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Mauricio Pochettino’s great story at Tottenham Hotspur was sadly abruptly wrapped up as the Argentine coach was sacked just over a week ago. In his place, as we all know by now, came none other than Jose Mourinho, who was a free agent for a while.

But now that Pochettino is finally free from Daniel Levy and is a free agent himself, there are certain clubs that should definitely try and snatch him as soon as possible.

So without further ado, here are three teams that should be looking to instil the Argentine at their helm in the near future:

Bayern Munich

The Bavarian giants are going through a transitional period themselves since they had recently sacked a manager of their own.

Niko Kovac’s stint at Bayern Munchen left them with mixed results and despite the Croat actually winning some silverware, the Germans simply decided he was not the right man for the job.

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Pochettino, however, just might be. We all know that Poch is definitely a good manager – having led Tottenham to the Champions League final and making them competitive in the Premier League – and even though he couldn’t bring any trophies back to London during his five-year stint at Spurs, he is very much a visionary and a man capable of achieving a lot with limited resources.

At Bayern, there would be no restraints and while he could help bring out the best in them, they could possibly show us the best version of him as well.

Worth a shot.

Real Madrid

Ah, the Pochettino to Real Madrid narrative is one we are all very familiar with and the links between the two have not stopped to this day. In fact, AS reported that Los Blancos have tried snatching him on multiple previous occasions, failing every time.

But still, even with that being said, one way or the other, this is simply one of the transfers or rather, appointments, that is seemingly bound to happen sooner rather than later and it’s easy to see why.

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Real Madrid have finally found their groove under Zinedine Zidane – seeing how they’ve managed to bag a total of 20 goals in the last six games they’ve played – but for all of Frenchman’s pedigree, having Pochettino at the helm could definitely elevate the Whites to a whole new level, which is the reason why Florentino Perez has been so adamant in pursuing him in the first place.

With them, he would have all the resources and the backing in the world and if a limited Pochettino was so impressive at Spurs, how good would he be when completely unleashed?

AC Milan

The last pick on this list is not as grandiose as the previous two probably were.

After all, the Rossoneri are barely keeping things from falling apart over in Serie A and needless to say, at the moment they are as far from that dominant European force they once were.

But that’s exactly what makes this gig so interesting. Pochettino is a young and aspiring coach that can bring out the best out of his players and develop them into contenders rather than necessarily buying them, as we’ve seen him do at Spurs where he achieved a lot without a multitude of real superstars.

He would probably not have the biggest budget in Italy but he would have a talented young squad at his disposal and we’ve seen him do magic with one such team before.

Would he win the Champions League or Serie A with Milan immediately? Probably not. But bringing them back to life would be a real fairytale story in itself.

Why not go for it?

According to FCInterNews, Newcastle United are prepared to offer Napoli forward Dries Mertens a lucrative contract with his current deal set to expire at the Serie A giants.

What’s the word?

It’s claimed that the Magpies’ prospective new owners would pay the Italian frontman €7m-per-year (£6.14m) across two seasons, but they will have to compete with Napoli offering him an extension as well as Inter Milan’s proposal.

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Premier League rivals Chelsea are also keen on landing the 32-year-old with his contract set to finish at the end of the current campaign.

Newcastle’s offer is believed to eclipse both Italian teams whilst there is no word on what Frank Lampard’s Blues would hand Mertens.

Just the start

If Amanda Staveley’s consortium were able to clinch the veteran forward, then it would be the perfect start to the new Saudi era at St James’ Park.

Despite his age, Mertens has found the net 12 times this campaign and has also provided six assists, meaning he has contributed to 18 goals in just 29 appearances, via Transfermarkt. But this has been the pattern throughout the duration of his Gil Azzurri career – scoring 121 goals as well as racking up 73 assists from 331 matches.

Mike Ashley wasted an abhorrent £40m on the one-goal Joelinton, so swooping for Mertens would certainly ease their attacking problems substantially, going by the above record.

Mertens’ experience in Europe would also help the club transition from midtable straddlers under Steve Bruce into genuine contenders for glory, which will surely be the aim under the lucrative new ownership.

The Belgian is described as a hard-working frontman who possesses good technique and dribbling, so it won’t take long for the Magpies faithful to fall in love with him either.

Mertens should be high on their priorities this summer.

