There had been a few clubs interested in offering the striker a chance after his experience at Anfield, hoping they could make more use of him than what Jurgen Klopp had done at Anfield.

AC Milan won the race and the hype around the signing was almost certainly too much. Things didn’t work out with the Rossoneri and after a season they looked to part ways… sending him to Nottingham Forest.

As far as the Series A club were concerned, that was that. Nottingham Forest agreed a clause worth €4.5m and the assumption was Steve Cooper’s side would be using that, especially given it’s relatively low fee.

However, the 28-year-old hasn’t been getting prominence since his return to the Premier League. So far he’s played just 58 minutes across four matches and the assumption is Nottingham Forest will walk away from a deal.

Calciomercato report that creates ‘a big problem’ for Milan, who gave Origi a four year contract worth €4m per season after tax.

The poor showing so far with Nottingham Forest won’t help attract other suitors.

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The 19-year-old spent three years with the Serie A side’s academy before being promoted to their first team this season, and has five appearances to his name already.

Firenze Viola state the right-back’s ‘exponential growth’ has caught the attention of clubs from abroad and only Arsenal are mentioned.

It’s said the Gunners ‘in particular’ sent a scout to watch the player in action in his side’s 3-0 win over Cagliari on Monday. The Italy U19 international played the full 90 minutes and even assisted Alberto Dossena’s goal in the 21st minute.

According to the report, the north London club’s officials were impressed with what they saw from Kayode at the Stadio Artemio Franchi.

The fullback’s contract lasts until 2025, with an option for another year, and the outlet states he currently earns €30,000 per year.

Fiorentina aren’t too worried that Arsenal, who have set their sights on the youngster, scouted him.

With Mikel Arteta’s side among the clubs keeping tabs on Kayode, Firenze Viola state the Italian club’s ‘iron will’ is to ‘lock him down’ to a new deal, obviously with an improved salary.

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Cody Gakpo scored the equaliser in the first half before being replaced after the break due to an injury. Jürgen Klopp has stated the 24-year-old suffered a knock before he found the back of the net and also admitted the setback could possibly be a ‘bad one’.

According to Eindhovens Dagblad journalist Rik Elfrink, the Liverpool player is expected to be out of action for ‘several weeks’.

The Netherlands will face Greece and Republic of Ireland in European qualifiers this month and the journalist says it ‘doesn’t seem feasible’ for him to feature in these two games.

Elfrink has also stated the forward could recover from the injury in a ‘few weeks’, provided ‘all goes well’, suggesting it could be even longer.

Liverpool will take on Royale Union Saint-Gilloise and Brighton & Hove Albion before the international break, and as it stands, the former PSV Eindhoven star is set to miss these two games.

Gakpo has scored three goals from eight games this season for Liverpool.

Cody Gakpo ligt er naar verwachting meerdere weken uit bij Liverpool. Als het meevalt een paar weken. De Oranje-duels in oktober lijken op dit moment sowieso niet haalbaar voor de oud PSV'er.

— Rik Elfrink (@RikElfrink) October 1, 2023

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The German side are heavy favourites ahead of the match, with Erik ten Hag facing multiple injury issues, unable to call on either Antony or Jadon Sancho, and with his side going through a period of poor form.

For Kane it will be a chance to show why he left Tottenham Hotspur, as he seeks to to win the most prestigious trophy in the European game.

Ahead of that match, Kane has been speaking to Marca in his role as a new ambassador for Skechers.

One of the questions from the Spanish newspaper was probing whether he partially regrets leaving Tottenham before he broke Alan Shearer’s record for Premier League goals.

Kane insisted that’s not the case: “All the decisions I made in my career were to improve, including leaving the Premier League. In that sense, I am happy to have come to Munich to continue progressing. 

“There will always be talk about the scoring record but my goal is to continue playing to win trophies with my club and that is why I signed for Bayern. In football ‘never say never’, but now I am focused only on Germany and not on the Premier.”

Thursday saw the revelation that Tottenham have a buyback clause, and perhaps that’s somewhere at the back of Kane’s mind for the future.

