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Ange Postecoglou’s Celtic may have picked up all three points at Parkhead on Thursday evening but it didn’t come without a hefty blow for the Hoops.

As appears to be tradition this term, the Bhoys receive a plethora of injury blows which really dampens the mood inside Paradise.

Christopher Jullien has already been missing all year while the likes of Kyogo Furuhashi, Tom Rogic, Carl Starfelt and Greg Taylor to name a few have all had spells on the treatment table.

Taylor has been a big miss with Josip Juranovic forced to play out of position but he may now gain a chance to play in his favoured role at right-back this weekend against Dundee United.

That’s because Anthony Ralston was one of three injury victims in the 1-0 win over Hearts on Thursday evening.

Opportunity knocks

Not only does a fantastic chance now present itself for Juranovic to slot in on the right, but it also opens up an avenue of selection at left-back.

With Ralston and Taylor out, Postecoglou could pick either Boli Bolingoli or Adam Montgomery in that position. However, he’d do well to also consider a lesser-spotted Liam Scales.

The Irishman has played just 44 minutes of first-team football since arriving from Shamrock Rovers in the summer, struggling to make an impression on the manager.

Capable of playing in a number of positions, however, he should prove to be a useful asset for the manager going forward.

Despite being the tender age of 23, he can play on the wing, in the middle of defence or at full-back. It’s in that final role where he tends to star, specifically on the left-hand side where he uses his long 6 foot 2 levers and rampant offensive skills to get forward with devastating effect.

Speaking about him in the past, Collie O’Neill, his former manager at UCD, once remarked: “Liam likes to get forward. It’s not often you have guys on the wing who are tall and attacking, but when he gets going into his stride, he’s quick and strong. He can just whip past people.”

That eye-catching review should do enough to whet the appetite of Celtic fans who may be a little downbeat after reading of Ralston’s new injury problem.

Watching Scales come into the team, though, would be a treat, especially as they are yet to see a great deal of their summer signing in action.

That said, when you consider his outstanding offensive and physical traits, he’s surely everything Postecoglou is looking for at such short notice. Montgomery is still incredibly young while Bolingoli has proven himself to be a liability on frequent occasions.

Thus, it must be Scales’ time to show the Celtic Park faithful what he can do.

AND in other news, Huge boost: Alan Nixon delivers promising Celtic update that will leave fans buzzing…

Everton are reportedly now in a fight with as many as 11 other clubs to sign Tete this summer.

The Lowdown: Uncertainty

It has been reported that Brazilian players at Ukrainian side Shakhtar Donetsk, including Tete, are now potentially looking to terminate their contracts at the club, after Russia’s invasion of the country.

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However, the Premier League are set to block the use of FIFA and UEFA’s approved window for foreign players in Russia and Ukraine to find new clubs mid-season, meaning that players like Tete would only be able to join a club in the English top flight in the summer.

The Latest: 12-way battle

As per 90min, the Goodison Park faithful are now among 11 other teams who are keen on signing Tete, including Southampton, Brentford, Brighton and Hove Albion, Leicester City and West Ham United from the Premier League.

AC Milan, Atalanta, Napoli, Porto, Benfica and Ajax are also interested in his signature, although the news outlet suggests that the Saints are the firm favourites.

The Verdict: Bargain

Given that Tete is currently rated at £18m, to potentially get him for free, should he end up terminating his contract at Shakhtar, would prove to be a real bargain.

The winger has scored ten goals and made a further two assists in total over all competitions so far this campaign, including a goal and an assist to help his side qualify for the UEFA Champions League (Transfermarkt), and so could be a really good squad option to have for Frank Lampard, should the Merseyside club manage to avoid relegation of course.

Tete is only 22 years of age as well, and so still has a lot of potential left to fulfil, and should things not quite work out with the Toffees, they could even sell him on for a profit.

Farhad Moshiri hasn’t done much right at Everton in recent years, but getting a valuable young talent for no transfer fee would certainly be a step in the right direction.

