Newcastle United may turn to Nottingham Forest’s Anthony Elanga in their search for a new right winger, according to reports.

Even should they keep hold of Anthony Gordon this summer, the Magpies are short on options in wide areas with Harvey Barnes and the out-of-favour Ryan Fraser the only senior wingers on the books.

Elanga impressed at Forest last season following his £15m (per BBC Sport) summer arrival from Manchester United, notching five goals and nine assists in 36 Premier League appearances, while he was first among his teammates for carries into the opposition penalty area (42).

According to Football Insider, Newcastle are ‘admirers’ of Elanga and are already in talks with Forest over a potential deal.

The two clubs have already conducted business this summer, with Elliot Anderson moving to the City Ground and goalkeeper Odysseas Vlachodimos moving in the opposite direction.

Football Insider’s report also names West Ham’s Jarrod Bowen as another potential target, but Newcastle — whose first choice target this summer was thought to be Michael Olise, who left Crystal Palace for Bayern Munich — have been put off by the Hammers’ £100m valuation.

The Magpies have also spoken with Chelsea over a possible deal for English winger Noni Madueke, but no bid has yet come forth.

The post Newcastle United in talks with Premier League rivals to sign ex-Man Utd forward appeared first on CaughtOffside.

In his exclusive column for CaughtOffside, former Aston Villa attacker Stan Collymore discusses some of football’s biggest talking points, including why the Premier League should be ashamed of their silence since the race riots, why we’ve lost the essence of what the Charity Shield is all about, why transfer windows are anxiety inducing and much more. 

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Transfer windows are anxiety inducing for every player

Liverpool manager, Roy Evans, flew back from his holiday in Barbados to meet me at Heathrow Airport in London for two hours, before flying straight back to his long-suffering wife, in order to sign me.

I met Joe Royle, who was the Everton manager at a hotel in Cheshire and, I’m not going to lie, I think that when you’ve got the choice of two clubs the size of Liverpool and Everton – today’s equivalent might be Liverpool and Manchester City or Manchester United – you’re immediately flattered but also worrying that “I’ve got to buy a house, I’ve got to relocate” etc., and much more besides.

At least now there are transfer windows and release clauses.. When I was two thirds through a season back in the 90s, I had a phone call when I was in my car going home from Forest training from Sir Alex Ferguson. That would now be considered tapping up and was yet another layer of worry for players of a certain age.

That’s because every transfer window is anxiety inducing for a player.

Lots of dead ends… this club are interested in you, then they’re not, then they’ve dropped out of the race altogether and somebody else has come in.

How it normally works is players basically have a meeting with the managers who are interested in them to talk about the football side, and then the agent sees what they’re prepared to do or not prepared to do, and there’s a hell of a lot of waiting involved.

There isn’t enough done for players to be able to guide them through the process beyond just being a player.

In all honesty, even with clubs nowadays, I speak to a lot of younger players and of course they’ve got agents around them and the clubs try their very best with liaison officers to help players settle in – perhaps a little bit more at a club than they used to – but it’s still not enough.

That’s because there are a lot more countries to move to, players are being bombarded with all sorts of figures and money talks.

Are they going to a club to be the best footballing version of themselves that they can be, because that should ultimately will guide everything, or are they going to the club that are going to offer them a few more zeros on their pay packet?

They must do their due diligence.

Clubs need to stop pimping their players out to get around Financial Fair Play

I think that all football players need a permanent home.

I’m going to give you an example of somebody… Louie Barry, a wonder kid at West Brom, goes to Barcelona and then comes back and plays for Villa. As a massive Villa fan, he still wants to play for the club.

He had a nasty period with injuries and was loaned out five times by Villa, and has now been loaned out again – but the lad desperately wanted to stay.

He’s a familiar face for the fans, but beyond that in my view he shouldn’t have signed a new contract in the hope of breaking into the Villa first team (which won’t happen) when there were better options available for his career progression.

We need to have the conversation about when a player is being signed by a club, he needs to understand where he can buy a house, school his kids and have a home base to settle into. He shouldn’t be pimped out here, there and everywhere, just to be a great example of Profit and Sustainability rules in action.

Conor Gallagher is another one. Four loans in three years before settling down at Chelsea, only to then be pushed out the door by Todd Boehly.

It kills younger players to keep going out on loan and it basically leaves them like a ship that never docks. They’re constantly out and about and never find a home.

