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Achraf Lazaar may well be on his way out of Newcastle United, and the club’s supporters are certainly not happy about the situation judging by their reaction on social media.

Lazaar joined Newcastle from Palermo in 2016, but has only made 10 first-team appearances for the Magpies, and nine of those came during their 2016-17 Championship season.

Lazaar actually spent last season on loan at Italian side Benevento, and according to Italian journalist Gianluca Di Marzio, Genoa now want to bring him back to Italian football.

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Paul Dummett is currently Newcastle’s number one choice at left-back, but Rafael Benitez does not have too many more options in that area of the field.

Lazaar is seemingly on his way out of St James’ Park once again though, and it would be fair to say that the news surrounding the 6ft ace has not gone down well with the Newcastle fans.

Indeed, some feel that the 26-year-old has a role to play for the club this term.

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A selection of the Twitter reaction can be seen below:

Outside of the Premier League top six, Everton are arguably the most difficult opponents a newly-promoted side could face on the opening day of the new season.

However, Wolves were able to hold the Merseyside club to a draw after the match between the two teams ended 2-2, and Nuno Espirito Santo’s men may actually feel disappointed that they were not able to walk away with all three points having played the entire second half with an extra man.

Wolves, though, were still made to fight for that one point after going behind twice, and they could again be presented with another tricky game when they take on Leicester City at the King Power on Saturday.

The Breakdown

And at the heart of any potential Wolves downfall could be Jamie Vardy with Leicester boss Claude Puel confirming the England striker has a good chance of starting (via Leicester Mercury).

£18m-rated (via Transfermarkt) Vardy was only fit enough to make the substitutes’ bench in the Foxes’ 2-1 Premier League defeat to Manchester United, but he managed to find the back of the net after being introduced in the second half and will now undoubtedly cause Wolves problems when the two sides meet.

Vardy’s game is well known to largely consist of making runs in behind defenders and closing them down at every given opportunity, which is something Wolves’ back three will be dreading.

But, while Vardy can hurt Wolves, Nuno’s men should also fancy their chances going into the game with Leicester having looked defensively suspect against Manchester United.

The physicality of Wes Morgan and aerial prowess of Harry Maguire may see Raul Jimenez less effective in the air this time round.

However, should Nuno bring new signing Adama Traore into the side, the 22-year-old and the rest of Wolves’ wide players could really give Leicester’s full-backs problems with Ricardo Pereira, understandably, looking shaky at times against Manchester United.

Vardy’s potential return to Leicester’s starting XI is a huge boost for Puel and bad news for Wolves, but Nuno also has tools at his disposal which can hurt his managerial counterpart.

Loads of Celtic fans are calling for Brendan Rodgers to stick with Cristian Gamboa at right back, after the Costa Rican impressed in his return to the side.After Celtic’s elimination from the Champions League last week, fans were furious with the frailties in defence.Jack Hendry and Kristoffer Ajer are facing a sharp learning curve, Kieran Tierney wasn’t at his best, but worst of all Mikael Lustig seems completely past it.The 31 year-old has been an excellent servant for the club, but he was quite simply a step behind everyone else in the defeat to AEK, and fans want Gamboa to nail down that right back spot.Rodgers has been hesitant to give Gamboa the place, as he feels the 70-cap international is less solid defensively than Lustig, but he certainly looked up to scratch in the win at Partick Thistle.[brid autoplay=”true” video=”278881″ player=”12034″ title=”Rafa’s Pub Facts Kane’s Kryptonite & London’s Biggest Losers”]The 5 ft 9 in ace picked up two assists bombing down the right wing, something that Lustig simply doesn’t have the legs to do consistently anymore.The veteran Swedish international has clearly been the manager’s preferred choice at right back, but fans are all calling for the big change to be made permanent.You can find some of the best Twitter reactions down below…

With the loan market closing on Friday, most Stoke City fans would prefer to hear of incomings rather than outgoings.

On Tuesday, though, the Potters announced that Badou Ndiaye has left to rejoin his former club Galatasaray on loan for the rest of the season.

The 27-year-old signed for the former Premier League club from the Turkish giants in January.

The midfielder had a positive start to life at the Bet365 Stadium and he managed to score twice in 13 top-flight matches.

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However, since dropping into the Championship, Ndiaye’s attitude has been questioned, particularly after his performance in Stoke’s 3-1 defeat to Leeds United.

Since that match, the midfielder has not been included in Gary Rowett’s side for four fixtures, and now a transfer has been confirmed.

Judging by the reaction on Twitter, not many Stoke fans are sad to see the back of the Senegal international.

In fact, some supporters are relieved that he will not be part of the squad for the rest of the 2018-19 season.

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While Celtic supporters will undoubtedly be disappointed with Moussa Dembele’s departure to Lyon on deadline day, Olivier Ntcham remaining at the club will soften the blow.

