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This article is part of Football FanCast’s Pundit View series, which provides opinion and analysis on recent quotes from journalists, pundits, players and managers…

BBC Sport pundit Garth Crooks has included Everton’s weekend hero Tom Davies in his team of the week column and stated that midfielder will be a “relief” to the under-pressure Marco Silva.

What did he say?

Davies put in a great performance against Southampton at the weekend, and the academy graduate’s Man of the Match display earned the Toffees their first away win of the season.

In the wake of the injury to Andre Gomes, Silva was in need of a man to step up in the upcoming crucial fixtures. Now, with another vital clash against Norwich City up next, Crooks believes the Toffees boss finally has a man he can rely on.

The pundit wrote for BBC Sport: “In the absence of Andre Gomes, the abilities of Tom Davies in midfield have become even more important to Everton.

“What a relief it must have been then for the beleaguered Marco Silva, who for some reason is still under pressure at Goodison Park, that Davies was quite outstanding at Southampton.”

In a time of need

It was bad enough for Silva watching his team fall perilously close to the relegation zone, even with Gomes in the side. And when one of his star players suffered a horrific injury it looked like nothing could go right for the Everton boss.

However, in the wake of Gomes’ absence, Silva will indeed be relieved to see Davies step up so sharply. After losing the former Barcelona man, there was going to be a big gap in the midfield to fill, which surely would have worried Silva and the Toffees faithful.

It was a brilliant display by Davies and the midfielder was one of the main men amongst the impressive win over Southampton. The 22-year-old netted his first goal of the season to give the Blues the lead and he helped control the game from there on out, as Everton racked up 24 shots.

Now is the time for the academy graduate to step up and it has come at a vital time in Silva’s Everton career.

When you manage to score just one goal in 20 games for your new club, you know your time hasn’t probably worked out for the best. Alexander Sorloth’s spell at Crystal Palace was an entirely forgettable one, making no real impression at Selhurst Park after arriving in a £9m deal from FC Midtjylland back in the winter window in 2018.

The 22-year-old left the club earlier in the summer to join Turkish giants Trabzonspor on loan, where he has fared much better. The striker has scored six goals and provided a further three assists in 11 games, and looks to be a completely different animal.

And on Friday night, he took his new-found confidence into international duty with Norway, striking two goals in the space of three minutes as his country ran out 4-0 winners over the Faroe Islands.

After seeing his remarkable goal-scoring display, Palace fans flooded to Twitter to voice their thoughts on the forward.

Many supporters of the Eagles questioned why Roy Hodgson simply didn’t give him a chance whilst he was in London, and insisted that his poor run of form for the club was largely down to not playing to his strengths.

Check out some of the reaction of Palace fans below:

This article is part of Football FanCast’s The Chalkboard series, which provides a tactical insight into teams, players, managers, potential signings and more… 

If Newcastle are to get anything from the clash against Aston Villa, Steve Bruce will have to ensure once again that his team are tough to break down.

If they provide defensive solidity while providing a threat on the counter-attack, they may be able to replicate recent wins against West Ham and Bournemouth.

On both of those occasions they managed to negate the threat of key players such as Felipe Anderson, Ryan Fraser and Joshua King, and much of that was because of the performance of Isaac Hayden.

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It is little surprise that his return from suspension has coincided with an upturn in form, as no other Newcastle midfielder is able to fulfil the role he performs – his duties are key to Bruce’s system.

He has gone from being a bit-part player under Rafa Benitez – making 21 league starts last season – to acting as the chief protector of the backline.

As per WhoScored, his 2.9 tackles and 1.8 interceptions mean he cuts out danger with great efficiency, and against a midfield consisting of Jack Grealish and John McGinn that will be pivotal.

Villa possess a threat in a variety of areas but there is no doubting that Grealish is the main man, with the captain backing up his talismanic-like status with four goals and three assists this term.

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Added to that, Grealish often provides a constant attacking threat in the opposition half, and has 2.5 key passes and 1.9 successful dribbles per game, as per WhoScored.

He likes to get in between the midfield and defence, picking up the ball to run towards goal before finding a teammate or offloading a pass, and Bruce must be prepared for that.

One solution is to limit the space between defence and midfield by playing them close to each other, but given that is the domain in which Hayden operates, a lot of expectation is on his shoulders.

This will be another difficult test for the former Arsenal man, but as long as he keeps his composure and stays on his feet – which he didn’t against Leicester – then he should be able to keep a close an eye on the Villa man and reduce his influence.

If he achieves that Newcastle will keep a key threat quiet, and as long as the front-three can reproduce their recent form, particularly Allan Saint-Maximin, then the Magpies may keep their current run going.

