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Manchester United have wind in their sails, a lease of life; Ed Woodward has shown his competency in securing the signing of a player initially thought to be well out of the club’s reach, with nothing based on financial footing.

Even before a ball has been kicked in what seems to be a new dawn for the club, it feels as though the surge of enthusiasm and renewed hope from Juan Mata’s signing will lift United into the top four – and his signing may well signal the start of a feverish and frantic week of spending in these final few days of the January window.

The temptation is there. United need more than just one player, no matter how good he is, to put the ship right. David Moyes was in Germany on Friday night to take in Bayern’s 2-0 win away to Borussia Monchengladbach, where he reportedly made contact with the agent of Toni Kroos, discussing the possibility of taking on a player whose contract situation, at this time, is identical to that of Wayne Rooney.

The German international would represent another slightly altered change in tact for United. Yes, Kroos is young and therefore fits the bill of what United have been looking for over the past few years. But the Bayern star’s image and profile is far greater than that of Ashley Young, Phil Jones and Chris Smalling; from a talent perspective, he outshines Shinji Kagawa.

Kroos is a name that makes sense for United, if Bayern find themselves in a position to relinquish hold on the player. He’s been a regular in the centre of midfield, dropping deeper into the deep-lying position in the absence of either Bastian Schweinsteiger or Javi Martinez.

Much is the same of Yohan Cabaye, another name linked over the past week with a move to Old Trafford. The Newcastle midfielder, even with a slight blip, has been one of the Premier League’s best central midfielders since he arrived from Lille in 2011. PSG’s move for him earlier this month speaks of his talent and potential to be an influential figure at the top of the European game, and for United, Cabaye could have an equal say alongside Mata in the coming fortunes for the club.

But there is danger for United at this time. The idea that Juan Mata was a panic signing was thrown out there, and while it makes little sense due to the need of the club at this time – star power and a player who could make a difference in the final third – United may make a wrong move into the territory of panic buying if they’re not pragmatic.

There’s no doubt that the relevant figures at Old Trafford will be encouraged even further to make another big signing, but while Ed Woodward has done well to bring in Mata, the club’s chief executive must keep his composure and avoid overpaying in the wrong areas of the market.

The club need reinforcements in defence, probably right across the back line if rumours are to be believed that Rafael’s future is in doubt. Fabio Coentrao has been linked at the start of the month, but United can do better. Much of the same can be said of Dante, who despite having an excellent season for Bayern last year, is 30 and doesn’t have too much time left at the top of the game.

It wouldn’t even be a terrible idea if United held their cards until the summer, at least in terms of big-name buys. January is notorious for creating inflated fees, while clubs can be drawn into the game of “panic buying” if their first or second choices aren’t available.

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Kroos and Cabaye would be fantastic signings for United and David Moyes – both the German and the Frenchman could form the base and starting point of a possession or counterattacking system. Unless they become available, however, the club must be mindful to not waste the funds Moyes requires to rebuild the squad at Old Trafford.

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England Under-21 manager Stuart Pearce wants to see an increase in home-grown talent being given Premier League opportunities, picking out Liverpool’s Raheem Sterling as the perfect example.

Eighteen-year-old Sterling is on the verge of making his under-21 debut on Friday in their European Championship play-off against Serbia and has impressed Pearce with the start he has made to the season with a struggling Liverpool side.

Pearce told the Daily Mail: “He has had a fantastic start to the season. He has been in our development age groups prior to this season and he had the fortunate opportunity to be with the seniors last time out and he has come in now and has got the opportunity to vie for a place with the Under-21s.

“He has fit in really well to be fair, he will bring the confidence he has got and that Brendan Rodgers has given him – he has got his tail up at the moment and looks a real handful.”

Sterling was named in Roy Hodgson’s senior squad for the World Cup qualifier against Ukraine to gain precious experience at the highest level, and Pearce wants to see more players like Sterling being given a chance.

“We would prefer more young players breaking into their teams, there is no doubt about that,” he said.

Pearce also picked out Liverpool as a side who are giving their young talented youngsters a chance to prove themselves in the Premier League.