AND in other news, Phillips claims money may tempt unemployed manager to join Newcastle…

This article is part of Football FanCast’s Opinion series, which provides analysis, insight and opinion on any issue within the beautiful game, from Paul Pogba’s haircuts to League Two relegation battles…

It has now been ten games since Garry Monk was appointed as manager at Sheffield Wednesday – that’s nine league matches and a Carabao Cup exit to Premier League outfit Everton to be precise.

The trip to Blackburn Rovers saw him succumb to just his second Championship defeat of the season as the home side fought from behind with a late three-minute double, even despite substitute Jacob Murphy heading home what looked likely to be a winner seven minutes from time.

Wednesday now sit outside the playoff zone, but with the league being so tight, they remain just one point off regaining their place.

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Last weekend’s game highlighted a number of concerns but none more so than what lies ahead for the 40-year-old in January.

In the past, Football FanCast have stated the reliance the team has on top goalscorer Steven Fletcher, and that’s not really changed at all over recent matches.

The 32-year-old hasn’t scored for five games now, but that’s because he’s simply given too much to do as he’s often playing on his own in attack – someone like Atdhe Nuhiu should have partnered him against Blackburn.

During this barren run, Massimo Luongo has stepped up to the plate to provide two match-winning goals – both coming in 1-0 victories, over Wigan Athletic and Stoke City respectively.

And just as goals were beginning to be shared around the squad, he gets injured.

The Owls are yet to win since his absence.

Then there is Barry Bannan, who was a surprise scratch for the trip to Lancashire, his presence was sorely missed the most as he’s one of the only creative members of the squad – he averages more key passes per game (2.2) than anyone else, and has notched up three assists this campaign.

It feels like Wednesday are becoming increasingly reliant on these three aforementioned players, which isn’t a great trait to have, and it only highlights just how many signings Monk may need to make in January.

While in comparison, people have consistently stepped up to the plate in defence – Dominic Iorfa has been a revelation in captain Tom Lees’ absence, and when Julian Borner went down in the warm-up against Leeds, Sam Hutchinson deputised ever so naturally.

The Owls chief must be tossing and turning at night when he realises that it’s Joey Pelupessy trying to fill in for Bannan, while the less said about Fletcher’s back-ups, the better. Anonymous.

Arsenal fans have been reminiscing over the thrilling north London derby of 2004 which ended in 5-4 to the Gunners.

All nine goals were scored by different players, with Tottenham Hotspur taking an early lead through Noureddine Naybet before being pegged back by Thierry Henry (via BBC).

The Gunners then scored two further goals through Patrick Vieira and defender Lauren, before Jermain Defoe gave the Lilywhites hope just a minute later.

Freddie Ljungberg scored a fourth in the 69th minute before Ledley King, once again, brought the gap back to just one goal. Robert Pires scored the red half of north London’s fifth and final goal, with Freddie Kanoute giving Spurs late hope in the 88th minute.

The result drew criticism from then-Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho, who described the 5-4 scoreline as a ‘hockey score’ and ‘disgraceful’.

Fans had great memories of the manic clash as they took to Twitter to react. Here is a selection of tweets from the Emirates Stadium faithful:

Arsenal fans, what are your best memories of this game? Let us know your thoughts!

Many Leicester City fans have praised their club’s media team after the club released a Christmas advert that would make you the grinch if it didn’t play on your heartstrings.

The Foxes’ official Twitter account released a video with the caption ‘gifts that inspire’.

The advert focusses on a child actor playing a young Ben Chilwell when he receives a Leicester scarf for Christmas. The advert continues with the youngster playing football with it on a muddy field and wearing it at school before he sees his name on a teamsheet at school.

‘Chilwell’ then goes to the club’s training ground and runs out on the pitch, before it cuts to the present day of the left-back – as well as other youth players Harvey Barnes and Hamza Choudhury – at the King Power, before the 22-year-old gives one to another youngster while coming out of the tunnel.

You can see it in full below.

Unsurprisingly, fans loved to see such an emotive video based around community, their youth players and the club. In fact, some loved it so much they thanked the club and called it better than this year’s John Lewis advert.

Here are some of the replies below…

Keeping an eye on Leeds United fans on Twitter this week has made for some incredible reading.

Supporters haven’t been happy with a lot, and one thing is clear, they don’t think that their manager is selecting the correct lineups.

Fans have been crying out for changes in the starting XI. Whether it’s debating Patrick Bamford or praying for Luke Ayling to be dropped, the supporters have been giving their opinions on what Marcelo Bielsa should do.