Perhaps Gallagher will do that now at Atletico Madrid – find what it’s like to go and play for a club, anchor down and become a club legend – but he wanted to be ‘the man’ at Chelsea.

Time to talk up the true meaning of the Community Shield

This weekend sees the return of the Community Shield, a traditional pre-season friendly that I’m a big fan of.

I do think that it absolutely shouldn’t be counted as a trophy, however.

I think we need to tell the likes of Pep Guardiola that this isn’t something that he can count as one of his trophy wins. It’s not about Pep vs Klopp or Pep vs ten Hag either, because we’ve already had that narrative on any number of previous occasions.

It was originally called the Charity Shield, and the money raised from the game was given to good causes. It still is.

So we should promote that angle way more than we do currently.

This year’s partner is MIND, and there’s a whole four or five days leading up to it where players, instead of talking about the inane rivalry of Man United against Manchester City, should be highlighting the charity and the issues they face etc.

Let’s be perfectly honest, it’s the last meaningless friendly before the big kick-off, so moving forward, let’s get back to what the Community Shield is all about.

Charity.

I’m a big fan of a salary cap… but it won’t work for individual players

The problem with a salary cap for me is it’s got to come from FIFA.

I think if you have got agreement across the big leagues of England, Italy, Spain, France, Germany, that would go some way to having a salary cap implemented, but of course, all it means is you’ll get more and more players going to the Saudi Pro League and picking up their £500k per week.

So it kind of becomes self sabotaging.

If FIFA said there is going to be a global salary cap, then I think it could work, but I think that FIFA would also have a fight on their hands from from UEFA.

We need to get there in some way though I worry that just like the creative accounting of certain Premier League clubs – selling or their swapping their best young kids or assets to get around FFP – the clubs will find a way to circumvent this cap.

What I would like to see is an organisational cap, which HMRC can then can get involved in.

The organisation, for example Man City, can only spend across all of its assets – whether it be players, staff or anything else – £100m total per year, and if you go over that then you get fined.

That way you can have some common sense because then clubs have to look around at where they’re spending every penny.

Silence from the Premier League over race riots is disgusting

I think that the Premier League have a massive responsibility as a big British brand, and as a big British brand that’s inclusive with all creeds, all flavours and all genders, to comment on the current riots from a football perspective.

After all, they can’t wait to tell you about No Room for Racism day.

I would really have liked to see Richard Masters come out after last weekend and say “any supporter involved in these in this disorder, will never set foot in an English football stadium again,” and that would have done as much as potentially the deterrent effect of a six month or a 12 month custodial sentence for some of them.

Frankly, I’m disgusted by the Premier League.

If you remember, when players were getting racist abuse a while back, the Premier League were quick to tell everyone to put a the black square on their social media profiles and not tweet or post for 24 hours.

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The fact they’ve said nothing whatsoever during the current riots, I would suggest, is 1000 times worse. The fact that I genuinely feel like the only voice in the professional football sports broadcasting space that was willing to call it out, hour by hour, and to show people that there were good people in Walthamstow, in Birmingham, in Newcastle and elsewhere that weren’t going to allow this race baiting to happen… I think it’s frankly disgusting and disturbing.

Football is multicultural, and not just the fan base.

We’ve got Muslims, we’ve got Jews, we’ve got blacks, we’ve got whites, we’ve got French, we’ve got Germans, we’ve got Italians, we’ve got Egyptians… all playing in the Premier League.

I get that a lot of players and clubs will be very reluctant to speak up because they don’t understand the politics, but for me, football needs to do much, much more.

The post Collymore’s column: Premier League should be ashamed, clubs need to stop pimping out players for FFP, time to remember the true meaning of the Community Shield and more appeared first on CaughtOffside.

Manchester United have reportedly stalled in talks over the potential transfer of Paris Saint-Germain midfielder Manuel Ugarte, so are looking at the likes of Atalanta star Ederson and other alternatives.

The Brazilian has impressed in his time in Serie A, as well as in last season’s Europa League as he played a part in Atalanta emerging as surprise winners of the competition.

Ederson is now being linked with Man Utd by HITC, who also report that Premier League duo Joao Gomes and Danilo, of Wolves and Nottingham Forest, respectively, also being considered.

Still, the report notes that one issue with Ederson is that Atlanta are unlikely to sell another key player this summer, with Teun Koopmeiners a top target for Juventus.

