878

“Gutted”

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Credit: @JakeC98__

“Would have been a boss signing for both Everton and van de Beek that. He’s far too good to be only playing 15 games a season him”

Credit: @bluetom_tom

In other news, find out what Rodriguez news has Evertonians unhappy here!

Former Premier League midfielder Paul Scholes has made a pretty brutal claim about Tottenham Hotspur forward Harry Kane.

The Lowdown: Transfer saga

After over 330 appearances for Tottenham, Kane’s time at Spurs looked like it was going to come to an end over the summer as he was linked and targeted by Premier League champions Manchester City.

A bid was rejected and Kane was late to training before he returned to Nuno Espirito Santo’s side in the 1-0 win at Wolverhampton Wanderers before announcing he was staying at the club in a statement on Twitter.

Since then, Kane is yet to score in the league, with his two goals coming in the Europa Conference League competition against Pacos de Ferreira.

The Latest: Scholes makes claim

Speaking to Premier League Productions [via HITC], Scholes has claimed the striker was wishing he was at Manchester City when he saw the team on Saturday.

With Spurs missing Heung-Min Son and Davinson Sanchez, it was a weaker XI and the former Manchester United midfielder has made a strong claim on Kane’s thinking.

“It’s not a strong team,” he said. “I think Harry Kane will be in that dressing room thinking ‘I wish I was at Manchester City’ with that team they have got.”

The Verdict: Is Kane regretting decision?

Kane staying put at the club came from many things – his emotional connection with the Lilywhites support, Spurs rejecting City’s bids and the right money being offered. But after they fell to a shocking defeat at Palace on Saturday, where they conceded three goals in 15 minutes, Kane could be thinking exactly what Scholes has claimed.

Since City lost to Spurs on the opening day, Pep Guardiola’s side has won three straight games, scoring 11 goals in the process without a recognised striker.

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It’s likely the situation between the two clubs will arise in January or next summer, but for now, Kane has no choice but to try and help Tottenham return to the top four.

In other news, an offer has been tabled to sign Serie A ace. Find out more here.

Aston Villa are once again interested in signing Reading midfielder John Swift amid suggestions that contract talks have stalled between him and the Royals.

What’s the story?

The former England U21 international was the subject of intense speculation over the course of the summer transfer window back in 2020, with reports even going so far as to claim that Villa were ready to make a bid for him.

While a deal failed to materialise back then, Football League World now claim that Dean Smith’s side are one of a number of teams keeping tabs on Swift’s situation at Reading.

It’s claimed that with the midfielder entering the final year of his contract, the Championship club have yet to agree a new deal with him, and thus opening the door to a potential move away.

Could be another John McGinn

Swift has a track record of being someone who can offer a goal-scoring threat from midfield much like McGinn has proven himself to be over the past few seasons, managing an impressive 58 goal contributions in 171 games for the club – in fact, his start to the current campaign for Reading has actually been quite incredible, netting seven in eight matches in the Championship as well as chipping in with four assists too.

Speaking back in August after a 2-1 win over Preston, Royals manager, Veljko Paunovic, said: “Now he’s back, it is important we keep him healthy and motivated as he is now because that will help us a lot.

“He is super talented and he showed an urgency that he wanted to decide the game. The first couple of passes to Azeez and Joao were fantastic vision and execution of the final pass – something we’ve missed in the past. We missed those slick combinations through the middle when we progress forward so that’s something we have to keep up.”

While McGinn has hardly been a Frank Lampard-esque midfielder in terms of his sheer number of goals – he’s contributed to 33 goals in 115 matches for Villa – he does pop up with some big goals in big games, not least scoring against the likes of Liverpool and Manchester City last season.

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The £3.6m-rated Swift could offer Villa another midfielder with some of the same attacking instincts as McGinn in the engine room.

Meanwhile, Aston Villa have another exciting academy starlet in this teenager…

Liverpool are ‘leading the race’ to sign Borussia Dortmund and England star Jude Bellingham next summer, according to a fresh transfer rumour.

The Lowdown: Huge future for Bellingham

England have lots of supreme young talent at the moment, from Trent Alexander-Arnold to Phil Foden, but Bellingham is arguably as exciting as anyone.

The 18-year-old has already made 55 appearances for Dortmund, despite his tender age, and he looks a complete midfielder, scoring in his side’s Champions League win away to Besiktas earlier this month.

[freshpress-quiz id=“359326”]

The Latest: Liverpool in pole position

It could be that the Bundesliga outfit cash in on the £49.5million-rated Bellingham before too long, and according to the Daily Star, Liverpool are the frontrunners to sign him.

He has already been hailed as the ‘most serious 18-year-old I’ve ever seen’ and a ‘great footballer’ by Germany legend and Dortmund teammate Mats Hummels, as he develops into quite clearly one of the brightest young talents in the world.

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The Verdict: Potential game-changer

Bellingham looks like a genuinely special footballer who could have an enormous future, so Liverpool’s interest is undoubtedly exciting.

The Reds’ midfield will be in need of fresh blood next summer, with Jordan Henderson and Thiago now in their 30s and the likes of Naby Keita and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain unreliable in the injury department.

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Bellingham has the athleticism and technical ability to thrive anywhere in midfield – he has averaged 1.2 tackles and 1.3 interceptions per game in the Bundesliga this season – and could perhaps develop into the Steven Gerrard replacement Reds fans have been waiting for.

In other news, some Liverpool fans are worried about a photo that has emerged. Read more here.