In other news, find out what ‘huge’ Blues injury boost has now emerged here!

According to a report by L’Arena, as cited by Calcio Hellas, there has been an update out of Italy as Tottenham Hotspur eye a late bid for yet another target in Czech Republic international Antonin Barak.

The Lowdown: Panic stations…

Over these last few days, Lilywhites transfer chief Fabio Paratici and manager Antonio Conte have seen targets slip through the club’s fingers as Tottenham’s deals become hijacked.

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They were closing in on moves for winger Adama Traore and forward Luis Diaz but both Barcelona and Liverpool respectively scuppered Spurs’ January plans to sign the duo.

Now, with the window closing on Monday, Tottenham face a race against a time to back Conte with major signings in the winter market and kickstart the N17 rebuild.

As such, new names are coming out of the woodwork, with Spurs now apparently plotting a move for Hellas Verona star Barak.

The Latest: Paratici gets to work…

As per L’Arena (via CH), there has been a ‘first phone call’ in recent days between Paratici and the Serie A side’s sporting director Tony D’Amico over a transfer for the 27-year-old.

It is believed that Spurs are ‘ready’ to table a €20 million (£16.6m) bid, plus defender Ryan Sessegnon on loan, to sign Barak ‘immediately’ and before the Monday deadline.

Verona president Maurizio Setti is apparently open to taking this offer, as it would be ‘very well received’ him personally, but D’Amico ‘appears much less convinced’.

The Verdict: What Spurs need?

The 6 foot 3 attacker has been in fine form for Verona this season, supplying eight goals and six assists over 19 league appearances from midfield whilst becoming a key player under manager Igor Tudor.

He’s also averaged a threatening 2.3 shots at goal per 90 with only Son Heung-min and Harry Kane making more attempts in comparison to Conte’s current squad at Spurs (WhoScored).

An experienced international with 28 caps and appearances at Euro 2020 last summer, for £16.6m plus Sessegnon on a temporary transfer, Spurs could seemingly do far worse in terms of finally landing a playmaker.

It will be interesting to see whether D’Amico and Setti can come to an agreement over whether or not to entertain Paratici’s advances.

In other news: Tottenham now also preparing last minute marquee bid to sign ‘special’ forward for Conte, find out more here.

Everton are once again on the hunt for a new permanent manager with Duncan Ferguson having to hold the fort on a temporary basis in his latest caretaker role after the sacking of Rafa Benitez.

Before even officially being appointed at Goodison Park, protests began from Toffees fans against the former Liverpool manager.

With just seven wins, four draws and 11 defeats in the 22 games he had in charge of Everton across all competitions with the latest being a disheartening 2-1 defeat against Dean Smith’s relegation battling Norwich City at Carrow Road, it’s safe to say that Benitez’s second spell of managing in Merseyside did not go too well, thus leaving Ferguson to pick up the pieces and steady the ship.

While Farhad Moshiri is on the lookout for a new permanent manager for his side, there has, unsurprisingly, been a significant number of names linked with the position.

One name that has been mentioned with the role that a lot of Premier League followers will be familiar with is AS Roma manager Jose Mourinho.

Despite having success managing in England in the past, mostly with Chelsea where he won three Premier League titles and one FA Cup across two spells in charge of the west London club as well as winning the Europa League with Manchester United, things haven’t always been smooth-sailing for the 58-year-old.

Having admitted to being “arrogant” during his early days of managing in England, there have been occasions where claims have emerged suggesting that he had lost the dressing room during his time at Tottenham and United.

Given the drama that Mourinho has been involved in during his previous spells at clubs in the Premier League, like having rocky relationships at United with the likes of Paul Pogba and Luke Shaw, he could end up being another version of Benitez; somebody who arrives with previous experience of managing in the Premier League and at top clubs, but ultimately dragging Everton towards the relegation zone and falling out with players, as the Spaniard did with Lucas Digne.

Also, in a recent poll run by Football FanCast, it seems as though 77% of voters think that Mourinho would not be a good appointment for Everton, further suggesting that the Toffees should be looking elsewhere for their new permanent manager instead of risking a potential disaster at the helm.

