All posts by rastrear-estafeta.com

This weekend represents a timely distraction for Celtic who can forget about a host of ongoing sagas and focus on retaining a trophy they brought back to Parkhead last season.

The Hoops are in the midst of finding a new manager while the Bhoys hierarchy are also trying to piece together the rubble from a campaign where they lost the league.

Attention turns to the Scottish Cup again on Sunday as they get ready to face their fiercest rivals.

Celtic drew 1-1 with Rangers just a matter of weeks ago but with the title already sewn up, this match will have a lot more riding on it. Expect some robust tackles and some captivating drama.

John Kennedy’s men will head into this match full of confidence after dispatching Livingston 6-0 last time out. With that in mind, it’s unlikely we’ll see too many changes to the starting XI.

Here’s what we’re predicting…

We’re tipping the interim boss to make just the two changes to his side when they face the Gers this afternoon.

One of those changes happens to be an enforced one. Kennedy revealed late last week that James Forrest is facing a fitness test ahead of the clash.

He’s nursing an injury that will go right to the wire in terms of his selection. He’s a big game player but the Hoops can’t afford to have any passengers for a clash of this magnitude.

As a result, he drops out of the XI with his fitness in question. David Turnbull moves out to the right flank with Ryan Christie returning behind the striker; Odsonne Edouard.

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The only other replacement is at left-back where Diego Laxalt comes in for the £8.2k-per-week Greg Taylor. The Uruguayan has been inconsistent this season but impressed during the last Old Firm derby.

The defender showed plenty in offensive phases of play, completing two dribbles and producing three crosses in an energetic performance. He linked up well with the Celtic attack on that day so deserves another chance to show those qualities today.

Apart from those manoeuvres, Kennedy’s team is unchanged.

AND in other news, Forget Hjelde: Celtic could have their new Ajer in 17 y/o never-seen in the first team…

In an exclusive interview with The Transfer Tavern, Rob Lee, who made 18 appearances for West Ham, believes one of David Moyes’ targets this summer, Tammy Abraham, will cost more than £30 million this summer.

It has been reported that David Moyes has prioritised Abraham as his number one target to replace Sebastien Haller, who they failed to replace in January after the club-record signing departed for Ajax.

Since the arrival of Thomas Tuchel at Chelsea, the £58,000 per week striker has struggled for first-team minutes, even being left out of the matchday squad for their FA Cup semi-final victory against Manchester City at the weekend.

Speaking on how much it will cost West Ham to sign Abraham this summer and if that would be a sensible price for the Chelsea striker, Lee told The Transfer Tavern:

“You’d be talking a lot of money for players like Abraham because £30 million probably gets you a cheap player now.

“You’re talking a lot of money to buy these sorts of players and Tammy Abraham will probably cost you more than that.”

West Ham have been heavily reliant on Michail Antonio for goals this season, however with his injury record it would be a wise move for Moyes to sign another striker this summer.

Jesse Lingard has been chipping in with goals since his loan move from Manchester United in January, which has helped the Hammers while Antonio has been out injured.

Bundesliga expert Daniel Pinder has told Football FanCast in an exclusive interview that Lucien Favre would be a “decent appointment” for Celtic.

The former Borussia Dortmund manager is currently being linked with the Glasgow club as their search for a new man for the dugout goes on.

Eddie Howe quickly became the frontrunner for the vacancy following Neil Lennon’s resignation at the end of February, but Celtic appear to have hit a stumbling block in their pursuit of the ex-Bournemouth boss.

It has left the Bhoys needing to consider other options and, according to Football Insider, Favre is seen as a viable alternative to Howe.

For Pinder, the editor-in-chief at Get German Football News, Celtic could do a lot worse than Favre. Speaking exclusively to FFC about the 63-year-old, he said:

“Obviously he was at Nice in France and then he replaced Thomas Tuchel at Borussia Dortmund, so it wasn’t a big rebuild. But they lost players like Ousmane Dembele, [Pierre-Emerick] Aubameyang and he had to bring in those other players for, you know, less funds than they had.

“Looking at it, he has done a decent job at rebuilding. Whether he can go into a job that’s already there all set up for him, I think that’s a different matter. But if he goes into a rebuild job, I think it’d be a pretty decent appointment.”

