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Newcastle United have bid farewell to striker Callum Wilson, who departs the Magpies after five years on Tyneside.

The centre-forward struggled with injury throughout his spell with the club, scoring 49 goals across 130 appearances.

However, with a Carabao Cup winner’s medal around his neck, he will leave Tyneside with fond memories of the club.

The positive news concerning his departure means that it does leave room for Eddie Howe to bring in another striker this summer, especially with European football on the horizon.

James Trafford and Anthony Elanga look set to move to St James’ Park in the coming days. Will another new attacker follow after them?

Newcastle in advanced talks for English striker

Howe was keen on bringing Joao Pedro to Newcastle, but Chelsea’s offer of £60m was beyond what the Magpies were willing to spend.

Despite Champions League football to look forward to next term, Howe is going to have to be diligent in the transfer market and hunt for alternatives.

Well, according to reports, the Toon are now currently in advanced talks to sign former Everton striker Dominic Calvert-Lewin following his departure from the Toffees.

The Englishman has been admired for a while now by Howe, but he will have to fend off interest from Manchester United to secure his man.

Transfer Focus

Even though he has scored only 11 goals since the start of the 2023/24 campaign, could he return to form at Newcastle, however?

Especially with someone like Elanga creating plenty of chances for him.

Why Calvert-Lewin could be a good signing for Newcastle

Last season, Elanga notched up 12 assists for Nottingham Forest in all competitions. Furthermore, he created nine big chances and averaged 1.3 key passes per game in the top flight.

If that wasn’t enough, the Swede ranked in the top 6% for assists and in the top 3% for crosses when compared to his positional peers in the Premier League.

Thus, should Calvert-Lewin make the move to Newcastle, he would surely shine alongside a player like Elanga.

While the previous few years have been tough, the 28-year-old did score 13 league goals in 2019/20 and 16 the season after, proving that when he is fit, the striker is among one of the best in the country.

It was around this time that the player received plenty of praise from Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp, who said:

“Calvert-Lewin, I really expected him to make big steps in the next few years and he did. He has everything you need in a top striker: size, mobility, speed, desire, technically really, really good, in the air, finishing with his head, both feet.”

Signing the former Sheffield United starlet on a free transfer could turn into a shrewd piece of business for Howe. But only if he remains fit and healthy.

Adding both Elanga and Calvert-Lewin will certainly give Newcastle more depth in their attacking department and it could well be that the Forest winger is the chance generation machine that the latter needs to revive his career.

Still only 28, the former Everton striker could shine in the northeast.

Their new Gordon: Newcastle "close" to signing "electric" big-money star

As Eddie Howe looks to bolster his attacking options, Newcastle are “negotiating” to sign an “electric” winger who will be sensational Gordon repeat.

By
Ben Gray

Jul 7, 2025

Arsenal are now in “very advanced” talks to sign a “magnificent” player, who could be set to join alongside Viktor Gyokeres, reporter David Ornstein has revealed.

Gunners closing in on Gyokeres

The Gunners have now made major progress in their pursuit of Gyokeres, with Fabrizio Romano revealing that positive talks took place on Sunday night.

The Sweden international has been determined to seal a move to the Emirates Stadium for quite some time, with Romano revealing the striker wouldn’t entertain signing for another club, and the deal is now edging closer to completion.

It will be a major relief to finally get a new centre-forward through the door, especially considering Gyokeres’ goal-scoring statistics from the 2024-25 campaign are seriously impressive.

However, Mikel Arteta is also keen to strengthen at the opposite end of the pitch, given that Gabriel’s injury issues during the 2024-25 campaign left the manager a little light on options at centre-back, although Jakub Kiwior did a stellar job in the Brazilian’s absence.

As such, according to an update from Ornstein on X, Arsenal are now “working to complete” a deal to sign Valencia defender Cristhian Mosquera, with reports from elsewhere revealing the deal is likely to set them back £17m.

The Gunners are in “very advanced” talks to sign Mosquera, with personal terms already done, indicating the defender is keen on making the move to the Emirates Stadium.

Arteta views the centre-back as ideal cover for Gabriel and William Saliba, and the deal now appears to be very close to completion.

"Magnificent" Mosquera could be perfect signing for Arsenal

At 21 years of age, Mosquera still has plenty of time to develop, but the youngster has already established himself as a first-team regular for Valencia, making a combined 73 La Liga appearances over the course of the past two seasons.

