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Two old adversaries are set to lock horns again at Camp Nou on Sunday, but which members of their respective squads are pulling in the most money?

Clasico rivalries will be rekindled this weekend when newly-crowned La Liga champions Barcelona welcome Real Madrid to Catalunya.

There will be no guard of honour for Ernesto Valverde’s side at Camp Nou, with two old adversaries having exchanged barbs this season when it comes to acknowledging the achievements of the other.

Plenty of superstars will be on show, however, with the eternal battle for global supremacy between Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo set to open another chapter.

It comes as no surprise to find that two men with 10 Ballons d’Or between them will be the best-paid performers to take to the field on Sunday, but who joins them on the Clasico rich list?

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  25Andre Gomes | Barcelona | £80,000-a-week

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  24Dani Carvajal | Real Madrid | £85,000-a-week

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  23Keylor Navas | Real Madrid | £85,000-a-week

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• 22Paco Alcacer | Barcelona | £90,000-a-week

West Ham United must strive to revive David Moyes’ interest in SSC Napoli defender Nikola Maksimovic in the January window after seeing a £14million bid rejected this summer.

What’s the word?

According to FcInterNews, Napoli are struggling to secure Maksimovic’s long-term future as discussions over a new contract are failing to get off the ground.

The Serbian centre-half is set to become a free agent in 2021 with his current deal now in its final seven-months, but Aurelio De Laurentiis’ efforts to retain the 28-year-old have reached a stalemate as his best offer to date is still €800,000-a-year (£721.2k-a/y) behind Maksimovic’s request.

It is understood the 25-cap colossus is requesting a €2.5m-a-year, four-season deal (£43,360-per-week) plus bonuses, allowing for both AC and Inter Milan to continue monitoring Maksimovic’s situation after both San Siro sides put steps in place to sign him this summer.

AC submitted an undisclosed offer for the centre-back in September, while Inter approached his agent Fali Ramadani to gather more information on the full-time specialist and remain vigilant to any further developments.

West Ham also saw an approach turned down by De Laurentiis, with talkSPORT claiming the Irons tabled an opening £14m offer as Moyes was “hanging his hat” on bringing the former Red Star Belgrade defender to the London Stadium.

“Maksimovic is the man David Moyes now seems to be hanging his hat on,” Alex Crook told Jim White last month. “I know that Fulham have also been linked and I think this is West Ham trying to steal a march on another London club.

“He’s a real powerhouse defender – Serbian, 6 ft 4 – and he’s been compared to Nemanja Vidic, and he’s what West Ham need. There’s a good history of Serbian players coming over to the Premier League and doing well, so I think this would be a good signing for the Hammers.”

The new Vidic?

With Maksimovic and De Laurentiis still some way apart in discussions over a new contract, West Ham must again strive to steal a march on their potential rival suitors and land Moyes his specialist defensive target once the January window opens.

Napoli may be more forthcoming to offers close to what the Irons put forward this summer once the winter market takes off in fear of losing the 28-year-old for nothing in July, too, which only strengthens the case for the Hammers persisting with interest in a player once lauded as being a potential new Vidic.

Maksimovic may not yet have the same trophy haul as what his compatriot achieved with Manchester United, having only claimed one Italian Cup since joining Napoli, but has proven in Italy to be a powerful and imposing defensive rock.

In two starts from two in the Europa League this term, he has averaged six duels won a match with a 75% success rate thanks to winning 5.0 (77%) of his aerial contests, along with 1.0 tackles, 1.0 interceptions, 2.5 clearances, 66.0 accurate passes (96%), 79.5 touches and 1.0 key balls, per SofaScore.

Napoli boss Gennaro Gattuso has been less forthcoming with game time in the Serie A thus far with Maksimovic only making one outing to date, which came from the bench at half-time during a 6-0 rout of Genoa last month.

Any further delay in new terms being agreed, though, must see West Ham revive Moyes’ interest with the winter market now just 63 days away.

AND in other news, David Moyes’s transfer plans could unearth West Ham’s next Michail Antonio.

Leeds United manager Marcelo Bielsa has been sharing his thoughts on the Premier League’s current handball rule.

This comes after Bielsa was recently speaking to the media in his latest press conference ahead of the Yorkshire club’s Premier League showdown with Manchester City at the weekend.

On the subject of the handball rule and the use of technology in football at the moment in regards to refereeing decisions, the Argentine had this to say on the issue:

“I’m not the required person to make suggestions [on how the game should be officiated]. I think if the rules were simplified and closer to the perception of humans, everybody would be grateful.”

It was recently reported that the Premier League are apparently set to “formally lobby” football’s rule-makers Ifab as they are “keen on altering the section of the law which states that handball must be awarded if the ball strikes the hand or arm when it is above shoulder level.”

This was the case in Tottenham Hotspur’s recent 1-1 draw against Newcastle United where, controversially, Spurs man Eric Dier gave a penalty away towards the end of the match as the ball hit his arm in the dying minutes of the game at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium that ultimately handed Steve Bruce’s side a hard-fought point.