Given how far off the pace Celtic were in the title race this season and the fact that players such as captain Scott Brown are leaving the club in the summer, a rebuild at Celtic Park looks necessary.

With that in mind, perhaps Favre could end up being a shrewd appointment for Celtic.

In an exclusive interview with The Transfer Tavern, former Aston Villa midfielder Lee Hendrie has tipped his old side to win the race for Tammy Abraham this summer.

According to Football Insider, the Villans are in a battle with Midlands rivals Wolves to secure Abraham’s signature. Meanwhile, The Telegraph claims Chelsea have slapped a £40m price tag on the striker.

Abraham has barely featured since the arrival of Thomas Tuchel at Stamford Bridge, with the German preferring the likes of Timo Werner and Kai Havertz.

However, the 23-year-old impressed last season, scoring 15 goals in the Premier League, and in his loan spell at Villa prior as he helped them win promotion back to English football’s top flight.

That spell, where Abraham registered an impressive 26 times, should give Villa the edge in any potential transfer tussle, according to Hendrie.

On the England international, the ex-Villa player told TT:

“The connection with Villa, I’d be surprised if he didn’t choose Villa over Wolves if I’m quite honest.

“I just feel that when you’ve played at a football club and you know the foundation, you know what you’re getting into. And I know the fans love him and he’s got a great rapport with the fans.”

With reports emerging that Chelsea could make a move to sign Inter Milan striker Romelu Lukaku, Abraham’s future in west London is starting to look increasingly bleak.

Newcastle are sleepwalking into a nightmare after Steve Bruce’s update on Federico Fernandez’s contract situation at St James’ Park.

What’s the story?

The Argentine’s £45k-a-week contract comes to an end in the summer, and Bruce has admitted that a decision on him, and some of the Premier League club’s other out-of-contract stars, will only be dealt with when the season is over.

He said: “All of them decisions are obviously discussions to be had when the season’s done and dusted. We’re not done and dusted yet. There are difficult decisions to make, of course, at every football club, that’s part and parcel of it. Yes, we’ve got some big decisions to make.”

Nightmare for Steve Bruce

The Athletic’s Chris Waugh admitted that Fernandez has been a “huge miss” for the Magpies this season after Bruce’s update on his fitness earlier in April, and it’s no surprise given the impact and influence he holds at St James’ Park.

Named him as his player of the year for Newcastle in December 2020, Waugh said: “Allan Saint-Maximin is the Newcastle player with the most quality and has, on occasion, produced some match-defining moments. Callum Wilson, meanwhile, came close to being named player of the year, despite only joining Newcastle in September.

“However, Federico Fernandez, the immovable object at the heart of Newcastle’s defence, deserves this accolade due to his consistent excellence. He is never flashy, but the 31-year-old is one of the few dependable performers – goalkeepers Martin Dubravka and Karl Darlow also made this imaginary shortlist – and embodies the admirable resilience of this side.

“He may not offer a highlight reel of pyrotechnics like Saint-Maximin, but Newcastle fans take just as much pleasure out of watching compilations of Fernandez’s tackles, headers, interceptions and blocks as they do their forwards’ goals.”

Letting someone like Fernandez, with his wealth of experience at St James’ Park (he’s played 78 times for the club), go would be a major nightmare for Bruce and one that he must surely avoid.

But with his revelation that contract talks will be put on hold until the end of the season, that just raises the prospect of the Argentine leaving on a free or other clubs coming in and swooping before the Magpies even get their act together.

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It’s exactly why Bruce simply has to make a start on offering Fernandez a new deal at the club.

Meanwhile, Newcastle could land a dream Fabian Schar upgrade in this ace…

Greg Docherty has revealed he knows he made the right decision by leaving Glasgow Rangers to sign for Hull City.

The Lowdown: Docherty enjoys Hull success

Docherty made 19 appearances for the Gers, racking up six assists (Transfermarkt), but he never really received a chance to impress on a regular basis and instead spent the majority of his time out on loan across England and Scotland.´

Last summer, he completed a permanent move to Hull, and has managed six goals and four assists in all competitions as the Tigers have earned promotion to the Championship.

