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Leeds United are interested in a deal to bring George Hall to Elland Road in the summer transfer window.

What’s the talk?

That’s according to a report by the Daily Mail, who claimed that Leeds are leading the race to sign the Birmingham City midfielder this summer. Victor Orta is said to have already made contact with the Championship side, while the Spaniard is also believed to be lining up a seven-figure bid for the 17-year-old.

The report added that both Newcastle United and Brighton & Hove Albion are also keeping a very close eye on the situation of the England under-18 international ahead of a potential summer swoop. The Blues are thought to be eager to keep hold of the teenager, who only signed a professional contract at St Andrew’s in November.

The next Bellingham

Considering just how exciting a talent Hall quite clearly is, coupled with Orta’s penchant for signing highly-rated prospects for the Whites (think Joe Gelhardt, for example), it is no surprise to learn of the Spaniard’s interest in a move for the Birmingham starlet this summer.

Indeed, the 17-year-old highly impressed for both the Blues’ under-18 and under-21 sides this season, scoring three goals and registering two assists over seven appearances in the Under-18 Premier League, also bagging three goals over 11 outings in Premier League 2.

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This form saw Birmingham under-18s coach Martyn Olorenshaw heap a considerable amount of praise on Hall, stating of the youngster last November: “He is explosive, dynamic and has the prowess to influence games. He is a really exciting player that has the ceiling to achieve whatever he wants to achieve. He has received international recognition recently which is a huge achievement, a testament to all his hard work and a reflection of his character.”

With the midfielder having already made his first-team debut for the Blues, it looks as if the teenager is on course to be the next big thing to come out of St Andrew’s after Jude Bellingham, the Borussia Dortmund and England playmaker who is currently valued at £128m.

As such, it would seem quite advisable for Orta to do all that he can to land Hall ahead of Newcastle and Brighton this summer. Should the youngster go on to fulfil his potential at Elland Road, he could well prove to be the next Bellingham – something which will undoubtedly be a hugely exciting thought for Marsch and Leeds supporters alike.

AND in other news: Phil Hay reveals Orta has “eyes on” next Leeds signing, supporters will be buzzing

Wolverhampton Wanderers manager Bruno Lage must brutally sell Morgan Gibbs-White this summer and could get up to £20m for the player.

What’s the story?

talkSPORT reporter Alex Crook spoke to GIVEMESPORT and said: “If he’s a player they can get £20m for they might see that as a good investment and a chance to rebuild.”

The 22-year-old had an exceptional loan spell with Sheffield United this past season, and helped them secure a play-off place before they lost out in the semi-final to eventual winners Nottingham Forest.

Wolves could sign him on a new contract, but with big clubs such as Serie A champions AC Milan interested, now is a good time to cash in.

He won’t make it at Molineux

Gibbs-White has risen through the ranks at Molineux and is one of the latest successes from their academy. He has had two loan spells with his most recent one at Sheffield United impressing the most.

He made 35 Championship appearances for The Blades and was directly involved in 20 goals during that time. Those are impressive numbers, and he’s been described as a “catalyst” in the EFL by journalist Laurie Whitwell. However, you have to put it into perspective.

They were one of the best teams in the division last season and it would be difficult for the Englishman to replicate that standard in a much tougher Premier League.

If he remained at Molinuex it would be hard to see where he would fit in. Wolves usually play a formation of three forward players so he would either have to be moved out wide or be put in a deeper position.

This would risk not getting the best out of him, as has been seen previously, particularly under Nuno Santo.

Gibbs-White isn’t necessarily a bad player, but if Wolves can get a good fee for him, then it makes more sense for them to use that to improve other areas of the team rather than keep a player who will likely be on the bench.

In the 86 appearances he has made for the Old Gold, he’s only scored three and assisted one, which ultimately proves that he isn’t good enough to stay at Molineux.

