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Tottenham Hotspur will be looking to extend their lead at the top of Group G in the UEFA Conference League later this evening.

Nuno Santo will take a much-changed squad to the Netherlands to face Vitesse and they head into kickoff on the back of three straight wins in all competitions, including a 5-1 whitewash against NS Mura in this very competition last time out.

Spurs defeated Newcastle United on Sunday to go fifth in the Premier League standings but none of the starting XI are expected to feature today.

But what sort of lineup could the Portuguese head coach select? Here’s what we are predicting…

As already mentioned, there could be a whole new 11 starting in Holland.

Between the sticks, club captain Hugo Lloris is replaced by Pierluigi Gollini, who has started all four of their matches in this tournament, whilst there could be a new back four of Ben Davies, Davinson Sanchez, Joe Rodon and Japhet Tanganga.

They come in for first-choice quartet of Sergio Reguilon, Eric Dier, Cristian Romero and Japhet Tanganga. The latter of which gets the nod over Matt Doherty, despite the Northern Irishman featuring regularly in this competition as he misses out through injury, along with Ryan Sessegnon.

Giovani Lo Celso was one player who did not see any minutes on the pitch at St James’ Park, so he is likely to come in to partner Harry Winks, with Dele Alli also coming back into the starting XI, likely as captain, despite being snubbed in their last two league outings.

Nuno has already confirmed that Steven Bergwijn will be back after injury, so he lines up on the right over Lucas Moura, as 20-year-old “big talent” Bryan Gil takes the place of Heung-min Son on the other flank.

Teenage starlet Dane Scarlett is in line for an opportunity as the only other centre-forward available to the manager. His involvement means Harry Kane is rested ahead of the weekend.

The likes of Dilan Markanday, Nile John, Jack Clarke and Harvey White could be involved from the bench.

AND in other news, Paratici could fix Nuno’s biggest problem with Spurs swoop for £31.5m-rated “animal”…

Lyon will try and negotiate a cut-price deal with Tottenham for Tanguy Ndombele in the summer, according to former Aston Villa striker Gabby Agbonlahor (via Football Insider).

The Lowdown: Ndombele’s move to Lyon

The Frenchman re-joined his former Ligue 1 club on transfer deadline day after a tiring transfer saga throughout the January window.

Although only on loan until the end of the season, Lyon have the option of making the deal permanent. Sky Sports have reported that it would cost £54million to enact the permanent transfer, and that the French club have already paid a £1.2 million loan fee.

The France international made his return to action in the Ligue 1 outfit’s 2-0 loss to AS Monaco at the weekend after coming on at half-time. He impressed with a 91% passing success rate, along with completing all of his long ball and dribble attempts.

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The Latest: Agbonlahor makes Ndombele claim

According to talkSPORT’s Agbonlahor (via Football Insider), Lyon will try and negotiate a cut-price deal in talks with Daniel Levy and Fabio Paratici.

When asked whether he thought the midfielder’s Tottenham career was over, Agbonlahor told Football Insider correspondent Connor Whitley: “It could be.

“But I don’t see Lyon paying that sort of money, to be honest.

“There will be a negotiation on that price. I can’t see Lyon paying that sort of money for someone like Ndombele.”

The Verdict: Lyon won’t make it permanent

Due to the global pandemic, the TV rights debacle in the French league and failing to qualify for the Champions League, L’Equipe reported (via Get French Football News) that Lyon are in a financial crisis, with an estimated deficit of €185m (£156.16m).

As a result, it seems highly unlikely that the club will be able to make Ndombele’s loan permanent in the summer window, with the staggering £54m fee required to do so. Even if that fee were halved, it would make him their most expensive signing ever.

If the Ligue 1 outfit are able to negotiate a much cheaper deal, then this move becomes much more feasible. However, if Spurs are willing to let go of the midfield ‘maverick’ – as Tim Sherwood called him – on the super cheap, there may be a long list of clubs lining up to secure his signature.

In other news: Pete O’Rourke claims Spurs will be interested in signing Paulo Dybala in the summer

The agent of Donny van de Beek has revealed that he was in talks with Everton in regards to a move during the transfer window, but a switch was vetoed by Manchester United.

The Lowdown: Business done on final day

On the final day of the transfer window, the Toffees completed the signing of Salomon Rondon from Dalian Professional.

However, it seems that they also were interested in capturing the services of the £27m-valued Netherlands international (Transfermarkt) from the Red Devils.

The Latest: Van de Beek speaks to Toffees

Speaking to Ziggo Sport (via The Daily Express), Van de Beek’s representative Guido Albers revealed talks with the Merseyside club. He said:

“We took the initiative to find a club and our search ended up at Everton. We opened talks with Marcel Brands and Farhad Moshiri.

