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Everton face a tricky dilemma over the future of defender Yerry Mina as his absence exposed their defensive frailties over the weekend.

What’s the story?

The 27-year-old has enjoyed a fabulous start to the current campaign after several injury-hit years on Merseyside, cementing his status as one of Rafa Benitez’s most important players.

However, Mina’s contract is due to expire in the summer of 2023, meaning Everton must soon decide whether to offer him an extension or cash in while they can still demand a high price.

And now, The Athletic’s Patrick Boyland has provided an update on the centre-back’s situation, claiming a tough choice lies ahead for the club’s hierarchy.

He tweeted initially: “Everton have a decision to make over Yerry Mina. Two years left on his deal, future uncertain over the summer, but once again missed yesterday. He’s becoming increasingly important to the side’s hopes”.

Everton fans should be excited

After joining Everton in a £27.2m deal back in 2018, Mina has endured three stop-start campaigns where he’s failed to make over 25 Premier League starts in a single season.

Following the impressive form of Ben Godrey last term, the Colombia international was believed to be one of several first-team stars told they were available for transfer if a suitable bid arrived last summer, but his response to that setback has been very impressive.

As per WhoScored, Mina has averaged four clearances per league game in 2021/22, 1.5 interceptions and one tackle, highlighting his importance to the Goodison Park outfit.

Boyland’s latest report also praises the South American’s early-season showings, before stating how his absence from Sunday’s defeat could also see him be rewarded with fresh terms.

“Although fitness concerns mean he is not always able to play back-to-back games, Everton have often looked worse for his absence this season,” the piece reads.

“Quickly he has gone from bit-part figure to a potentially key cog. If there is one blessing to be had from Sunday’s defeat, it is that Everton now have their reminder as to the Colombian’s importance ahead of that all-important decision on his future.”

It remains to be seen whether Everton’s chiefs put a new deal in front of Mina over the coming months, although Boyland’s latest hint should leave the club’s supporters excited over a potential contract renewal.

And, in other news…Never mind Iwobi: EFC dud who completed just 67% passes had a game to forget vs WHU 

Reliable Celtic reporter Kieran Devlin has recently answered a question on Hoops left-back Boli Bolingoli.

The Lowdown: Bolingoli in 2021…

Bolingoli has made just eight appearances during the calendar year, loan with Turkish side Istanbul Basaksehir.

A permanent move away from Celtic Park failed to materialise over the summer, despite links of a return to Turkey with Altay SK.

He’s since made two sporadic Celtic appearances under Ange Postecoglou, who decided to start the Belgian in a defeat to Livingston in September and a win over Motherwell earlier this month.

Aside from those fixtures, Bolingoli hasn’t featured in a Scottish Premiership matchday squad, leaving many wondering what’s next for the defender, who is still under contract until 2023.

The Latest: Devlin’s response…

Devlin ran a Q&A on The Athletic on Wednesday prior to the Hoops’ 3-1 win over Hibernian.

He was asked by one Celtic supporter about Bolingoli’s situation, to which he described it as ‘incredibly odd’.

“People I speak to around the club were as surprised – on both occasions – as we all were from afar. Just an incredibly odd situation.”

The Verdict: Ange needs to make a call…

You’d have expected if Postecoglou saw Bolingoli in his Parkhead plans, he would have been a regular in the league following Greg Taylor’s shoulder injury back in September.

However, the Hoops boss has used youngster Adam Montgomery and right-back Josip Juranovic at left-back, with Bolingoli making a couple of appearances in between.

On that basis, it might be wise for Postecoglou to resolve the situation for good by giving the club the green light to move Bolingoli on for good.

Not only would it put to bed the end of his Celtic career, but it would also free up the wage bill, with Bolingoli currently on £15,000-a-week.

In other news: ‘Difficult’ – Injury expert reacts as ‘excellent’ Celtic ace may miss 3 more games. 

A number of Wolves supporters have been reacting to a club tweet stating that Hwang Hee-chan’s goal against Leeds United was their 300th in the Premier League.

Bruno Lage’s men were seconds away from winning a fourth league game in a row on Saturday afternoon, only to draw 1-1 away to Leeds. Rodrigo’s stoppage-time penalty ended the winning run, and while it was a hugely disappointing finish to the game, the result is still a decent one for the Midlanders.

It was Hwang who opened the scoring at Elland Road, as his impressive form continues, with the South Korean now netting four times in as many league starts this season.

On Monday, Wolves’ official Twitter account posted a tweet stating it was the 300th goal the club have scored in the Premier League since its inception in 1992.

Wolves fans react to official club tweet

These Wolves fans took to Twitter to show their appreciation for both Hwang and the 300-goal Premier League milestone.