In other news: Moshiri must appoint “perfect” 46 y/o as next EFC manager, he’s miles better than Rafa – opinion

In what turned out to be a nightmare Old Firm clash with potential season-defining ramifications, Rangers boss Giovanni van Bronckhorst will no doubt be scratching his head as to where it all went wrong for the Ibrox side.

The Gers looked completely outfoxed in the opening period against Celtic on Wednesday night, with the hosts’ pace and intensity seeming to catch the Gers by surprise: none more so perhaps than Borna Barisic.

The Croatian left-back has been well below his standards this season, with no goals and just three assists to his name in 26 appearances across all competitions – to put that into context, last year he had five goals and a whopping 14 assists.

Against the Hoops yesterday, Barisic just looked all at sea at having to deal with the constant movement of Liel Abada, and if one moment were to sum up his entire display then his reaction to the third goal told the whole story.

After Reo Hatate managed to swing in a cross from the by-line, Abada came storming in past Barisic to steer the ball home, with the Croatian left to slump to his haunches with his head in his hands – it was no surprise that Van Bronckhorst hauled him off at half-time.

And, writing in his post-match player ratings for The Daily Record, Andrew Newport gave him a measly three, saying: “Endured a 45-minute nightmare before van Bronckhorst showed mercy and took him off at the break. Will be seeing Abada running past him in his sleep for weeks.”

Those sentiments were echoed by Kenny Miller for BBC Sport’s live coverage of the game, who slammed: “Let me tell you: Borna Barisic has had such a bad half. On the ball, he’s sloppy. He’s got absolutely no idea where Liel Abada is. He’s got to be aware. That is absolutely schoolboy defending.”

Dubbed as being “punch-drunk” by BBC Scotland’s chief sports writer, Tom English, Barisic endured an absolute disaster at Celtic Park, and it’s left Van Bronckhorst in a very tough situation with the Gers’ momentum very much down the drain.

Given the full-back’s disastrous run of form over the course of this campaign, it’s high time the Gers manager finally makes the decision to drop him from his starting line-up and perhaps move Calvin Bassey into that role for the time being.

Taking him out of the firing line may just be the kind of breather and kick up the back-side that Barisic needs right now.

Meanwhile, this Rangers star let Gio down vs Celtic…

The transfer window has been open for less than a day, and due to Everton’s struggles over the first half of the season, Rafa Benitez had no problem confirming the clubs plans for getting stuck into the action in January.

What’s the word?

The Toffees of course confirmed their first new signing of the window in Vitaliy Mykolenko from Dynamo Kiev on early Saturday morning, and that followed on from some encouraging comments made by Benitez.

The Spanish manager took to his pre-match press conference to give Everton fans the heads up on the transfer window plans and how long they can expect to wait for signings;

“I hope that we can say something in a few days, I’m quite confident that we will do it.

“I said to you maybe 10 or 15 days ago that I was 200% confident that we will do something at the beginning of January.

“At the same time, the board is working on new signings. We are close to players, yes. Do I need to worry about that? No.

“Someone else is doing the job and then we have had conversations. Everything is in place to move forward.”

Everton have been linked to a number of players over the last month including Phillippe Coutinho, Ross Barkley, Denis Zakaria and Aaron Ramsey, to name just a few.

Fans will be buzzing

The fact that Benitez has confirmed the club is making new additions in early January will surely leave the fans buzzing about the possibilities of the players joining the side over the coming weeks, especially with the side in such poor form currently sitting 15th in the Premier League.

Everton have taken just 5 wins from their seventeen games played in the league this season so far, which has obviously had an effect on the fans, we saw in the Merseyside derby back at the beginning of December fans were leaving Goodison Park in the first half and there have been many occasions since Benitez’s arrival where booing can be heard from the crowd for the manager.

Benitez will be doing all he can to win over the fans at the Merseyside club, something he could be capable of achieving if he makes the right signings during this window, and guides the Toffees back into the top half of the table, potentially finishing in a European football spot.

