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West Bromwich Albion secured their first league win of the season last weekend by beating Hull City on an emphatic 5-2 scoreline.

One player who got his name on the scoresheet against the Tigers on whom Albion have been relying for goals for some time is Karlan Grant.

Last season saw the striker net 18 league goals for the Baggies, easily making him their top scorer, while only three other players in the Championship took more shots at goal than him (108).

With just over a week left before the summer transfer window closes, the Midlands club still have the chance to bring in another attacking figure who would not only give the squad some greater depth in that area, but also offer Steve Bruce the chance to form a potentially deadly partnership alongside Grant.

One name who has been mentioned with a move to The Hawthorns and who could fit this bill is Reading’s Lucas Joao.

In 85 appearances for his current club, the 28-year-old has found the net 39 times and provided 14 assists along the way.

To compare Joao’s previous domestic campaign – where he scored ten goals in 24 league appearances – alongside Grant’s, the duo had the same rate for goals scored per 90 minutes (0.48), with less than 1% of a difference between their individual percentages for shots on target.

In fact, the Reading striker ended his campaign with a higher rate for goals per shot (0.18) than Grant (0.13), which highlights how clinical the Angolan is in front of goal.

Previously lauded by Gary Rowett as an “unplayable” attacking figure, Joao certainly has the attacking credentials to be a fine addition to Bruce’s squad and potentially form a scary partnership alongside Grant.

West Brom’s previous league outing showed just how deadly they can be when at their best, while only Sheffield United and Norwich City have had more shots at goal and shots on target in the league this season than the Baggies.

However, the fact that Daryl Dike is out injured for a while shows just how much they could do with signing a new striker before deadline day, with Kenneth Zohore (who hasn’t scored since the 2020/21 season) currently the only centre-forward alternative to Grant.

With all that in mind, launching a move for Joao should be at the top of West Brom’s priority list.

An update has emerged regarding Glasgow Rangers’ plans for the remainder of the summer transfer window… 

What’s the talk?

According to Belgian outlet La Libre, the Light Blues are eyeing a swoop to sign central midfielder Nicolas Raskin from Standard Liege before next week’s deadline.

The report claims that the player has rejected a transfer to domestic rivals Club Brugge, as he would like to leave Belgium to play abroad.

It is stated that he has one year left to run on his current contract with Standard Liege, who are demanding €5.5m (£4.6m) for his services.

Glen Kamara 2.0

Earlier this month, Glen Kamara was left out of the Rangers squad to face Hibernian amid interest from Ligue 1 club Nice and a number of teams from the Premier League.

The Finland international is seemingly being eyed up by a host of clubs heading into the final days of the transfer window, and it remains to be seen whether or not the Light Blues will keep hold of him.

Gio van Bronckhorst could find Kamara 2.0 by working with Ross Wilson to secure a deal to sign Raskin before next Thursday’s deadline.

Both players are versatile central midfielders with the quality to win the ball back and make things happen in the final third.

In the Premiership last term, the Rangers ace averaged a SofaScore rating of 7.01 across 31 appearances, making 1.7 tackles and interceptions, winning 54% of his duels and providing 1.3 key passes per match. He played as a number six, eight, and ten during this time, which shows that he was trusted in multiple midfield roles.

Talent scout Jacek Kulig claimed that Raskin is “the future” of Belgian football and is “brilliant” in a number six or number eight berth, which suggests that he would offer a similar level of versatility to the Gers in comparison to the Finnish gem.

In the Pro League last season, the 21-year-old made 3.3 tackles and interceptions and made 0.8 key passes per match, creating four ‘big chances’ in total. He has stepped his creativity up for the 2022/23 campaign, as he is currently playing 1.4 key passes and making 2.6 tackles and interceptions per game, averaging a SofaScore rating of 7.02.

Therefore, the Belgian could be Kamara 2.0 for the Gers by coming in as a midfielder capable of playing in several positions, whilst consistently offering quality defensively and creatively, making an impact from box to box.