Ntcham had been linked with a move away from Celtic Park with Porto said to have been interested (via Goal) but, nothing materialised, to the delight of former Celtic man Si Ferry who believes Ntcham is the best midfielder the Bhoys have had in years.

The Breakdown

Speaking on Open Goal’s ‘Keep it on the ground’ podcast (via HITC), Ferry said: “Ntcham is the best midfielder I’ve seen here in years.

“I can’t believe how fit he looked [versus Rangers], he won the ball back, tackled, and he always passed the ball forwards.”

There is no denying the impact £2.7m-rated (via Transfermarkt) Ntcham has had at Celtic Park since arriving from Manchester City last summer, but having the 22-year-old at his disposal did not stop Brendan Rodgers from wanting to bring in John McGinn during the summer.

The former Liverpool manager was keen for the midfielder to link up with his SPL title-winning squad, but was beaten to his signature by Aston Villa.

Losing out on McGinn left a sense of frustration; however, the way Ntcham has been playing this season — against Rangers in particular — will have everyone forgetting about Aston Villa’s gazump on one of the club’s primary targets.

At 22 years of age, Ntcham will only continue to grow and has both the ability and skill set to be Scott Brown’s long-term successor in midfield.

Like Brown, Ntcham offers a very combative presence in the middle of the park but, as well as that, the ex-Manchester City player possesses the technical skill to create a chance or fire an accurate long-ranged shot towards goal.

With that in mind and, including the addition of Youssouf Mulumbu, Celtic look strong in midfield.

The decision to not overspend on McGinn by the Celtic hierarchy is starting to look justified.

Pep Guardiola will be pleased to see a host of his key players not travelling for international duty this week.

David Silva will not link up with Spain following his international retirement while Raheem Sterling missed out on England selection due to injury. Both Nicolas Otamendi and Sergio Aguero have been omitted from Argentina squad and Gabriel Jesus, Fernandinho and Ederson were overlooked by Tite for Brazil’s team. Guardiola will be glad to have his players fit and ready for the return of the Premier League.

The Citizens remain hot on the heels of Liverpool, Chelsea and Watford with three wins and one draw from their opening four fixtures. City face Fulham at home following the international break before kicking off their Champions League campaign against Lyon at the Etihad. Though the transfer window may be shut, Guardiola should be on the lookout for potential January recruits.

One man he should be keeping tabs on is Napoli midfielder – Piotr Zielinski. Valued at £28.8m by Transfermarkt, the Poland international was reportedly set to sign for Liverpool back in 2016, but it was Napoli who won the race for his signature. Zielinski has since become a key player in Naples and was vital to their title challenge under Maurizio Sarri last season, scoring seven goals in 47 appearances. The former Udinese man made an excellent start to the new campaign with two goals in three appearances so far.

The 24-year-old would slot seamlessly into the City midfield and give Guardiola another quality option in the centre. Zielinski would have no trouble adapting to the Spaniard’s style of play after retaining an 88% pass success rate in the Serie A last season. He loves to run with the ball, averaging 1.8 dribbles per game last season (WhoScored), to help transition defence into attack which would be useful against sides who defend using a low block.

Under Guardiola’s tutelage, Zielinski could become a Premier League great.

Manchester City fans, thoughts?

According to Phil Hay, the Yorkshire Evening Post’s chief football writer, Leeds are not seeking to find a replacement for injured striker Patrick Bamford. 

The 25-year-old was ruled out for four months yesterday, after injuring his knee in an under-23 match.

This leaves manager Marcelo Bielsa in a lot of trouble at this point in the season. While Bamford was not starting ahead of the man of the moment Kemar Roofe, he was playing a prominent role from the bench. Leeds play with such an intensity in defence from their forwards, that it is physically draining. Players need to be managed well and given adequate rest to avoid burning out before the end of the season.

Unfortunately for fans of The Whites, the lack of options means that a lot of strain is put on Roofe. That will not bother fans at the moment, as the striker is in a rich vein of form this season, already bagging four goals in the Championship. But the trouble is, as the season goes on, there could be a drop in the standard of Roofe’s performances if they do not find someone to balance the workload.

There are options elsewhere, like Tyler Roberts and Ryan Edmondson, but they are both teenagers and are untested in the Championship. For a side that is flying high in England’s second tier, and seeking to maintain their form, it could be a risk to depend on such young players.

This will be a testing four months for Bielsa, which he may live to regret come the end of the season.

Steven Gerrard brought in 15 new players during the summer transfer window, but the Rangers manager may need some more new faces in order to challenge Celtic.

The former Liverpool captain guided the Gers to a 12-game unbeaten run in all competitions, but they lost to their Glasgow enemies in the Scottish Premiership.

