As reported by The Herald, Brendan Rodgers has heaped praise on one of Scottish football’s brightest prospects, St Mirren midfielder Lewis Morgan.

What’s the story?

Last week, it was reported that Celtic had received glowing reports about the Scotland U21 international from former player Tosh McKinlay and it seems the former Hoops star is not the only fan of the Buddies man.

While speaking about the young Scottish players coming through currently, Brendan Rodgers praised the in-form midfielder’s abilities, in the same breath as talking about some of Celtic’s top prospects.

As quoted by The Herald, the Hoops boss said:

There are a lot of good players up here, in my short time here I’m really enthused by the level of players because, I can clearly look at them and go how we play, how we work; Mikey Johnston, Tony Ralston will go in there, Mark Hill can come in here, Calvin Miller can come in. So it’s not the players that’s the problem. The boy Lewis Morgan at St Mirren is quick, dynamic, can press, can run, can get at people. Stuart Armstrong here, boys that are quick and can play. So you’ve got the players, it’s about how they are coached and how they are asked to play.

It’s high praise indeed from a manager who is often honest and sincere with his thoughts. Rodgers got a good look at Morgan up close last season when St Mirren visited Celtic Park in a Scottish Cup tie, with the 21-year-old playing the entire 90 minutes and shining.

With his contract up at the end of the season, is the time right for the Hoops to make their move?

Red hot form

Morgan has been a sensation for Jack Ross’ side this season. Flying high at the top of the table, Morgan has played a key role in the Buddies’ excellent form.

So far this term he’s scored eight goals and provided four assists for his teammates in just 13 matches. That’s the kind of red hot form that will make many teams sit up and take notice and it shows that Rodgers’ praise for him is well deserved.

Primarily suited to playing on the left flank, he can also play through the middle and would be competing for attacking midfield positions if he did theoretically make the switch to Celtic.

Competition at the Hoops is fierce in these areas but if Morgan can continue banging in the goals and creating for his teammates, it could be a signing worth pursuing for Celtic.

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Since day one of the Championship season back in August, the two West Midlands clubs who meet each other on Saturday evening have been talked about a lot. Most of it has been divergent.

Aston Villa and Wolverhampton Wanderers have had very different starts to the season. Wolves have been on stellar form, and after an exciting summer where a new manager and some very impressive signings arrived at Molineux, they’ve made it all count on the pitch, where it matters.

Villa, meanwhile, looked all but set to sack their manager Steve Bruce after just a few games and murmurs of a move for Oscar Garcia, currently managing in Ligue 1, to replace the former Hull City boss after a stuttering start to the campaign weren’t far from making it to the surface.

But a look at the table will probably leave you wondering what all the fuss is about. Aston Villa may currently be sitting outside the play-off spots – surely the very least they’d expect come the end of the season – but a victory this weekend would put them just a point behind their opponents, Wolves. If ever a club needed a turnaround, it was Villa. Over the last month, they’ve got it.

Ever since a dour draw at home to Middlesbrough in mid-September, Villa have been on the up, and indeed their form is better than that of Wolves going into the game, even though Nuno Espirito Santo’s side have only lost once in that time.

Sam Rourke, Editor-in-Chief of Football League World told me about Villa’s turnaround ahead of Saturday’s big game. And it’s clear the tables have turned quite dramatically in favour of Bruce at Villa Park.

“Aston Villa now look like the side to beat in the Championship,” says Rourke, “that’s something I never thought i’d say earlier on this season. They’ve won their last four league games, and Bruce seems to have found a balanced eleven that is finally seeming to work together collectively.”

The return of Jonathan Kodjia has been a massive boost for the Villans. Indeed, his very first appearance of the season came in that 0-0 draw with Boro when he came off the bench with 20 minutes to go. His first start came in the next game, a 3-0 victory over Barnsley, and Villa haven’t looked back since. They haven’t lost a game in which the Ivorian has played, and they won every time he’s started.