In other news: Benitez could secure Davies upgrade with Aaron Ramsey

Liverpool are ‘ready to fight’ to sign Torino centre-back Gleison Bremer in the summer, according to a fresh transfer rumour.

The Lowdown: Liverpool linked with Bremer move

Jurgen Klopp has built a truly formidable squad at Anfield, but that’s not to say that new signings aren’t needed at the end of the season as the Reds look to keep improving.

One player with whom they have been linked is Bremer, who is enjoying a standout season for Torino, winning 4.1 aerial duels per game across 29 Serie A appearances. For context, that is better than anyone in Klopp’s current squad has managed in the Premier League, a sign that the Brazilian excels in this particular aspect of his game.

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It could be that the 25-year-old moves on in the summer, and a new update suggests that Liverpool remain interested in snapping him up.

The Latest: Reds ready to ‘fight’ for Bremer’s signature

According to O Tempo [via Sport Witness], Bremer ‘interests’ the Reds, while Tutto Juve stated that they are ‘ready to fight’ for his signature.

Liverpool would reportedly ‘like to present a proposal’ of approximately €30m (£25.1m) as they look to fend off competition from some Italian clubs.

The Verdict: Gomez replacement?

The constant rumours linking the Reds with a move for Bremer would suggest that their interest is genuine, which immediately throws Joe Gomez’s future into doubt.

The Englishman is now firmly behind Virgil van Dijk, Joel Matip and Ibrahima Konate in the centre-back pecking order at Anfield, having only started two Premier League games this season, and has already been the subject of speculation regarding a move away from Merseyside.

While it would be sad to leave Gomez leave considering his ability, it may make the most sense for all parties, allowing him to enjoy regular football ahead of the World Cup and beyond, and giving Liverpool more financial breathing space to bring in Bremer.

In other news, Fabrizio Romano has made a key Liverpool transfer claim. Read more here.

Leeds United are set to solve a long-standing issue this summer, according to transfer insider Dean Jones…

What’s the word?

Speaking to This is Futbol this week, the Eurosport journalist revealed that the Yorkshire outfit will finally sign a new striker during the off-season, helping to bolster a key area of manager Jesse Marsch’s playing squad.

In recent times, the Whites have struggled to provide backup to Patrick Bamford with the likes of Eddie Nketiah and Jean-Kevin Augustin failing to make their mark.

The England international has missed the majority of the season through injury and his presence has been sorely missed, and without a senior backup, both former boss Marcelo Biela and now the American have struggled to fill that void – that is set to change, though.

“Leeds are definitely going to look to sign a new striker. I think [it’s] irrelevant of whether Bamford is fit or not. We’ve seen that you have to have [a] backup for him,” Jones revealed.

Much needed…

After a 17-goal campaign last season, a lot of Leeds’ hopes would have been pinned on the 28-year-old forward to provide more goals this campaign. However, that’s been far from the case.

Out wide, Raphinha has had to bear the brunt of the club’s attacking fortunes, leading the way for both goals (ten) and creativity (58 key passes), with Bamford only managing 559 minutes of action in the Premier League.

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He has played only four times since September, in which none of those appearances lasted longer than 45 minutes, due to a string of injuries. The latest is a tricky foot issue that is set to rule him out for most of the rest of the season.

It leaves Marsch with only two strikers in the form of academy duo Joe Gelhardt and Sam Greenwood, though the latter has emerged as a potential future no.10 instead.

If Leeds had a viable backup, then their league safety may have been confirmed by now, so it’s good to see that they know it’s a position they need to strengthen ahead of next season.

That should leave many, including the American head coach and the Elland Road faithful, absolutely delighted.

AND in other news, Alan Nixon drops 12-word Kalvin Phillips transfer update…

Tom Barclay has dropped an update on Celtic’s bid to secure a deal to bring Matt O’Riley to Parkhead in the January transfer window.

What’s the talk?