IN other news: Wolves now already heading for huge summer transfer disaster, Lage will be furious…

Newcastle United are heading into their first summer transfer window under PIF after enjoying an excellent month of business in January.

The Saudi Arabian consortium backed Eddie Howe by bringing in the likes of Kieran Trippier, Bruno Guimaraes, Chris Wood, Dan Burn and Matt Targett.

They also pursued a deal to sign Diego Carlos from Sevilla to bolster their options at centre-back before signing Burn from Brighton.

The Brazilian defender has now been snapped up by fellow Premier League side Aston Villa in a move that Sky Sports reporter Rob Dorsett has claimed to be worth around £26m. He has also stated that Newcastle attempted to sign him for £30m in January, but a deal collapsed after the La Liga outfit demanded £38m for his services.

This means that Sevilla’s valuation of the 29-year-old plummeted by £12m in just four months, so PIF would have overpaid by a considerable amount of money if they had decided to match the La Liga club’s asking price, which would have been a disaster for the Newcastle owners.

Not only would they have overspent by £12m, they would also have brought in a centre-back with huge question marks over his ability.

South American football expert Tim Vickery previously raised concerns over the defender, saying: “It was a couple of years ago that a Brazilian journalist, based in Spain, brought my attention to Diego Carlos and said ‘I think this is the best Brazilian centre-back in Spain, have a look at him’.

“My conclusion, and he won the Olympic gold medal as well, is that we may be dealing with a centre-back who may look better than he is.”

Vickery added: “I worry about Diego Carlos. There are moments when he looks classy, but there are lots of mistakes and wild man things.”

In La Liga this season, the now-Villa defender committed a whopping five errors directly leading to opposition shots or goals and gave away two penalties. This means that he essentially made seven big individual mistakes, and this is the error-prone nature to which Vickery alluded.

Burn, who joined Newcastle for £13m in January, has made zero errors leading to shots or goals and given away just one penalty in three Premier League seasons for Brighton and the Magpies combined.

This shows that he is much more reliable in comparison to Carlos, whilst costing £25m less than the latter would have in January. Along with the Brazilian’s plummeting value in 2022, that explains why PIF avoided a big disaster in the last transfer window.

AND in other news, PIF “are interested” in NUFC deal for “cold” £27m tank, he can be Howe’s own Varane…

Manchester United are willing to sanction the permanent departure of Brandon Williams, according to a report from CaughtOffside. 

The lowdown: Loan spell

Following an initial breakthrough at Old Trafford under the tutelage of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Williams spent the entire 2021/22 season on loan at Norwich City.

Unfortunately, the England youth full-back was unable to prevent the East Anglian outfit from suffering relegation from the Premier League.

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Now, having already amassed 50 senior appearances for United despite his tender years, the 21-year-old could be deemed surplus to requirements in Manchester…

The latest: Move pending…

As per CaughtOffside, Manchester United are believed to be willing to ‘listen to offers’ in the summer for Williams as incoming manager Erik ten Hag gets to work on rebuilding the squad.

It’s claimed that the one-cap England Under 21 starlet will be allowed to leave the club as the Red Devils cannot offer any guarantees over first-team action.

The report also states that there are expected to be a ‘host of interested parties’ in the youngster once dubbed as ‘brave as a lion’ following a stellar performance against Partizan Belgrade in the 2019/20 Europa League campaign.

The verdict: Best for all parties

Albeit there is a genuine talent waiting to blossom in Williams, as Ten Hag looks to begin a new era at Old Trafford it seems unlikely Williams will be a major part of the first transitional phase, and he is surely now set to follow Aaron Wan-Bissaka out the exit door.

This season the versatile defender provided one assist in 29 Premier League appearances, operating predominantly from left-back, and would be in direct competition with Luke Shaw and Alex Telles before any summer potential arrivals are even considered.

Whilst it’s always a blow to see an academy prospect leave the club so young, if United are going to successfully perform the required surgery on the squad then selling the likes of Williams for anything close to his £9million market value would be a shrewd starting place.

