New Schalke signing Hamza Mendyl has confirmed that Arsenal made a late move to land his services, in comments published by Kicker.

What’s the word?

Arsenal enjoyed a fruitful summer transfer window under the guidance of Unai Emery, who placed a focus upon improving his defensive ranks with the additions of Stephan Lichtsteiner, Bernd Leno, Sokratis Papastathopoulos and Lucas Torreira.

The quartet, along with young talent Matteo Guendouzi, have given the Gunners squad a fresh look for the new campaign but the start to the season has proven to be a slog with two consecutive defeats to Manchester City and Chelsea.

Emery faces a lengthy period of rejuvenation in North London after two decades under Arsene Wenger and did not manage to land all of his targets in the close-season, as new Schalke signing Hamza Mendyl as confirmed to Kicker that the Gunners failed in a move to land his services from Monaco.

What was said?

“True, I’ve been in talks with Arsenal FC and Newcastle United, but being a Moroccan citizen it’s not so easy to get a work permit there, I would have thought I’d play in England.”

Have Arsenal missed out?

Only two weeks into the new season, Unai Emery already has a defensive nightmare down the left-side with Sead Kolasinac sidelined for around two months and Ainsley Maitland-Niles, who slotted into the role for the opening game against Manchester City, suffering a leg fracture in that defeat.

That has left just veteran full-back Nacho Monreal as the only identified left-back available in the squad and the Spain international himself has only recently returned from a knee issue that forced him to sit on the sidelines for the opening weekend.

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On top of this, Monreal is now 32 and Transfermarkt shows he has entered the final 12 months of his contract, with Arsenal yet to identify a suitable long-term replacement with the indications of Kolasinac’s performances suggesting he is too attacking.

Mendyl, aged just 20, is already showing promise after being named in Morocco’s World Cup squad and could have become the ideal successor for Monreal down the left side, but Schalke have since completed a transfer for the player.

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Rangers manager Steven Gerrard faces his first major test on Sunday when his team go up against Old Firm rivals Celtic at Parkhead.

It has been so far so good for the Gers as they are unbeaten in 11 matches, but it looks as though they will have a disadvantage heading into the contest.

According to The Daily Record, Lassana Coulibaly is unlikely to make the squad for the contest due to injury.

The midfielder picked up a thigh injury in the Gers’ recent Scottish Premiership match against St Mirren.

The 22-year-old, who moved to Rangers from Angers on a season-long loan, has been absent from four matches and looks to be on the sidelines for the next two.

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Gerrard’s side will take on Ufa in the second leg of their Europa League playoff prior to their clash against Brendan Rodgers’s side.

The Gers are likely to progress past Ufa, but they could encounter some problems without Coulibaly this weekend.

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On Tuesday morning, West Ham United’s official Twitter account posted an interview with first-team fitness coach Josh Ewens.

The interview was promoted as ‘an insight into the life of a first-team fitness coach’, with Ewens discussing his role at the club.

However, it would be fair to say that the post on social media has not gone down well with the West Ham fans during this stage of the campaign.

The Hammers spent big during the summer transfer window, but have lost all four of their Premier League matches at the start of the 2018-19 campaign.

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Indeed, the capital outfit have been beaten by Liverpool and Arsenal on the road, and also lost to Bournemouth and Wolverhampton Wanderers at the London Stadium.

The fitness of the players was called into question during the latter stages of the 1-0 defeat to Wolves on Saturday afternoon.

And the club’s supporters have not reacted well to the interview with Ewens during a period where the condition of the first-team squad is being discussed.

A selection of the Twitter reaction can be seen below:

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Jamie Carragher has suggested that Marcus Rashford should leave Manchester United to play as a central striker, and his performance against Switzerland showed why Everton should be front of the queue.

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England beat Switzerland 1-0 in a rather dull international friendly on Tuesday night, and the only two bright spots were the performances of Danny Rose and Rashford.