After the international break, Rangers got back to winning ways by earning a 4-0 victory over Dundee FC, but overall, the performance of the team this season has been so-so.

One man who is currently playing for Hearts on loan is impressing in front of goal.

Steven Naismith has scored six goals in eight appearances for club and country, with a hat-trick coming against St Mirren in a 4-1 triumph.

The 32-year-old is currently on loan from Norwich City, therefore a move in January could be tricky, but perhaps Rangers should keep an eye on the 5ft 10in attacker who spent five years at Ibrox earlier in his career.

Should Gerrard consider a move for Naismith?

Let us know by voting below.

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Liverpool have maintained their brilliant start to the season as they make it five wins from five now, looking a real threat to Man City and the Premier League title.

With great squad depth and a phenomenal starting 11, Liverpool do look a more complete team than last season and considering how well they did do last time out, this season could be one filled with excitement and potentially silverware.

Liverpool have pretty much everything they want in their team right now but a lack of young talent within their ranks is disturbing for some and it must be improved upon. In attack despite having one of the worlds best front three’s, it wouldn’t hurt to invest in a youthful energetic player who could get his chance in cup matches for example, and that player is Hamburg’s Jann-Fiete Arp.

Arp, (who is valued at £6.7 million on Transfermarkt) is a youngster showing exactly what he is capable of with Hamburg at the moment and that could be exciting for Jurgen Klopp to look into.

At just 18-years-old, Jann-Fiete Arp is proving to be a star in the making, especially when seeing he scored 18 goals in 19 appearances for the German U17 side.

In five total appearances this season, with 2 of those being played with the first team, Arp has scored four goals, which is some way to beating the nine he scored last season.

The centre-forward has been a goalscorer at every single youth level he has played in and that leads Liverpool to believe he would be a smart investment and one full of potential to one day be the main man at Anfield.

Do you agree… Let us know!

For the first time in the league’s history, Premier League clubs are beginning to accept Bitcoin as payment for sponsorship deals. Seven Premier League clubs have entered into sponsorship deals which will see them paid in Bitcoin.

Tottenham Hotspur, Leicester City, Newcastle United, Southampton, Cardiff City, Brighton, and Crystal Palace are the seven teams with new Bitcoin holdings. As a part of the deal, the seven clubs now have cryptocurrency wallets and are officially on the cryptocurrency trade market.

It is currently unknown what the clubs’ exact plans are in regards to the new currency, but it is a clear sign that the football world is entering the cryptocurrency space. It is only a matter of time before the European giants begin investing in Bitcoin and cryptocurrency in order for them to diversify their holdings.

These clubs are using the new exposure to cryptocurrency to learn more about how Bitcoin and other digital currencies might impact the football transfer market and day-to-day club management. Transfer values have exploded in recent years, and it is clear the nature of money in football is fundamentally changing.

Bitcoin blasted into the public’s consciousness in a big way in late 2017 when it peaked around £15,000. It has since stabilized, but the mass awakening to the potential of cryptocurrency has stretched across many industries, and it has now reached the football world.

Tottenham Hotspur might look to move the funds into their transfer kitty in order to strengthen their side. Ajax’s Frenkie de Jong has made waves in both the Netherlands and Champions League play, and he is seen as a top target to strengthen Spurs’ midfield. Tottenham will have to reach into their pockets and spend in January in order to rest their tired players and make a serious push at the Premier League title.

The other clubs could use the cryptocurrency to solidify their position in the Premier League in order to ensure their safety. Leicester City may have been the champions in the 2015-2016 Premier League season, but they will be fighting for survival along with the remaining five teams with cryptocurrency wallets.

The influx of money into the Premier League has massively increased the competitiveness at all levels. Newly promoted Wolverhampton spent approximately £65 million on transfers upon reaching the Premier League, and clubs need to spend money on players in order to stay in the top flight.

Newcastle United has been struggling under owner Mike Ashley, and decorate manager Rafa Benítez has not been able to acquire the players he wants. Ashley may be interested in the short-term success of Bitcoin, and his club’s sponsorship deal may not reap full rewards if he does not reinvest in the club.

Unfortunately, it looks like Benítez will have to bargain hunt in January if he hopes to improve a squad that looks to be heading toward a relegation battle. Leicester City was able to win the Premier League on a shoestring budget, but their accomplishment looks all the more impressive as the Top 6 continues to pour money into buying new players.

The profile of cryptocurrency in the Premier League will likely grow as clubs look to attach their brand to the growing market. Clubs like Manchester United and Arsenal may have money to burn, but they have proven they are more interested in making as much money as possible.

If the seven Premier League clubs find their foray into cryptocurrency successful, then we will likely see other clubs joining the bandwagon and attempting to unlock the potential of cryptocurrency and blockchain. With the rapid change in financial football, it is no surprise that some Premier League clubs are looking to bank on a new phenomenon.