Raskin is also five years younger than the Light Blues midfielder and has time on his side to continue developing and honing his skills over the years, which means that he could be a short- or long-term replacement for the ex-Arsenal midfielder, depending on what happens to him in the final week of the transfer window.

Sunderland were very close to signing Brighton defender Jan Paul van Hecke during the summer transfer window, and the Championship club may regret not bringing him in after their recent spate of injuries.

Van Hecke looked set to join the Black Cats on loan before Alex Neil’s departure threw his future into doubt, with Graham Potter confirming late on in the transfer window that the player would remain at the Amex Stadium.

To make matters worse, Potter has now joined Chelsea, so the 22-year-old may not even get game-time under whoever takes over as the Seagulls’ new manager. Considering Sunderland’s current injury problems, Van Hecke could have been a very useful player to have at the Stadium of Light.

Daniel Ballard, a summer signing from Arsenal, is a long-term absentee after fracturing his foot earlier in the campaign, while Dennis Cirkin also came off injured in the defeat against Middlesbrough earlier this week.

This leaves just Bailey Wright, Danny Batth and Aji Alese available as centre-back options, with the latter yet to start a league game since his summer move from West Ham.

Tony Mowbray has so far lined up with a three-at-the-back formation, which suggests that Alese could soon make his league debut.

Alternatively, another player may be played out of position while Cirkin and Ballard recover from their injuries, which further emphasises that a player of Van Hecke’s experience would have been very useful.

The Dutch defender spent last season on loan with Blackburn Rovers in the Championship, where he made 31 appearances, averaging a solid 6.90 rating from WhoScored for his performances.

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Mowbray was a big fan of the centre-back and even compared him to England World Cup-winning captain Bobby Moore, saying: “I’ve got to be careful I don’t overbuild him as he’s not our player. But he looks like Bobby Moore out there sometimes. It’s amazing to watch how composed, how calm he can be, yet he has the fire of a warrior in his belly.”

The 58-year-old surely would have loved to have a player of Van Hecke’s quality at the Stadium of Light this season, and considering that Ballard and Cirkin are currently sidelined, the Black Cats boss must be wishing that Sunderland had brought in the Dutchman before the transfer deadline.

West Ham midfielder Nikola Vlasic, currently on loan at Torino, ‘thundered’ to leave during the summer window with permanent deal talks now expected.

The Lowdown: Vlasic seals temporary exit…

Following a bit-part debut campaign at the London Stadium after signing from CSKA Moscow last year, Vlasic was sent out on loan to Serie A side Torino for the 2022/2023 campaign.

The Croatia international made way for a plethora of West Ham summer signings as the club completed deals for Alphonse Areola, Nayef Aguerd, Flynn Downes, Gianluca Scamacca, Maxwel Cornet, Thilo Kehrer, Emerson Palmieri and club record signing Lucas Paqueta.

Vlasic couldn’t replicate his electric Russian Premier League form whenever manager David Moyes did give him a chance, with a report from Italy now sharing the latest on his future at West Ham.

The Latest: Vlasic ‘thundered and thundered’ to leave…

According to Tuttosport, Torino ‘will start new negotiations’ with both Vlasic’s agents and West Ham as they contemplate signing him permanently – coming after some brilliant outings so far.

Expanding on the 24-year-old’s move to Turin, the report claims Vlasic ‘thundered and thundered’ to leave east London when Torino boss Ivan Juric came calling.

The Verdict: Let him go?

The former Everton player has started life brilliantly at the Stadio Olimpico Grande Torino and we wonder if a permanent exit for him may be best for all parties – especially given his alleged willingness to leave.

Called a ‘top class’ talent by former Leeds United striker Noel Whelan, there have been question marks surrounding Vlasic’s suitability to the English game given two failed spells at both West Ham and Goodison Park.

Indeed, it may be time for Moyes and co cut their losses on the attacker.

Wolves officials reportedly watched Mykhaylo Mudryk play for Ukraine on Wednesday night ahead of a potential move in the January transfer window.

The Lowdown: Disappointing

Considering the hype that has been surrounding Mudryk lately, the Shakhtar Donetsk winger may have been disappointed with his performance in Ukraine’s 3-0 loss to Scotland in the UEFA Nations League on Wednesday night.

