Liverpool could potentially sign both Jude Bellingham and Mason Mount during the summer transfer window, according to an exciting new update.

The Lowdown: Bellingham and Mount rumours rife

The Reds have been endlessly linked with new midfield signings this summer, with the club surely set to make significant additions in that area.

Bellingham and Mount are perhaps the two most prominent links at the moment, with the England international duo’s future up in the air.

The former is widely expected to leave Borussia Dortmund at the end of the season, while the latter is refusing to accept Chelsea’s current contract offer to him.

The Latest: Pair could both join Liverpool

According to Football Transfers, Liverpool could actually sign both Bellingham and Mount in the summer, with the Chelsea man ‘not viewed as an alternative’ to his international teammate.

The report states that Jurgen Klopp will be given a ‘significant transfer kitty’ for new signings and that the English pair could be two main additions.

The Verdict: Perfect summer business

If Liverpool managed to sign both Bellingham and Mount this summer it would be magnificent business – the type that could completely transform Klopp’s team moving forward.

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The duo already have 58 England caps between them, despite only being 19 and 24 respectively, and they possess both the technical brilliance and energy to make the Reds’ midfield a force again.

Bellingham is clearly the bigger star of the two, considering he is one of the best young players in the world – Roy Keane has said he ‘has everything’ – but Mount could also be a really shrewd signing.

Granted, he isn’t having his best season for Chelsea – who is, in truth? – but he can operate as a No.8, No.10 or even out wide, and his tactical nous is well-documented, with Jose Mourinho once calling him a ‘very, very intelligent’ player.

TalkSPORT’s Mark Goldbridge believes he’s been left disappointed by the recent form of Liverpool duo Joel Matip and Virgil van Dijk.

The Lowdown: Liverpool aren’t the same as they once were

After a stunning few years under Jurgen Klopp which has seen Liverpool win a whole load of trophies including the Champions League, Premier League and Carabao Cup it now could be unravelling quite quickly.

The Reds currently find themselves nine points off the top four and even five points off Newcastle United in fifth with their latest 0-0 draw against Crystal Palace being another sign that things aren’t all rosy at Anfield.

Back-to-back league wins against Everton and Newcastle have swiftly been forgotten following a Champions League thumping against Real Madrid and then the draw at Palace but despite their third league clean sheet in a row, the defence has been impressing everyone.

The Latest: Van Dijk and Matip being exposed

Gold bridge believes that this season has shown Van Dijk and Matip for the defenders they may actually be and has insisted on Ben Foster’s YouTube channel that the pair have gone down in his estimations.

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He said: (38:20) “I’ve always rated Van Dijk but I must admit, he’s had a midfield in front of him for his whole career and now he doesn’t – you can’t pick all the midfield runners up – but I think those centre backs, Matip and Van Dijk, are probably not as good as I thought they were this season.”

The Verdict: Klopp must find the perfect balance

Liverpool are indeed likely going to have to write this season off in terms of the top-four race and winning the Champions League given where they currently stand in both of those competitions, although they may still fancy their chances in the FA Cup.

However, if they are to lift a piece of unlikely silverware then Liverpool need to find consistency as this season they’ve never won three league games in a row with woes at both ends of the pitch letting them down.

Klopp will know that standards from most players have dropped this season and perhaps this poor campaign is what is needed to shock everyone back into life and make them realise that the last few good years aren’t guaranteed to repeat themselves in the future so all players must now step up, or risk being replaced.

Leeds United are still searching for their next manager after sacking Jesse Marsch earlier this month, and an update has emerged on a potential target for the role.

What’s the latest on the Leeds manager search?

According to Portuguese news outlet Zero Zero, the Whites have made an approach for Al-Gharafa SC manager Pedro Martins.

As per the report, talks are set to take place with the manager after the Yorkshire club made an informal approach for the 52-year-old, and negotiations are expected to go through his current employers should Leeds advance in their interest.