In other news: Ten Hag loves him: Man Utd now ‘pressing’ to sign transfer listed Italian after agent meeting. 

Celtic play their final game of the season on Saturday as the Hoops return to Parkhead as newly-crowned Premiership champions after their 1-1 draw against Dundee United in midweek.

This time, the Bhoys take on Motherwell in front of their home crowd, after which they will the trophy and potentially topping off what has been a brilliant domestic season with another win.

In midweek, after a goalless first half, Giorgos Giakoumakis opened the scoring with 53 minutes on the clock, only for Dylan Levitt to equalise later on.

Despite the draw, a point was all that was needed for the Bhoys to take the league title off their Old Firm rivals Rangers.

Even though the title is already secured, Ange Postecoglou will still want to see his team pick up a win tomorrow and give their home supporters something else to celebrate. To that effect, one man who started at Tannadice but should not be in the team on this occasion is Reo Hatate.

Ange must axe Hatate

With 63 minutes of action under his belt on Wednesday, the midfielder only completed 22 of the 34 passes he attempted and failed to register even one shot on target before being replaced by Tom Rogic.

This underwhelming display caught the attention of The Scotsman journalist Alan Pattullo, who wrote that the 24-year-old was ‘wasteful with a couple of opportunities including when he took the ball off [Liel] Abada’s toes in the first half but fired high over’.

With that in mind, it could be said that the £14.5k-per-week Japan international has been holding the team back in an attacking regard and stopping them from getting as many goals as they can.

In terms of who Postecoglou could turn to on this occasion if he does take Hatate out of the side, with the recent announcement from the club that Rogic will be waving goodbye to the Hoops after this weekend, the 56-year-old may give his fellow Australian one last outing in front of the home fans before he leaves Parkhead.

With both Rogic and Nir Bitton leaving Celtic this summer, the Japanese ace will be able to show next season that he can be a suitable midfield replacement for the departing duo, and an important player for the club as a whole.

In other news: Big Lennoxtown claim emerges, it’s great news for Celtic supporters

Leeds United could already have their next Liam Cooper within their youth ranks.

The Whites’ U23 setup were unfortunately relegated from Premier League 2 this season but in their most recent outing, a 2-2 draw against Arsenal’s academy, there was one youngster who impressed in Jeremiah Chilokoa-Mullen.

‘Some brilliant tackles and blocks as the last man or in the penalty box during a goalmouth scramble or two. Could have won it with some dancing feet of his own in the latter stages,’ wrote LeedsLive reporter Beren Cross, who also graded him an 8/10 in his post-match ratings.

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No player was rated higher and it was even better than first-teamer Jamie Shackleton and the likes of Leo Hjelde and Nohan Kenneh.

The 17-year-old, who turns 18 in June, signed his first professional contract at Elland Road back in the summer, penning a deal until 2023. Despite being in his late teens, Mullen will be part of the U23s squad permanently going forward.

Indeed, he has made 11 appearances at centre-back in Premier League 2. His form and potential has caught the eye at the international level too, as he has seemingly emerged as a regular for Scotland U19s.

“I’m a player who reads the game quite well and I like to defend on the front foot, I want to keep learning under the coaching staff and become a better player in general,” the talented youngster revealed to Leeds’ official website.

Meanwhile, ex-defender Ben Parker has been left impressed by the teenager, telling the LS11 podcast in January 2021: “Young Mullen came in at centre-half. He’s a player who we snapped up from Liverpool, predominantly he’s been with the under-18s. Only a young lad. I thought he did ever so well with Cresswell.”

Also lauded as “really strong” by his former youth coach turned first-team assistant Mark Jackson, Mullen could well become the true heir to Cooper’s throne at Elland Road.

Considering the veteran has missed time with injury and will be 31 by the time next season starts, it could be wise to develop the 17-year-old with this in mind going forward.