There are some other fine players out there, however, and it shouldn’t be hard to find someone who’d be quite a considerable upgrade on the ageing and under-performing Casemiro.

Ederson transfer: What else has been said about the Atalanta midfielder?

Ederson’s fine form has also previously seen him linked with Liverpool by Give Me Sport, while Fabrizio Romano also spoke exclusively to CaughtOffside about the Reds’ interest in the 25-year-old, which seemingly never got anywhere particularly advanced.

“Liverpool made contact with his (Ederson’s) agents weeks ago but never started any negotiation, they didn’t send a bid so far, there are no talks ongoing at this stage,” Romano said.

“We have to see if they will include Ederson in their shortlist or not, it’s really early for this and there are no meaningful changes to the situation so far. Atalanta, meanwhile, don’t want to lose both Ederson and Koopmeiners.”

Meanwhile, speaking in an interview with AS, Ederson admitted he’s curious about the possibility of playing in the Premier League.

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“I don’t know, I’ve thought about it a lot, I like Italy, I’m well adapted, but I’m curious about the Premier League, so I don’t know,” Ederson said.

“I’m still growing, so I don’t know if I’ll stay in Italy, I think I still have more to prove. If I go somewhere else, then too. I will continue to grow.”

The post Man United considering Serie A star & Premier League duo as alternatives to Ugarte transfer appeared first on CaughtOffside.

Chelsea are still monitoring Nottingham Forest defender Murillo who is valued at £55-£60m according to journalist Sami Mokbel.

It’s been another summer of change at Stamford Bridge with Enzo Maresca replacing Mauricio Pochettino in the dug out, whilst the Blues have also made seven summer signings.

Chelsea, who are currently in America on their pre-season tour recorded their first win under Maresca as they beat Club America 3-0 on Wednesday.

Chelsea still monitoring Murillo

The Blues are still in the market for a striker and a winger and have been strongly linked with a move for Napoli’s Victor Osimhen this week.

However, it appears they are still keeping their eye open at the other end of the pitch and Mokbel has reported the club are still monitoring Forest defender Murillo who is valued at £55-60m.

Murillo impressed at Forest following his arrival from Corinthians last summer and established himself as one of the best young defenders in the league.

The 22-year-old made 36 appearances in all competitions as Forest beat the drop for the second consecutive season and if he remains at the club he will no doubt be a key player next season.

Murillo revealed in a recent interview with The Telegraph that he needed regular game time and staying at Forest for another season would enable him to mature as a player, but admitted eventually he wanted to play in the Champions League.

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Chelsea have already signed Tosin Adarabioyo this summer, whilst teenage defender Aaron Anselmino is very close to completing a move from Argentine side Boca Juniors.

There simply isn’t room for any more defenders, although the club are trying to offload Trevoh Chalobah but it’s arguable if he does leave whether the Blues would actually need a replacement.

The post Chelsea monitoring 22-year-old Premier League ace valued at £60m appeared first on CaughtOffside.

Nottingham Forest are very close to completing the signing of Vitoria de Guimaraes’ Jota Silva as everything has been agreed to get the transfer over the line. 

The Portuguese winger had plenty of suitors during the current transfer market but it is Forest who have won the race for the 24-year-old as the player was impressed with the offer he received.

Sources have told CaughtOffside that Silva has signed a five-year contract at the City Ground, which will keep the winger in Nottingham until 2029. The Premier League club will pay Guimaraes an initial transfer fee of just €7m, but Forest will have to pay an additional €3m if the Portuguese star plays 15 games this season and a further €2m if he scores 10 goals.

Nottingham Forest have beaten several clubs in the race for the 24-year-old as Benfica, West Ham, Fulham and Brighton all held talks with the Portuguese winger at one stage.

Silva will be the Premier League club’s sixth signing of the summer having already brought in Elliot Anderson, Nikola Milenkovic, Marko Stamenic, Carlos Miguel and Eric da Silva Moreira.

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Who is Vitoria de Guimaraes’ Jota Silva?

Silva is a versatile forward who can play anywhere across a front three but predominately likes to feature on the right. The 24-year-old has spent his whole career in Portugal and has been with Guimaraes since 2022.

Last season was an impressive one for Silva as the winger produced 15 goals and seven assists across 42 games for his team. This caught the attention of several clubs, hence why he has now secured a move to Nottingham Forest.