“SIUUUUU”

Credit: @jackthenewee

“Didn’t Seol Ki-hyeon set a record when he played for us too?”

Credit: @robcross82

“A lot of love for this man”

Credit: @_PLN_7

“Better than Son”

Credit: @AdamWWFC_

“Would love to see a Wolves Premier League goals breakdown”

Credit: @JackHGrigg

“Sign him permanent then”

Credit: @wwfc_adam

In other news, some Wolves fans have hailed a brilliant moment for a loanee over the weekend. Find out who it is here.

Arsenal could be lining up a bargain swoop for Alexandre Lacazette’s replacement if recent reports are to be believed…

What’s the word?

Italian outlet Calciomercato (via Sport Witness) have linked the Gunners with a move for Torino striker Andrea Belotti, who is expected to leave Torino on a free transfer at the end of the current campaign.

Tuttosport have also claimed that the north London outfit had made ‘concrete proposals’ over the 27-year-old in the past, so they now have the perfect opportunity to secure him – and for nothing, too.

II Toro’s manager Ivan Juric has ruled out any sale in January, though, so Arsenal will need to wait until the summer to secure him. However, from January, they can come to terms on a pre-contract agreement.

Lacazette replacement

Mikel Arteta, Edu Gaspar and the club’s recruitment team could do little wrong in looking to Belotti in their bid to replace Lacazette, who himself is yet to sign an extension to his expiring £182k-per-week deal at the Emirates Stadium.

If the Frenchman does indeed depart north London, something that seems rather likely with just eight months to go, then it would leave the Spanish head coach rather light in attacking options.

He’d have a host of youthful choices behind Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang with the likes of Eddie Nketiah and Folarin Balogun but they aren’t ready to carry a full-time burden in the starting XI.

Belotti over several years has proven to be a prolific marksman, having bagged double figures in every year since 2015/16, including a career-best of 28 goals during the 2016/17 campaign.

According to former Man City and Spurs goalkeeper Joe Hart, the 5 foot 11 forward is like no other across Europe.

“Andrea is similar to all the great strikers, English and not,” he told Gianluca Di Marzio. “It’s hard to compare him to someone else because he’s special. He’s Belotti and that’s it. He has instinct for goals, personality and he’s a team player. He’s always focused on his team and plays hard to help it.”

Seeing as the Italy international is currently valued at a whopping £31.5m by Transfermakt, the Gunners would be making quite the coup by landing him for nothing, meaning Stan Kroenke and KSE won’t have to fork out much from the budget.

On the above evidence, Belotti would be a very cost-effective and ideal replacement for Lacazette.

AND in other news, Arteta could repeat Arsenal’s catastrophic Gnabry mistake with £13m-rated “gladiator”…

Manchester United’s troubles appear to be mounting with every passing game as the pressure continues to intensify on struggling manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.

What’s the story?

The Red Devils have fallen to sixth position in the Premier League table and nine points behind league leaders Chelsea after suffering three defeats in their last four domestic outings.

Hapless performances against the likes of Young Boys, Liverpool and Manchester City have seen many pundits, journalists and fans alike call for Solskjaer to be sacked, and Michael Bridge now believes it’s a ‘matter of when’ the Norwegian is relieved of his duties.

However, the Sky Sports reporter doesn’t believe a decision will be made on the 48-year-old’s future until the season has reached its climax.

Bridge told GIVEMESPORT: “They all know that it’s a matter of when, but when are they going to do it Are they going to wait until next May? I mean that’s genuinely what I’m looking at at the moment. You should do it now.”

Man Utd fans will be fuming

News that United’s hierarchy aren’t planning on pulling the trigger on Solskjaer’s future for several months will leave large sections of the club’s supporters fuming.

Some fans of the 20-time English champions are planning a protest against the ownership of the Glazer family while also calling for the Scandinavian to be sacked.

The current atmosphere and situation at Old Trafford is far from the one many expected after the opening day thrashing of Leeds United.

But that 5-1 victory on 14 August seems a distant memory for everyone associated with United now as their plethora of talent appears incapable of gelling and performing to their potential under Solskjaer’s tutelage.

The additions of Cristiano Ronaldo, Jadon Sancho and Raphael Varane were meant to transform the Red Devils from top-four contenders to title challengers, but that hasn’t been the case.

And now, many are growing tired of Solskjaer’s inability to produce the results expected in the red half of Manchester despite his previous good work at the club over the last two-and-a-half years.

Therefore, Bridge’s latest revelation is likely to add to the United fanbases growing frustrations and leave them furious at the prospect of many more months left in limbo.