£27m Arsenal ace agrees terms to leave with Gunners now ready to take loss

One of Mikel Arteta’s key players, who featured in every Premier League game last season, could now be on the verge of leaving.

ByDominic Lund Jul 14, 2025

As such, the Spaniard could be ready to fill in for Gabriel and Saliba when required, with Arteta likely to rotate regularly next season, should he have ambitions of competing for both the Premier League and Champions League.

With Kiwior already on the books, Arsenal are starting to look very well-stocked in the centre-back department, ahead of a season in which nothing but winning a major trophy will be deemed good enough for Arteta’s side.

With Jaka Bijol officially signed and delivered, Leeds United have now reportedly turned their focus towards a second defensive addition in the form of a £38m La Liga ace.

Jaka Bijol completes Leeds move

It took some time but Bijol is finally a Leeds player. The defender has arrived from Udinese for a reported £15m and becomes the Whites’ second signing of the summer after Lukas Nmecha.

After putting pen to paper to make his move official, Bijol told Leeds’ official media channels: “This is a big day for me, for my family and I’m happy to be here. Maybe the biggest one of my career so far, but I’m ready for it.

“I work for it and that’s why I’m here, because it’s a big challenge for everyone. It’s a big challenge for me, for the club, and we’re getting ready for it together. I think the club and myself are ready for the Premier League.

“I can promise that I will give everything, that I will give everything in every training as well to be ready for the first game of the season and then just go from there.”

Bijol may be the second arrival of Leeds’ summer but he looks unlikely to be the last. The 49ers look set to back the Yorkshire club as they prepare for their return to the Premier League, with names such as Oscar Gloukh now threatening the steal the headlines. The talented attacker would instantly be one to watch in England’s top flight, there’s no doubting that.

The Red Bull Salzburg man isn’t the only one on Leeds’ radar, however. Reports are now even suggesting that they’ve turned their attention towards another defensive addition after already welcoming a central defender in the form of Bijol.

Leeds make formal approach to sign Natan

According to Estadio Deportivo, as relayed by Sport Witness, Leeds have now made a formal approach to sign Natan de Souza from Real Betis. The central defender has just made his loan move permanent in Spain but could already be on the move again amid interest from those at Elland Road and Lazio.

49ers readying record Leeds bid to sign "strong" top target for Farke

Leeds have not given up on signing their top striker target this summer.

By
Brett Worthington

Jun 24, 2025

Reports have claimed that Betis have already rejected a proposal worth as much as €27m (£23m) from an unnamed club to sell their defender and instead value Natan at a hefty €45m (£38m) this summer. Whether Leeds are willing to reach that figure will be the big question as their pursuit continues.

Keeping up with Bijol in a number of areas, albeit whilst failing to outperform the new Leeds star, Natan could yet form an impressive partnership with the former Udinese man at Elland Road.

The 24-year-old won’t come cheap but if Leeds are to stay afloat at the first time of asking back in the Premier League then the 49ers must be prepared to spend big.

Arsenal are searching for a number nine this summer and have identified a new target who may strengthen their forward line for a cheaper fee, according to a report.

The latest on Arsenal's search for a striker

Undoubtedly, the Gunners’ search for a striker has become something of a saga in the last few weeks, and it doesn’t look like there will be an end in sight anytime soon despite Mikel Arteta’s advances.

Viktor Gyokeres has emerged as Arsenal’s most talked-about summer pursuit. However, Sporting won’t let the Sweden international leave on the cheap, which has compelled the Londoners to assess potential alternatives such as Aston Villa’s Ollie Watkins.

Of course, RB Leipzig’s Benjamin Sesko has also been courted by Arsenal over the duration, and Ben Jacobs has confirmed that they are still in the picture to land the Bundesliga sensation.

“They have discussed whether or not there is flexibility beneath the variable release clause, set at the moment around €80 million. That’s why that one’s taking time, because Arsenal want to do Sesko for €70 million, or within that ballpark.”

Saudi Arabian clubs are also believed to be at the table, creating another layer to what is turning out to be a complicated search for a goalscorer in light of Kai Havertz and Gabriel Jesus being stricken by injury last term.

£30m flop closing in on Arsenal exit; it'll free up the space to sign Hato

Jorrel Hato is a name on Arsenal’s radar this summer.

ByMatt Dawson Jun 16, 2025

The Premier League title is on the line and Arsenal need to make sure they get this one right if they are to unseat Liverpool at the summit, so it is only natural that time is being taken to assess all contributing factors.

However, they could now opt to move in a completely different direction from the names mentioned if reports elsewhere are to carry weight.