Given he was speaking to Marca, a chunk of the questions put to Kane were about Jude Bellingham.

Asked whether he’s been surprised by Bellingham’s quick impact at Real Madrid, the former Tottenham captain replied: “I don’t think it’s a surprise. Obviously, I’ve been able to work with Jude for a long time and we know he’s a fantastic player. He made a fantastic World Cup. Although he is very young, he has great maturity. He’s very focused, so he doesn’t surprise me.

“He’s a brilliant player, he’s full of confidence at the moment and has amazing ability, so adding more goals to his CV is the perfect solution for him. I am very happy for him and that he is enjoying himself in Madrid. He will want to continue with that dynamic the rest of the season. It’s fantastic to have him in our team and, obviously, being so young, he is going to be the future of our team and probably of Real Madrid as well, so it is a pleasure to see him.”

And for a bit of boot sponsor PR: “I have already scored a few and I hope that many people around the world will see my goals with these boots so they can try Skechers for themselves. They are very comfortable and have great technology.”

The post “In that sense, I’m happy” – Player insists he doesn’t regret leaving Tottenham Hotspur appeared first on Sport Witness.

On August 30th, Palma arrived at Celtic Park from Greek side Aris, and four days later Rodgers included him in the squad for Celtic’s 1-0 win over Rangers. He was an unused substitute and is waiting to make his debut for the club.

DIEZ interviewed the Honduras international and after discussing his country’s latest outings against Jamaica and Grenada, the focus was on his transfer to Celtic.

When asked about his adaptation at Celtic, the 23-year-old said he’s hopeful of making his first appearance for Rodgers’ side when they face Dundee at Celtic Park this weekend.

“Good. I arrive tomorrow night, I train on Friday, we play a game on Saturday, hoping that I can have a chance, and on Tuesday the Champions League,” he said.

The Celtic summer signing was also pleased with the reception he received from his new teammates.

“Good. Don’t worry. They are very professional. Since I arrived, they have given me a lot of love and that fills me with confidence and joy,” Palma explained.

Palma’s compatriot, Emilio Izaguirre, had two spells [2010-2017 and 2018/19 season] at Celtic, and has already shared positive things about his time at the club.

“Very grateful to Emilio, because he spoke very highly of me at Celtic. Happy because he did that, thank him and now with the advice I need I can ask him,” Palma added.

When asked about the changes he noticed since leaving Greece for Scotland, Palma said: “Not so much, although the cold is apparently always like that, a little difficult for me.”

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The centre-back has made five starts for Spurs and his fine displays helped him earn his first call-up from Netherlands manager Ronald Koeman.

NU have a published a lengthy chat with the Tottenham player, where he reveals things weren’t easy for him earlier in his career.

The 22-year-old came through the ranks of FC Volendam’s academy, where he initially started as a striker, before being moved to defence. Van de Ven has now revealed he had even considered playing in an amateur league for a year.

“Fortuna Wormerveer were doing quite well at the time. The idea was: I would take a year off, in the hope of then making the step to a professional club again. At that time, I sometimes thought: what am I still doing this for? My father pushed me to keep going for my chance. He pulled me through that difficult time. Fortunately,” he said.

Wim Jonk’s appointment as Volendam’s manager in 2019 helped the player rescue his future at the Dutch club, and two years later, he moved to the Bundesliga.

“Sometimes you need a bit of luck to make it as a footballer. One trainer thinks: I can’t do anything with this boy. But Wim thought: I can do something with him,” he explained.

The Spurs defender admits things weren’t easy for him in Germany but his fortune changed after Niko Kovač’s arrival at Wolfsburg in 2022.

His displays convinced Tottenham to invest in his services this summer. Van de Ven opens up about the chat he had with Ange Postecoglou before joining the Premier League side.

“At my age it’s important that you get a lot of playing time. I spoke about this in detail with the Tottenham coach. He said: ‘I am bringing you in to play. And that may not go well right away, but then I know you have the quality’,” Van de Ven explained.