And, in other news, Glazers can get Man Utd firing with 49 y/o boss dubbed “the best manager in the world”…

Many Everton fans have been slamming the performance of Fabian Delph in their game against his former club Manchester City in the Premier League on Sunday afternoon.

The midfielder did not enjoy his return to the Etihad Stadium as he was hauled off after just 63 minutes for Salomon Rondon, with the score at 2-0 to the hosts thanks to a cool finish from Raheem Sterling after a sublime pass from Joao Cancelo in the first half, and a rocket from Rodri after the interval.

Bernardo Silva added a third goal late on when Delph was no longer on the pitch, but some Everton fans thought that he should have done better to try and block the shot from the Spaniard for the second goal as it rifled into the back of Jordan Pickford’s net.

Delph failed to block any of City’s shots in the match and also failed to record a single interception or tackle, while losing out on all three of his duels (SofaScore).

Everton fans hammer Delph

These Everton supporters slammed Delph’s performance on Twitter, with one Toffee fans claiming that the 32-year-old was ‘pathetic’ against the Premier League champions:

“#delph not good enough, sorry”

Credit: @Cstyles1878

“Allan is so sloppy and Delph do me a favour, go as far as you can from Goodison”

Credit: @abbot551

“Delph just stopped then, pathetic.”

Credit: @GOT_Micknick

“Allan air shot. Delph air shot. Bunch of clowns.”

Credit: @rulitos14

“Is Delph playing for City???”

Credit: @g4j4s4

“Delph is playing against us”

Credit: @Evertxn

In other news, find out what stadium news has left these Evertonians gushing

Newcastle’s winless start to the Premier League season continued on Saturday as they were held to a 3-3 draw by Brentford.

The Magpies are without a win in any of their 12 league matches this term and are firmly rooted to the bottom of the table as it stands.

Howler

One player who has struggled this season is right-back/right winger Jacob Murphy. He has averaged a dismal WhoScored rating of 6.48 across 10 appearances and has been a howler of a signing by the club overall since his move in 2017, with Martin Keown even accusing him of cheating against Aston Villa earlier this year, when we went down all too easily in the penalty area.

The Arsenal legend said: “It’s so wrong. The referee needs to punish that. It’s simulation. It’s annoying. He is trying to gain an advantage. He is trying to cheat the referee.”

Sky Sports reported at the time of the deal that Newcastle agreed to pay Norwich, a Championship club at the time, £12m for their academy product. This was off the back of him managing nine goals and eight assists in all competitions for the Canaries in the 2016/17 campaign.

He then made 25 Premier League appearances in his first season at the Tyneside club and ended up with one goal and one assist to his name. The 2018/19 campaign did not see him fare any better, as he failed to contribute to a goal in 13 matches in all competitions before being shipped out on loan to West Brom, and then to Sheffield Wednesday for the following season.

Murphy ended his spell at Hillsborough, with nine goals and six assists in the Championship, earning himself a shot at redemption under Steve Bruce in the summer of 2020. He made 31 appearances in all competitions for the Magpies last term, with 14 of those coming at right wing-back or right-back.

This brings us back to the present, where he has been struggling, as mentioned previously, and his value at the time of writing (23/11/21) sits at £4.5m as per Transfermarkt. His value has, in theory, dropped by £7.5m since his arrival at the club in 2017, despite him heading into what should be the peak years of his career at the age of 26.

Therefore, he has been a howler of a signing who has not made a significant impact on the pitch or increased in value to make the club a profit. However, it is worth saying that he still has time to turn things around, and hopefully he can yet go on to become an important player for the Magpies in the Premier League.

AND in other news, Imagine him & Wilson: NUFC can seal dream deal in “unbelievably important” 38-goal gem…

Speaking to Football Insider, a ‘Tottenham source’ has shared news on Antonio Conte’s plans for Tanguy Ndombele ahead of January.

The Lowdown: Ndombele fighting for future?

The club-record signing has endured a whirlwind time at Spurs filled with many twists and turns since his move from Lyon in the summer of 2019.

[web_stories_embed url=”https://www.footballtransfertavern.com/web-stories/spurs-developments-2/” title=”Spurs developments!” poster=”” width=”360″ height=”600″ align=”none”]

Indeed, despite impressing in flashes of form, Ndombele has arguably failed to apply it on a regular basis and his stay in north London has been marred by consistent reports of unrest.

The 24-year-old reportedly informed Tottenham of his desire to leave over the summer, and that wasn’t the first murmur of his unhappiness, with chairman Daniel Levy famously having a sit-down with Ndombele in the ‘All or Nothing’ fly-on-the-wall documentary during his first season at the club.