Would hiring Martins be a big risk for Radrizzani and Leeds?

The Whites have found themselves in a vulnerable position in the Premier League this season and could be facing a difficult relegation scrap if performances don’t improve quickly.

Leeds are currently teetering on the edge of the relegation zone in 17th place, with two crucial bottom-of-the-table clashes ahead of them. First up is a trip to Goodison Park to face Everton on Saturday, followed by a visit from Southampton to Elland Road, fixtures which give Leeds two golden opportunities to distance themselves from the bottom three.

It has been confirmed that Michael Skubala will lead the team in their forthcoming fixtures whilst the powers at the club continue their search for a permanent manager, although the interest in Martins could carry a big risk for Andrea Radrizzani.

The 52-year-old – who was hailed as “special” by Wolverhampton Wanderers winger Daniel Podence – is renowned for his time with Olympiacos, where he took charge of 221 games with a points average of 2.13 before he was sacked and replaced with now-West Bromwich Albion manager Carlos Corberan last August.

Indeed, there is an element of risk which comes with appointing any manager at this stage of the season, especially considering the unstable situation in which Leeds find themselves. However, the club have been linked with managers who, unlike Martins, already have Premier League experience under their belt.

Both Nuno Espirito Santo and Steven Gerrard have been linked with the vacant role in West Yorkshire, and although the trio may not be long-term solutions when it comes to a top-flight relegation battle, surely hiring a short-term manager with experience in the league would be advantageous.

Notably, it was around this time last year that Marsch – who like Martins had no Premier League experience beforehand – was brought in to replace Marcelo Bielsa. While the American succeeded in staving off relegation in 2022, he failed to win over much of the Elland Road faithful or prevent the Whites from dipping into trouble again this time around.

With that in mind, hiring Martins could indeed carry a risk of a repeat scenario.

It will be interesting to see how Michael Skubala gets on against Everton this weekend, as victory could take the immediate pressure off the Leeds hierarchy to find an instant solution in the managerial market so that they can focus on appointing the right coach at the right time.

Former Aston Villa forward Gabby Agbonlahor believes reported target James Ward-Prowse would be a ‘great addition to the squad’.

The Lowdown: Villa rumours

Unai Emery has reportedly been given a level of control none of his predecessors have been allowed, with Christian Purslow expecting an extremely busy transfer window at Villa Park.

Ward-Prowse appears to be on the club’s radar, with reports last month suggesting Villa have reignited their interest in the 28-year-old.

Emery failed to sign a central midfielder in January and could now move for Ward-Prowse even if Southampton remain in the Premier League.

The Latest: Agbonlahor’s comments

Talking to Football Insider regarding the interest in Ward-Prowse, Agbonlahor believes the Southampton captain ‘would be a great addition to the squad’ but isn’t sure if he would go straight into Unai Emery’s starting XI.

“I wouldn’t say he’d be an upgrade on anything Villa have..

“He would be a great addition to the squad, but I’m not sure he’d be guaranteed to start every week.

“With Kamara, Ramsey, Luiz and McGinn already at the club, that’s already quite a good set of options in the midfield.

“I think it would be a good signing to bring him in, but I can’t see where he slots into that midfield straight away. He’d have to fight for his place.”

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The Verdict: Better than Agbonlahor thinks?

Ward-Prowse would bring plenty of Premier League experience to the Midlands and would offer a quality option at set pieces, especially from free kicks, scoring 17 direct free kicks over the last ten years with a conversion rate of 15.2%, better than Lionel Messi.

Statistically, he has actually outperformed every Aston Villa player this season, as per WhoScored, averaging more key passes than any player in Emery’s side. He also averages just under 50 passes per game for the Saints, more than the majority of Villa’s squad, so there could be an argument for him becoming a key man under Emery.

Ward-Prowse can turn out in central or attacking midfield roles, so he could prove to be better than just a squad option, as Agbonlahor first claimed.