Switching to the Premier League will be a big step up for Silva and only time will tell how the Portuguese talent performs in the English top flight.

The post Exclusive: 15-goal winger impressed with Nottingham Forest’s offer as they beat several Premier League clubs in race appeared first on CaughtOffside.

Arsenal are yet to decide the future of Aaron Ramsdale.

The 26-year-old goalkeeper has fallen down the Gunners’ pecking order after the club agreed to sign David Raya from Brentford. Although initially bringing the Spaniard in on loan at the start of last season, the London-based giants have since made the keeper’s switch permanent in a deal worth £27 million (Sky Sports).

Arsenal open to Aaron Ramsdale loan

And with Ramsdale unlikely to accept a back-up role again next season, there is an expectation that the Stoke-born shot-stopper will leave the Emirates. Although strongly linked with Newcastle United, Ramsdale has yet to see a formal offer made, and according to Football Insider, this could force Arsenal into agreeing to a late loan deal instead.

Newly promoted Southampton and Nottingham Forest are believed to be the two sides most interested in a loan for Ramsdale.

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Mikel Arteta, who said Ramsdale had ‘earned respect and admiration’ (GOAL) following his performance against Brentford at the end of last season, is believed to be targeting another goalkeeper to provide competition for 28-year-old Raya.

Feyenoord’s Justin Bijlow is believed to be one of the shortlisted names on the club’s list but the Gunners are likely to face competition from league rivals Liverpool (Mirror).

As for Ramsdale, a move to Southampton or Nottingham Forest would see him become either club’s number one at the expense of Alex McCarthy and Matt Turner, respectively.

The post Arsenal willing to loan out player Mikel Arteta said ‘has earned respect’ appeared first on CaughtOffside.

Nottingham Forest are expected to make an opening transfer bid of around €20million to Corinthians for 19-year-old Brazilian winger Wesley Gassova. 

Fenerbahce, Napoli, AS Roma, OGC Nice, Fulham and West Ham United also continue to be linked with Corinthians’ Brazilian youngster Wesley, though sources have told CaughtOffside that Forest are now showing the strongest interest and are prepared to step up efforts to sign him.

Forest already have two former Corinthians players on their books. Murillo has made a name for himself since switching between the two clubs 12 months ago, and he was joined Trentside this summer by goalkeeper Carlos Miguel.

Corinthians are understood to have set a price tag of around $25-30m for Wesley, who is widely regarded as one of the top young prospects in Brazil at the moment, with a big career surely ahead of him in Europe.

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Forest also continue to be linked with a move to sign Palmeiras midfielder Richard Rios.

Everton, Leicester City, Galatasaray and Borussia Dortmund are also known to be admirers of the 24-year-old Brazilian midfielder.

Palmeiras have set a price tag of about €25-30m for the Brazilian, though it remains to be seen if any clubs will come forward and pay that fee.

The post Exclusive: Nottingham Forest ready to make €20m bid for Brazilian winger appeared first on CaughtOffside.

Arsenal have set a £30million asking price for the transfer of goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale as he attracts interest from Nottingham Forest and Southampton this summer, CaughtOffside understands.

Sources close to the situation have informed CaughtOffside that Ramsdale is expected to leave Arsenal this summer as he looks to get back to playing regularly after falling down the pecking order in Mikel Arteta’s side last season, with David Raya now the undisputed number one for the Gunners.

As things stand, it is understood that although Forest and Southampton are interested in Ramsdale, they would not be willing to pay Arsenal’s £30m asking price for the England international, so it remains to be seen if the north London giants will end up lowering their demands, or if anyone else perhaps joins the race and indicates they’d be prepared to pay up.

Meanwhile, Arsenal are still interested in signing Wolves ‘keeper Daniel Bentley as their new backup ‘keeper, with talks ongoing despite Arsenal previously seeing two bids rejected for the 31-year-old.

Ramsdale transfer exit to pave the way for Bentley to Arsenal deal?

It is felt that Arsenal and Wolves could end up agreeing a fee under £1million for Bentley, though he could also be offered a new deal to stay at Molineux as he’s also considered a reliable backup ‘keeper there too.

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Arsenal will want to ensure they’re not in too much trouble if Raya gets injured or suspended at some point, so bringing in an experienced figure like Bentley could be a useful option.

