Jack Grealish would walk into current Manchester United, Arsenal and Tottenham teams, claims Aston Villa legend Gabby Agbonlahor

The 24-year-old has been Villa’s most important player on their return to the Premier League this season, netting six goals and adding five assists in 20 appearances.

Unsurprisingly, his red-hot form has seen interest mount in his services, with Manchester United most strongly linked with a move for the playmaker.

His performances have led to calls for him to be called up to Gareth Southgate‘s England squad.

And Agbonlahor, who played 324 league times for the Midlands club, believes Grealish would choose to stay at Villa if they were to avoid relegation.

“It’s a tough one but Villa’s owners have come out and said they want to keep spending,” Agbonlahor told Stadium Astro.

Every Premier League club’s January 2019 transfers graded 12 months on, including Arsenal’s loan flop and Chelsea’s big money move

Some teams do make the right decision, like Liverpool’s signing of Virgil van Dijk in 2018, but there are far more that get it wrong.

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Last January saw a far more cautious approach from the top sides with only Chelsea spending money on a player, due to fears of an impending transfer ban that prevented them from signing players in the summer.

The teams nearer the bottom of the table were more active in the transfer market.

Sergio Aguero tops list of foreign players with most Premier League goals above Thierry Henry, as Man City beat Aston Villa

The striker’s treble cemented his place as the league’s top scoring overseas player of all time.

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He has now scored 177 goals – from 255 league games – to overhaul Thierry Henry’s mark of 175 with a clinical performance at Villa Park.

His 12th Premier League treble also made him the outright leading hat-trick scorer in the Premier League, ahead of Alan Shearer.

Goals from Aguero, Gabriel Jesus and Riyad Mahrez with two had put Pep Guardiola’s side 4-0 up at half-time in a one-sided contest.

The visitors dismantled their hosts to move up to second in the Premier League.

They are 14 points behind leaders Liverpool, with their hopes of defending their title all but over, but the champions underlined their quality with a devastating performance.

Villa had slipped into the relegation zone before the game after Watford’s win at Bournemouth and fell to their sixth defeat in nine top-flight outings.

They rolled over to suffer their heaviest home defeat in the league for almost four years, despite Anwar El Ghazi’s injury-time penalty.

A point would have lifted them out of the bottom three, but the tone was set early as City camped inside the hosts’ half.

The visitors probed and Joao Cancelo sliced wide before they were rewarded with Mahrez’s quickfire double.

After 18 minutes the winger collected the ball on the right and skipped past debutant Danny Drinkwater’s weak challenge on the edge of the box.

Mahrez continued into the area and, when Villa retreated, beat Orjan Nyland at his near post.

Six minutes later Villa’s fragility at the back was obvious when they failed to clear, David Silva robbed Drinkwater, making just his second start in 22 months, and Mahrez hammered in from 10 yards.

City were a class above the struggling hosts and, after Jesus fired over, Aguero made it 3-0 after 28 minutes.

It was again too easy for Guardiola’s side as, after collecting Kevin De Bruyne’s pass, the striker rifled into the top corner from the edge of the box.

City were relentless – although Villa offered little resistance – and Aguero shot over before Silva curled a free-kick inches wide.

It was no surprise, though, when Jesus made it 4-0 in first-half injury time when he fired in across Nyland after De Bruyne’s superb low cross.

There was no let-up from City in the second-half and Aguero grabbed his piece of history 12 minutes after the break.

The 31-year-old held off the flimsy challenges of Ahmed Elmohamady and Tyrone Mings before firing into the bottom corner.

Imminent new Villa signing Pepe Reina watched from the stands as City tore his future teammates apart and Mings cleared off the line from Jesus before Nyland stopped Cancelo’s drive.

Nyland saved Jesus’ low effort and, with 12 minutes left, the striker should have added a sixth instead of firing over.

Football Association accused of failing young referees as lessons not learned from Max Ormesher case

Ramsey Travers’ case is nearly identical to that of Max Ormesher, highlighted by talkSPORT nearly two years ago.

It has prompted his mother, Ceri Travers, to call for an overhaul in the treatment of young referees.

