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Aston Villa have announced the signing of former West Brom midfielder Finley Thorndike.

The Lowdown: Thorndike profiled

Thorndike is 19 years of age and left the Baggies back in July. Primarily an attacking midfielder who can also play as a left winger, he has been training with Villa after becoming a free agent.

The youngster is represented by ICM Stellar Sports – the same agency as Villa’s Ezri Konsa and Jed Steer.

He has been described as a ‘creative’ midfielder by academy manager Mark Harrison and has now penned terms at Bodymoor Heath.

The Latest: Villa deal

Villa announced on Friday that Thorndike has signed a contract with the club after performing well for the under-23s.

The attacking midfielder has played four times for the under-23s, both in Premier League 2 and the Papa John’s Trophy.

The Verdict: Latest West Brom recruit

Thorndike becomes the third youth player to have signed for Villa after leaving West Brom in a matter of months.

He has joined Tim Iroegbunam and Finn Azaz in swapping the Baggies for the Villans, and hopefully over time West Brom’s loss will be Villa’s gain.

The club have recently shipped out a number of their youngsters on loan to gain first team experience, so it’s good to see the likes of new signings Thorndike, Iroegbunam and Caleb Chukwuemeka coming in over the summer.

In other news: Gregg Evans claims that Johan Lange wants Dean Smith to give £48k-p/w man a chance at Villa Park. 

Tottenham Hotspur are set to ramp up their pursuit of Antonio Rudiger in the coming days, according to an inside source…

What’s the word?

As revealed by Football Insider this week, the north London outfit are in the race to sign the £100k-per-week Germany international after he rejected a new Chelsea contract, meaning he is currently free to leave Stamford Bridge in the summer.

Valued at £31.5m by Transfermarkt, it is thought that Spurs have planned discussions behind-the-scenes in an effort to persuade the 28-year-old to swap the Blues for their capital city rivals in 2022.

Lilywhites sporting director Fabio Paratici is said to be pushing hard to get an early agreement in place but they will face a battle to secure him as foreign teams can seal him on a pre-contract agreement as early as January, something that Spurs do not have the luxury of.

Statement signing

This would be quite an outlandish move from Spurs, considering their west London rivals won the Champions League last summer and are quite some way ahead of them on and off the pitch.

However, the fact that Antonio Conte is in charge boosts their chances of landing the 6 foot 3 colossus as the pair worked together when the Italian was at the helm.

45 of his 172 appearances for the Blues came under Conte as they won the 2017/18 FA Cup together, leading to the German describing the 52-year-old as a “very good coach” to reporters.

Rudiger has been one of Chelsea’s standout performers under Thomas Tuchel over the past 12 months, with BT Sport pundit and Premier League legend Rio Ferdinand a big fan.

“Look at Rudiger, he’s arguably, since Tuchel has been there [at Chelsea], been the best defender in the Premier League,” he told his podcast (via the Metro). “Him or [Ruben] Dias in that time. He’s been unbelievable, he’s like an animal.”

Indeed, the German is just one of two players to have played every minute of every Premier League outing for the Blues this term, where he has averaged a second-most 2.2 aerial duels won, 1.1 tackles and an 86.9% passing accuracy when managing over 70 attempts per game, as per WhoScored.

Evidently, Rudiger is an efficient ball-playing defender and one that would instantly improve Spurs’ backline, not just because of his trophy record at Stamford Bridge.

The vastly-experienced defender would be quite the signing to make next year and it would certainly reveal the ambitions of the club under Conte. As such, many around N17 must be absolutely excited by this latest development.

Spurs fans would surely love Rudiger at the club, so this update should provide some huge encouragement heading into January.

AND in other news, Paratici eyes Spurs bargain after “courting” £18m-rated maestro, Conte would love him…

Newcastle United journalist Dominic Scurr has now shared some ‘positive’ injury news involving both Kieran Trippier and Callum Wilson.

The Lowdown: On the sidelines

Both players have endured significant spells on the sidelines, with Trippier not playing since December.

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The Magpies have nonetheless climbed 10 points above the relegation zone without the pair, but they will no doubt want them back as soon as possible in order to help them mathematically guarantee safety.

The Latest: Trippier and Wilson close to comebacks

Taking to Twitter, Scurr has shared that the duo are ‘close to returning’ after ‘positive’ results in their rehabilitation process.

Sharing a corresponding article from The Shields Gazette, he stated: “Trippier and Wilson are close to returning for #NUFC. A well-managed rehabilitation process has seen neither player rushed back.

“And positive results mean they will return without the lingering fear or pressure to deliver in a relegation scrap.”

The Verdict: Big boost for Newcastle

Having both players back for the run-in will no doubt be a big boost for Eddie Howe and the Toon Army.