“On Monday night [before deadline day] we received a call from Solskjær and the club who told us that a transfer was out of the question and that he had to report himself to training the next morning.

“The perspective now is that we stated that Donny is not a Carabao Cup player, or FA Cup player, or to play only in European games.”

The Verdict: Crying shame

Although he made the move to Old Trafford from Ajax in September 2020 for a fee of £35m (BBC), Van de Beek has had to make do with a bit-part role at the club. He managed just 36 appearances in all competitions last season, the majority of which came from the bench, and he has yet to feature for a single minute in the current campaign (Transfermarkt).

He has often impressed whenever he has featured, though, with Owen Hargreaves calling him “close to perfect” after a match in the Champions League against Istanbul Basaksehir last autumn.

At Everton, you would have thought he would be close to a guaranteed starter under Rafael Benitez. While Ole Gunnar Solskjaer may eventually be ready to incorporate the midfielder into his plans, it feels like a transfer would have been the 24-year-old’s best chances of playing regularly, and he would have brought plenty of quality to Goodison Park judging by Hargreaves’ glowing praise.

In other news, Everton also wanted to sign this England international during the transfer window.

Serie A side Venezia have had a bid accepted for reported Celtic transfer target Thomas Henry, according to Football Insider.

The Lowdown: Henry links

Henry, who was hailed as a ‘complete striker’ by Lokeren boss Karel Fraeye, was first linked with a move to Parkhead earlier this month, with reports suggesting that the Hoops were on the brink of winning the race for the Frenchman.

Rumours then cooled, before resurfacing after a move to Gent stalled, with reports suggesting that a move to Glasgow could be back on.

However, Celtic – who have also been linked to Georgios Giakoumakis and Kevin Nisbet – may now miss out on the OH Leuven marksman following a weekend development.

The Latest: Source shares update

Football Insider, who were informed by an industry source, claimed on Saturday that Henry was flying to Italy after Venezia had an offer accepted for his services.

Henry has also agreed on personal terms with the Serie A outfit, who look set to pip both Celtic and Rangers to a deal for the 26-year-old.

The Verdict: Giakoumakis or Nisbet now?

With Celtic now seemingly set to miss out on Henry, it could be a case of looking at Giakoumakis and Nisbet. Should they bring in either of the two on a permanent deal, it may then allow the club to look to cash in on Odsonne Edouard, who is into the final 12 months of his Parkhead contract.

Giakoumakis is valued at £3m, whereas Celtic are thought to be weighing up a player-plus-cash move for Nisbet, so the Hoops could be busy in the final days of the window. Either way, it’s time to move on from Henry now that he’s seemingly Venezia-bound.

In other news: Celtic set to sign another defender, find out who it is here. 

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Liverpool failed to find the result they were missing again Bayern Munich earlier on in the week as they, once again, failed to find a way past a deep-lying defence – the Reds were held to a draw by bitter rivals Manchester United.

It could have been a whole lot worse for the league leaders, though, had it not been for goalkeeper Alisson, who was one of only a few Reds to put in a performance to be truly proud of – others were shells of the players that put United to the sword in December, Mohamed Salah included.

The Egyptian’s incredible first season on Merseyside has set equally high standards for this campaign but he has, thus far, failed to replicate them, with his poor showing on Sunday the latest in a string of sub-par performances.

It has been made clear this year that the electric winger requires a hatful of chances to find the net and therefore it is of little surprise that he was unable to strike at the weekend – the former Roma man had just one shot, which failed to hit the target.

United left-back Luke Shaw kept the speedster silent throughout, although a crazy first half saw Liverpool catalyst Roberto Firmino make way due to injury – the Brazilian’s absences previously have often left Salah extremely isolated.

With Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s battlers hot on his every touch, Salah was dispossessed a match-high 6 times in an uncharacteristically sloppy showing – the number 11 is usually reliable with the ball at his feet but this clash was an exception.

If his disappointing afternoon surely couldn’t get any worse, the 26-year-old took just 40 touches – the second-lowest of the Liverpool outfield players who played over 60 minutes.

Watch how to cross the road like a boss with freestyler Ben Nuttall in the video below…

The Anfield outfit begin a hectic week of football by hosting Watford on Wednesday before a visit to bitter rivals Everton at the weekend, both games of which Salah will see as an opportunity to nip his bad run in the bud.

West Bromwich Albion have been handed a significant boost regarding the fitness of Grady Diangana.

What’s the latest?