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There are several differing views about how Leeds should lineup against the Owls, so here’s the XI that we think the Whites should go with.

The first thing to note is that the back five stay the same.

Jamie Shackleton and Liam Cooper are both available for the game, but it’s unknown how sharp those two will be after injury layoffs.

Ayling received a lot of criticism after the Preston game, but due to Leeds’ need to play Stuart Dallas in the middle for this match, he stays at right-back.

Onto the midfield, and with Pablo Hernandez still out injured Helder Costa retains his place on the right.

Jack Harrison stays on the left after assisting the Whites’ only goal on Tuesday, and of course, Kalvin Phillips keeps his spot.

We mastered the trick in the video below in 8 attempts… could you do better?

The centre-midfield positions are where this gets interesting.

Mateusz Klich should be dropped from the starting XI for the first time since Marcelo Bielsa’s arrival at the club.

The Pole wasn’t at his very best against Preston, and he looked as if he was more suited to a deeper role, but that position should be occupied by Stuart Dallas this time around.

The Northern Irishman is the player that Bielsa called upon in his midfield to combat the mistakes he made against Garry Monk last term, so he slots into the midfield alongside Tyler Roberts.

Roberts made a great account of himself on Tuesday when he came on as a sub, so he more than deserves this shot.

The striking choice in this team will immediately upset a few people, but there is a reason behind this choice.

Eddie Nketiah may actually be a better player when he comes off the bench, and against quality opposition like Sheffield Wednesday, Leeds may need Bamford’s work rate and energy in order to carve out chances early on, while the 20-year-old may be more effective if he’s brought on towards the end of the game.

This article is part of Football FanCast’s Opinion series, which provides analysis, insight and opinion on any issue within the beautiful game, from Paul Pogba’s haircuts to League Two relegation battles…

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is mulling over whether he will commit to a new contract with Arsenal, according to Goal.

Goal’s Arsenal correspondent, Charles Watts, had this to say about Aubameyang and his fellow attacker Alexandre Lacazette: “Arsenal have been trying for some time now to get Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette to sign new contracts, but so far the talks have proved unsuccessful.”

Watts suggests the talismanic Gabon international is said to want Champions League football, meaning he is wary of signing to stay at the Emirates despite his current deal running out in 2021, with the Gunners having failed to break into the top four in any of their three latest campaigns.

Lacazette is in a similar state of mind, though the Frenchman’s situation is not as much of an emergency, with his current deal coming to an end in 2022.

In Aubameyang’s case, this means Arsenal could potentially find themselves in a situation they have been in to many times: risking a player being poached when their contract is approaching or has reached its end.

In recent years, they have lost Aaron Ramsey, Jack Wilshere, Bacary Sagna and Santi Cazorla for free, with the quartet having a combined Transfermarkt value of £66.45m from the times they left.

The Gunners also had their hand forced by Alexis Sanchez, when he only had six months left on his contract, as a swap deal was eventually struck up with Manchester United for Henrikh Mkhitaryan.

If a similar scenario to any of these is played out with Aubameyang, it could be the biggest loss of the lot for the Gunners.

This season, he has scored 8 goals in 11 Premier League games, as per WhoScored, with that number equating to half of Arsenal’s overall total, offering an indication into just how important his goals are for the team.

To add some further context to just how well the striker has done since moving to north London, he is the seventh-fastest player in Arsenal history to reach a half-century of goals for the club.

As much as the results have not been great for Arsenal in recent seasons, Aubameyang has been a driving force for the club, so it seems unfathomable that they could lose him for free, especially as his valuation is £63m, just £3.45m less than the aforementioned four combined.

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In an exclusive interview with Football FanCast, John Hartson has suggested that Arsenal need to play with five at the back to get the best out of David Luiz.

The former PSG defender’s transfer to Arsenal from Chelsea was one of the more surprising deals of the summer window due to the two clubs’ close rivalry. 

However, he has had a tough start to life at the Emirates Stadium. Unai Emery’s side have struggled defensively with him in the side, conceding eight goals in four games.

In an attempt to give the 32-year-old the protection he needs, Hartson has suggested that Emery should change formation and bolster the backline.

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He said, “He’s got to play in a five because he has a bit of protection. I don’t think he’s an out-and-out defender. I think he switches off and his concentration levels over 90 minutes are just not there.”

The 44-year-old has also been quick to praise the technical ability of the central defender, and believes the Gunners need to unlock his quality.