Trippier is currently ranking as Newcastle’s best performer in the Premier League so far this season, while Wilson remains their top scorer with six goals (WhoScored).

Howe will feel that his team are not quite safe yet, especially with games against the likes of Liverpool, Manchester City and Arsenal to come, following on from Leicester City at the weekend, but having two of his key players back for at least some of those matches should help the Magpies to get the points that they need.

Nonetheless, the Tyneside club will likely continue not to rush them back, and Howe will probably only pick them if they are 100% ready to play, given how the team has managed in their respective absences and given the length of time for which both players have been sidelined.

In other news, find out which three stars NUFC are now targeting this summer

With 11 Premier League games played, Crystal Palace have found the back of the net on 15 occasions, which is more than several teams above them in the table have managed.

Nevertheless, it seems as though the south London club have their eye on securing a new attacking talent to add to their squad.

What’s the news?

According to Spanish journalist Rocio Rodriguez (via Sport Witness), Palace are interested in making a move to sign Real Madrid striker Borja Mayoral after apparently following the player since the previous summer transfer window.

As a product of Los Blancos’ youth academy, the 24-year-old has made 33 senior appearances for their first team, scoring seven goals and providing four assists in the process.

The Spaniard, who has been praised by former Real Madrid manager Zinedine Zidane after delivering a “complete” performance in the past, is currently on a two-year loan deal with Italian club AS Roma, which is set to come to an end in the summer.

During his time with Jose Mourinho’s side, the 24-year-old, who is currently valued at £12.6m by Transfermarkt, has scored 17 goals and provided eight assists in 52 appearances across all competitions.

Despite that decent return, his meagre tally of three appearances for them in Serie A so far this season – all coming off the substitutes’ bench – suggests that he is not a crucial player for the Giallorossi. That could potentially allow Palace to make a move for him in the summer when his loan spell comes to an end.

Also, given how current Palace striker Christian Benteke is now 30 and that his current contract at Selhurst Park set to expire in the summer of 2023, Mayoral could well be an ideal long-term replacement for the Belgian if the Eagles can secure a permanent deal for him in the summer.

This could well be a dream transfer move for Palace boss Patrick Vieira to pull off by the time the summer window comes around given the goalscoring experience that Mayoral has accumulated at a fairly young age.

In other news: Palace dealt potential injury setback ahead of Burnley, Vieira would be gutted

So far in the January transfer window, Aston Villa have said goodbye to Axel Tuanzebe, who has had his loan spell at Villa Park cut short, as well as seeing Wesley return from his loan at Club Brugge only to then be loaned back out again, this time to Brazilian club Internacional.

In addition, Villa have managed to secure a loan deal for Barcelona’s former Liverpool star Philippe Coutinho until the end of the season, with an option to sign permanently.

What’s the news? 

Speaking to GIVEMESPORT prior to the signing of the Brazil playmaker, journalist Dean Jones had his say on what he thinks Villa’s plan will be during the current transfer window in terms of potential incomings.

He said: “I do think that a central midfielder is the number one priority. That’s what they’re looking at first before they get onto those other slots that will just strengthen up the squad.”

Fans will be buzzing

Given how current Villa midfielder Marvelous Nakamba picked up a serious knee injury last month which will keep him out of action for the foreseeable future, it would make sense for the club to try and bring another midfielder in this month to help fill the gap left by the Zimbabwean’s unfortunate absence.

Douglas Luiz and John McGinn have been regular figures in Villa’s midfield this season with a combined total of 32 league appearances. Aside from them, however Gerrard only has Morgan Sanson, who has struggled with injuries since his arrival at Villa Park, and Carney Chukwuemeka, who only has seven Premier League appearances under his belt, as bona fide central midfielders who he can currently call upon.

This suggests that it could be worth targeting a reliable and experienced central midfielder to come in and add strength and depth to that area of the squad, and it would surely delight a lot of fans to see that the club aren’t just going to settle with Coutinho and what they already have at their disposal.

Moving forward, with an agreement in place to sign the 29-year-old, this should allow Villa to now focus on targets in other areas of the pitch such as central midfield, and possibly then another defender with Tuanzebe gone.

In other news: Gerrard must seal AVFC deal for “sensational” £85k-p/w beast as Fabrizio Romano update emerges

Tottenham have endured a very topsy-turvy start to the season with Nuno Santo overseeing three wins on the spin and then winning Premier League manager of the month.

However, after overseeing a wonderful August, Spurs were back in the dumps throughout September as they won just once in the league.

What’s the word?

What hasn’t helped Nuno’s men is a lack of goals from star man Harry Kane.

Tottenham managed to keep hold of the England captain despite rife speculation over the summer but he is yet to find the net in the top-flight during 2021/22.

His future at the club is still unclear but recent reports in Italy claim Spurs could sign Alvaro Morata as Kane’s replacement.