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“When you look at Liverpool there is (Jonjo) Shelvey, Andre Wisdom has just got in the team recently, Raheem has got into the team,” he added.

England under-21s play their return leg against Serbia on Tuesday evening in Krusevac, with the winner over two legs making it through to next year’s finals in Israel.

Hull City striker Abel Hernandez is soon to be out of contract, and although a number of Championship clubs have been interested, it looks as though Leeds United are winning the race to secure his signature.

What’s the story?

After four years at Hull City, Abel Hernandez looks set to end his spell at the KCOM Stadium when his contract expires on June 30th, putting a number of Championship and Premier League clubs on high alert.

The striker initially signed for the Tigers for £10million and has scored 39 times for the club.

Aston Villa and Wolves were rumoured to be interested, but according to reports from Lee Sobot of the Yorkshire Post, their interest in the striker appears to have cooled.

As Sobot points out, Villa will struggle financially following their failure to reach the Premier League, and Wolves are closing in on the signing of Benik Afobe.

This should leave Leeds United in pole position to secure the signing with the Uruguay international.

Would he be a good signing for Leeds?

If Leeds are looking to build a promotion-challenging team, they will certainly need to improve on the 59 goals they managed this season.

With strikers often being the most valuable commodities on the market, a free transfer for an international striker with a proven track record of goals is just what Leeds need.

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Having netted 28 times in 49 Championship games for Hull, Hernandez seems like the perfect free transfer for Leeds to bolster their attacking options.

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In most cases, second-string strikers are keen to dislodge the leader of the pack in order to steal their spot.

However, on this occasion, Heung-min Son has suggested that he has no intention of knocking Harry Kane off his perch at Tottenham Hotspur.

The hitman had a record-breaking 2017 as he finished the calendar year as Europe’s top scorer with 56 goals – more than the likes of regular Ballon d’Or winners Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.

At the weekend, Kane wrote another line in the history books as he surpassed Teddy Sheringham’s Spurs record of 97 Premier League goals.

Kane reached the feat by netting twice in a comfortable 4-0 win over Everton at Wembley on Saturday in the late kickoff.

Son also contributed to the scoresheet as he netted his fifth in a row on home soil and his 11th in all competitions.

Not only did he find the back of the net, the South Korean set up the first of Kane’s goals and played a part in the build up to Christian Eriksen’s successful hit.

While Son has admitted that he is happy to be performing well up front, he has no plans to try to snatch the first-choice position from Kane.

In fact, the forward is delighted to see his teammate thriving this season.

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The Daily Star quotes Son as saying:

“I really enjoy Harry scoring goals as that is also good for the team. When I play with him and the team, he beats every record and we are part of this. I am happy to help him. It’s nice to have some record myself and I really enjoy it.

“But I am not selfish or just thinking about myself. I am really happy for Harry. I just want Harry to beat every record for England and the Premier League. The most important thing about our partnership is that it works really well and I want to take this one or two more steps and keep it going.”

Julian Draxler was once again the centrepiece of Schalke’s win over Stuttgart on Saturday, setting up Jefferson Farfan for his first and winning his side a penalty in the second half.

For Arsene Wenger, nothing much has changed. For those who wish to look at Arsenal’s pursuit of the young German at face value, it does appear that the club are looking to flex their financial muscle in the market for a second time; some may even question the need for Draxler in Arsenal’s congested locker room of midfielders.

The only thing that has changed is the price and the financial scope Arsenal are allowing themselves. Under Wenger, the onus has always been to develop young talents. The club are seen as the final step in the schooling of young players. Of course, some like Jack Wilshere have been at the club for much of their lives, yet others like Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain or Aaron Ramsey have been picked up with the view to moulding them in Arsenal and Wenger’s image. The talent was evident, but the final lessons were needed.

It’s much the same with Draxler. He’s considered one of Germany’s finest at present. At 20, he already has a wealth of experience at the top level of German and European football, continually looking more and more at ease with himself and the responsibilities that have been laid upon him.