He was rated as the worst player on the pitch by SofaScore, losing a game-high 13 duels, while he also failed with all six of his dribble attempts and never recorded a shot on target.

It was an off night for Mudryk, who has otherwise been electric so far this season, with two goals and three assists in five matches over all competitions at club level (Transfermarkt).

The Latest: Wolves scouts watched

Writing in his latest piece for 90min, transfer expert Graeme Bailey has revealed that Molineux scouts were in attendance in Glasgow to watch Mudryk in action, ahead of a potential January move.

However, members of the recruitment departments from Brentford, Brighton and Hove Albion, Everton, Leeds United, Newcastle United, West Ham United, Arsenal and Chelsea were also taking a look at the 21-year-old, so Bruno Lage’s side are likely to face a lot of competition for his signature.

The Verdict: Unlikely

Given the level of competition for his signature, and the fact that the likes of Arsenal, Chelsea and West Ham can offer him European football, it seems very unlikely that the Wanderers would be able to attract Mudryk to the Midlands at this moment in time.

Hailed as a ‘serious talent’ by Shakhtar Donetsk sporting director Darijo Srna, who claims the winger is third best player in his position in Europe behind only Kylian Mbappe and Vinicius Junior, Mudryk has truly burst onto the scene despite his disappointing game for Ukraine, with four of his five goal contributions this term coming in the UEFA Champions League (Transfermarkt).

Nonetheless, with the Old Gold lingering near the bottom of the Premier League, he seemingly has bigger and better clubs in mind.

Leeds United transfer target Kai Wagner will ‘absolutely’ leave Major League Soccer for Europe in January, according to MLS insider Tom Bogert.

The lowdown

The Whites held talks over a deal for the Philadelphia Union left-back during the summer transfer window, as per CBS Sports journalist Ben Jacobs. Jesse Marsch, who has coached in MLS with New York Red Bulls and Montreal Impact, was apparently the ‘driving’ force behind the prospective deal.

Wagner’s contract with Phildadelphia is due to expire at the end of the calendar year, but his club have the option to extend it by a further 12 months.

The latest

Bogert says that Wagner will be on the move in the winter but it warned that it could be ‘difficult’ for Leeds to pull off the deal amid extensive competition.

He wrote on Twitter: “Sources: Expectation is that Philadelphia Union star LB Kai Wagner will ‘absolutely’ be sold to Europe this winter. Leeds United far from the only club interested, will be difficult for them now rather than the summer.”

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The verdict

Leeds lack specialist senior left-back cover for the injured Junior Firpo. Pascal Struijk has played there in the early part of the season but he is naturally a centre-back, while Leo Hjelde is only 19 and boasts a mere four senior Whites appearances.

Wagner could duly be the man to fill that glaring void in the Whites’ squad if Victor Orta can pull off a deal for the German defender.

Jacobs describes the 25-year-old as ‘very creative’, a label which is justified by his tally of eight MLS assists so far this season. That ranks him first in the Philadelphia squad, and joint-sixth in the division overall.

As Bogert warned, though, the timing may not work out in Leeds’ favour considering the added interest in the player.

Sunderland have had their fair share of howlers in the transfer market over the years by overpaying for players who went on to fail on Wearside.

The likes of Didier Ndong and Jack Rodwell are names that instantly spring to mind and there have been plenty of other examples in the 21st century.

One player the club had a shocker with from a financial perspective was central defender Michael Turner, who joined the Black Cats from Hull in 2009.

There is some controversy over exactly how much Sunderland paid to sign the defender, who put pen to paper on a four-year contract at the Stadium of Light.

The Daily Mail claimed that the fee was £6.5m, whilst The Guardian initially reported that it was in the region of £12m. Giving the club the benefit of the doubt, we will assume that it was the former in this case.

Steve Bruce hailed the Englishman’s talent at the time of the move, saying: “I believe that Michael is one of the country’s premier central defenders. I have been looking to add size and strength to the back line and Michael fits the bill perfectly in that respect, as well as being an excellent technical footballer.”