Currently valued at £40.5m by Transfermarkt, it would presumably be an expensive move to sanction.

Morata is currently on loan at Juventus from Atletico Madrid but the Old Lady don’t want to see him become a permanent part of the furniture. Thus, it opens the door for Spurs to move in and swoop.

Soldado 2.0

Cast your minds back to the summer of 2013 and Tottenham fans will crawl up into a ball of fear.

The club sold Gareth Bale to Real Madrid after using a portion of the eventual fee they received on acquiring Roberto Soldado.

The Spanish forward arrived in a then club-record deal worth £26m but it was a humungous waste of time and money.

Soldado struggled significantly in English football and only netted 16 times in 76 outings. His time in north London is a constant source of anguish for the striker who hardly spoke glowingly of his time there.

In an interview with The Guardian, he said: “I always say if there is one period of my career I’m not happy with, it’s my time at Tottenham.”

The forward continued: “I also had Harry Kane’s boom to contend with.”

Sadly, Morata is also a player who’s attracted fierce criticism for his performances, especially in England.

During his time at Chelsea, the attacker regularly missed simple opportunities to score, a habit that has continued throughout his time elsewhere on the continent.

He scored just 12 times in 34 outings for Atletico in 2019/20 and then bagged only 11 goals in 32 matches for Juve last season.

His form at the European Championships was also questionable. Like Soldado, he struggled in front of goal and was given quite the hammering by Gary Neville.

The outspoken pundit remarked: “He’s got that vulnerable look about him, almost like he needs a cuddle.”

“It’s like he apologises to the ball before he makes contact with it, ‘Sorry, I’m gonna have to kick you here!’ There is just no belief.”

Also described as “fragile” by Maurizio Sarri, Morata clearly lacks the ability to be a constant threat.

Considering he could act as a replacement for Kane, this is a disaster waiting to happen. If they do end up selling, they can’t afford to replicate the situation that unfolded when Bale walked through the exit door.

Morata is someone that Daniel Levy simply has to forget about.

AND in other news, Imagine him & Hojbjerg: Spurs eye move for £19.8m-rated “machine”, Nuno would love him…

With a price tag of £54m, Naby Keita is currently the third most expensive player Liverpool have signed behind Virgil van Dijk and Alisson Becker.

However, the midfielder’s time at the Merseyside club has not been a particularly smooth ride as of yet, with many injury issues damaging his playing time with the Reds.

Since arriving from German club RB Leipzig back in the 2018 summer transfer window, Keita, who is currently earning a weekly wage of £120k-per-week according to Spotrac, has made a total of 82 appearances for the Reds across all competitions. During his time in Merseyside, he has managed to chip in with eight goals and four assists.

In terms of his transfer value, Transfermarkt had his market value listed at £58.5m back in December 2018 but since then, it has dropped dramatically. Now it stands at £28.8m, which proves how disappointing the majority of his time at Anfield has been. It also suggests that the decision to lure him to Liverpool was a poor one from Michael Edwards.

Moving forward, it seems as though the key to unlocking Keita’s potential and getting the best out of him is if he could stay fit for a consistent period of time and gets the chance to play to show why Liverpool chose to splash such a significant amount of cash to bring him to the club.

Until that happens, it seems unlikely, in our view that his market value will be getting anywhere near where it was when he originally left Leipzig to join Liverpool. However, everyone at the Merseyside club will undoubtedly be more concerned over his fitness and playing time rather than his market value.

Given how Liverpool currently have Thiago Alcantara and Harvey Elliott out injured, we feel that this is one of the times where they could do with having Keita fit and available consistently to give Klopp an extra option in midfield.

That, however, seems farfetched. A big reason behind his decrease in value is his fitness issues. Since moving to Englan,d the Guinea international has had 14 different spells on the sidelines, missing 54 matches as a consequence.

Looking ahead to the future, with the midfielder’s current contract at Liverpool set to expire in 2023, it would be intriguing to see whether the club would be willing to offer him a new deal. In our view, if he keeps missing games through injury, the club should consider letting him go if they can’t rely on him.

In other news: FSG currently face one of their biggest Liverpool dilemmas, they must act soon – opinion 

Celtic are now struggling in their attempts to sign Georgios Giakoumakis, according to Duncan Castles.

The Lowdown: Positive updates

There have been two positive updates in Celtic’s pursuit of the 26-year-old after Ange Postecoglou called him over a Scotland move earlier this month.

The first came from Greek reporter Giannis Chorianopoulos, who suggested that Celtic have agreed terms in principle with VVV-Venlo for Giakoumakis.

Derek Rae then claimed that Werder Bremen, who held face-to-face talks with the striker, moved on to Hannover’s Marvin Ducksch, with a transfer now announced.

