THEBRIEFING
All the Premier League news and quotes
Newcastle sorry for Southampton postponement
Newcastle United
have apologised to
supporters for the
postponement of
Sunday’s match away to
Southampton (Jason
Mellor writes). Almost
3,000 fans had travel and
accommodation plans
disrupted after the North
East club’s request to
have the match
rescheduled was granted
by the Premier League.
It is a second
successive postponement
inside 72 hours for Eddie
Howe’s side after thematch away to Everton
also fell by the wayside
amid a surge in cases of
the Omicron variant.
Newcastle are also
without the injured
forwards Callum Wilson
and Allan Saint-Maximin
and said they would not
name the players missing
because of Covid.
Newcastle remain in
talks with the England
defender Kieran Tripper,
and hope to announce
the signing of the Atletico
Madrid full back early
next week. Sven Botman,the £30 million-rated Lille
centre back, is another
player the Tyneside club
are confident of signing.
In the Sky Bet
Championship,
Middlesbrough’s game
away to Sheffield United
was postponed yesterday
after the Football League
had earlier indicated that
it did not consider the
Teesside club’s Covid
outbreak to warrant a
postponement. That left
only one match in the
division, Blackpool v Hull
City, still on today.
16Brentford have
conceded 16 times
in the nine league games
since David Raya got
injured in October and
Álvaro Fernández tookhis place in goal, having
conceded only nine in
nine matches before that.
With Raya out until
March, they have signed
Jonas Lossl on loan from
FC Midtjylland until the
end of the season. “Jonas
fits the criteria of what
we want in a goalkeeper
with his feet and in his
penalty area,” Thomas
Frank, the Brentford
head coach, said.8 1GS Saturday January 1 2022 | the times
“After ten days without playing and
training, you are slow to take the right
decisions — to be ready is difficult.”
BRUNO LAGE ON WOLVES’ ENFORCED HIATUSNapoli targeting Tuanzebe as cover for Koulibaly
Manchester United
have received an
inquiry from Napoli for
Axel Tuanzebe, who is
on loan at Aston Villa
(Paul Hirst and Paul
Joyce write).
With Kalidou
Koulibaly heading to the
Africa Cup of Nations
with Senegal, Napoli
want to add another
defender to their
ranks.The Italian club
approached United this
week about taking the
24-year-old centre back
on loan until the end ofthe season. Tuanzebe,
below, is interested in
talking to Napoli
because he wants to
play more regularly,
but the matter is
complicated by his
loan contract,
which expires at
the end of the
season.
Since Steven
Gerrard
replaced Dean
Smith as Villa
head coach in
November,
Tuanzebe has madeonly two brief substitute
appearances.
Villa and United would
have to agree to end
their loan agreement if
the player wanted to
move to Napoli,
who are third in
Serie A.
Napoli have
shown interest in
the Liverpool
centre back Nat
Phillips as an
alternative.
Liverpool would
want £15 million
for Phillips.Everton set to sign £17m left back
Everton are set to
complete a deal for
the Ukraine left back
Vitaliy Mykolenko with
Rafa Benítez pursuing
two more signings in the
January transfer window
(Paul Joyce writes).
Mykolenko, 22, will
move from Dynamo Kiev
in a deal worth about
£17 million. He will
bolster the club’s options
at left back, with the
France international
Lucas Digne keen to
move after falling out
with Benítez.“I hope that we can say
something in a few days,”
the Everton manager said
in regard to Mykolenko.
“I’m quite confident that
we will do it.” Everton are
also keen on the Rangers
right back Nathan
Patterson, 20, while
Benítez wants to add to
his midfield, and has
been offered Barcelona’s
Philippe Coutinho.
Inter Milan and Napoli
are interested in a loan
deal for Digne, who has
missed Everton’s past
three matches.Vieira set for return to touchline
Patrick Vieira, the
Crystal Palace
manager, could return to
the touchline against
West Ham United today.
Vieira has missed the
club’s past two matches
after it was revealed on
Boxing Day he had tested
positive for Covid-19.Vieira’s assistant, Osian
Roberts, hinted on Friday
that the 45-year-old
could finish his period of
isolation in time to be at
Selhurst Park today.
“He has recovered well
so, crossed fingers, we
will wait and see what
happens,” Roberts said.Phillips expected back in March
Leeds United will be
without their star
midfielder Kalvin Phillips
until March, according
to the head coach
Marcelo Bielsa.
Phillips and Liam
Cooper, the captain, both
have hamstring injuries
and Bielsa, when askedwhether a March return
for Phillips was a worst-
case scenario, said: “No,
that is what we expect.”
Patrick Bamford should
return soon from his
hamstring injury. “Patrick
is healthy but he hasn’t
played for four weeks,”
Bielsa added.GETTY IMAGES