The Latest: Docherty shares delight

Speaking to the PA News Agency (via Football League World), Docherty shared his happiness at swapping Ibrox for the KCOM Stadium. He said:

“I spoke to Steven Gerrard when I was leaving Rangers and he said he thought Hull would be a good challenge for me as we could try to win the league. 

“But it’s so easy to say ‘go win the league’ – it’s nowhere near as straight forward as that.

“To pip Peterborough we’ve had to go the last 14 games unbeaten, winning 11 of them.

“It’s a majorly gruelling league with 46 fixtures. At the start of the season, there was probably eight or nine teams thinking they could challenge.

“So there’s a lot of relief that we’ve got promotion. Once we clinched that, I thought to myself, ‘Naw, that’s not enough. I want a medal’.

“I’ve always wanted to win trophies. I’m 24 and I can now say I’ve ticked that off. A lot of people have brilliant careers but never win anything, so that’s why I’ll always remember this season and this moment.

“Since Christmas I feel like I’ve grown and really kicked on. I definitely made the right call coming down here.”

The Verdict: The right move

In terms of prestige, Hull cannot compare to Rangers. The latter regularly compete for trophies and will embark on a run in the Champions League next season, while Hull have never once competed in Europe and are only now getting out of the third tier of English football.

However, for Docherty, the move made perfect sense. Unfortunately, he clearly wasn’t a part of Steven Gerrard’s plans at Ibrox, but he has played in all but two games in the league for his new club. Hull have won League One comfortably, and now Docherty can attack the Championship as he continues to improve. At 24, and with 27 goals to his name throughout his career, he has plenty of room for development. There is no doubt he made the right decision.

In other news, Alan Hutton has suggested this man could replace Filip Helander at Rangers.

In an exclusive interview with The Transfer Tavern, former Derby County manager Paul Jewell has admitted it will be a concern for Celtic that Eddie Howe is still reluctant to accept their offer to become the club’s new manager.

Howe first entered talks with Celtic over a month ago and despite numerous claims he would be appointed soon, the former Bournemouth manager is still without a job and taking his time over the decision.

The 43-year old’s representatives have made it very clear that Howe will not be accepting Celtic’s, or any other club’s, offer to become their manager until at least this summer when he has had time to think everything through.

Speaking on why it is a concern that Howe has yet to accept Celtic’s offer but how it will be a huge club for Howe to manage, Jewell exclusively told The Transfer Tavern:

“The Eddie Howe to Celtic rumours have been going on for quite some time now it must be about a month, so it will be a little bit concerning that maybe Eddie Howe doesn’t fancy the move.

“Celtic is a huge football club but obviously there’s a lot of work that needs to be done on the team, but it will be a hugely attractive position for somebody.”

It has been a disappointing season for Celtic as they have had to watch Rangers storm to their 55th SPFL title and their rivals are currently one game away from going the whole season unbeaten and are also one point away from reaching 100.

Whoever is appointed as Celtic’s new manager will have a huge rebuilding job on their hands and a big priority will be finding a way to replace influential captain Scott Brown who is joining Aberdeen this summer.

Former Rangers defender Michael Ball has told The Transfer Tavern in an exclusive interview that he does not think Steven Gerrard is ready to leave Ibrox.

Given what the 40-year-old has managed to accomplish this season, some feel that he would be a good candidate for the Tottenham job, with Peter Crouch believing that he is the sort of manager the north London club should be interested in.

However, the retired striker, who played alongside Gerrard for both Liverpool and England, does not think he would leave Rangers for any outfit other than the Reds.

And it is a sentiment shared by Ball, who cannot see the legendary midfielder departing Ibrox now.

Speaking exclusively to TT about Gerrard’s future, Ball said:

“I think everybody probably knows what Steven’s end goal is. I don’t think Steven’s ready to leave Rangers right now.”

It is not hard to see why Gerrard would want to remain at Rangers next season and even beyond.

The Gers boss will surely want to have a go at defending the Scottish Premiership title against rivals Celtic, while what is likely to be his dream job, the Liverpool manager position, is not available and probably will not be for a while as Jurgen Klopp continues to succeed at Anfield.

Aston Villa made it a memorable final day of the Premier League season on Sunday, beating Chelsea 2-1 at Villa Park in their first game in front of the home fans.