Leeds United could now be on the verge of ending their manager search…

What is the latest news on Leeds’ manager search?

According to renowned journalist Phil Hay of The Athletic, the Yorkshire outfit are set to appoint former Watford boss Javi Gracia.

He tweeted:

“Leeds United set to confirm Javi Gracia as their new head coach. Interview with him went well and deal should be finalised shortly. Arrives with the initial target of staving off relegation.”

Is Javi Gracia a suitable appointment for Leeds?

It’s clear that the Whites’ quest to find a suitable replacement for Jesse Marsch has become a little desperate, having had several names ruled out of the running for one reason or another.

The likes of former Marcelo Bielsa assistant Carlos Corberan, his protege Andoni Iraola at Rayo Vallecano, Arne Slot of Feyenoord and Alfred Schreuder have all been linked to the post, but to no avail.

Gracia has been out of work for around eight months, having left Qatar Stars League outfit Al-Sadd in the summer and has not coached in England since being sacked by Watford in September 2019.

During the 2018/19 campaign, the Spaniard guided the Hornets to safety and made the FA Cup final for the first time in 35 years but as is often the case in north London, he wasn’t able to last long in Gino Pozzo’s ruthless regime.

Overall, his time in the country drew just a 37.8% win rate from 66 matches, with that decreasing to just 32% in the Premier League alone.

With Leeds languishing in the relegation zone, Gracia will need to hit the ground running at Elland Road, though his track record makes it seem like that’ll be an even more arduous task, especially as Marsch’s win rate (29%) at the club was very similar.

It won’t be easy to get his ideas across quickly, considering the side had worked with the American for a whole year and in the past two weeks, with U21 boss Michael Skubala and that’ll only be a further detriment to their survival chances and thus, it could have been better to stick it out with the former RB Leipzig boss before making a change in the summer.

AND in other news, Radrizzani could all but seal Leeds’ relegation amid managerial reports on 40 y/o boss…

Transfer expert Dean Jones says that Glasgow Rangers are ‘loving’ Todd Cantwell at the moment.

The Lowdown: Good start

Cantwell has gotten off to a good start in his Ibrox career, starting four of the five games that he has been available, grabbing one assist and helping the team win all five matches (Transfermarkt).

He was signed from Norwich City in the January transfer window, and Michael Beale expressed his delight with the signing, saying that Cantwell was ‘fully aligned’ to his playing style.

The Latest: Rangers ‘loving’ Cantwell

Speaking to GiveMeSport, Jones says that Rangers are ‘loving’ Cantwell behind the scenes, and that is being reciprocated by the midfielder:

“They’re loving him and I think it’s reciprocated from everything I hear and see. When you make a move like this to Rangers, you have to go all in and give it everything and it seems he has done that – this could be a great time in his career. He is going to thrive.”

The Verdict: Great signing

Cantwell is a great signing for the Gers, and is sure to show his quality over the rest of the season.

The Englishman managed to score six goals and make two assists when Norwich were in the Premier League in 2019/20, before recording a further 13 goal contributions in the Championship the following campaign (Transfermarkt).

He has perhaps lost his way since then, but there is no doubt that the talent is there, and at 24 years of age, Cantwell is still yet to reach his potential.

Nonetheless, he has made a good start to life at the Light Blues, and will be hoping to continue his fine form for the rest of the term.

Everton want to bring Flamengo striker Pedro to the Premier League this summer, according to reports.

The Lowdown: Reinforcements needed

The Merseyside outfit failed to add a single fresh face to their ranks in January so attacking reinforcements will definitely be needed in the upcoming window regardless of which division they might find themselves in.

The Brazilian’s contract at the Maracana Stadium isn’t set to expire until 2027, but being Vitor Pereira’s second top-performing offensive player, has caught the eye of Sean Dyche at Goodison Park.