Turner enjoyed a solid first season on Wearside as he started 29 Premier League matches and averaged a WhoScored rating of 7.09 for the Black Cats, which placed him 8th in the squad.

However, he then struggled to keep up with the high standard that he set as he played 39 top-flight matches and failed to average a score higher than 6.89 in the following two campaigns.

In terms of WhoScored ratings, he ranked 16th and ninth in his final two seasons at the Stadium of Light in 2010/11 and 2011/12 respectively.

These statistics suggest that he was far from being one of the club’s best players during his three-year spell and the Black Cats opted to cash in on him in the summer of 2012 after his failure to kick on from his debut campaign.

Sunderland sold him to fellow Premier League side Norwich City for a reported fee in the region of £1.5m, taking a sizeable hit on the initial £6.5m they paid for him.

Turner was 28 at the time of the move and still had plenty of years left to give, which suggests that the club did not feel he was at the required level for them anymore.

Therefore, Bruce had a shocker with the central defender as it hurt Sunderland from a financial perspective. They spent a net amount of £5m on him for one good year of service and two average, at best, seasons. That certainly suggests that the signing was not a success from an on-pitch or off-pitch point of view.

Former Premier League goalkeeper Paul Robinson has claimed that it is ‘obvious’ that Ryan Kent will leave Glasgow Rangers within the next year.

The Lowdown: Premier League interest

It was reported by The Sunday Mirror (via MOT Leeds News) that both Leeds United and Aston Villa are still keen on signing Kent and watched him play for Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s team in the 2-0 loss away at Liverpool in the UEFA Champions League on Tuesday night.

The winger has refused to sign a new deal at Ibrox, and his current one expires next summer.

Former Gers striker Kenny Miller does not believe that Kent has shown his ‘best form’ so far this season, while former Light Blues defender Alan Hutton believes that he is ‘trying too hard’.

The Latest: Robinson reacts

Speaking to MOT Leeds News, Robinson, who now contributes for Sky Sports, has claimed that it is ‘obvious’ that Kent is going to leave with just a few months left remaining on his contract, adding that he is a ‘top player’:

“Leeds have looked at Kent for a long time.

“He was a player who was wanted by the previous regime under Bielsa and he’s obviously someone they’ve tracked closely in the last two seasons.

“It’s obvious he’s now going to leave Rangers coming into the last six to eight months of his contract, but I wouldn’t be in favour of paying money for him now when his contract expires next year.

“He’ll be a very good addition to the Leeds squad if you look at it now but he’s not a player who needs to come in during January.

“The club don’t need to spend any type of money for him, and they should compete for his signature at the end of the season.”

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The Verdict: Worrying

It is certainly worrying for the Teddy Bears supporters that Kent is seemingly running down his contract, meaning that he could leave for nothing in the summer.

The 25-year-old boasts the second-highest WhoScored performance rating of any of his teammates so far this season, and is the squad’s joint-leader for both assists and dribbles per game in the Scottish Premiership.

Nonetheless, Kent also holds the highest market value in the squad, and so losing him for free would be a financial travesty for the club.

Thus, if he is certain that he will not sign a new contract, then Rangers must be looking to sell him in the January transfer window, in order to at least get a fee.

Mike Ashley’s 14-year reign at St. James’ Park came to an end last year as Saudi Arabian consortium PIF completed their takeover of Newcastle United in October.

One of their first acts on Tyneside was to remove Steve Bruce from his post as manager and they eventually appointed Eddie Howe to replace the now out-of-contract coach.

Bruce had his ups and downs during his time at the club and some of his decisions, aided by Ashley, are still causing problems at Newcastle to date.

One signing the former Toon manager made that is still hurting the Magpies is left-back Jamal Lewis. He was brought in from Norwich for a reported fee of £15m in the summer of 2020 and has struggled to make a positive impact on the pitch in just over two years.

The defender played 24 games in his first season for Newcastle and averaged a dismal SofaScore rating of 6.48 – placing him 26th in the squad. He then played five Premier League matches for Bruce and Howe combined in the first half of the 2021/22 campaign as he fell out of favour.

