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This article is part of Football FanCast’s Transfer Focus series, which provides opinion and analysis on recent transfer news…

According to The Athletic, Manchester United pulled the plug on a potential swoop for Neymar because of concerns over his ‘party lifestyle’.

What’s the word?

The Brazil superstar was the subject of intense transfer speculation in the summer window, with reports claiming he was desperate to leave PSG. La Liga giants Barcelona and Real Madrid were regularly linked with a potential move for the forward, but a deal failed to materialise before the end of the deadline.

Now, The Athletic’s Daniel Taylor has suggested Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side had Neymar on their radar because he is a “genuine, category A-superstar”, but decided against making an official move due to concerns from within the club about the kind of negative influence he can be.

The indoor football skills in the video below have to be seen to be believed…

Taylor said: “At Old Trafford, however, they tell a joke that offers an insight into the club’s thinking. ‘If you have one Brazilian, you have one Brazilian,’ it goes.’If you have two Brazilians, you have two Brazilians. And if you have three, you have a samba party.’ In Neymar’s case, United think it would be him pouring the caipirinhas.”

Worth the risk

Hearing that the Red Devils had private concerns over Neymar’s personality and off-the-pitch activities is somewhat understandable. The club are in the midst of rooting out players who don’t appear to fit this new ethos under Solskjaer, with the likes of Alexis Sanchez and Romelu Lukaku already given their marching orders this summer.

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But Neymar has time and time again proven his footballing abilities more than outweighs however he conducts himself away from the football field. The Brazilian has regularly been seen as a potential Ballon d’Or winner after the careers of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo end – Juventus legend Gianluigi Buffon even name-checked the 27-year-old as a future recipient of the prestigious award.

His purchase would have been a huge coup for a United side desperately short of attacking magic. He would have undoubtedly lifted spirits at Old Trafford, and showed his capabilities last season by racking up 23 goals and providing a further 13 assists in just 28 games. The Red Devils could really have done with a superstar like Neymar, who would have revitalised the atmosphere currently surrounding the club.

This article is part of Football FanCast’s Opinion series, which provides analysis, insight and opinion on any issue within the beautiful game, from Paul Pogba’s haircuts to League Two relegation battles…

After all the murmurs of Manchester United looking into appointing a sporting or technical director to help ease some of the club’s off-the-pitch concerns, it appears that objective is dead in the water.

The club’s executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward has been the target of much of the Old Trafford faithful’s criticism when it comes to the team’s transfer business, and so a director of football or a backroom role would have brought a welcome change.

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Instead, it looks as though the Red Devils have chickened out. According to The Manchester Evening News’ Tyrone Marshall (entry 13:06), United are apparently quite content by the club’s current approach to recruitment.

He said: “There is a concern within the club that an appointment could act as a lightning rod for criticism, with worries they would be seen as the saviour given the issues around the club at the moment and could end up being ‘annihilated’.

“The word recently has been that United are happy with their recruitment structure. Ed Woodward has been on the front foot over the last few weeks when it comes to criticism of recruitment and Solskjaer has also praised the way it’s been working, so there would seem to be little immediate desire to add a new body into that way of working.”

The indoor football skills in the video below have to be seen to be believed…

For United to reportedly turn away from such a landmark appointment because they feel the individual would act as a “lightning rod criticism” smacks of serious cowardice. Surely the entire point would be that there is an added element of responsibility and accountability to the Red Devils’ transfer approach.

The club have had a mish-mash policy when it comes to recruitment since the days of Sir Alex Ferguson and David Gill. Numerous different managers with Woodward effectively kow-towing to their varied philosophies and methods instead of sticking with someone that is in the best interests of the club.

Getting a specialist in the job would bring about huge rewards; United’s stubbornness and reluctance to make a commitment to a director of football is a major and, quite frankly, criminal oversight.

It will simply mean more of the same transfer failings that have plagued the club in recent seasons, like Alexis Sanchez and Romelu Lukaku.

The club desperately need a more stream-lined approach with one knowledgeable figure driving things in one key direction. Woodward’s decision is now only likely to cause more misery in the transfer market.

This article is part of Football FanCast’s Pundit View series, which provides opinion and analysis on recent quotes from journalists, pundits, players and managers…

Sheffield Wednesday manager Garry Monk has talked up his side following their 0-0 stalemate in Saturday’s Yorkshire derby.

His post-game thoughts go to great lengths in highlighting just how much of a brilliant job he’s done so far at Hillsborough.

What’s he said?

Both teams missed an opportunity to take possession of the Championship lead at the weekend as first-placed West Bromwich Albion slipped up at home to Charlton Athletic.