The Latest: Everton eyeing Pedro

According to Spanish reports (via CaughtOffside), Everton, alongside West Ham and Aston Villa, are ‘keen on signing’ Pedro ahead of the 2023/24 campaign.

It’s stated that the 25-year-old ‘could be tempted’ by a move to the English top-flight to show what he’s really capable of, so this may be one to watch in the months ahead.

The Verdict: Perfect for Dyche

Dominic Calvert-Lewin, Neal Maupay and the recently returning Ellis Simms haven’t made a significant enough impact at Everton this season so Pedro would be the perfect centre-forward to come in and change Dyche’s fortunes.

The Adidas-sponsored talisman has clocked up 90 goal contributions in 159 appearances for Flamengo, where he’s currently averaging 2.2 shots per league game.

The 6 foot 1 attacker additionally ranks in the 99th percentile for four different statistics, including non-penalty expected goals plus assisted goals (FBRef).

Finally, Pedro has been hailed an ‘excellent finisher’ by BBC commentator Guy Mowbray, making him the ideal candidate to put pen to paper this summer.

Phil Hay has been left impressed by how compact and tight Leeds United has been defensively since Javi Gracia took over.

The Lowdown: Gracia already making a difference

Prior to Leeds appointing Gracia, it looked as though Leeds were only heading one way under Jesse Marsch and that was down into the championship with the American boss winning just twice in his previous 20 league games.

Since the Spaniard has come into the club he’s certainly made Leeds more difficult to beta as against Southampton they kept a clean sheet and then in the FA Cup against Fulham, the Premier League high-flyers needed two outside-the-box world-class strikes to give them the win.

Having a solid defensive base is one thing that Leeds will need if they are to move away from the dreaded relegation zones because all season they’ve only managed five league clean sheets, so that is clearly an area of concern.

The Latest: Leeds looking solid defensively

Hay has admitted on the latest episode of The Phil Hay Show that the way Gracia has made Leeds hard to beat in his first two games in charge has been very impressive.

He said: (8:30) “The thing that’s jumped out to me from the two matches under Gracia so far is how compact and tight Leeds have looked defensively and how little they’re giving away in the way of big chances.

“None in these two matches which is a really good sign because if you go throw the numbers Leeds are way up the charts when it comes to the number they’ve given away over the course of the season and up to this point. So it suggests to you that firstly there’s a framework developing that is going to make Leeds tidier at the back and more solid at the back.”

The Verdict: Could be a solid end to the season

It’s certainly an area that needed to be addressed at Leeds heading into the final few months of the season as the Whites rank as the eighth-worst team when it comes to XGA, which is far from where they would like to be.

The fact that Gracia has already made a clear switch in formation since taking over to deploy three midfielders at once appears to be working and forcing teams to go around them and not straight through them to their final third.

If Leeds can be difficult to break down while also still giving the license to get forward to players such as Rodrigo, Wilfried Gnonto and Crsyencio Summerville, then they could be in a great place to survive the drop.

Alasdair Gold has ripped into Pedro Porro for his poor defensive showing during Tottenham Hotspur’s FA Cup loss.

The Lowdown: Spurs limp out of another competition

It looks set to be yet another trophyless season for Tottenham as they were dumped out of the FA Cup by Championship outfit Sheffield United last night and now only have the possibility of winning the Champions League.

That looks incredibly unlikely, however, given they are behind in their tie against AC Milan heading into the second leg so that’s a challenge in itself, never mind the other clubs that are still in the competition.

It appeared as though Christian Stellini was perhaps not taking the game as seriously as he could’ve last night by benching Harry Kane despite Spurs being just a few games away from Wembley and instead, he handed starts to more fringe players including Davinson Sanchez, Pedro Porro and Pape Matar Sarr.

The Latest: Porro woefully poor defensively

Gold, who was in attendance at Bramall Lane last night, picked out Porro for his role in the only goal of the night as he was at fault for the beginning of the move and showed his defensive deficiencies.