Rose was crowned man of the match, but Rashford showed once again how clinical he can be if given the chance to play up front.

The 20 year-old score the game’s only goal to give England the win, showing true striker’s instincts to ghost in at the back post and finish Kyle Walker’s cross, and Carragher thinks he needs to leave Old Trafford to play as a central striker.

“Romelu Lukaku is in front of Rashford and I don’t see Rashford displacing him as long as he is there,” Carragher said on Sky Sports.

“But remember when Lukaku was at Chelsea and he had to come away and go to Everton. Then he ended up as top scorer and got his move to Man United.

“Possibly Everton is the sort of club you are looking at, just below the top six, for someone like Rashford, similar to what Lukaku did.”

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While Manchester United fans would hate to lose Rashford, it is absolutely true that he is unlikely to see regular playing time due to the presence of Lukaku, and his England performances have shown he would be an upgrade on Cenk Tosun for Everton.

The youngster just seems to have a knack of being in the right place at the right time, an instinct that isn’t really put to good use when Jose Mourinho sticks him on the wing.

He took three shots against Switzerland, the joint-most of any player, and of course grabbed the goal. He did the same thing against Spain, taking the most shots of anyone on the pitch and finishing England’s only goal with elite composure.

He also completed one key pass and one dribble against the Swiss, and this superb ability on the ball would help Everton’s build-up play a lot more than Tosun, who tends to play more as a traditional target man.

Rashford is by no means an elite striker yet, but if he stays at Manchester United he will never become one. The 20 year-old could have a similar impact at Goodison as Lukaku did, which is why the Toffees should break the bank to get him next summer.

So, Everton fans, would you splash out on Rashford next summer? Is it a realistic possibility? Let us know your thoughts by voting in the poll below…

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On the last day of August 2014, Liverpool travelled to play Tottenham away, much like they will do this weekend, but the Reds’ squad that turns up in North London this time will be leaps and bounds ahead of it’s past iteration and will be a signal of just how far the club has come in four years.

Back then, heading into the tie with Tottenham, Liverpool had beaten Southampton and lost to Manchester City at the start of the season that followed the fateful year when the Reds came within touching distance of their first Premier League title.

The Merseysiders, managed by Northern Irishman Brendan Rodgers, somehow won the game 3-0 though and produced a convincing away performance to dispatch Mauricio Pochettino’s side in the Argentine’s third competitive game in charge of the club.

Now though, with hindsight, it’s easy to see why the Reds would end the 2014/15 season in sixth place, two points behind Tottenham, thanks to the players available to Rodgers.

Perhaps foolishly, the Liverpool boss had taken a chance to sign former Manchester City bad boy and mercurial talent Mario Balotelli in the summer having sold Luis Suarez to Barcelona, and the win over Spurs was the Italian’s debut.

After Balotelli had missed a sitter, it was Raheem Sterling who opened the scoring after just nine minutes and Steven Gerrard doubled the Reds’ advantage from the penalty spot soon after half-time.

With an hour of the game gone and Liverpool 2-0 up, new signing Alberto Moreno, who had joined in the summer from Sevilla for £12m, announced himself to the Premier League by dispossessing Andros Townsend and showing the Spurs winger a clean pair of heels.

Moreno drove forward from his own half and into the Spurs box, before driving a low shot across Hugo Lloris and into the far corner of the net.

The left-back then ran over to the jubilant Liverpool fans, who presumably thought they’d found a gem and that he would be at the club for years to come.

Unfortunately for them though, only the latter of these predictions would come true. The goal against Spurs would be about as good as it got for the Spaniard during his time on Merseyside, although he has somehow managed to remain at the club and now warms the bench watching the new Scotland captain Andrew Robertson cement his place as one of the best, if not the best, left-back in the league.