In recent comments cited by Birmingham Live, Valerien Ismael revealed that, after being left out of the Baggies squad for the 1-0 win over Birmingham City on Friday evening, the winger had suffered a slight hamstring strain.

However, the Frenchman went on to state that he expects the 23-year-old to be available for Albion’s trip to Swansea City on Wednesday evening.

Speaking about the condition of Diangana, Ismael said: “Grady has a hamstring issue, not too bad. It’s a small issue, we didn’t want to take any risks for this game. My expectation is that he will come back for the next game against Swansea.”

Ismael will be buzzing

While Diangana has not exactly been in the best form of his career this season, being yet to score a goal and providing just one assist over his 11 Championship appearances, the winger nevertheless proved during West Brom’s last promotion-winning campaign that he is a player who possesses the ability to fire the Baggies back to the Premier League.

Indeed, over his 30 Championship appearances in 2019/20, the £9m-rated man scored eight goals, registered six assists and created eight big chances for his teammates, as well as taking an average of 1.6 shots and making 1.4 key passes per game.

These returns saw the player who Lee Hendrie dubbed a “magnificent” talent earn a seasonal SofaScore match rating of 7.06, ranking the £36k-per-week winger as West Brom’s third-best performer in the league that season.

As such, Diangana is clearly a player with the ability to win any particular match in an instant, and, with the former England U21 international looking to be available for Wednesday’s clash with Swansea, Ismael will certainly be hoping for the winger to do so at the Liberty Stadium – an outcome that would leave both the 46-year-old manager and fans of the club buzzing.

In other news: Signed for £750k, now worth £1.8m: West Brom struck gold on “amazing” £14k-p/w dynamo

It’s Christmas Day which means 2022 is soon on the horizon. And with the New Year comes a new transfer window.

Leeds United will surely be active given their struggles since the start of the season.

Injuries have crippled Marcelo Bielsa’s playing squad and the Yorkshire giants have found themselves sat in 15th place, just five points above the relegation zone and are at risk of being pulled into a relegation dogfight.

Second-season syndrome, perhaps?

The Whites notoriously do not operate much in the winter when it comes to transfers but you’d imagine that changes next month. It’s unlikely they spend big, though can you get 100% right in this quiz about Leeds’ most expensive signings?

Do you know your Rio Ferdinand from your Raphinha?

So sit back, enjoy your Christmas dinner and take on this not-so-very festive transfer quiz from us here at Football FanCast.

If you think you’re a die-hard Leeds fan, then you should have no trouble getting all of these right…

Sunderland have had their fair share of transfer successes and disasters over the years as they have felt the wrath of the window as well as the joy of it.

Not all moves work out as it is impossible to guarantee that a player will be able to fit in with the squad and consistently perform on the pitch.

Whilst it is easy to look at the transfers that did happen and judge them, you can also look at prospective switches that didn’t go through in the end.

According to The Sunderland Echo, one player the Black Cats attempted to land was Brad Friedel for £600k in 1995 as Peter Reid looked to snap up the shot-stopper. The move fell through due to a work permit issue, despite him having played for Newcastle’s reserves earlier in 1994.

Instead of moving to Wearside, he sealed a transfer to Turkish giants Galatasaray. The giant kept 15 clean sheets in 37 appearances before moving back to the MLS with Colombus Crew, playing 45 times and keeping 13 clean sheets for the American outfit.

He then found his way to England as he secured a switch to Liverpool in 1997. This suggests that Sunderland did not get in quickly enough as soon as he was eligible for a work permit, as their interest in 1995 indicates that they would have had an advantage over their rivals as they already did their homework on the goalkeeper and had spoken with him previously to agree the £600k transfer.

Friedel endured a mixed time with the Reds as he kept eight shutouts in 31 outings across three seasons. Blackburn snapped him up from Anfield in 2000 and this is where his career exploded as he enjoyed a sublime spell with the Lancashire side. He played a whopping 355 matches for the club and kept the opposition out 118 times in what was a magnificent spell at Ewood Park.

The USA international ended his career with Aston Villa and Tottenham, making 198 appearances between the two clubs – keeping 55 shutouts.

Mark Bosnich previously lavished the veteran with praise, saying: “I remember talking to my then-agent Graham Smith and saying ‘this boy is really talented.’

“He then arrived at Liverpool, had a bit of a tough time, but since then his form for Blackburn and Villa has been absolutely outstanding.

“He is like a fine wine – as he’s got older he’s got better and better. Fair play, even when I first saw him he was very talented and he’s developed brilliantly.”