Arsenal set to court Juventus striker Dusan Vlahovic

According to Tutto Juve, Juventus striker Dusan Vlahovic has become a concrete option for Arsenal due to their ongoing frustration in the pursuit of Gyokeres.

Should their chase of the former Coventry City man fall by the wayside, the Serbia international may enter their thoughts more prominently due to the Old Lady’s willingness to listen to offers, providing they recoup a satisfactory outlay for the Serie A marksman.

Five similar players to Dusan Vlahovic (FBRef)

Ermedin Demirovic

Stuttgart

Ollie Watkins

Aston Villa

Artem Dovbyk

Roma

Patrick Cutrone

Como

Valentin Castellanos

Lazio

Labelled “lightning” and “ridiculous” by former teammate Micah Richards, Vlahovic registered 15 goals and five assists in 41 appearances across all competitions last term as Juventus scraped into the Champions League on the final day of the campaign.

Now on Club World Cup duty, the ex-Fiorentina man has only one year left on his contract in Turin and it remains to be seen whether he would fancy the prospect of a move to England, but his contract situation would make him a cheaper option than the likes of Gyokeres.

Although he isn’t the first name on Arsenal’s list, Vlahovic’s name could be one to watch out for in the Gunners’ search for a high-profile striker to lead the line in 2025/26.

Chelsea are set to have a busy summer on the pitch, even with the Premier League season almost at its conclusion.

Indeed, they are taking part in the inaugural 32-team Club World Cup in the United States of America, with the first game on the 16th of June against Mexican side Club Leon.

Thus, they might be looking to make some early transfers. The 2025 summer window opens for ten days at the start of June, to allow teams competing in the Club World Cup the chance to strengthen their squad beforehand.

It might well be in the Blues’ interest to sign someone in that short window, and they have actually been linked with one attacker who could even move at the start of June.

Chelsea looking to sign a new striker

It may not seem surprising that Chelsea want a new striker this summer, given they are the sixth biggest underachiever for expected goals in the Premier League, as per Understat.

Transfer Focus

Mega money deals, controversial moves and big-name flops. This is the home of transfer news and opinion across Football FanCast.

Well, the man who could help solve those issues is Borussia Dortmund striker Serhou Guirassy.

According to recent reports from Spain this week, Chelsea are one of the sides who ‘have already initiated’ a move for Guirassy this summer. There is thought to be a ‘real possibility of leaving Germany’ for the striker in the coming months.

However, the West Londoners are surely going to face stern competition for Gurassy’s signature. Italian giants AC Milan and Juventus are also interested in signing the striker, who has a £60m release clause in his contract, should anyone want to bring him in.

Why Guirassy would be a good signing

It has been an incredible season for Guirassy in 2024/25, who has excelled leaps and bounds in a Dortmund side that has struggled overall. He has 29 goals and five assists in 41 games played so far this term.

There is certainly a case to be made that the striker has done his best work in the Champions League. He’s scored an incredible 13 goals in 14 games, notching up four assists alongside those strikes.

It is perhaps not too difficult to pinpoint the best performance from the Guinean striker in Europe’s premier club competition. He scored a hat-trick in the quarter-final against Barcelona, which proved to be in vain as his side got eliminated 5-3 on aggregate. However, it was still an mightily strong performance to grab a 3-1 home win on the night.

Perhaps Guirassy could provide the goals that Nicolas Jackson has struggled to score at times in 2024/25. The Chelsea striker is talented but perhaps a little inconsistent, with nine goals and five assists in 29 games in all competitions.

When comparing the goal-to-game ratio of Jackson and Guirassy, there is a clear difference. The Dortmund number nine is currently scoring 0.7 goals per game this term, whereas Chelsea’s main man up front averages just 0.3, a stark contrast.

Indeed, one thing the “unstoppable” Dortmund star, as scout Antonio Mango once described him, has on his side is experience.

At 29 years of age, the Dortmund sensation has plenty more years in professional football than the Chelsea number 15, who is just 23 years of age. With that being said, there is still a difference in how clinical they are in front of goal.

Interestingly, a statistical comparison via FBref can be drawn between Guirassy and former Blues striker Kai Havertz, now an Arsenal player.

He scored 32 goals for the club over three years, including a winner in the Champions League final in 2021.

As for the numerical comparison between the two, there are several areas where the pair are similar. For example, Guirassy averages 0.50 goals per shot on target compared to Havertz’s 0.43 goals per shot on target each game and they link up play in a similarly strong way, with only 0.10 difference in the number of key passes they supply per 90 minutes.