The full-back reportedly rejected loan offers from Birmingham and Stoke in the Championship on deadline day before being axed from the club’s squad for the second half of the season, as he was deemed surplus to requirements.

Former Premier League goalkeeper Paddy Kenny questioned his decision to turn down those moves at the time, speaking to Football Insider: “Personally, if it was me, I would want to go out and get some game time.

“It’s that or I’m not playing. It’s not like you can be back in if there are a few injuries.

“You literally can’t play. It’s a big decision to make. It’s really strange. He will just be training every day for the next four months or so. That helps no one.”

Multiple sources state that his wages are £38k-per-week and this means that the defender is earning around £2m per year at St. James’ Park, which means that Newcastle could have saved roughly £1m if he had moved on loan for the second half of last season and Stoke or Birmingham covered all of his wages.

Instead, he rejected those loan offers and cashed in on £2m in wages in 2021/22 whilst playing five league matches in total, after raking in £2m in his first season. This means that he has cost the club a staggering £19m to date – including the initial £15m fee – and that figure will only rise between now and January, with Newcastle paying him roughly £500k since the start of July for this season so far.

Lewis has played 11 minutes of football in the Premier League this term and, based on Howe’s previous selections and the defender’s poor form in his last extended run of games, it seems unlikely that he will break into the starting XI any time soon.

Therefore, unless he leaves in January, he will have rinsed Newcastle for £21m by the end of this season without contributing quality performances, or many performances, on the pitch in that time.

He has been a poor signing to date and PIF are still being rinsed by his wages every month because of Bruce’s decision to bring him to Tyneside in 2020.

Celtic boss Ange Postecoglou has no doubt inspired a real reversal of fortunes at Parkhead over the past year or so, taking a side that had finished 25 points off leaders Rangers prior to his arrival to Scottish Premiership glory last term, with that stellar form continuing with ten wins from their opening 11 league games this season.

One major success story of the 57-year-old’s time in Glasgow thus far has been that of Anthony Ralston, with the academy graduate having gone from peripheral figure to valued squad member under the former Yokohama boss’ tutelage.

The 23-year-old had previously made just a solitary top-flight appearance during the 2020/21 campaign under Neil Lennon – following earlier stints on loan at the likes of Dundee United and St Johnstone – with it looking as if the Scotsman had no long-term future at Paradise.

As it proved, however, the attacking right-back went on to play a key part in the Old Firm outfit’s domestic success last term – despite the arrival of fellow defender Josip Juranovic – scoring four goals and providing nine assists in the league alone.

That stunning form also saw the 6-foot machine register 13 big chances and average 1.3 key passes per game from his 28 league outings, having seemingly thrived in the new manager’s inverted full-back system.

Such form has also seen the Bellshill-born starlet force his way into Steve Clarke’s plans at senior level for Scotland, with the £1.8m-rated ace notably scoring in the win over Armenia in the Nations League back in June.

As pundit Craig Levein noted, it has been some transformation for the six-cap colossus to go from something of an “ordinary” figure with the Hoops to an “international player” over the past 12 months, with that no doubt a marker of his manager’s quality as a coach.

Postecoglou will likely be looking to the academy once again to try and find another hidden gem in the youth ranks, with 18-year-old right-back Ben McPherson potentially one who can follow in Ralston’s footsteps in the near future.

The promising teen is yet to enjoy a taste of life in the first team, although has caught the eye with his display for both the club’s B team and in the youth ranks, having made nine appearances in all competitions this term.

While a red card in the 6-0 defeat to Real Madrid in the UEFA Youth League was a notable low point for the youngster, the Scotland youth international was then part of the side that claimed victory over RB Leipzig a few weeks later, with coach Stephen McManus subsequently lauding his exciting side as full of “terrific young players” who have a “bright future” in the game.

Postecoglou has previously suggested that he is keen to get that “conveyor belt of talent going between the B team directly up to the first team”, with McPherson one of those who he may well be keeping an eye on at present.