Dean Smith’s side looked full of energy and dynamism in front of a vociferous home support, and they made the most of the 12th man advantage by going two goals up thanks to Bertrand Traore and Anwar El Ghazi either side of half-time.

But while the two goal-scorers will undoubtedly get their credit, Tyrone Mings delivered the kind of commanding display at the back that surely had England boss Gareth Southgate very impressed.

As per Sofascore, the £80k-a-week earning star was at his absolute best, pocketing Chelsea’s main man Timo Werner with relative ease, dominating him with some excellent front-foot defending.

He won all five of his duels on the day, while he also made two tackles, blocked one shot and made a whopping nine clearances too – only his centre-back partner Kortney Hause made more with 14.

Mings also showed off his range of passing by completing five of his 11 attempted long balls, which was the most of any outfield Villa player.

And, writing in his post-match player ratings for The Birmingham Mail, Ashley Preece gave him an eight and said: “Put in a real shift. Mings was all over Timo Werner like a rash and wouldn’t let him out of his sight. The centre-back put in a series of strong challenges which made those in blue shirts wilt. It was a real assured performance in front of England chief Southgate.”

As Preece says, Mings put in the kind of performance that surely gives Southgate no excuses in terms of picking him for the upcoming EUROs when he names his squad.

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And perhaps even more than that, given the fact he is left-footed, he would offer England that balance of playing a left and right-foot centre-back combination.

Whatever the case, Mings showed on Sunday he absolutely has to be in that 26-man squad.

Meanwhile, Villa are eyeing a move for this Scottish star…

Wolverhampton Wanderers without Nuno Santo will be a strange sight.

He and Fosun have completely changed the way this team and Molineux are seen. They’ve been transformed from a mid-table Championship side to an outfit with heavy European ambitions.

Unfortunately, Wolves didn’t come anywhere close to achieve those goals this term, finishing in the bottom half of the Premier League.

Therefore, a fresh start could be beneficial. It’ll give the club an opportunity to reset and work out where they want to go in the future.

Jorge Mendes has delved into his deep book of clients to suggest both Bruno Lage and Paulo Fonseca but Frank Lampard is also reportedly on their radar.

However, no one commands more respect or has a bigger aura in the game than a certain Rafa Benitez.

Speaking exclusively to Football FanCast this week, former Newcastle defender Steve Howey suggested he’d be a good appointment for the Old Gold: “I would imagine that somebody like Rafa Benitez will be inundated with offers, but whether they are offers from Premier League teams, I’m not too sure.

“[Wolves are] obviously a club that has turned around its fortunes brilliantly and they seem to be quite a well run club who appear to have some financial backing. So again, I wouldn’t disregard that idea of somebody like Rafa going there.”

The former Newcastle boss is currently out of management following a spell in China and is seeking a return to English football.

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A Champions League-winning manager with Liverpool, the Spaniard has a habit of attracting trophies, taking home the Europa League with Chelsea and securing the Club World Cup at Inter Milan. That’s without forgetting the two La Liga titles he won with Valencia earlier in his career.

Benitez is one of the most endearing managers around and with no compensation package required, this feels like a no-brainer for Wolves.

A master on the training ground, his meticulous attention to detail could be what’s required in order to take them to the next level.

During his time at Newcastle, Benitez’s training sessions would usually last 60-90 minutes, with a large emphasis on exercises related to game preparation and tactics. 80% of the session would be work undertaken with the ball, while the other 20% would be focused solely on fitness and conditioning.

The former Liverpool boss is also big on using analytics. In Merseyside, the 61-year-old used a Spanish tool called Amisco, an app that’s now merged with Prozone and Opta.

Adept at feeding his players intricate levels of detail, it could prove the difference in improving a number of Wolves players. After all, there is plenty of potential to be extracted from the likes of Fabio Silva and Adama Traore, two individuals who may benefit from more emphasis on the training pitch.

Benitez might not be a coach seeking a long-term project but that shouldn’t deter Fosun from considering him for the vacant position. After all, this is a coach hailed by Pep Guardiola and loved by Jurgen Klopp, someone who called him a “fantastic manager”

He is somebody who’d instantly command the respect of the dressing room.

AND in other news, Imagine him & Lage: Shi can form a magical Wolves duo by signing “powerful” £26m gem…