The young Scot could well replace the 13-cap international in the coming years.

AND in other news, Forget Rodrigo: Orta must ruthlessly axe “inexcusable” £55k-p/w Leeds flop this summer…

West Ham United cruised to a 4-0 victory against already relegated Norwich City to provide a huge boost to their hopes of finishing the Premier League season in a European spot.

They remain seventh but increase the gap to Wolverhampton Wanderers in eighth who have a game in hand to play on Wednesday. The win also means they can put the Europa League woes behind them after they crashed out of the competition at the semi-final stage on Thursday.

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The Hammers dominated the game with Said Benrahma and Jarrod Bowen grabbing the headlines with their two goals and two assists respectively. However, it was defender Craig Dawson who we think stole the show against the Canaries.

The veteran defender has been a key part to West Ham’s successes, and whilst he might get the appreciation from the supporters, he is often overlooked by those outside of the club.

He impressed greatly against Norwich winning 100% of his duels which was vital in ensuring that West Ham kept a clean sheet. He also received a SofaScore rating of 7.5 which was only beaten by his teammates mentioned above and Declan Rice.

The 32-year old made the move across London permanent at the start of the campaign joining from Watford after impressing on loan last season.

It’s been an unexpected rise for a player who has spent the majority of his career playing for a club either in a Premier League relegation battle or in the Championship.

Now he’s at the heart of the West Ham defence fighting for a European finish. He’s been described as “outstanding” by journalist Matt Law with manager Moyes praising his performances in Europe this season.

He also didn’t put a foot wrong when it came to his passing against Norwich. Dawson recorded a pass accuracy percentage of 95% during the game, proving that he is just as good in possession as he is battling one on one with an opponent.

For a player who rarely gets talked about, he produces performances that without, West Ham would find themselves struggling at the back. Luckily he has hardly missed a game for them this season with 48 appearances in all competitions.

IN other news: Imagine him & Said: West Ham set to move for 22 y/o “hurricane”, he won’t cost a penny…

Leeds United have received a ‘huge’ boost with the return of Luke Ayling from injury, Paul Robinson has told MOT Leeds News.

The lowdown

Ayling hasn’t started a Premier League game for Leeds since the 2-1 defeat against Arsenal back in May.

He picked up a red card just 27 minutes into that match, meaning he was suspended for the final three rounds of the season.

Ayling then took the opportunity to undergo surgery on a long-standing knee problem.

Last time out against Brentford, Ayling came on as a substitute, playing the final 20 minutes.

And on Friday night, he got another 81 minutes under his belt in a Premier League 2 clash with Southampton at Elland Road.

The latest

Robinson, who played for Leeds between 1998 and 2004, says Ayling’s long-awaited return to full fitness will be a significant moment both on the pitch and in the dressing room.

He said: “Ayling’s been missing for a long time so to have him back, on and off the field, would be a huge boost.”

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The verdict

Leeds’ first team don’t have a game this weekend after their clash with Manchester United was postponed.

But Ayling now looks primed to push for a starting role when the Whites are next in action against Aston Villa on 2 October.

Rasmus Kristensen, the summer signing from Red Bull Salzburg with whom Ayling will compete for the right-back role, missed the trip to Brentford through injury.

He’s expected to be available once again for the visit of Villa, and so Jesse Marsch could be left with a welcome selection headache.

Perhaps he might favour Ayling on the basis of the leadership qualities to which Robinson alludes.

Indeed, the Englishman donned the captain’s armband for 16 of his side’s top-flight fixtures last season.

West Ham United have certainly had a chequered history when it comes to recruitment in the GSB era – particularly with regards to centre-forwards – with a whole host of additions having failed to make the grade in east London in recent times.

One of the more high-profile, unsuccessful recruits of the last decade was that of Andy Carroll, with the 6-foot-4 marksman having endured an injury-hit seven-year stay with the Hammers after initially joining on loan from Liverpool in 2012.