As the midfielder is handed another fresh start under Conte, some news has emerged involving the Italian’s stance on the player.

The Latest: Conte makes sale plea…

As per the Spurs source, speaking to Football Insider, after publicly calling out Ndombele’s work ethic, the manager has ‘gone even further behind the scenes’ and ‘made it clear’ that the Lilywhites should listen to offers for him.

The 52-year-old has apparently told Tottenham officials to sell the midfielder and make use of the cash for new incoming signings as he seeks to build his own team.

The Verdict: Right move?

Offloading the France international mid-season will be no easy feat, especially since you’d imagine that Levy and Tottenham will want to recuperate most of the £53.8m they paid to sign him.

He isn’t without his value given his evident ability, as hinted by Spurs’ English players apparently calling him ‘unbelievable’, according to West Ham star Declan Rice.

Meanwhile, talkSPORT pundit Martin Keown hailed Ndombele as ‘underrated in what he does’ – but the difficulty remains that, in the pandemic era, it is arguably unclear whether most clubs would be able to afford a big-money bid in the winter months.

If Conte is to get his wish, managing director Fabio Paratici may just have to pull out all the stops.

In other news: ‘Coming from Tottenham’…Journalist makes exciting transfer claim with big offer on the table, find out more here.

West Ham are spoilt for choice this season when it comes to the attacking element of their midfield set up with Jarrod Bowen, Pablo Fornals, Said Benrahma and Manuel Lanzini all signed to the side.

Bowen, Fornals and Benrahma all have produced a combined 23 goals and assists so far this season, with Lanzini joining his competitors with two goals and two assists in all competitions, one of those goals came from the Manchester City game at the weekend.

Although losing, Lanzini made a fantastic impact on the side when he was subbed into the team in the 59th minute proving he was a worthwhile substitution when he scored from some distance in an attempt to claw back something from the defeat in the 94th minute of the game.

The determination and focus Lanzini maintained in clear defeat even in the very last moments of the game will give David Moyes a headache, as he struggles to decide which midfielders to pick in his starting eleven, with Lanzini now proving he is worthy of a starting position in the team.

However, the Scottish manager could use the £9m-rated midfielder’s form as an opportunity to showcase his talents and his impressive qualities to attract other clubs to make an offer for him, so that Moyes can build a healthy transfer budget that can be reinvested by GSB into other key areas of the team that need more depth, like a striker.

The Athletic’s West Ham correspondent, Roshane Thomas, previously branded Lanzini “anonymous” when reflecting on his time at the club;

“I feel like, with Lanzini, he’s just too anonymous at times. You sort of feel like, ‘Oh, Lanzini’s playing today,’ – that tends to be the sort of reaction whenever I watch him play more recently.” He told The Athletic’s U Irons Podcast.

Moyes now has a decision to make, as it is also widely speculated that Jesse Lingard is set to make a return to London Stadium in a permanent deal from Manchester United, after he reportedly refused to sign a new contract at Old Trafford, pushing Lanzini further away from a place in the West Ham set up.

West Ham will face Brighton in a midweek clash that they will be hoping to win to maintain their position in the top four, and it will be interesting to see if Lanzini makes an appearance in the starting line up.

In other news: Moyes reveals extent of Aaron Creswell injury

Many Everton fans were left fuming over some early team news ahead of their game away at Crystal Palace in the Premier League on Sunday afternoon.

Speaking in his pre-game press conference ahead of the match, Rafa Benitez revealed (via Phil Kirkbride) that Salomon Rondon is now back for the Goodison Park faithful after he was not in the squad for their 2-1 win at home to Arsenal on Monday night.

Richarlison played the striker role that night, and got himself on the scoresheet, while he also had two other goals ruled out for offside narrowly by VAR (BBC).

On the other hand, Rondon himself has not managed to score in 11 matches in total for the Merseyside club so far this season, and so his return to the team may actually hinder the Toffees rather than help them.

Everton fans on Rondon news

These Blues fumed as the news was shared on Twitter, with one EFC supporter even going as far as to claim that it was a ‘blow’:

“Have you ever seen a worse statement than “Rondon back”?”

Credit: @taylor_davies77

“Rondon back that’s a blow”

Credit: @askEvertonian08

“NO ONE CARES ABOUT RONDON”

Credit: @Vicaz22

“We don’t care about Rondon and Delph”

Credit: @meeet_sam

“Rondon is healthy? Another losing streak for the Toffees”

Credit: @jack_kweder

“Rondon is out even when he’s in. Fraud of a player.”

Credit: @Bonesy68

In other news, find out what transfer news has Evertonians talking here!