The rest of the squad on that day have fared no better though, Simon Mignolet started in goal and he too now sits on the bench watching new signing Alisson. The back four consisted of current Newcastle man Javier Manquillo, Dejan Lovren (before he was one of the self-proclaimed best defenders in the world), Mamadou Sakho and Moreno, who has since proved himself incapable of defending.

Reds fans should be thankful for the bargain purchase of Joe Gomez and the considerably more expensive, but unbelievably important, signing of Virgil van Dijk.

With Gerrard on his way out, Joe Allen and now club-captain Jordan Henderson were deployed in the box to box roles by Rodgers on that day, in a midfield that is no match for the current squad which includes the likes of Naby Keita, Fabinho, Georginio Wijnaldum and James Milner.

With Mohamed Salah, Roberto Firmino and Sadio Mane now perhaps the most feared attacking trio in the Premier League, there is solid proof that German boss Jurgen Klopp has developed the squad and the club so well that the days of Balotelli are now long-forgotten.

Yes, Liverpool won that game in 2014 and yes, no trophy has been won in the time since but whatever the score is this weekend, fans of the Reds should be lifted by simply looking at the calibre of the players that are available now compared to four years earlier.

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Everton may struggle to offload Sandro Ramirez permanently following an injury blow to the Spanish forward.

What’s the word?

According to Diario Vasco, the 23-year-old suffered knee ligament damage during a training session with Real Sociedad earlier this week.

Ramirez signed for the Spanish outfit on a season-long loan after new manager Marco Silva decided that the attacker will not figure in his plans this season.

The report claims that the former Malaga hitman could be on the sidelines for about four weeks.

A month out is not the end of the world for Ramirez, but upon return he could struggle to secure a first-team spot, which could end up affecting his long-term prospects.

What could happen?

Picking up an injury at this early stage of the season is bad news for someone who wants to make an impression.

Ramirez needs as much game time as possible in order to either impress his new employers ahead of a permanent move, or catch Silva’s eye in the hope of moving back to Goodison Park.

After being recruited by then-Toffees manager Ronald Koeman last summer, the attacker went on to make just 15 appearances in all competitions.

If Ramirez struggles for minutes once he recovers from injury, it may be difficult for Everton to offload him permanently at the end of the season.

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Newcastle United fans have had to endure an awful lot in recent years. Indeed, while they have their most popular manager since Sir Bobby Robson at the helm, the constant problems behind the scenes are causing any sort of enthusiasm to seep out of an increasingly decrepit St. James’ Park.  

Clearly, that’s down to Mike Ashley, for the most part. The Sports Direct mogul, perhaps the most hated figure in the club’s history, has seen his penny-pinching ways for the last decade questioned by Rafa Benitez and the club is crying out for a takeover as soon as possible.

Still, and this is no defence of the terrible Ashley, the fun started leaking out of Newcastle United years ago. Starting with one man’s exit during the Graeme Souness era.

A moment in time: Laurent Robert’s Newcastle United exit

By the time Souness arrived at Newcastle, it had been almost a decade since Kevin Keegan’s infamous ‘Entertainers’ team had taken English football by storm, despite not winning the Premier League. That, while a long time in football, still meant that kind of feeling somewhat remained at the club, who had been fairly regular participants in the Champions League in the years prior to his arrival.

While Newcastle’s side wasn’t nearly as good as Keegan’s, the kind of principles remained. Alan Shearer, Nolberto Solano, Gary Speed and Shay Given were all still big players on Tyneside, keeping both the Entertainers period and the Sir Bobby Robson era fresh in people’s minds.

Slowly, Souness killed that. A huge name in British football, the Scotsman was a footballing dinosaur when he was appointed and didn’t get on all too well with another who helped symbolise the last exciting Newcastle era – Laurent Robert.

The Frenchman, while painfully frustrating, was a wonderful player. Brought to England in 2001 from Paris Saint-Germain, the winger took to life on these shores well, which is all the more impressive considering the fact that others boasting his kind of technical ability couldn’t deal with the physicality at the time.