“I think he’s a fantastic footballer. Technically he is fantastic for a centre half. He can hit free kicks, he can come out with the ball, he can pass it diagonally 60/70 yards.

“For £8m it’s a bargain for Arsenal – you’ve got to take him if he’s available. I think he’s better in the middle of a back three, so he’s got he got a little bit of protection either side of him. 

“And then you’ve also got the wing backs that can also tuck in.”

It is an interesting thought process from the 52-time Wales international, and history suggests that it would be the best thing both for the centre-back and the team.

In 2016/17, Antonio Conte used three centre-backs and two wing-backs for much of the campaign, and the rewards were glaring. The Blues won the Premier League, picking up 93 points along the way and conceding just 33 goals. Luiz impressed throughout and was even named in the PFA Team of the Season.

His performances during that campaign displayed what he is capable of at his best. To see a return to that form, perhaps Emery needs to follow Conte’s template.

This article is part of Football FanCast’s In Numbers series, which takes a statistical look at performances, season-long form and reported transfer targets… 

Wolves condemned reigning Champions Manchester City to their second defeat of the season with a shock 2-0 win at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday afternoon.

The result means Pep Guardiola’s men now sit a vast eight points behind league leaders Liverpool while for Nuno Santo and his side, it is three straight wins in all competitions.

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It’s been quite some turnaround for Wolves, who less than a month ago were smashed 5-2 by Chelsea at Molineux to put serious doubts over whether they would be able to replicate last season’s historic season of reaching seventh in the Premier League.

One key issue that attributed to their poor start to the season was the underwhelming performances from those who run the strings in the heart of midfield, but this City showing could prove that one of those figures is simmering back towards his best.

Joao Moutinho was one of Nuno’s most influential players last season as he recorded a team-high eight assists in the top-flight, but so far this season, he has only been able to manage the one.

Though he is recording more dribbles on average per game this season than he did during the 2018/19 campaign.

However, he’s not only being utilised as a creative outlet as this term he has seemingly added more defensive attributes to his game, which could make him a James Milner of sorts; a fine wine – only getting better with age.

Against City, the 33-year-old registered five tackles, three interceptions, one key pass and one successful dribble, per SofaScore.

You could say that Moutinho was all over the pitch, and his WhoScored heat map would back that up entirely – just going to show how vital he is to Wolves’ success through the midfield.

Football FanCast have previously highlighted how Moutinho has regressed this season, but if he can back this showing up after the international break, the Portuguese playmaker would fully be worth his reported contract extension.

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This article is part of Football FanCast’s In Numbers series, which takes a statistical look at performances, season-long form and reported transfer targets… 

Liverpool suffered their second defeat of the season against Napoli and though individual mistakes cost them victory, there were some positives to take from their latest trip to the San Paolo.

This time around, they looked more comfortable in possession and provided a greater goal threat than last season, which remains the only game out of 75 in which the Reds failed to have a shot on target.

It was not only in attack where they improved, either, as they had the majority share of possession and stifled a Napoli attack, which had scored nine goals in three games, for large spells.

They didn’t meet their usual high standards, however. Adrian impressed in goal but Sadio Mane was the only attacker who showcased his flair throughout, and he barely put a foot wrong in everything he did.

He was reliable on the ball and when finding teammates, with the only criticism that he perhaps lacked that cutting edge needed to put his team in front in a game which was decided by fine margins.

The Senegal international was heavily involved in what the Reds did going forward, as evidenced by his statistics from WhoScored.

His 66 touches were the most of any forward player on the pitch and that made him a danger for the Napoli defence, who did well to prevent his influence having an impact on the game.

As usual, Mane was key to everything Liverpool did in the opposition half. The forward was constantly looking at ways to test the backline and put his side ahead, and his teammates perhaps let him down as nothing materialised from the three key passes he managed.

That aspect of his game impressed all night, achieving a pass success rate of 90% which was once again the best of any forward, but ultimately he had nothing to show for his efforts.

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The 27-year-old has been impressive in front of goal this season with excellently taken goals against Southampton and Newcastle in particular, but he couldn’t quite find the corners of the goal against Napoli despite his two shots on target from two attempts.

His display showed he will be important to the Reds’ success in Europe once again this campaign, as he has been for the previous two. His trickery makes him a handful at the highest level and he can often be too much for defenders to cope with, as shown through his three successful dribbles.