“I was shocked that Manchester FA would put a 14-year-old child in that situation,” she said.

In a statement, the County FA said: “Manchester FA is committed to ensuring that all disciplinary processes allow for a fair hearing to take place, particularly when under 18s are involved.”

On September 8, 2019 Travers claimed he was continually subjected to ‘aggressive’ verbal abuse by two coaches of Brendon Bees Junior Under-12s, as he refereed his first ever match.

After submitting his match report the County FA asked Travers to give evidence against the men in a disciplinary hearing, at which they would be present.

Tottenham complete signing of Benfica star Gedson Fernandes on 18-month loan deal

Fernandes has joined Spurs on an initial 18-month loan deal with an option to making the transfer permanent.

The 21-year-old will provide vital cover in the middle of the park as Moussa Sissoko is out for three months with a knee injury.

Fernandes, who will wear the No.30 shirt at Spurs, said: “It’s one big dream to come to this big club.

“I will try to give my best for the club. Every day, every training session, every game. Every day I will try to be the best.

“The Premier League is a difficult competition because every player wants to be playing in it.

“I always dreamed of playing in the Premier League.”


  • Gedson Fernandes hailed as ‘modern midfielder with enormous potential’

Mourinho will be hoping that more arrivals may follow, particularly a striker following Harry Kane’s potentially season-ending hamstring injury.

The club are understood to be interested in AC Milan’s Krzysztof Piatek while Christian Benteke, Edinson Cavani and even former striker Fernando Llorente have been linked.

Mourinho said last week that his side will never be ‘kings of the market’ and that this January will be a window of opportunity.

Fernandes was offered to them by Mourinho’s friend and super agent Jorges Mendes and they beat off competition from West Ham, who were keen on being the ones to bring him to London.

Given his age, Fernandes will be viewed as more of a signing for the future, but the Portuguese will at least add extra bodies to a squad which has been hit by injuries.

Fernandes has won two caps for Portugal and is a box-to-box midfielder in the ilk of Sissoko.

His parents live in the Tottenham area and he was recently spotted at his new club’s home game with Chelsea before Christmas.

There could also be outgoings at Spurs this month, with Kyle Walker-Peters hoping to join Crystal Palace on loan while the club are trying to offload Christian Eriksen this month in order to get a fee for him.

Premier League review: Liverpool’s record breakers, Drinkwater and Mahrez turn back time, and Mason Greenwood upstages Anthony Martial

Yeah, right. The Premier League champions elect moved to 61 points from an available 63, the first time this has ever happened in any of the big give European leagues.

Admittedly, I have not cross-referenced whether this happened before football was invented in 1992, but surely they’d have mentioned it if it was?

Shot-stopping Alisson has now stopped more shots in a row than anyone else in Premier League history or, to milk more from the same rubbish gag, in football history.

Liverpool did just about enough against Tottenham, mainly because Tottenham only really started to try and win in the last 20 minutes.

Would Alisson still have such a great stat to his name had Heung-Min Son or Giovani Lo Celso been able to hit a barn door with a banjo? Probably not.

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There will have been plenty of Spurs fans deriding VAR at some point this season for sure, yet a lot of them were suddenly big fans when it became clear that Liverpool’s winner started from a throw-in that went the wrong way.

Yes, it did – but that didn’t mean Serge Aurier had to strop for ten seconds out of position and then the rest of the defence switch off completely before the ball finally fell to Bobby Firmino to net the winner. A couple of months in and Jose still hasn’t got that defence doing it for an entire 90. 

talkSPORT's best bits from 2019 – Top guests, brilliant callers and bad singing!

Sunderland delete controversial tweet welcoming signing of former Rangers striker Kyle Lafferty

The Northern Ireland forward, 32, signed a deal until the end of the season with the League One promotion hopefuls on Friday.

And he was officially unveiled on Monday, giving his first interview to the club website.

Sunderland originally tweeted: “He’s seven foot and he plays the flute.”

The lyrics came from a song that was chanted during Lafferty’s time at Rangers and references loyalist flute bands in Northern Ireland.

Sunderland hastily deleted the post, and a club spokesman insisted no offence was intended, saying: “It was written in all innocence by someone unaware of how it could be interpreted.”