The Owls had one of the best chances of the match in the second half when Steven Fletcher rifled an attempt off the crossbar while Leeds United could have won it late on if wing-back Ezgjan Alioski’s header was inches to one side.

Speaking after the match, the 40-year-old said:

“We were very unlucky not to have won the game.

“If you keep putting in performances like that and pushing that standard like that, you’ll be able to win games, dominate games and regularly be in situations where you take points whilst we’re still growing.

“We were up against a team that has been together for two seasons under that manager and we have been together for eight weeks and the way we went about it, you’d have thought it was the other way round.

“I was very proud of that performance.”

Major encouragements

Wednesday currently occupy a playoff position in fifth place as they remain three points behind West Brom.

Under Monk, they have lost just one of eight matches, and that came in the absence of their top goalscorer, Fletcher.

It means the south Yorkshire side have picked up 15 points from a possible 24, which prior to the game had the former Leeds boss well on track to smash all of his recent predecessors out of the water.

The Owls haven’t been able to reach the Championship playoffs since 2017 recording successive seasons languishing in midtable, so the fact that Monk has them in and around the top five at this early stage is only a compliment on just how well he’s done in such a short space of time.

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In addition to that, he’s not been able to fully stamp his own mark on the squad after joining at the start of September, outside of the transfer window.

All the more impressive.

This article is part of Football FanCast’s Opinion series, which provides analysis, insight and opinion on any issue within the beautiful game, from Paul Pogba’s haircuts to League Two relegation battles…

So, how did you spend your Saturday when the game was called off?

Just sit back and relax knowing that the two losses in a row couldn’t be extended to three just yet? Or did you just stand and revel in the fact that Derby County lost again?

The question now becomes whether or not this is postponement will be a good thing or a bad thing for Forest.

Obviously this fixture will have to be made up later in the season, so it’s not as if Forest have been given a free hit when it comes to the hectic Championship schedule.

On the whole, this should be viewed as a good thing, in fact, if there was one time of the season they could have asked for something like this to happen, you can make the argument that this weekend was the perfect one.

The biggest benefactors of this postponement will be those who are still on the injury table. As @NFFC_live put it, there are some Red players who are “now one week closer to fitness without missing a game for Sabri Lamouchi’s side.”

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As discussed previously on FFC, the fact that Lamouchi’s men are going through a bit of an ‘injury crisis’ at the moment with some of their key players like captain Michael Dawson and midfield rock Samba Sow currently on the touchline with knocks.

Combine that with how they haven’t done so well in their absences and it shows just how crucial they are. This will give them a little bit of breathing space when it comes to getting those players back to fitness.

Not to mention the big gamble that he took by choosing to rest Lewis Grabban, now he has been given a free weekend to get his batteries recharged ahead of the next couple of weeks.

Check out Matchday with Max’s latest Nottingham Forest vlog in the video below…

The other benefactor will be the Forest boss himself.

He can go into training this week knowing that his players should all be fully charged and able to get them working harder, rather than cutting down a little bit after fatigue from the weekend.

As a result, there should be no reason why they can’t use the rest to their advantage and be able to start off with a much higher tempo to overwhelm a defence that has conceded the joint-second most goals so far this season.

If he can’t beat a promoted side after an additional day of rest, you might have to start wondering how much of their good fortune was down to him and not just to luck, circumstances or if it was all down to the players on the pitch.

Trent Alexander-Arnold has worked his way into becoming a key player for Liverpool, and fans have taken the opportunity to praise him on the eve of what will be his 100th appearance for the club.

It is quite an achievement for a player who only turned 21 a few weeks ago, and given the way he is playing there are likely to be many more to come.

As an added bonus for many Reds, he is Liverpool through-and-through. He is living his dream and has no desire to leave – so could feasibly hold the right-back slot for years to come.

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One fan suggested that he is the best thing to happen to the club since Steven Gerrard, which is some praise indeed, but if he manages to maintain his rate of creating chances and producing assists – with 37 and three respectively this term – then he will be remembered for years to come.

More importantly, he could be essential in Liverpool’s chances of picking up more silverware, and the longer he maintains his current performance the greater the plaudits he will receive.

Here are some of the reactions from supporters gushing over what he has brought to the club.

You do wonder if this is a case of ‘small club syndrome’.

Whereby he’s getting ignored just because he doesn’t play for one of the more fashionable or ‘big clubs’.

That’s the situation that Dean Henderson finds himself in having been left out of Gareth Southgate’s England squad.

He is joint top of the Premier League in terms of clean sheets, sharing that honour with Manchester City’s Ederson, and the Blades have one of the better defences in the league, having only conceded eight goals.

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It’s not like you can give the defenders like Jack O’Connell and Chris Basham the credit for all the results either, or they’d be included in the squad ahead of him.