The Latest: Castles’ post

Castles, who was the first to share Celtic’s interest in Giakoumakis on The Daily Record, posted on Twitter on Wednesday, sharing a link to The Transfer Window podcast.

In his post, he revealed that the Hoops ‘struggle’ on Giakoumakis, with The Daily Record sharing a €2.5m fee.

Giakoumakis is keen to leave VVV-Venlo and has held talks with Celtic, but a deal is not done yet, with any move possibly hinging on a potential exit for Odsonne Edouard. [The Daily Record]

The Verdict: Celtic need to take the lead

Dominic McKay and co need to take the lead in the final days of the window, even if that means signing Giakoumakis with Edouard still on the books.

What they don’t want to happen is to part ways with Edouard and then run out of time to secure a new forward before the deadline closes.

It appears as if a move for Giakoumakis has hit a snag, but hopefully, Postecoglou will get his man in the final few days.

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

Despite having a solid start to their season in the Premier League with seven wins, four draws and one defeat under their belts and winning all of their Champions League and Carabao Cup games, Liverpool have a big issue on the horizon.

Their top two goalscorers in the league, Mohamed Salah (11) and Sadio Mane (seven) fly off to join their respective countries and take part in the upcoming Africa Cup of Nations tournament in January.

With this in mind and the fact that the duo are such crucial goalscoring threats for Jurgen Klopp’s team, it’s safe to say that this will be a big blow for the Reds.

Taking this into account, it seems as though the Merseyside club have their eye on signing a new attacking player that could fill the void left by Salah and Mane’s absence.

What’s the news?

It has recently been reported by Fichajes.net that Liverpool will target a January move for West Ham United winger Jarrod Bowen to fill in while Mane and Salah are away.

With Bowen having been linked with a move to Anfield in the past and praised by Klopp, it’s easy to see why the club apparently see him as a potential January target.

Since joining West Ham from Hull City back in the 2020 January transfer window in a deal worth a reported fee of over £20m, the 24-year-old, who has been described in the past by Grant McCann as “unplayable” has scored 12 goals and provided 15 assists in 72 appearances for the Hammers.

Labelled as a “world-beater” by talkSPORT pundit Simon Jordan, Bowen showed in West Ham’s 3-2 win over Liverpool in recent weeks just how dangerous he is by assisting two goals and earning himself a strong overall match rating of 7.4/10 from SofaScore.

Taking all of this into account, if Liverpool were able to sign Bowen, who is currently valued at £27m according to Transfermarkt, in January, this could be a great piece of business from FSG and would certainly ease the burden of having Mane and Salah away.

However, with the winger having played in every single one of West Ham’s games across all competitions so far this season, it could be rather hard to get the east London club to part ways with the winger, who is clearly an important figure in David Moyes’ squad, and they probably wouldn’t want to let him go to a club so close to them in the league table.

In other news: Klopp can save LFC millions with “unbelievable” 19 y/o gem, he’s going to be “massive” – opinion

Southampton have recently been linked with a move for Manchester United centre-back Phil Jones, but it could prove to be a disastrous signing by Martin Semmens.

What’s the word?

According to 90min journalist Graeme Bailey, Southampton are among a number of Premier League clubs, including Newcastle United, Burnley, Crystal Palace, Everton, Brighton and West Ham, to be keeping tabs on the 29-year-old’s situation at Old Trafford.

Although the former Blackburn Rovers man has been surplus to requirements for some time at Manchester United, following the impending signing of Raphael Varane, it seems as if Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is willing to let Jones leave on a free transfer in order to finally facilitate his departure, despite him having two years left on his deal with the Red Devils.

Jones was signed for United by Sir Alex Ferguson back in 2011 in a deal worth £17m but has struggled terribly with injuries during his 10 years at the club, Making 224 appearances to his name in all competitions, the 2011/12 and 2013/14 seasons were the only two where he managed more than 25 appearances in a top-flight campaign for the Red Devils.

Would he be a good signing?

Despite him reportedly being available for nothing, the report also suggests that Jones earns £100k per week at Old Trafford, which suggests that unless he took a serious pay cut, he would be one of the top earners at Southampton should he make the move to St Mary’s.

Unless the former England international is able to shake off his injury concerns and rediscover the form he was showing nearly a decade ago, then it is difficult to see him getting in ahead of any of Ralph Hasenhuttl’s current centre-back options. He will also turn 30 in February next year, so he would not be a signing for the long-term, while he has forged an unfortunate reputation for producing moments which wouldn’t inspire confidence.

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Therefore, it makes very little sense to sign him, and Southampton fans would surely be less than happy if they were to waste a significant portion of their wage budget for the transfer window on an ageing, injury-prone player such as Jones.

In other news… Southampton look set to miss out on their next Sadio Mane as agent drops transfer update