The Evening Standard’s James Robson has revealed Manchester United pulled out of a move for Erling Braut Haaland to avoid a “dangerous precedent.” 

After eventually joining Borussia Dortmund from the Austrian club for £18m, the 19-year-old has already bagged 9 goals and produced 2 assists in just 8 appearances in the Bundesliga for Lucien Favre’s team this season.

Haaland was subject to repeated interest from a whole host of major European sides, and was tipped to join Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s Red Devils, before settling for a move to the Signal Iduna Park.

The football correspondent has shed some light on United’s failed signing by blaming his agent Mino Raiola’s attempt to insert a buyout clause as the key reason why Solskjaer missed out on landing one of his top transfer targets last year.

Writing in the Standard, Robson claims “while Haaland and his representatives insist the 19-year-old believed his development would be better served at Borussia Dortmund, United insiders felt such a deal would set a dangerous precedent.”

“Their fear was that Raiola would effectively control his next move – and with the fee believed to be in the region of £50million United refused to leave themselves in such a vulnerable position.”

“While there might have been an element of face-saving on their part after missing out on Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s top January target, Real’s interest justifies their misgivings.”

It is difficult to disagree with Robson here. Raiola is infamously known for frequently moving his talent from club to club and has had several high-profile disputes with Solskjaer in recent months.

Zinedine Zidane’s Real Madrid have been linked with plenty of the super-agent’s stable in the past, including Red Devils talisman Paul Pogba.

Pogba’s future at Old Trafford is in constant jeopardy, largely thanks to Raiola’s meddling, and it seems the board were keen to avoid a repeat of the Frenchman’s ongoing transfer debacle by backing out of a move for the Norwegian starlet.

Given the fact Haaland is already being linked with a move away from Dortmund, even though he has only been with the German side for less than a year, it appears United’s transfer decision was justifiable.

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Loads of Manchester United fans have been reacting to Cristiano Ronaldo’s highlight reel, after the club tweeted footage of the megastar’s best bits in a Red Devils jersey.Â

Ronaldo is one of the most famous faces in the world, with well over 200m followers on Instagram, and the football sensation has scored plenty of ridiculous finishes throughout his career so far. Although he is best known for cutting in from the left flank and unleashing a whole range of screamers into the back of the net, his arsenal of stepovers, spectacular free kicks, and thundering long-range strikes got fans drooling on Twitter this week.

United’s official account shared a montage of the Portuguese international’s most iconic moments during his time at Old Trafford. After arriving in Manchester as a teenager from Sporting Lisbon for £17.1m all the way back in 2003, Ronaldo went on to make 292 appearances under Sir Alex Ferguson, bagging 118 goals, providing 69 assists, winning the Premier League on three occasions, and lifting the Champions League trophy, before leaving for Real Madrid in 2009 for a world record fee at the time worth £84.6m.

Currently plying his trade with Italian giants Juventus, the 35-year-old has shown no signs of slowing down his incredible feats, netting 21 goals in just 22 games in the Serie A for Maurizio Sarri’s side (WhoScored).

There is no doubt the club legend will go down in history as one of the greatest players of all time, indeed he has won the coveted Ballon d’Or award 5 times up until now (Transfermarkt).

Understandably, plenty of United supporters still have fond memories of Ronaldo’s heroics, with several dubbing him the “GOAT” and a “baller.” One fan referred to the forward as a “machine” while another simply said “what a player.”

Scroll through the glowing reactions down below…

United fans, do you miss Cristiano Ronaldo? Do you think the board should try to sign him in the future? Let us know in the comments section!

Arsenal fans have been left in a heated debate on social media after reports emerged linking them to an old-time target, Samuel Umtiti.

According to Sport, via SportWitness, three Premier League teams have contacted the 26-year-old over a potential summer switch with the Gunners leading the charge with their interest, although Barcelona are yet to receive any firm offers.

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It is thought that the La Liga giants were hoping to cash in around €50m (£44m) for the Frenchman, and are looking for the ‘right offer’.

Plenty of supporters at the Emirates Stadium discussed the centre-back on Twitter with him receiving a mixed reception, some were for it, but the majority were fully against the idea of signing him.

Umtiti has played just 16 times this season, totalling a mere 1,209 minutes of action, via Transfermarkt and has always carried major injury doubts over the course of his Barca career.

Fabrizio Romano revealed that Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta is working on a centre-back this summer, but would the World Cup winner be the right man?

Here’s the word from the Gunners faithful…

AND in other news, Arsenal fans are loving what £81m-rated “GEM” has done…

This article forms part of our Profit Players feature series, which is where Football Transfer Tavern takes a look at how well a player has fared since being signed or sold, using statistical figures and statements from pundits to prove how good of a deal the club managed to achieve.