In a recent post on Twitter, The Sun journalist revealed that the Milton Keynes Dons central midfielder, who Celtic are reported to be closing in on a £1.5m deal for this month, has undergone a medical in England on Wednesday afternoon ahead of his proposed switch to Parkhead.

In his post, Barclay said: “Understand O’Riley doing his Celtic medical now down south.”

Postecoglou will be buzzing

Considering just how impressive O’Riley has been for MK Dons this season, in addition to the fact that Celtic recently missed out on the signing of fellow central midfielder Riley McGree, the news that a deal for the 21-year-old very much looks to be nearing completion is sure to have left Ange Postecoglou buzzing.

Indeed, over his 26 League One appearances in the current campaign, the £405k-rated man has been in exceptional form, scoring seven goals, registering five assists and creating seven big chances for his teammates, as well as taking an average of 1.5 shots and making 2.1 key passes per game.

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The former England U18 international has also impressed in metrics more typical of his position, making an average of 1.5 interceptions, two tackles, 48.2 passes, one clearance and winning 4.6 duels per fixture.

These returns have seen the player who Russell Martin dubbed a “fantastic” talent average a remarkable SofaScore match rating of 7.37, not only ranking him as Liam Manning’s second-best performer in the league but also as the joint seventh-best player in the division as a whole.

Furthermore, considering O’Riley’s impressive positional versatility – being comfortable operating from defensive, central and attacking midfield – as well as his clear eye for goal and creativity in the final third, the 21-year-old would very much appear to be a player in the same mould as Celtic’s Reo Hatate – with the prospect of the MK Dons man lining up alongside the Japan international in the middle of the park undoubtedly being an extremely exciting one for the Parkhead faithful.

As such, the news that O’Riley looks to be extremely close to sealing a move to Glasgow is certainly extremely positive for everyone involved with the Bhoys.

In other news: Big blow: Celtic struck with crushing injury setback that’ll surely have fans worried

Should a Manchester United fan rock up at the Borussia Dortmund training ground and sing Mariah Carey’s hit festive track, ‘All I want for Christmas is You’, there’s only man they’d be singing it in the direction of; Erling Haaland.

The Norwegian’s exit from Dortmund has been teased for several months now and with Ralf Rangnick at the helm, a figure he knows well from his days at Red Bull Salzburg, United’s dreams of signing him could become a reality.

Indeed, it’s thought that the club’s interim boss has even had conversations with Haaland’s father about a potential transfer to Old Trafford in 2022.

The Red Devils may have Cristiano Ronaldo in their ranks, but perhaps the finest present this winter could be Dortmund’s star striker.

He is a colossal figure in the game and is so perfect at every aspect of the game that he feels like he was made in a laboratory.

Haaland has remarkable pace and upper body strength, can head the ball and leap like a salmon, while his finishing ability is simply devastating.

It’s no surprise, therefore, that he was dubbed a “goal-scoring cyborg” by reporter Alex Truica.

Further acclaim has come from one of United’s nemesis down the years in Thierry Henry who described the 21-year-old as “lethal.”

That’s an easy word to label the £135m-rated forward who has found the net with ridiculous regularity in recent years.

Since signing for the Bundesliga club, he has scored 76 times in just 75 outings, with 19 of those strikes coming this term.

On that evidence, staking a case for him improving the United side is an easy one to make.

Nurtured at Salzburg, he already knows the pressing philosophy and thus, he could be absolutely perfect for Rangnick this January as he aims to put his stamp on the Manchester club’s playing style.

For instance, Haaland has recorded 35 successful pressures of the ball in 2021/22, a tally that betters every attacking player at Old Trafford. In terms of forwards in their squad, Mason Greenwood (31) and Jadon Sancho (30) are the best.

With that in mind, not only would the Norway international bring a bigger goal threat to the northwest but he’d also help Rangnick implement his gegenpress.

Therefore, signing him this winter would be the perfect late Christmas present for United supporters around the globe.

AND in other news, Rangnick must seal Man Utd swoop for £81m-rated “weapon” with the “essence of Cruyff”…