It is hard to see a reason why Gurassy wouldn’t succeed at Stamford Bridge. The Dortmund star is deadly in front of goal, as the numbers show, and in that sense would be an upgrade on Jackson.

Chelsea fans will surely hope he can replicate what Havertz did in that famous Blue shirt. They probably wouldn’t say no to a Champions League final winner, a competition in which he has serious pedigree already.

Chelsea preparing £43m offer for "surprising" new striker target

The west Londoners have another name on their agenda.

1

By
Emilio Galantini

Apr 23, 2025

Key numbers from Henry’s stunning 23-ball 62 that lifted UP Warriorz from 89 for 6 to 177, before Grace Harris’ hat-trick got the job done

Deep Gadhia22-Feb-202518 – Balls taken by Chinelle Henry to get to her fifty, the joint-fewest in the WPL alongside Sophia Dunkley, who also took 18 balls to score her only WPL half-century against RCB at Brabourne in 2023.62 – Henry’s score of 62 is the highest while batting at No. 8 or below in Women’s T20s. The previous highest was an unbeaten 57 by Jersey’s Grace Wetherall against Germany in 2023.It is also the highest score by a batter batting at No. 6 or below in the WPL.Related

• Gujarat Giants look for top-order runs and first win in Bengaluru

• Chinelle Henry lights up Chinnaswamy with Andre Russell-inspired 'range hitting'

3 – Grace Harris became the third bowler to take a hat-trick in the WPL, after her Warriorz captain Deepti Sharma in 2024 against the same opposition, and Mumbai Indians’ Issy Wong against Warriorz in 2023.8 – Sixes hit by Henry in her 23-ball knock of 62, the most in a single innings in the WPL, alongside Sophie Devine – Devine had done it en route to 99 against Gujarat Giants at the Brabourne in 2023 – and Ashleigh Gardner – Gardner did it during her 79 in this season’s opener at Vadodara.ESPNcricinfo Ltd269.56 – Henry’s strike rate is the third-highest for a batter scoring a half-century in the WPL. Devine’s 275 and Shafali Verma’s 271.42, both against Giants in the inaugural season in 2023, take the top two spots.57 – Runs added by Henry and Sophie Ecclestone for the eighth wicket – the second-most in this tournament for the eighth wicket or lower after the 70 added by Ecclestone and Grace Harris against Giants in 2023.67 – Runs scored by the UP Warriorz in the death overs (overs 17-20), the second-most by a team in the WPL, bettered only by their own 68 against Giants in 2023.21 years, 195 days – Kranti Goud became the second-youngest player to take a four-wicket haul in the WPL after Wong, who dismantled Warriorz in the Eliminator in 2023.3 – Players who have taken four-wicket hauls in this match in Jess Jonassen, Goud and Harris – the most four-fors in a WPL match. No other match had more than one player with a four-for, in 52 matches previously played in the tournament.

It was also the first-ever instance of three bowlers taking four or more wickets in an IPL match

Sampath Bandarupalli15-May-20231 – Shubman Gill and Bhuvneshwar Kumar are the first opposing pair to score a century and claim a five-wicket haul in the same innings in the IPL. It has happened only twice before in all men’s T20s – Karun Nair (111) for Karnataka and V Athisayaraj Davidson (5 for 30) for Tamil Nadu in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy in 2017-18 and Saber Zakhil (100*) for Belgium and Aqib Iqbal (5 for 5) for Austria in a T20I in 2021.22 – Number of balls Gill needed to complete his fifty, during which he hit nine fours and no sixes. It is the fastest fifty by a batter in the IPL without hitting a six. The previous fastest was 23 balls by Sachin Tendulkar against Delhi Daredevils (now Delhi Capitals) in 2010Related

• Gill shows Ahmedabad is his place and 2023 is his year

• Gill and Shami seal top-two finish for Titans

6.38 – Percentage of Titans’ total scored in sixes. They hit just two of them in their total of 188. It is the lowest percentage of runs scored via sixes in a 180-plus total in the IPL. The previous lowest was 9.14% by Rajasthan Royals, who hit only three sixes in their total of 197 against Royal Challengers Bangalore in 2008.17 – Wickets taken by the pace bowlers in this match, the most for them in an IPL game. Spinners failed to pick even one wicket in the 13 overs they bowled in this match. The previous most wickets taken by pacers in an IPL match was 15, on four instances.