For Leeds, summer signing Robin Koch gave a penalty away in their opening Premier League game of the season in their 4-3 defeat at Anfield against Liverpool after the ball struck his arm in the penalty box.

Moving forward, it’ll be interesting to see if the current handball rule does get altered at any point throughout the season as the Premier League are reportedly hoping to see happen.

Last week Newcastle beat West Ham 2-0 in an exciting start to the new season that saw Callum Wilson score on his debut, earning plaudits.

Later that very same week, Ryan Fraser made his home debut in the Carabao Cup, scoring the only goal of the game as the Magpies beat Blackburn Rovers, with the Scotsman receiving plenty of praise from his new supporters.

Jamal Lewis must’ve been looking forward to his St James’ Park debut after seeing the Magpies’ other new signings perform make solid early impressions, but unfortunately, all did not go to plan for the former Norwich City man.

Lewis had a poor outing against Brighton, allowing Tariq Lamptey to get the better of him time after time, with both goals first-half goals coming from his side, with the penalty being given away for a foul on Lamptey, and Leandro Trossard being given way too much space before assisting the second.

Despite it being Lewis’ home debut, fans didn’t show much mercy when talking about him on social media.

While fans were quick to criticise his general performance, one particular aspect of his showing was grinding the gears of other supporters with many airing their grievances about his positioning, with one even asking if he knows what position he should be playing.

A look at his Sofascore heatmap tells the story, he found himself too far up the pitch far too often, while also having a tendency to drift centrally, therefore, you can understand why fans weren’t happy with his positional awareness.

Until the transfer window closes, the future of Arsenal star Mesut Ozil will continue to be discussed. However, we now know the German’s stance on his future as he gave an interview to David Ornstein and committed to staying until his contract runs out next summer.

The obvious issue here is the fact that the former World Cup winner is not fancied at all by Mikel Arteta, and this has been emphasised by the fact that Ozil has not made a single appearance for the club since football returned in June.

Many have been discussing the situation, including Joey Barton. The Fleetwood Town manager was speaking on talkSPORT, via The Boot Room, and was asked what he would do if the problem was his to sort out.

He replied: “It’s a tough one. Everyone knows what everyone is on [wages] and it affects the dressing room. If the big-paid players aren’t performing and those on less are playing, it creates an ill-feeling. He’s a World Cup winner, an unbelievable player and I would be trying to get the maximum out of him.”

There is no doubting Ozil’s quality, which has been proven by his rich CV, which includes a La Liga title at Real Madrid, four FA Cups with Arsenal and the World Cup and European Under-21 Championship with Germany, per Transfermarkt.

However, this quality was not often on show last season as the player, who is on a reported £350,000-a-week, only managed one goal and two assists in all competitions, per WhoScored.

With the 31-year-old costing the club around £18.2m annually, Barton has a point in saying that Arsenal should try to make the most out of him. However,  with the Gunners winning the FA Cup without calling on him, Arteta’s decision to continually overlook him seems justified; and if there is no way into the team for Ozil, perhaps it is best for Arsenal to move him on.

Gunners fans, do you agree with Barton’s verdict on Ozil? Let us know your views in the comments below!

Barcelona are no longer interested in Tottenham star Tanguy Ndombele. 

According to Sky Sports, as per Ricky Sacks, Barcelona’s interest in Ndombele has now cooled after they signed Miralem Pjanic from Juventus.

Ndombele, who is the club’s record signing, has a strained relationship with Jose Mourinho, and the pair are currently embroiled in a public spat, via Football Insider. According to The Athletic, they just don’t understand each other, as the Frenchman has reacted angrily to Mourinho’s offer to train together.

Daniel Levy has made it abundantly clear the French international will not be sold in the summer and has personally reached out to his representatives to try and resolve the situation.

Mourinho has developed a habit for losing control of a dressing room on multiple occasions and Ndombele appears to be following a similar path to Manchester United maverick midfielder Paul Pogba.

Both sides are too stubborn for their own good and Levy has turned peacemaker in an attempt to find a peaceful resolution.

Barca’s decision is a massive transfer boost for Tottenham, as it is hard to imagine anyone else will be able to afford the £46m-valued ace under the current circumstances, but it is bad news for Mourinho.

The 23-year-old, who has been compared to Chelsea star N’Golo Kante, has struggled for consistency this season, and has now picked up an injury.

To add insult to injury, he has only played 64 minutes of football since the Premier League restart, and has finished four of the past games on the bench as an unused substitute.

Nevertheless, Levy is adamant Ndombele is not up for sale, despite Mourinho’s obvious misgivings. Whether or not this ongoing saga will be resolved before the start of next season remains to be seen, but if the club opts to persist with Ndombele, can they also persist with Mourinho as well or will one have to go?

Tottenham fans, do you think Mourinho should give Tanguy Ndombele another chance? Let us know down below!

One thing Celtic may need this summer is a new striker.

Interest in Odsonne Edouard from some of Europe’s elite clubs has been heavily documented, and if the Frenchman is to leave Celtic Park, the Glasgow outfit will need a capable replacement if they are going to reach the goal of winning 10 league titles in a row.