“It is so much fun playing football at Tottenham. The assignment is: play from the back and if things go wrong, it is the responsibility of the trainer. The manager literally said: ‘You can make a mistake. Better that than shooting the ball outside the stadium three times in a row’.”

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Let’s not hide from the obvious reality ahead, if Manchester United allow their disgraced attacker to return to their team then the above will become a thing for some.

In the ground when that chant and similar happens there will be pushback. On social media it will be grasped by those who have spent months making defending him part of their personality.

When I and others of a similar age started following football, there was a requirement to lad-it-up a bit to feel at home. Going to matches even in the 90s wasn’t a sterile experience, and that was fine.

There was no attitude of wanting to arrive and cleanse everything. You adapt to your environment and laugh at jokes you’d otherwise find a little awkward to say the least.

But it was never toxic. As I would adapt my behaviour to fit in with the lads, so would they to make sure things weren’t too far over the line.

Now, with the mass arrival of social media and the anonymity that brings, there’s no need to adapt for many. They can take the worst of their views and purposely exaggerate them to create an impact the vast majority of people would avoid in person.

Social media, perhaps unfortunately, doesn’t exist in a void. What is said there impacts what happens in person and influences young people especially. What would be left unsaid at one time, or at least tempered, is now a route to attention.

The Mason Greenwood situation and the length of time it’s gone on has provided endless material. These things will start on social media and when we see middle aged fathers, even grandfathers, proudly parading their little girls in their profile picture and then going on to defend the Manchester United player with increasingly wild arguments, it is not difficult to imagine the impact on younger generations and their respect of women.

Many of these men would be the first to tell anyone and everyone that if someone harmed even the slightest hair on their little darling they’d gladly ‘do time’.

But then there’s your women, and those other ones.

Should the club welcome him back those people will feel their stances have been somewhat vindicated by Manchester United Football Club. Sure, they could release press statements, talk about rehabilitation and blag about trying to turn the situation into something good, but the message will be clear.

There is no easy way out of this, however, they’ve sure made it as hard as possible for themselves. The drip-drip of leaks about a possible decision have looked plainly like a business trying to create the easiest ground for them to alleviate themselves of moral responsibility – and worse – abdicate the decision to someone else.

That brings us to the latest briefing. Manchester United telling their preferred press personalities that they want to consult players from their women’s team, and will have to wait until their World Cup involvement comes to an end.

That message was indeed parroted as they will have wanted, without any serious criticism from those relaying it. And yet, it was obvious to anyone who engaged their brain what would happen.

The Greenwood Legion would target those women and put the pressure on. In a scenario which started with the recorded abuse of a woman, rounding it up with further abuse of women creates a fitting circle.

Manchester United players at the World Cup were sent messages including such things as ‘we are watching you’.

That particular message struck me because of the threatening nature. So I reached out to the person who sent it, who – and this will stun you – didn’t have the cojones to reply.

Targeting women on the internet is easy-peasy-lemon-squeezy, and Greenwood’s situation has provided fertile ground for people to do so.

There’s a clue in much of this which points towards the motivation for the Greenwood Legion. Many of those who are the most enthusiastic little soldiers had been questioning him before this all happened.

They’ve taken someone they had niggling doubts about and turned him into Messi-in-waiting. Someone who hasn’t played a match since an appearance against West Ham in January 2022 is presented as an absolute necessity for the coming season.

Greenwood is just a vehicle for them, it’s women they’re really concerned with. And, whilst it’s a difficult topic to address, it would be dishonest to ignore that many of those involved come from countries where women simply don’t have the same respect as in the UK.

Tackling misogyny isn’t very fashionable, tackling misogyny when it could bring accusations of racism is even less attractive. It is understandably scary to fight back against this and we all saw similar during the Qatar World Cup.

We were told we have to respect other cultures, even if those cultures are misogynistic and homophobic. Yet, that desire for respect doesn’t go the other way.

One crowbar which is used to open up that argument is that Greenwood hasn’t been found guilty in a court of law.

Less than 1% of rape cases reported in the UK result in a conviction. Unless we want to believe – and some will absolutely want to believe this – there’s thousands of women just making things up, the reality is that it’s near impossible to successfully prosecute sexual abuse cases.