Kevin Campbell believes Luke Ayling’s lengthy injury absence is a huge blow for Leeds United, after news emerged that the defender required surgery.

The Lowdown: Ayling missing for Leeds

The 30-year-old hasn’t featured for the Whites since the 1-1 draw away to Newcastle United last month, having picked a knee issue.

Ayling is to be missing for a considerable period after the news broke last week that he needed surgery, with an absence of around six weeks expected, meaning it will be well into the hectic winter fixture schedule before he returns.

[freshpress-quiz id=“375277″]

The Latest: Pundit bemoans absence

Speaking to Football Insider, Campbell, a regular on Sky Sports, highlighted Ayling’s importance to Leeds, outlining why he will be such a big loss in the coming period:

“He’ll be a big miss if he’s out for that long. Leeds have some crucial fixtures coming up after the internationals.

“Ayling is Mr. Reliable and you will only ever see him out of the side if he’s got a bad injury. He’s been brilliant for them over the past couple of seasons and has been virtually ever-present.

“Injuries happen to everybody though. It is so important to have a player who can plug the gap until he is back.

“Shackleton has been very good but I still think they will really miss Ayling. He is a fantastic player who can chip in with a goal or two as well. He’s so consistent at right-back and consistency is the key. He gives you a seven or eight out of 10 every week.”

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The Verdict: Huge loss for Whites

Ayling has been a fantastic servant for Leeds and there is no denying that they lose a lot when he isn’t in the team.

The 30-year-old possesses a big character and leadership from right-back, but he also brings so much energy and quality, both in an attacking and defensive sense.

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Ayling’s screamer at Manchester United on the opening weekend of the season showed what he is capable of ability-wise, but he has averaged 2.2 tackles and 1.2 clearances per game in the Premier League this season, too, which is really where he shines.

In other news, a pundit has been critical of one Leeds player. Find out who it is here.

Frank McAvennie believes that Tottenham could be in trouble if Callum Wilson is available for Newcastle ahead of the meeting between the two sides next weekend.

The Lowdown: Wilson could be fit

The 29-year-old started the season in top form for the Magpies, scoring twice in the first three Premier League games (Transfermarkt).

However, since the 2-2 draw at Southampton in late August, he has not played a minute in any competition due to a hamstring injury, but it is being reported that the striker could be available to face Spurs once domestic football returns following the end of the current international break.

The Latest: McAvennie fires Spurs warning

Speaking to Football Insider, former Premier League striker McAvennie has urged Spurs to be vigilant if Wilson is available for Newcastle. He said:

“If he’s back, that’s massive, that’s the game Wilson wants to play in.

“He is going to be up against a pretty poor Tottenham defence and he is a striker who will punish you if you slip up.

“Me, as a striker, I would play against that defence all day long and twice on Sunday.

“It doesn’t matter, if you come up against a striker who knows how to pull you about and create space, you’re in trouble.

“If Newcastle are on it, which they should be, any ball over the top will have Eric Dier scrambling.

“Wilson will fancy that I’m sure. He loves scoring and he has a great chance to get a couple in my opinion.”

The Verdict: Difficult task

Spurs have not been in the best form this season, losing three of their first seven Premier League matches (Sky Sports). However, they are doing considerably better than the Magpies, who are without a win in any competition this term. The Tynesiders may have been taken over by a Saudi Arabian consortium in recent days, but they will not be able to spend any of the money now at their disposal until January (BBC).

Newcastle’s leading scorer last season with 12 goals, £19.8m-valued Wilson (Transfermarkt) is the best striker at Steve Bruce’s disposal right now, and having the England international available would provide his team with a massive boost. Spurs have conceded 10 goals in the Premier League already, so Nuno Espirito Santo and his team could indeed be in for a challenging Sunday afternoon if the 29-year-old is fit to feature for the visit of the north Londoners to St James’ Park.

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In other news, Jose Mourinho’s stance on this Tottenham midfielder has been praised.

Paulo Fonseca would reportedly like to sign three players if he is to be named as the new manager at Newcastle United.

The Lowdown: Talks

As per Craig Hope, talks are ‘ongoing’ between Fonseca and the St. James’ Park faithful over the vacant manager role in the North East, following the departure of Steve Bruce.

Sources have said that he is ‘interested’ in taking over, but The Daily Mail journalist has stressed that it is ‘not a done deal’ as of yet.

The Latest: Fonseca signings

Perhaps jumping the gun, but Forzaroma.info have now claimed that Fonscea would like to sign Amadou Diawara, Chris Smalling and Henrikh Mkhitaryan, all from AS Roma, should he become the next Magpies coach.

It is suggested that Jose Mourinho may be willing to sell both Diawara and Smalling, although Mkhitaryan has found some form at the Serie A club.

The Verdict: Aim higher

With the abundance of riches that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) consortium have, they should be aiming higher than the three players mentioned above.

Although Fonseca would likely be able to get the best out of them having worked with them before at Roma, with Smalling himself claiming that Fonseca is a ‘very intelligent’ manager, all three come with their own individual problems.

The Englishman is very injury prone, while Mkhitaryan is 32 years of age now, and largely struggled in the Premier League while at both Manchester United and Arsenal.

Diawara meanwhile has barely played any football so far this season, and so may take some time to adapt to the fast pace of the top flight, by which point the Toon Army could be locked deep in relegation trouble.

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Nonetheless, while Fonseca may be an inspired appointment in himself, the board should be aiming for better targets.

In other news, find out which ‘exceptional’ manager NUFC are ‘ready to go crazy’ for here!