That hasn’t been Bruce’s only plus over the last few weeks, however: Kodjia’s strike partner over the last few weeks hasn’t been last season’s January signing Scott Hogan, but 19-year-old academy graduate Keinan Davis. It takes a special kind of grit to oust a £12m striker from your squad in favour of an unproven teenager when your job appears to be on the line, but that’s exactly what Bruce has done in the last month. And Rourke believes that belief and fight has been transmitted to the players, too.

“Surprisingly, the result that I feel is the most impressive was their recent 1-0 home win over Bolton,” he says. “They didn’t play well at all, yet still ground out a victory. I think the Bruce haters are waning now and his credentials as a manager are really starting to shine.”

Bruce’s managerial prowess may have come in for criticism, but his experience and track record has never been in doubt. His Championship know-how is one of the reasons he was asked to do the job, but that’s not the only route to promotion. His opposite number has no experience of England’s second tier, but Santo’s managerial CV takes in both Valencia and Porto. Indeed, he was the last manager to take Valencia into the Champions League, finishing in fourth place in La Liga before leaving the club and being replaced by Gary Neville when things started to go wrong in eastern Spain.

His arrival at Wolves in the summer has been part the next phase of an extremely exciting time at the club, along with the signing of Ruben Neves and the loan deal which took Diogo Jota to the club, too. He’s brought with him an exotic flair and made the team into one of the most intriguing in the country, let alone the Championship.

“Santo’s use of wing-backs has been incredibly effective this season,” Rourke tells me, “and it’s a stark contrast to the standard 4-4-2 formation that Bruce has opted to utilise of late. And in terms of an attacking front three, Wolves have one of the best outside of the Premier League. Diogo Jota, Helder Costa and Ivan Cavaleiro are a genuinely scary prospect, and they can be devastating! You have to worry for John Terry on Saturday, will he be able to cope with the pace and trickery of this talented trio?”

In some ways that highlights exactly the differences between these two clubs this season. Villa have the experience, Wolves the flair. But received wisdom will tell you that experience and know-how is what gets you through a bruising 46-game Championship season. And although Wolves have had a fast start some might worry if an exciting, technical team who play 3-4-3 and are coached by a Championship novice can keep their form up for an entire season or whether they’ll struggle when winter starts to bite.

“Wolves have all the foundations to launch a serious promotion push this season,” Rourke says, “and if they can keep their main players fit, then they have an excellent chance.”

We’ll know much more about their promotion chances by the end of Saturday’s game.

After a difficult summer when rumours surrounding Rafael Benitez’s Newcastle United future, things are looking up for the Magpies.

Club owner Mike Ashley, who has had his critics within the fanbase, has decided to sell the North-East outfit.

While that process is ongoing, matters on the pitch have also looked up given that the team are unbeaten in their last three Premier League matches.

Benitez’s men restricted Liverpool to a draw and also took a point from Southampton, while the visit of Crystal Palace to St James’ Park last weekend ended in a 1-0 win.

As it stands, the Magpies are seventh in the table, two points adrift of fourth-placed Chelsea.

On Monday night, they take on Burnley at Turf Moor, against a side that head into the game on the back of a 3-0 defeat to Manchester City.

Sky Sports pundit Paul Merson believes that Newcastle will get the job done away from home by sealing a 2-1 victory.

“I haven’t gone for Newcastle to win once this season but that changes today! Burnley’s home form has been a little shaky and Newcastle are on a roll.

“They did well against Southampton and the Palace win was big for them. They are punching well above their weight – if they finish sixth Rafa Benitez will be manager of the season.

“The name of the game remains safety and hopefully for Newcastle fans their club will be in a position in January to have a real go in the FA Cup. That would be brilliant.”

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Since moving from Liverpool to Chelsea in the summer, Dominic Solanke has struggled to break into the first team at Anfield. In fact, the 20-year-old has managed just seven substitute appearances for the Reds in the Premier League; just 85 minutes in total.