Lafferty, who had two spells at Rangers, will be available for selection for Sunderland’s trip to MK Dons on Saturday.

The Black Cats are on a six-game unbeaten run and occupy the final play-off spot.

Lafferty told Sunderland’s official club website: “I am excited to sign for Sunderland because it is probably the biggest club I have played for in England.

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Prince William is ‘worried’ about Aston Villa’s Premier League survival hopes, reveals former Manchester United chief

Following their 6-1 capitulation against Man City at the weekend, Dean Smith’s side are now in the bottom three and a point from safety.

The Villans have lost six of their last nine league games and suffered their heaviest home defeat in almost four years when Sergio Aguero and Co ran riot at Villa Park.

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And the Duke of Cambridge, who is undoubtedly the club’s most famous fan, has apparently expressed his concerns over the future of his beloved football team.

The future King made the comments as he met the FA’s vice-chair, and former Old Trafford chief Gill, who was collecting a CBE at Buckingham Palace.

Reiss Nelson was on the verge of leaving Arsenal for £20m but Unai Emery intervened to stop his departure

The 20-year-old forward is thriving under the leadership of new Gunners boss Mikel Arteta and capped a superb performance against Leeds in the FA Cup by scoring the winner.

Nelson, who has starred in the youth ranks at the Emirates, has always had a big admirer in the shape of former Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger.

The Frenchman once described him as one the best 15-year-old player he’d ever seen and Arteta is keen to give Nelson a run in the first team to prove himself.

However, it might have been a very different story for the winger if it wasn’t for Emery, with the Athletic reporting that the Spaniard stepped in to keep him last summer.

The north London club were set to receive £20m from the sale of Nelson, but Emery wanted the youngster to stay and be given the chance to prove himself, meaning Alex Iwobi was instead sold to Everton for £30million.

Arteta is expected to nurture the talent of Arsenal’s academy and the Arsenal boss praised Nelson after the narrow victory over Leeds.

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‘Fernandes offers better value to Man Utd than £120m Maddison’ – Parker would prioritise Portuguese star

The former Red Devils defender believes Ole Gunnar Solskjaer should be looking to bring in a midfielder from Sporting over one from Leicester

Manchester United will get greater value from a deal for Bruno Fernandes than they would a move for James Maddison, says Paul Parker, with Leicester’s star playmaker said to be valued at around £120 million ($156m).

That has become the going rate for match-winning talent, with those at the King Power Stadium aware that they can push asking prices up for prized assets tied to long-term contracts.

If United were to try and prise Maddison away from a Premier League rival, then they would need to dig deep in order to get an agreement over the line.

Such a move would place added pressure on 23-year-old shoulders as an England international playmaker would be expected to hit the ground running.

With that in mind, Parker has suggested that United would be best advised looking elsewhere.

The Red Devils are said to be closing in on the signing of Portugal international Fernandes from Sporting, with only £65m ($84m) reportedly required to secure his signature.

The 25-year-old should slot seamlessly into Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side, despite boasting no prior experience of life in England, and Parker feels he is the better option for now.

The former United defender told the WeAreTheBusbyBoys podcast of Fernandes: “I wouldn’t have any concerns over him playing in Portugal at his age.

“People say you can’t put the words £50m and bargain together, but when you’re talking about James Maddison costing near or over £120m, and the fact he will have to hit the ground running, you have to reconsider.

“You’re getting a player who is technically better than any other United player in that area, other than arguably [Juan] Mata.”

While Fernandes may soon be welcomed through the doors at Old Trafford, Ashley Young could be heading in the opposite direction.

The versatile 34-year-old is wanted by Serie A giants Inter and Parker believes a sale should be sanctioned if a long-serving performer has made it clear that he wants out.

The ex-England international added: “If he wants to move, if it’s for the money or the lifestyle, or if he wants a chance at winning a league title medal, then you’re going to have to just let him go.

“You don’t want a player moping around and becoming a sour apple.

“It’s human nature, you can’t blame him for it, if you feel someone is depriving you of something you want to do, you are unhappy. There’s nothing wrong with it. I think you have to let him go.”

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