But Schalke are not going to be the start and end of his journey. Like so many German youngsters over the years, he’ll either be swept up to the bigger power of German football, Bayern Munich (or Borussia Dortmund), or one of Europe’s top clubs will come calling.

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There’s no doubt about it that Draxler will make Arsenal a better team. There will of course be those who question the point of his signing, should it take place, while others will simply push for further reasoning behind Wenger’s famed stubbornness: Arsenal need a centre-back and certainly a striker, so the Arsenal manager buys another attacking midfielder.

But think of the depth Arsenal will have in that particular area of the field, and not just the use of the word to talk up numbers. Arsenal will genuinely have strength in depth. Is there any side in the Premier League who wouldn’t be better off with Draxler in their side? Manchester United; Manchester City could do with another creative figure when David Silva is out of the team. Only Chelsea can make a strong case that they don’t need the Schalke midfielder.

So Arsenal, who are known for hitting the self-destruct button in the past – something which was at times borne out of really poor playing personnel – will only be reinforcing their case as mainstays in this and future Premier League title races.

In hindsight, there is weight in the argument that Arsenal never made the most of their scouting network. Despite what some may think there’s nothing wrong with focusing on and acquiring youth to build good or even great teams in the future. Look at Dortmund, who initially didn’t have the spending power that they do now. But Dortmund were a contrast to Arsenal’s arguably wasteful approach.

Denilson was never an Arsenal player. How much did he really improve in the time he was at the club? Technique and skill is one thing, but a lot of it is in a player’s mental capacity too. Fran Merida is another, arriving with plenty of promise as another Cesc Fabregas. Joel Campbell, currently on loan at Olympiacos, may be doing well at other clubs around Europe, but I question whether he’d offer much to the current Arsenal team. Ignasi Miquel is yet another name who will never make it at Arsenal.

The point is Arsenal had a scattergun approach, stockpiling young players – and notably cheap players – in the hope that a few would stick. Obviously no one is expecting every player who comes through to be as good as Fabregas – he was one of those players that you land on once in a lifetime. But considering how long Arsenal have been at work with this youth approach, it’s taken a long time, and counting, to see any real return.

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Draxler, on the other hand, is a proven talent, despite that phrase being something of a paradox. How can a talent be “proven?” If he was proven, he wouldn’t be a “talent,” with the implication being he’s still young and ripe for moulding. But the point is you know what you’re going to get with Draxler. His qualities are much, much clearer than previously mentioned Arsenal “talents.”

Arsenal now, like Dortmund, have the spending power to take themselves into higher tiers in the market. The club could go on in the manner which they started this past summer by bringing in another readymade superstar like Mesut Ozil, but Wenger wants to continue the approach of developing youngsters as his primary means of building.

There are some who would rightly argue that Draxler falls somewhere in between. He’s young, but there are few doubting that he’d be a superstar in the future. The point is he is young and he does have further room to develop. At 20, no matter how high the transfer fee, no one is the finished article. Look at Mario Goetze as an example.

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The average football fan may have spent the summer eagerly anticipating the European Championships or the end of transfer window, but I had the premiere of Being: Liverpool frantically highlighted on my calendar. As a television programme that focused heavily on attracting and enlightening an American audience, I knew that it would contain equal measures of wisdom and amusement. But if we peel away the Hollywood glaze airbrushed onto the footage, what insight can we gain into the dawn of a new era on Merseyside?

It goes without saying that every fan around the country perceives their club as more than just a sports team, there’s a sense of community or belonging that is perhaps not present in other walks of life. However, with regards to Liverpool it feels like the blind faith and optimism stems from an unrivalled sense of passion and devotion. This can produce some of the best (and worst) supporters in the league.

In the opening monologue, the club is hailed as a ‘religion’ with Anfield noted as a place of worship. There is an immediate sense that everyone associated with the club suffers as one cohesive unit if results or performances fail to reach a certain standard. The illustrious history of Liverpool Football club therefore invites a dizzying level of expectation, which surely serves as a hindrance as much as a source of inspiration.