He said: ‘A couple of early nervy moments but he steadily improved and adjusted to the swirling wind and rain. He could have done better with Hojbjerg’s diagonal ball, making a great run but then curling his left-footed shot over the bar. However, he was so weak for United’s goal as Ndiaye eased away from him. 5’

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The Latest: Tottenham’s depth is a concern

It was indeed only Porro’s second start as a Tottenham player and he may well have been counting his lucky stars that Antonio Conte wasn’t on the touchline or in the dressing room to rip into him for his weakness before the goal and the fact he won just seven out of his attempted 17 (41%) tackles last night.

To get brushed aside so easily by a Championship player almost sums up how Spurs appeared to approach the game with Stellini even claiming that some of his players took it too easy because of the opposition.

Given the form that Emerson Royal has been showing of late, it seems difficult to see how and when Porro gets a real chance in the starting lineup and last night will have done his chances no favours at all.

Jose Mourinho is a beloved and coveted name in west London, with the legendary Portuguese manager leading Chelsea to abundant success across two tenures, but signing the 60-year-old for a third spell would be a detrimental failure for owner Todd Boehly’s Blues project.

After taking ownership of the club last year and pumping incredible sums of cash into the transfer department, looking to reshape and remould a Blues outfit that fell to Liverpool at the final stage of both domestic cup competitions last term, but progress has plummeted to depths unforeseen at the season’s inception.

Languishing in tenth place in the Premier League, 11 points adrift of top-four, out of both the FA Cup and Carabao Cup and trailing Borussia Dortmund following the first leg of their Champions League round-of-16 tie, Boehly will be highly disconcerted by the trajectory his affluent project has taken, and despite replacing Thomas Tuchel with Graham Potter in the early phases of the campaign, a second managerial change might now be necessary.

An emergency board meeting was held earlier this week to get to the bottom of the strife, with the club winning just one solitary match from the past ten contests, and a host of managerial replacements have subsequently been circulating.

On this list is none other than Mourinho, who led Chelsea to a wealth of silverware multiple times across his two times at the head of the table, but returning for the manager once again would be a calamitous move for the club.

Would signing Mourinho spell disaster?

Mourinho’s total time spent leading the ranks in west London totals over five years, taking charge for 184 matches during his first tenure and then 136 games over his second; for his labours, he has clinched gold in a plethora of tournaments, notably winning three Premier League titles, the FA Cup and two League Cup trophies with Chelsea.

In his first spell, his average PPM (points-per-match) was an incredible 2.23, before his second stay was marred by a dreadful final season that saw him sacked in December 2015 and lowered his average to a still impressive 1.94.

However, if Chelsea made a move for the icon once again, it might well echo that of another manager who endured multiple stints at the Bridge, that of Guus Hiddink, who was in fact brought in to replace Mourinho over seven years ago.

Hiddink won just ten of his 27 matches at the helm in his second spell at Chelsea as he attempted to dig the Blues out of their rut, and there will indeed be fears that the past might poignantly repeat itself if Boehly does not stick to his guns and look to wipe a new, fresh sheen over Stamford Bridge.

Indeed, making a move for Mourinho would be nothing more than “nostalgia repackaged”, according to journalist Daniel Childs, with the manager’s move to Chelsea’s heated rivals Tottenham Hotspur an indication that the relationship might now be closer to acrimonious than harmonious for the demanding support. 

Now managing AS Roma in Serie A, the footballing boss has won the UEFA Conference League with his outfit and now seeks to return the club to their rightful place in the Champions League, but a return to Chelsea could indeed hamper all three parties involved.

Despite the nature of his previous exit from Stamford Bridge, Mourinho, hailed as “incredible” by John Terry, will be eternally endeared by the swathes of Chelsea support, but that is how it should remain.

Given the flow of the river that currently dictates the west London club’s new era, the Blues must target a fresh approach, and not rehash old tricks.