At the same time, though, Karl Hein has shown some promise in pre-season so far, and some AFC supporters will surely feel the 22-year-old could be good enough to serve as the club’s second choice, without the need for a new signing in that position, even if Bentley should come pretty cheap.

The post Exclusive: Arsenal set £30m asking price for player, replacement transfer lined up appeared first on CaughtOffside.

After securing safety in 2023/24, Nottingham Forest are readying themselves for another season in the Premier League.

The Reds have battled against relegation in each of their two seasons since returning to the top flight for the first time since 1999, with respective 16th and 17th-place finishes and just 18 wins from 76 league matches.

BUY NOTTINGHAM FOREST TICKETS NOW!

But despite finishing just one place outside the relegation zone last season, Nottingham Forest were still six points from danger, even though they were handed a four-point deduction late in the season.

Tickets for games at Forest’s City Ground stadium are generally in high demand.

So, how do you buy tickets to watch Nottingham Forest?

How to buy Nottingham Forest tickets

Tickets for Nottingham Forest home games can be purchased via the club’s official ticketing page.

For many games, tickets will only be sold to club members. Nottingham Forest membership costs start from £40 per season for adults.

But buying a membership does not guarantee you any tickets.

Is buying Nottingham Forest tickets easy?

Getting tickets for some games is easier than others when buying directly through the club.

Purchasing tickets through a trusted reseller, such as livefootballtickets.com can often be easier than buying from the club, especially for fans who only go to games every now and again.

What is the best resale ticket site for Nottingham Forest tickets?

While some resale companies can be full of red flags, livefootballtickets.com is a super safe site that offers an unrivalled service.

Fans buying from livefootballtickets.com will be given a 150% money-back guarantee on all ticket purchases.

The site also has a five-star rating on Trustpilot, plus customer support that exceeds expectations.

BUY NOTTINGHAM FOREST TICKETS HERE!

About the City Ground

The City Ground has been the home of Nottingham Forest since it opened in September 1898, making it one of the oldest stadiums in the country.

Forest have made numerous renovations to the stadium during its lifespan, while there have even been multiple attempts to build a new stadium elsewhere in the city. But for now, the Reds are staying put at their long-time home.

The current capacity of the City Ground is 30,404.

BUY NOTTINGHAM FOREST TICKETS NOW!

Nottingham Forest’s Premier League fixtures (2024/25 season)

The below dates are subject to possible change at this point.

The post Nottingham Forest tickets: How to buy Forest tickets in 2024/25 Premier League season appeared first on CaughtOffside.

West Ham are one of four Premier League club’s interested in AC Milan winger Alexis Saelemaekers according to reports. 

It’s a new era at the London Stadium with Julen Lopetegui now in charge following the departure of David Moyes, and West Ham have been strengthening their squad ahead of the new season.

The Hammers have signed Brazilian winger Luis Guilherme, defender Max Kilman and goalkeeper Wes Foderingham, but they are looking to complete more deals.

West Ham interested in Saelemaekers

The London Stadium outfit are believed to be in the market for attacking reinforcements and have recently been linked with Leeds star Crysencio Summerville, whilst they are believed to also hold an interest in Arsenal’s Reiss Nelson.

The Hammers are looking for more support for star players Jarrod Bowen and Mohamed Kudus, who they relied on a lot last season.

Italian outlet Calcio Mercato have reported West Ham are one of four Premier League clubs interested in Belgian winger Saelemaekers.

The report adds that Leicester, Fulham and Nottingham Forest are also interested in the 25-year-old, with Milan valuing the winger at around €20m.

Saelemaekers, who has two years left on his contract spent last season on loan at Bologna and helped the club qualify for the Champions League.

The winger scored four goals and provided three assists in 30 league appearances, but Bologna are unlikely to sign him permanently.

The Belgium international joined Milan from Anderlecht in 2020, and is predominantly a right winger, who can also play on the left, which could appeal to the Hammers.

West Ham are still keen to further strengthen their defensive options and are looking at both centre back and right back.

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The Hammers have recently been linked with moves for Trevoh Chalobah and Fikayo Tomori, whilst Aaron Wan-Bissaka is a target at right back.

The hunt for a new striker continues and the club do hold interest in Aston Villa’s Jhon Duran, but a move has yet to materialise.

The post West Ham one of four Premier League clubs interested in unwanted AC Milan star appeared first on CaughtOffside.