The programme essentially presents itself as the perfect platform for new manager Brendan Rodgers to promote his plans for the future. It’s obvious that his philosophies exist off the pitch as well as on it, with phrases like ‘family atmosphere’ helping to send the cliché counter into overdrive. There is certainly an element of confidence in they way that he presents himself but it’s difficult to decipher whether the players greet his words with any credibility, especially given his limited experience as both a manager and a player.

In an ideal world you would couple the influence of King Kenny with the mindset of Rodgers, but instead you’re left with the nagging fear that the club have gone from one extreme to the other in an attempt to reverse their fortunes. Rodgers talks about educating his players rather than training them, which again makes me question whether the sincerity of his words is purely for the sake of the cameras.

One aspect that is abundantly clear from the outset is how Rodgers likes to surround himself with familiar faces. As we’re introduced to his backroom staff, we’re told that he looks for people he can trust or has had a positive working relationship in the past. Moments later Fabio Borini arrives for his medical and Rodgers greets him like a long lost relative anda voiceover talks about how he targets players as much for their mentality and attitude as their playing attributes. With this in mind, its little surprise Andy Carroll seemed destined for the exit.

It’s also evident that introducing new and often alien techniques into the world of a professional footballer is incredibly difficult. In a scene that conjured memories of Glenn Hoddle and Eileen Drewery, the Liverpool team snigger their way through a yoga session. The treatment was devised to teach coping strategies needed to combat the pressure of the modern game, something synonymous with Liverpool and their players, but instead it descended into chaos as a worryingly high percentage of the squad struggled with balance issues. Without wanting to invite criticism, may I offer the unstoppable Ryan Giggs as evidence to the benefit of implementing yoga into the training schedule? I can’t imagine any Liverpool fans would complain if Steven Gerrard were able to continue playing at the highest level into his late thirties.

One undeniable positive involves the strong emphasis on youth development at the club, with the likes of Raheem Sterling and Jonjo Shelvey benefiting from as much attention from Rodgers as the seasoned stars at the club. In one of the opening sequences we see local lad John Flanagan busting a gut on the training pitch, long after everyone else has gone home. This highlights not only the impressive attitude of Liverpool’s young starlets but also how vital it is to make an early impression when a new manager arrives. As Gerrard pointed out, unlike ten years ago, the spotlight is already on the next generation of stars well before they are regulars in the first-team.

The third episode of the six part series debuts this Friday and promises to be slightly more engaging as attention shifts to events on the pitch. There will even be footage of Rodger’s team talks, which should provide a great insight into a once sacred and very private exchange.

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The club has to be commended for allowing such access, especially when previous football documentaries offer little else than ammunition for ridicule (see: The Four Year Plan). However in order to retain its credibility, I hope we’ve seen the last of the cringe worthy shots of Ian Ayre on a Harley Davidson motorbike and the segments where Rodgers appears to be reading from a motivational book written by David Brent and Alan Partridge. Then again, perhaps this whole project has been designed to distract or rather convert people while the club undergoes a significant transition period.

Join me on Twitter @theunusedsub where you might be surprised to learn that Liverpool have the youngest team in the Premier League this season with an average age of just over 23.

On Tuesday afternoon, Leeds United fans were offered the chance to play a little game on the club’s official Twitter page.

Indeed, an image featuring three former Leeds stars was put together, and the supporters had to guess which three players had been included.

Well, that was what was supposed to happen anyway. However, the club’s fans were not too interested in taking part.

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Instead, a number called on the club to stop with the games and start announcing new signings following a disappointing 2017-18 campaign at Elland Road.

Leeds have recently been linked with a move for Manchester City goalkeeper Angus Gunn, whilst Swansea City centre-back Kyle Bartley is believed to be a leading target in this summer’s transfer window.

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At the moment, the Leeds fans are not too interested in taking part in games or quizzes; they would rather that their club started announcing new signings pretty sharpish.

A selection of the Twitter reaction can be seen below:

Manchester United suffered a humiliating defeat on Wednesday night when they were stunned by Bristol City in the EFL Cup quarter-finals.

