As reported by The Daily Mail, Newcastle United are considering making a loan move for Borussia Dortmund attacker Andre Schurrle this January.

What’s the story?

Schurrle has found himself on the fringes of the Borussia Dortmund first team this season, making just six Bundesliga appearances and struggling with injuries throughout.

The Daily Mail report that Borussia Dortmund are ready to offer him on loan to English Premier League sides this month and are even willing to pay half of his £150,000-a-week wages.

The paper say that Newcastle and Stoke City are interested in such a move, with both clubs looking for fresh options in attack in the second half of the season.

Can he be the man that revitalises Rafa Benitez’s threadbare Newcastle squad?

What can he offer?

As reported by The Mail, Schurrle moved to Borussia Dortmund from Wolfsburg for £25m in 2016 on a five-year deal but thus far has failed to live up to his billing as an elite talent in German football.

With just five goals and six assists in a season and a half in all competitions, Dortmund fans would probably have been expecting more from such a high profile deal.

However, he still has plenty to offer a side like Newcastle, who aren’t exactly blessed with lots of options in attack at the moment.

With the versatility to play on either flank or through the middle in attack, he could perform a variety of roles for Rafa Benitez and during his time at other German clubs and for the national team has proven he can find the net on a consistent basis.

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He of course has Premier League experience with Chelsea too, meaning he wouldn’t find it too hard to blend in mid-season.

On loan, signing him would be a relatively low risk move and if he hits top form he could be an excellent addition indeed.

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The 1-1 draw at St. Mary’s in Sunday’s 4pm kickoff was undoubtedly a frustrating experience for Tottenham fans. Mauricio Pochettino’s side entered the clash amid a run of eight wins in ten games across all competitions, but just couldn’t extend that to 9 in 11 versus a Southampton side who, despite gaining a point, find themselves in the relegation zone.

Somewhere in between a suspect playing surface, the absence of chief creator Christian Eriksen and a solid defensive performance from the home side, Tottenham failed to make further progress after a Harry Kane header cancelled out Davinson Sanchez’s own-goal opener.

And it appears no individual frustrated Southampton more than Moussa Sissoko, who hasn’t exactly been a beacon of popularity since joining the north London club from Newcastle in summer 2016. In fact, when we asked Spurs fans to rate each individual performance against Southampton out of ten, the 53-cap Frenchman picked up an average score of just 3.1 – the worst of any Tottenham player and even lower than what their three substitutes received.

The statistics, though, suggest that meagre rating is somewhat harsh. Sissoko actually created the most chances, four, of any player on the pitch and made the most tackles, three, of any Tottenham star. So, Spurs fans, do you think Sissoko is treated unfairly by some supporters? Let us know by commenting below…

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Rangers fans have taken to Twitter this afternoon to discuss defender Steven Caulker after Dundee FC confirmed that they have pulled off a signing coup by bringing the ex-QPR man to the club.

The former Tottenham Hotspur and Liverpool man joins on an 18 month deal and will help the Dees in their fight to avoid relegation to the Scottish Championship.

Caulker had previously been linked with a move to Celtic after the player opened up publicly on the personal problems plaguing his career, but it appears any prospect of that happening soon is now far-fetched.

Some Rangers supporters would have been keen on him arriving at Ibrox, with fans taking to Twitter to either congratulate Neil McCann and the Dees, or simply wish that the Light Blues had beaten the Dark Blues to the punch.

Should the club have made their move for him in January?

Fans took to Twitter to share their thoughts on it all…

ArsenalFanTV has become quite the online phenomenon, mainly for the fans’ post-match rants.

The YouTube channel, which has more than 670,000 subscribers, has become a platform for Arsenal supporters to speak their views on matters on and off the pitch.

The online outlet has also become somewhat of a vehicle for humour, with rival fans poking fun at their counterparts’ over-the-top reactions.

More often than not, manager Arsene Wenger, as well as individual players, come under fire on ArsenalFanTV, and now one of those players has hit back.

During a question and answer session at Oxford Union, the Spaniard gave his opinion, suggesting that those who vent their fury through the outlet are not real supporters.

Throughout the conversation, which was filmed and uploaded onto YouTube, Bellerin said:

“I don’t think there’s players who go on the internet to watch ArsenalFanTV. It does sometimes pop up on your timeline. I see it sometimes, some friends say ‘oh have you heard what that guy on ArsenalFanTV said?’ It’s so wrong for someone who claims to be a fan and their success is fed off a failure. How can that be a fan? There’s just people hustling, trying to make money their way, which everyone is entitled to do.