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Luckily, it seems as though they have a target in mind, but the Hoops’ first bid for Ivan Toney was some way short of what they may have to pay, and Kieran Devlin gave an update on what Celtic will have to cough up to land their man.

What’s been said then?

The Athletic journalist was hosting a Q&A session ahead of the new season, and as you would expect, a number of questions were asked about the Scottish champions’ transfer business, and Devlin had the answers.

“Celtic had a bid of £5 million for striker Ivan Toney turned down, with Peterborough seemingly wanting a fee for around £10 million. Apart from that, plenty of rumours but not sure how much substance is to them.”

Not good enough

Later in the Q&A Devlin would state that he doesn’t see why Celtic would sign Toney unless he was going to be Edouard’s replacement, and you have to question whether or not he’d actually be good enough to fill that void.

Toney may have scored 24 goals this season, but that’s at League One level, and that surely isn’t really where Celtic want to be shopping around.

This is a club that will be in the Champions League again next season, and if they have aspirations of getting out of the Group Stages or even dropping into the Europa League by virtue of finishing third in a group, they need more than a League One striker spearheading their attack.

On top of that £10m for a player from that level is outright preposterous, especially when you consider Peterborough sold Jack Marriott to Derby for an initial £3m after scoring 27 goals in the division, three more than Toney managed this term.

Newcastle United are reportedly interested in signing the highly-rated 16-year old prospect Ilyes Zouaoui from Olympique Marseille as the French club are looking to secure him on a new deal, according to The Daily Mail.

As per the outlet, Zouaoui is out of contract in the summer and is in danger of being snapped up for free in the upcoming transfer window.

However, he has also attracted interest from several European giants with Borussia Dortmund, Juventus and Olympiakos among the teams thought to have scouted the youngster.

They had apparently been impressed with his ability to cut in from the left-hand side and score off of his right foot.

Zouaoui had scored 15 goals and made 14 assists in just 16 games for Marseille’s under-18s side prior to youth football being suspended due to the global pandemic, and he is also an established U17 international for France.

These are highly impressive stats at any level, and the fact that Zouaoui is still so young and other big heavyweights are chasing his signature should give NUFC at least some incentive to consider signing him up.

In addition, the Frenchman will already have a mentor to learn from in fellow countryman Allan Saint-Maximin. The 23-year old was also signed from French football and plays in a similar position.

ASM has averaged the highest rating (7.18) in the Premier League so far out of his teammates this season, and also averages 4.4 dribbles per match, the most by far (via Whoscored).

Signing Zouaoui on a free transfer would be low-risk and he still has so much time in front of him to grow into a potential fans favourite.

Geordies, would this be a good signing? Comment below!

Sheffield United fans will be hoping that their club looks to buy some squad depth in the upcoming transfer window, and the recent reports suggest that the Blades are interested in signing midfielder John Swift.

According to The Daily Mail, Chris Wilder is a fan of Swift, who currently plays for Reading in the Championship. His interest is so much that the Blades have submitted a bid worth around £3.5 million.

Wilder wants to add a lot of depth to his midfield and his current contract runs out in 2022, but the Royals might have to sell due to financial implications which have been caused by recent events.

The Englishman, who came from Chelsea’s academy, has had a great season in the Championship as he has played 35 times and scored five goals whilst picking up ten assists, per WhoScored. He also averages 1.2 tackles and 1.3 interceptions a game, highlighting he is very good at breaking up opposition attacks as well as being an attacking threat himself.

Comparing him to similar players in his position at the Blades, (John Lundstram and John Fleck), Swift has more assists than both of them, and more goals than Lundstram but the same amount as Fleck. Lundstram ranks highest in tackles (1.5) but Swift remains the best when it comes to interceptions per game.

It could be argued that he is doing better  in some departments because he is in the division below, however it highlights that the potential to be a Premier League player is there, and with better finishers and creators, there is no doubt that Swift could improve his goal contribution tally. The offer as well is pretty low and he is a good age at 25, so if they can sign him for the fee mentioned it seems like a no brainer.

Blades fans, what are your thoughts on this? Let us know down below!

Newcastle United’s prospective £300m takeover appears to still be some way off being complete this week after journalist Paul Smith delivered this latest update.He claims that the Premier League still haven’t given any confirmation over the deal and those involved remain “completely in the dark” over the situation.Smith tweeted this afternoon:

This is rather a cause for concern that the relevant parties involved haven’t received the slightest bit of information regarding the owners and directors test. The claim also suggests that both the buying and selling side know as much as the fanbase right now.

It’s been around two months since the news first broke about the Magpies potentially being sold to a Saudi-backed consortium. Several reports have created doubt on the situation in recent weeks, which wasn’t helped by Premier League CEO Richard Masters barely giving anything away in an interview on Friday.

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The truth is, no one really knows when – and even if – the takeover will go through, especially with ‘Project Restart’ being centre of attention for the top-flight at the minute.

AND in other news, Newcastle fans react to update on season tickets…