The Reds had been keen to offload the Englishman after just 18 months at Anfield, having previously been signed for a sizeable £35m fee from Newcastle United on deadline day back in January 2011.

With credit still in the bank from his time at St James’ Park – where he had scored 17 goals in the second tier during the 2009/10 season – Sam Allardyce no doubt believed he could help revive the forward’s fortunes upon his move to the Irons.

A promising 2012/13 season saw the nine-cap England international net seven Premier League goals in his debut campaign in the capital, with West Ham subsequently forking out £15m to sign him on a permanent deal.

That decision no doubt backfired as he struggled for both form and fitness over the next few years, failing to ever reach double figures for goals in any of his seven seasons in a claret and blue jersey.

His best return of nine league goals came during the 2016/17 season under Slaven Bilic, with the Gateshead-born powerhouse notably netting a sensational overhead kick in a victory over Crystal Palace in that campaign.

Such a staggering, acrobatic effort proved just how “unplayable” he could be at his best – as lauded by teammate Aaron Cresswell – albeit with the forward never managing to stay fit for long enough to deliver the goods on a consistent basis.

Dogged by injuries throughout his time at the club – particularly in the final few years – Carroll was restricted to just 16 and 12 league outings respectively in his final two seasons at the London Stadium, before finally departing on a free transfer in 2019.

Losing the striker for nothing represented a notable loss from the Hammers’ initial investment, albeit the club were likely no doubt happy to have him off the books, with his form since that departure having vindicated their decision to let him leave.

A subsequent return to the North East saw the £540k-rated man score just once in two seasons with Tynesiders, while last term saw the 33-year-old net just five league goals in the Championship across spells at Reading and West Bromwich Albion.

Now without a club, it has been a rather dismal decade for the once-promising talent, with the Irons no doubt regretting their decision to have invested so heavily in him all those years ago.

Rodrigo enjoyed a stunning start to the 2022/23 campaign for Leeds United as he grasped his opportunity to lead the line for Jesse Marsch in the Premier League.

He has scored four goals and created two ‘big chances’ for his teammates in five top-flight outings for the Whites this season, playing as a number 10 and as a striker during that time.

The Spaniard then suffered a shoulder injury in the draw with Everton and Marsch admitted that he could be out for a week or two months, depending on the severity of the blow.

He missed the 5-2 defeat to Brentford and it now remains to be seen how long he will be out of action for, which opens the door for someone else to step up at the top end of the pitch.

Marsch must now unleash summer signing Sonny Perkins to see if he is ready to make the step up to playing regular football in the Premier League.

The 18-year-old joined the club from West Ham in the summer and has hit the ground running in Yorkshire, scoring five goals in four games for the under-21’s.

A private coach, Harry Brooks, hailed the youngster’s talent earlier this year, saying:

“He’s got incredible feet. Really smooth, he’s creative, as a ball striker, he’s probably the best ball striker I’ve ever worked with. Happy off both feet and a real natural footballer where you want him to get on the ball as often as he can.

“As a character he’s fantastic. He’s got magic, intelligence, football ability – not many players have magic nowadays, he certainly does. And yeah, I’m looking forward to seeing the season he’s gonna have.”

This suggests that he has a special gift on the ball and that he is clinical in front of goal, which is backed up by his statistics for the Whites and during his time at West Ham.

Perkins joined Leeds after enjoying a fine 2021/22 campaign with the Hammers. He scored 12 goals in 21 Premier League 2 outings and made his top-flight and Europa League debuts for David Moyes’ side.

The young attacker, who can play in a multitude of forward roles, has shown that he is a consistent, lethal, goalscorer at youth level and he now deserves an opportunity to show what he can do in the first-team.

Rodrigo’s injury has presented Marsch with a chance to experiment at the top end of the pitch and he must now unleash Perkins to see if he can translate his stunning strike rate in the academy to the Premier League.