“For us players it doesn’t affect us. If they want to have fun with it then have fun. When you grow you realise what is important to you to take [on board]. If a coach comes to me and says you’ve done something bad I’m going to take that advice. If someone from ArsenalFanTV says this guy needs to do this or that I’m not going to listen to him.”

Meanwhile, Arsenal will have a weekend off as they are no longer in the FA Cup.

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The North London outfit’s next game will be the return leg against Ostersunds at the Emirates on February 22.

West Ham United manager David Moyes has claimed that the club have not opened talks with Manuel Lanzini over a new contract, reports the Hammers’ official website.

What’s the word?

Since Dimitri Payet’s departure last year, Lanzini has emerged as the club’s most creative player.

The Argentine has become an important member of the squad, and even more so recently given that he has struck up a good understanding with Marko Arnautovic.

The London Evening Standard recently reported that the club plan to offer Lanzini an improved contract once Premier League safety has been confirmed.

Moyes gave his reaction to the rumours during a press conference, telling the media that nothing has yet been put in place regarding fresh terms for the playmaker.

“You always want to keep your best players but there’s no truth in that yet. We won’t look at that until we know what league we are in.”

Is Lanzini committed?

It is impossible to know what is going through the Argentine’s mind, but he has not made any public indication that he wants to leave the East London outfit.

There is no rush from a contract standpoint as Lanzini still has two years left on his current deal, plus the option of a further 12 months.

The midfielder’s performances in the second half of last season and in the 2017-18 campaign could have attracted attention from other clubs.

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With that in mind, ur would make sense for West Ham to try to tie their player down, but if discussions have not begun, then maybe there is cause for concern.

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It looked, ahead of a trip to the San Siro to face an in-form AC Milan, as though the Gunners might have been facing a fifth straight defeat at the hands of the Italians. In the end, an impressive 2-0 victory left Arsenal fans unsure whether the appropriate emotional response was to laugh or to cry.

That could well have been a temporary reprieve from the gallows feel around the club, however. And this weekend, Watford could plunge the Gunners to another level of despair with a victory. It would be apt, as Watford are often the club just around the corner when crisis darkens Arsenal’s door.

Earlier in the season when Arsene Wenger’s side lost to Watford at Vicarage Road that things started to look fairly bleak, that wasn’t helped by Troy Deeney’s possibly disrespectful but certainly accurate comments about the Emirates outfit’s lack of ‘cojones’. It rang true: not just because we all knew that this was a side lacking in leaders, but because we’d all witnessed a spineless performance.

However disrespectful it may be to have the opposing captain question his vanquished opponents’ lack of fight on live TV just minutes after the game, it’s hard to disagree when the next segment on BT Sport is an analysis of a goal which features Granit Xhaka picking his nose instead of marking his man. The pictures speak louder than the words anyhow.

That’s not the only Watford capitulation which has angered Arsenal fans over the last couple of seasons.

Last season, with the Gunners in second place and the main rivals to leaders Chelsea, it was a 2-1 defeat at the Emirates Stadium which effectively ended whatever slim title hopes remained. After that, Arsenal didn’t just fail to challenge for the title, but they failed to make the top four, too.

Then the season before that, it was the FA Cup where Arsenal fell to Watford, and a special Adlene Guedioura strike at the Emirates once again. T

hey might have won the FA Cup twice in a row in the two years leading up to that game, but the chance of three in a row was ended abruptly before the semi-final stage, in the middle of another end of season capitulation which saw the Gunners end the season in second place, but 10 points behind league winners Leicester City. That, in itself, perhaps shows that it could well have been Arsenal’s year: not to take away from the Leicester fairytale, but a better Arsenal would have overcome the Foxes in the end.

That’s not the kicker, though. Back in 1986, Arsenal sacked manager Don Howe prior to facing Watford twice in two days. The managerless Gunners conspired to lose both games to the Vicarage Road club. Perhaps that puts the current crisis into perspective, and although defeat on Sunday probably won’t leave Arsenal without a manager, it’s as well for Wenger that wishing alone won’t make it so.

The next year, 1987, Arsenal were dumped out of the FA Cup once again by Watford, and although there was no repeat defeat the next day, there was one the next week – as two defeats in a week the the Hornets were suffered in two consecutive years.

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Whatever problems the hapless Gunners have suffered this season, and however far they’ve fallen from Wenger’s glory days, this is still a very different club to the one which stagnated for most of the 1980s before George Graham changed things by the end of the decade.

But no matter how far Arsenal are from that side, it’s still Watford who are proving to be the club the Gunners lose to in a crisis. Will that hold true again this weekend?