But it’s Henderson that Sheffield United fans were most annoyed about being excluded as they took to social media to call out the England boss for leaving him out.

Perhaps he’s still being ‘punished’ for his error against Liverpool back in September, in which case he’s going to have to keep up the good work in order to make people forget about it.

Brandon Williams made his first Premier League start for Manchester United as they beat Brighton & Hove Albion 3-1.

To top it off, he was named Man of the Match in a vote by the club’s supporters, after being given a standing ovation when he was substituted off in the 91st minute:

While many United fans were delighted for the teenager that he made his full league debut and received recognition for the performance he put in, they also felt that Fred was robbed of being named Man of the Match.

The 26-year-old made 2 tackles, 2 dribbles and 1 key pass throughout the entirety of the game, which is another sign of his recent improvement, with this being the Brazilian’s fifth league start in a row, after playing in 13 from the start in the whole of last season.

A selection of Twitter reaction to the announcement, including posts from confused Man United fans, can be seen below:

This article is part of Football FanCast’s Transfer Focus series, which provides opinion and analysis on recent transfer news…

According to Italian outlet FC Inter News, Manchester United are amongst a host of clubs scouting Dejan Kulusevski.

What’s the word?

The Atalanta youngster is currently enjoying an impressive campaign whilst on loan at fellow Italian side Parma, notching two goals and providing a further five assists.

Now, FC Inter News claim that his fine form has attracted the attention of several clubs, with scouts from United, Arsenal and Southampton drawing up “more than flattering reviews” about the versatile forward.

The report further adds however that the Red Devils may have to wait till next summer to land the 19-year-old’s signature, with the Swede happy to wait and enjoy more regular first-team football with Parma.

Fits the puzzle

Predominantly a right-winger, Kulusevski would instantly help to solve United’s glaring lack of real quality and options in that position. Currently, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has been using the likes of Daniel James, Andreas Pereira and even Juan Mata from there, and so the Red Devils could desperately do with a sprinkle of added magic from the flank.

In Kulusevski, they would be getting exactly that. As per Whoscored, he averages a very impressive 2.3 key passes and 2.6 dribbles per game, and that ability to find the killer ball for his fellow teammates to feed on is exactly what the likes of Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial will be dreaming about. The 19-year-old’s five assists in Serie A is good enough to put him in joint-second in the league’s rankings, only behind Luis Alberto (8).

Parma director Alessandro Lucarelli paid him a remarkable compliment when speaking about him earlier this season.

“Kulusevski is a born talent. For this reason, Atalanta gave him only a dry loan (one without an option to buy clause) because they knew his qualities. He has an incredible maturity.”

If the Red Devils can eventually seal a deal for this “born talent”, he could no doubt prove to be an inspired signing for a position they could really do with some extra quality in.

Having seen Gabriel Martinelli make a barn-storming impression at the club despite arriving to relatively little fanfare, it is little surprise to hear that Arsenal are reportedly eyeing up the Brazilian market once again.

Martinelli joined from FC Ituano in the summer for a fee in the region of £6m, and has made a stunning start to life in north London. The 18-year-old has already struck seven times in nine games this season, including a memorable brace at Anfield against Liverpool.

Now, Spanish publication Mundo Deportivo claim Arsenal have contacted Flamengo starlet Reinier Jesus’ father about potentially bringing him to the Emirates too. The report adds that the likes of Barcelona, Real Madrid, PSG and Manchester City are also interested in signing the 17-year-old, who has scored five in ten for Brazil’s U17s.

After hearing about their club’s links to the teenager, Arsenal fans flooded to Twitter to voice their thoughts on their reported transfer target.

Many supporters of the north London side urged their club to get the signing done as soon as possible, and insisted technical director Edu (formerly Brazil’s general co-ordinator), should receive a load of credit if they can pull it off.

Check out some of the reaction of Arsenal fans below:

Tottenham Hotspur have a new coach at the helm and everyone is undoubtedly eager to see how he takes his squad forward.

Of course, Jose Mourinho is a man who doesn’t really need much of an introduction at all but even for a big manager like him, this could pose a real challenge.

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After all, Spurs are currently in shambles, sitting 14th in the table and with a squad that doesn’t really ooze confidence.

His first game in charge, however, will be against West Ham United on the weekend – a team that’s in a rather similar situation, seeing how they are 16th in the table and not looking to improve drastically any time soon.

And upon seeing Mourinho’s appointment, many West Ham fans are not really confident looking forward to their next clash with Spurs and they fear the derby might be a lost cause.

Of course, there are others who don’t think the Portugese’s presence will make a difference at all and some are optimistic and hopeful that the Hammers can get something out of that match.

You can see some of their replies and comments down in the collection of tweets below.

Check them out…