He was physical, determined (when he wanted to be) and talented, giving the Magpies perhaps the best natural playmaker they’d had since fellow Frenchman David Ginola left for Tottenham four years earlier. Now, Robert doesn’t have the same standing as Ginola due to the standing of the club during their respective Tyneside careers, though actually boasted a much better goals and assists record.

Yes, he was equally as likely to be sent off, as to bang one in from 30 yards, but that somewhat summed the Toon Army up at the time. Raw emotion with a sprinkling of stardust.

There were stunning winners against the likes of Liverpool and Arsenal, big shifts in European competition and the kind of free-kicks to make an expectant crowd such as St. James’ leap up in joy.

However, Souness’ arrival helped kill that.

The two never truly saw eye to eye and Robert was allowed to join Portsmouth in 2005 after a public spat, with the Magpies losing a true entertainer. Hatem Ben Arfa would threaten to replace him some years later and, during the 2011-12 campaign, looked destined to surpass his countryman, though even he fell out with a more conservative manager in Alan Pardew.

It’s not fun supporting Newcastle right now and, while there are much bigger problems afoot, Robert’s exit was a sign of things changing.

Jordan Henderson took some time to work his way into the Liverpool team at the start of the season due to his extended break on account of England’s World Cup campaign in Russia.

The club captain – valued at £25.2m by Transfermarkt – has had to tussle for his place in the middle of the park following the summer arrival of Naby Keita.

Henderson was named in the first XI to face Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Saturday, but he did not finish the match, which ended in a 1-1 draw thanks to a late equaliser from Daniel Sturridge.

In the 78th minute, manager Jurgen Klopp opted to haul off his skipper and bring on Keita in his place.

The 23-year-old added some fresh dynamism to the midfield, but he has had to settle for a spot on the bench in the club’s last two Premier League outings.

With the fixtures coming thick and fast, is Keita worthy of a starting spot ahead of Henderson or should Klopp stand by his captain?

Let us know by voting below.

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Scott Parker represented West Ham United on 129 occasions between 2007 and 2011 before making the move to Tottenham Hotspur.And the fact that the midfielder is still a popular figure with the majority of the West Ham fans despite that move says a lot about the type of performances he put in during his time at Upton Park.Parker, who joined Chelsea from Charlton Athletic in 2004 before joining Newcastle United, scored 10 Premier League goals during his time with the Hammers.Parker could not prevent West Ham from being relegated at the end of the 2010-11 season, but he was named the FWA Footballer of the Year for his performances throughout the campaign.It was not a surprise when he returned to the Premier League, and West Ham were able to gain a transfer fee of £5.5m from Tottenham for the midfielder.Despite his connections to Spurs, the West Ham fans still have a lot of time for Parker, who represented England on 18 occasions between 2003 and 2013.[brid autoplay=”true” video=”300259″ player=”12034″ title=”Mo Salah’s “7th Best Goal” Wins FIFA’s Puskas Award”]A selection of the Twitter reaction from the West Ham fans in relation to Parker, who retired from professional football in June 2017, can be seen below:

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The majority of Leeds fans that voted on our poll want Marcelo Bielsa to make a move for Robert Huth, who is still a free agent after leaving Leicester City in the summer.

Argentine boss Bielsa has always preferred to work with small squads throughout his career, but the matches come thick and fast in the Championship and the recent injuries to Kemar Roofe, Patrick Bamford, Gaetano Berardi and Pablo Hernandez slightly derailed the momentum that the Elland Road outfit picked up at the start of the season.

The Whites are now back at the top of the table, albeit only on goal difference as West Brom and Middlesbrough have caught the early pace-setters.

With the long injury list at Elland Road, the Leeds fans that voted in our poll were clear that they would like to see 34-year-old Huth brought in. The 6ft 3in former Germany international has 19 caps for his country and is a three-time Premier League winner, meaning he has all the experience needed as the West Yorkshire side push for promotion.

Check out the full results below.