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Former West Ham United coach Nikola Jurcevic has told Croatian publication Sportske Novosti that Everton attacker Nikola Vlasic is likely going to leave the club this summer on loan.

What’s the word?

The 20-year-old moved to Goodison Park in the summer from Hajduk Split, signing a five-year deal, but he has struggled for game time.

Despite the fact that the Toffees have been struggling for the majority of the season to find the back of the net, Vlasic has barely had a look-in.

In total, the Croatian has started just nine games in all competitions, making 16 altogether.

According to Jurcevic, the youngster could be set for a loan deal for next season.

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The ex-West Ham coach told Sportske Novosti:

“It’s damaging for a young player and he needs his games to develop. And Allardyce has brought two other players this winter and it certainly doesn’t go in favour of our young player. If Vlasic’s status is not upwards before the summer, he will probably send him somewhere on loan.”

Is this the best option?

Vlasic is still a young player and has the potential to come into the team on a more regular basis in future years.

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However, the attacker is unlikely to break into Sam Allardyce’s current side, with Theo Walcott and Cenk Tosun ahead of him in the pecking order.

Even though some of the Everton fans have been keen for Vlasic to be given more minutes on the pitch, a loan move could be the best option.

According to reports in the Sunday Mirror, Manchester United are targeting a summer move for Paris Saint-Germain centre-back Marquinhos, rated at £49.5m by Transfermarkt, but only as back-up option to Real Madrid’s Raphael Varane.

What’s the word, then?

Well, the Sunday Mirror says that Red Devils boss Jose Mourinho wants to add some quality in midfield and defence at the end of the season, and he wants the £70m-rated Varane – whom he worked with during his time at the Bernabeu – with PSG’s Marquinhos a back-up option if he can’t bring the Frenchman to Old Trafford.

The Sunday Mirror says that Mourinho could move Paul Pogba on this summer after losing patience with him, and he believes that the Ligue 1 giants could be open to a deal that would see their club-record signing go to the French capital, with Marquinhos and his teammate Marco Verratti – whom the fans have urged the club to sign – coming the other way.

How has Marquinhos done this season?

He has impressed.

The Brazil international played every minute of PSG’s Champions League campaign, while he has been a regular for them in Ligue 1 too as they close in on another title.

According to WhoScored.com, the 24-year-old’s main strengths are his passing, his dribbling and ability to make blocks, and he has an incredible passing accuracy of 93.8% in 28 appearances in France and in Europe this term, while he has successfully completed both of the dribbles he has attempted.

Defensively, he has won 34 out of the 44 tackles he has attempted, while he has made 24 interceptions, 44 blocks and 121 clearances.

Would he be a good signing for United?

He certainly would be.

The 24-year-old is hugely experienced having appeared almost 200 times for PSG in Ligue 1 and the Champions League, winning titles, while he has 24 caps for his country.

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The fact that he is so good on the ball as well as being impressive defensively would certainly impress Mourinho, and he would be a huge upgrade on the options that the Portuguese boss has – the likes of Chris Smalling and Phil Jones.

In many ways, Marquinhos would probably be a better and more realistic addition for the Red Devils than Varane, and would help the club become contenders in the Premier League and the Champions League again.

Which England players impressed you the most vs the Netherlands? Let us know below…

Liverpool convincingly beat Manchester City in the first leg of the Champions League quarter-final tie at Anfield yesterday.

Goals from Mo Salah, Saido Mane and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlin have put Liverpool in a convincing position before the second leg.

City disappointed for most the game, with no shots on goal. The game was marred due in the pre-match lead up when Liverpool fans attacked the Manchester City team bus.

When driving up to the ground, City were greeted with a hostile reception, with fans loudly chanting and releasing flares.

Small groups of fans took things too far, throwing projectiles at the team bus. The damage was so bad that the bus was undriveable and a replacement needed to be sent.

Fans reacted on Twitter, a section of this reaction can be seen below…

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According to The Telegraph, Liverpool will have Joe Gomez available for next week’s Champions League semi-final first leg against Italian giants Roma.

Gomez has missed Liverpool’s last five matches in all competitions with the ankle problem that he picked up on England duty last month.

It had been thought that the 20-year-old could miss the rest of April, but it has been reported that the versatile defender is closing on a return to fitness, and could even take part in this weekend’s Premier League clash with 20th-placed West Bromwich Albion.

Gomez has been a regular for Liverpool this season – making 29 appearances in all competitions – although the performances of Trent Alexander-Arnold against Manchester City could see the teenager keep his position against Roma in the first leg of their last-four tie next week.

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Gomez is capable of playing at centre-back, however, and will boost Jurgen Klopp’s options in defence ahead of the clash at Anfield on April 24.