Overall, the monster ended his career with 450 appearances in the Premier League and 132 clean sheets between the sticks. He enjoyed a fantastic spell in England and Sunderland missed out on his talents, which is why this failed transfer was a blunder by the club as he was one that got away…

AND in other news, Sunderland heading for big disaster over £2.7k-p/w gem who’s “a dream for any manager”…

Manchester United have been meandering of late, lacking clear instructions from their manager and drive from the players on the pitch.

Moments of individual brilliance have continued to hold Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s sinking ship together so far this season, but things will have to rapidly improve if it’s to stay afloat in the long term.

And while the Norwegian has rightly been apportioned a large amount of blame for the Red Devils’ current struggles, his apparent lack of tactical nouse is not the only factor at play.

It’s believed that Solskjaer made his demands for a new holding midfielder clear to the club’s hierarchy over the summer, only for a centre-back and right-winger to be prioritised instead.

The pragmatic double pivot of Fred and Scott McTominay that proved so effective in previous years for the 20-time English champions no longer has the same effect, exposing United’s underperforming defenders with alarming regularity.

However, football director John Murtough may not have too cast his net too far in search of the much-needed solution to United’s engine room woes.

It was reported by the Manchester Evening News back in September that United’s hierarchy had identified West Ham United’s Declan Rice as a priority signing after missing out during the summer.

The England international had just enjoyed the best season of his career after playing a pivotal part in the Hammers finishing in sixth position in the top-flight table before being called up the Gareth Southgate’s Three Lions squad for Euro 2020.And the youngster carried his eye-catching form onto the international stage throughout the tournament, earning praise from several pundits, including Teddy Sheringham.“(He’s a player I see at a club like Manchester United) without a doubt. I thought Declan Rice was our outstanding player at Euro 2020,” he said.“I was very disappointed when he got brought off in the final, it was the wrong decision. We couldn’t retain possession when it was tough against the Italians — and he was one player who did retain possession.“He moved like a Rolls-Royce with the ball out of a problem and then found a pass after that. It’s invaluable to be able to do that and he showed what a top player he is. He’s a top player so he will be going somewhere quite soon.”The ex-United and England striker then lavished more praise on Rice and continued to link him with a potential move to Old Trafford, even comparing him to two former midfield greats of the club.“He’ll definitely be on Manchester United’s radar. He’s in the mould of Roy Keane and Michael Carrick, who were two top, top players, which you’ve got to have in midfield for Manchester United. So he’d easily fit in there,” Sheringham concluded.

Since then, Rice has taken his game to another level under the tutelage of David Moyes, bagging three goals and providing three assists in 13 appearances as West Ham currently sit in a Champions League qualification spot.

It’s arguable that United have never replaced Keane in the middle of the park since his controversial departure in 2006, with Carrick more of a successor to Scholes than the Irishman.

But Rice certainly has the drive and tenacity that Keane had in abundance and that Solskjaer’s charges are desperately in need of.

Only time will tell if the £62,000-per-week titan, who Gary Lineker dubbed “magnificent”, makes the move to Manchester, but he’s certainly a player that Murtough should be closely monitoring if he wants to catch up with his domestic and European rivals.

And, in other news…Forget Pogba: Man Utd lightweight who lost 60% of his duels was “exposed” vs Atalanta

Wolves are ready to turn down the opportunity to re-sign Matt Doherty from Tottenham this month, according to a fresh transfer rumour.

The Lowdown: Doherty tipped for Wolves return

The 29-year-old has struggled to make a significant impact at Spurs since leaving Molineux in 2020, making just 42 appearances in the last couple of seasons.

As such, Doherty has been linked with a return to Wolves in the January transfer window, in a move that could potentially go down well with Wanderers supporters given his incredible production in his last spell with the club, scoring 28 times in over 300 appearances..

If a new report is to be believed, however, the 25-cap Republic of Ireland international will not be making his way back to the Midlands.

The Latest: Contrasting rumour emerges

According to The Mirror, Wolves are ‘ready to snub’ a return for Doherty, with the player himself not thought to be keen on the idea of a move back.

The right-back still wants to remain in the Premier League, however, and an exit from Spurs could still be on the cards.

The Verdict: Could be an error

Doherty was a brilliant servant for Wanderers over many years, so the idea of missing out on a reunion with him is disappointing.

Granted, the former Black Country star is about to turn 30 later this month but he has been hailed as ‘absolutely superb’ by Danny Mills in the past and his attacking quality is undeniable, having registered 41 assists for Wolves last time out – that sort of creativity from the flank would not go amiss.

He would provide ideal competition and support for Nelson Semedo, adding depth in a position that requires players to maintain an immense level of fitness.

In other news, some Wolves fans have flocked to a piece of transfer news. Read more here.