The Championship outfit headed into the clash on a four-game winning run and they managed to hold their own against Jose Mourinho’s side.

The deadlock was eventually broken at Ashton Gate, with Joe Bryan nudging the Robins ahead, but for less than 10 minutes as Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored his first competitive goal of the season.

Many would have backed the Red Devils to push on and nab a winner, but it was Lee Johnson’s side who sealed victory.

Korey Smith made it 2-1 and sent Bristol City into the semi-finals of the competition thanks to a 93rd-minute goal.

Ray Wilkins, who spent five years playing for United during his career, believes that Mourinho’s side now only have one realistic chance of winning silverware this season.

United are fighting on three fronts in the Premier League, Champions League and FA Cup, but Wilkins thinks that the North-West outfit are only capable of being victorious in one competition.

The 61-year-old told talkSPORT:

“As far as I’m concerned, the Premier League is done. United had the FA Cup, the League Cup and the Champions League, and you’d have to say the Champions League is a bit of a distance away at the moment. So, for me, it’s the FA Cup they’ve got to go all out for now.”

United are currently 11 points adrift of neighbours Manchester City in the title race.

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It would be impossible to argue that Harry Redknapp has not had a successful career in football. Starting at the bottom playing for Oxford City, he went on to experience the highs of a footballer in the Premier League to managing Portsmouth to an FA Cup win. No-one could put a downer on his accomplishments over the past fifty years, but along with the ups, came some very difficult low-points. The book starts with a raw and honest account of his court-case in2008, where he describes to the reader the details of not only how he was feeling through the ordeal but also the heartache this difficult time caused his family. Starting on such strong emotions is a brilliant lead into this fervent and humorous look back on Redknapp’s life. All his decisions to leave various clubs and positions are explained in detail, and it becomes increasingly more obvious to the reader that his career path was not always so clear cut. The England Job, Bobby Moore and his relationship with Milan Mandaric as well as many other adventures are all included –all the way up to his current demands at QPR. Unlike many autobiographies we don’t get a step-by-step account of Redknapp’s life, the author has chosen the main stories and focuses on them primarily, giving a slightly disjointed feeling. This does not, however, make for an unenjoyable read.  Phrases such as ‘there is some right old rubbish about…’ and ‘people might think that..’ only highlights that he wants to get the facts out there, and that is what the author of the book achieves. You could be in a chance of winning a signed copy of this book via the Facebook link below!

Post by FootballFanCast.com.

Tottenham assistant head coach Steffen Freund has said his players can “start to think” about Wembley, having beaten Carlisle 3-0 in the third round of the Capital One Cup last night, reports the Telegraph.

Freund, who was a League Cup winner with Tottenham in 1999 said: “It is special to go to Wembley and I think the players will start to think about that now.”

“I know eight Premier League sides are already out, and there are only two games and then we are in the semi-final.”

Tottenham made eight changes from the side that beat QPR on Sunday, with summer signings Jan Vertonghen and Gylfi Sigurdsson both opening their accounts for their new club.

21-year-old winger Andros Townsend was also on the scoresheet, and Freund believes there were many positives to be taken from the game.

“We brought a few young players in and we believe in them all,” Freund said.

“Adam Smith was fantastic at right-back and Ryan Mason has been scoring in the development squad, so we knew he can play. Then in the centre of midfield Tom Huddlestone is back after his injury, Michael Dawson is back.

“There are young players coming through which is nice to see, and it is especially nice to know that we have someone [Townsend] behind Gareth Bale who can jump in and create something.

“Don’t forget, we have several injured players and still had a fantastic, strong team on the pitch today.

“We deserved to win in the end and it was difficult for Carlisle to create chances.

“That’s why I’m really happy, as is the whole of the coaching staff.”

Hugo Lloris somewhat surprisingly did not make the match day squad, and has only featured in a Europa League tie since his summer switch.

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However Freund was keen to play down his non – involvement saying:

“I think at the moment we are just going from game to game.

“It is not the right moment to talk about individual players because we had a fantastic performance as a team today.

“Let’s see tomorrow who is available for [Saturday’s league game with] Manchester United.”