Another argument is that the woman involved is still his partner.

The National Domestic Abuse Hotline reports that survivors return to their abusive partners an average of seven times before they leave for good… those who are still able to do so.

Perhaps the best argument the Greenwood Legion provide is that there wasn’t quite this same energy for other footballers accused of similar. That is fair to a point, but the huge outlier here is what we all saw and heard, imprinted on our memories and a chance for people to realise what actually happens and to form their own, informed, opinion.

We have what we have, we are where we are.

Those on either side of the divide won’t be changing their opinion anytime soon.

So now it’s over to Manchester United.

The delays and attempts at abdication for responsibility need to end. They had serious concerns about Greenwood’s character before this event, and they navigated those concerns because of the talent involved.

Even if judging on a purely football basis, this is a player who hasn’t appeared for 18 months.

Someone who would be – rightly and understandably – hounded by opposition supporters at every possible opportunity.

Someone who would be a huge distraction for the rest of his career with the club, clocking up negative front pages as quickly as he appeared on the back.

Take it off the pitch, but not too far, and Manchester United need to think about what they actually represent to those people who pack out Old Trafford and have done so for generations.

Those people in the crowd who have been battered, sexually abused, controlled by a partner.

Those who know they’d stand little chance of getting a conviction if they even tried.

Those… who are still going through it.

If the club cares one jot about what happens beyond the pitch then the decision is easy. Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem to be that simple for Manchester United.

It very much should be.

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ANSA agency reports that following positive talks, the player is ‘one step away’ from making the move on a loan deal.

It’s claimed that Genoa had been following Casadei for a long time, and had been hoping to beat Leicester City in the competition for the Chelsea player.

The report claims the deal between the parties is ‘well advanced’ and the Serie A club hope to get it done in a ‘very short time’.

Chelsea bought Casadei on a €15m deal from Inter Milan last summer, but haven’t used the midfielder yet.

Since his arrival in London, he spent the first six months at the club, and was then loaned out to Reading, where he made 15 appearances and scored a goal.

Casadei has been promoted to Chelsea’s first team squad, but is apparently still out of Mauricio Pochettino’s plans for the season, and will have a chance to play in Serie A for the first time.

His contract with the Blues runs until 2028, and there’s plenty of time for him to have a new chance at Stamford Bridge.

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Journalist João Batista Filho features a story saying the Grêmio midfielder is now ‘forcing’ his way out of the club. It’s claimed that he’s ‘crazy’ to go to Europe and wants to be sold.

Regarding the interested sides, there’s something very curious about the stance the player’s staff have on Arsenal.

It’s claimed that it’s ‘known’ that the Gunners sent a scout to watch Bitello a couple of times, but didn’t show up with an offer.

Then the Italian media turned up saying there was an agreement, with Arsenal being about to close the deal for the transfer.

For the first time, Bitello’s staff talked about that report. They ‘deny’ that there was any agreement, but ‘confirm’ that something is going on.

So the Gunners may not have made any official bids so far, but apparently keep in touch for a potential move.

Mikel Arteta’s side seem to be alone in the race for the €10m player, because even though Zenit made an offer, the midfielder doesn’t want a move to Russia.

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It was claimed the Reds had put a €7m offer on the table, and would let him return to the Austrian club on a loan deal this season.

It turns out that as journalist Mohamed Tounache-ter now comes up with an update on this pursuit, it’s claimed that Liverpool failed in their attempt.

The problem apparently wasn’t even a potential agreement with LASK. The Reds actually couldn’t convince the player himself.

According to the story, Liverpool wanted to buy Nakamura and loan him out straight away, and the 23-year-old ‘refused’ that scenario.

Nakamura seems to be thinking about his next destination very carefully, as the report says he’s not interested in joining Reims either.

The Japan international is said to be ‘seduced’ by Lille and only wants them, as there’s already a contractual agreement with the French side.

Now if Liverpool want to have any chance in that race, Jurgen Klopp better give the player a chance to be in the first team squad next season.

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