However, England manager Gareth Southagte has evidently seen enough of the young striker to hand him a debut for the national team, which came on Tuesday evening in a friendly against Brazil.

And Solanke had arguably the best chance of the game at Wembley, which ended in a goalless draw. However, the youngster failed to control a cross from Ashley Young and couldn’t get a shot away to break the deadlock.

Despite the lack of game time for his club side, Solanke, who is valued at £4.5million by Transfermarkt, is seemingly popular amongst Liverpool fans.

Following his England debut, the Anfield faithful expressed their desire to see the former Chelsea man start for their club ahead of the out-of-form Daniel Sturridge…

Following Aston Villa’s 2-1 win against Sunderland at Villa Park on Tuesday night, manager Steve Bruce provided an update on the injury situation of Jonathan Kodjia, and it wasn’t positive news.

The Ivory Coast international already missed five months of action with a broken ankle in April, and it now appears as though he may have picked up a similar injury while away on duty with his country.

Bruce confirmed after Villa’s latest victory, which lifted them up to fourth in the Championship table, that last season’s top goalscorer could bet set to have another operation that could keep him on the sidelines for a number of months again.

Aston Villa supporters were quick to have their say on the big club announcement via social media, and while one said the update meant it was the “worst day ever”, another said the risk by the Midlands outfit to reintroduce him to the team earlier in the campaign had “backfired hugely and quickly”.

Here is just a selection of the Twitter reaction…

The saga involving Rangers and Derek McInnes rumbles on today after the Ibrox club were confirmed to have made an official approach for him earlier this week.

Aberdeen refused the Light Blues permission to speak to him and that’s sparked all sorts of speculation and reports this morning, including the fact that McInnes has not taken first team training and is set for showdown talks with Pittodrie chief Stewart Milne later on today.

It appears increasingly likely that the situation will come to a head either way soon, with the bookies making him odds on favourite to succeed Pedro Caixinha as manager, according to Oddschecker.

How do Rangers fans feel about it though? Well, to say they’re not convinced with the potential appointment is an understatement.

While they certainly appear to be enjoying rivals Aberdeen’s tumultuous week, many have taken to Twitter to emphasise that McInnes is not their first choice to take charge of the Light Blues.

Some have even pleaded with the club to reconsider and take the fans’ views into account…

It was a rough day for Manchester United. Not only did they lose the derby, conceding two sloppy set-piece goals and offering very little themselves in the way of attack, but they now find themselves 11 points behind the league leaders and probably too far back for victory.

There’s a long way to go, but the prevailing message to come out of Manchester City is certainly not one you could disagree with: they’d rather be 11 points ahead than 11 points behind.

But if United can feel disappointed by their position and their attacking effectiveness in relation to their neighbours, they can probably also feel down about their own side.

Despite having paid hundreds of millions of pounds for Romelu Lukaku and Paul Pogba, it’s these two players who arguably had the biggest impact on the derby from a United point of view. And that’s only because they were conspicuous by their absence.

Pogba’s absence is obvious. His suspension robbed United of a counter-attacking threat and a player with the ability to compete with City’s midfield three who ran the game.

Lukaku’s absence from the game certainly wasn’t expected, however. And even though he missed his side’s biggest chance of the game, the Belgian striker’s impact on the game was minimal at best outside of that moment.

With a grand total of two shots – one hit straight at Ederson from yards out, and with the goal gaping – and only 27 touches in the entire game, Lukaku clearly wasn’t in the thick of it. But more galling for the Red Devils was his passing stats. Over the whole 90 minutes, the former Everton striker attempted only 16 passes, and completed just 38% of them: that means only six times over the whole game did he find a teammate with a pass.

Indeed, even in the areas of the game where you’d have expected Lukaku to be effective against City, he simply wasn’t. Not only did the vast majority of his passes go astray, but he also managed to win only six of his 14 aerial duels – hardly what you’d expect from a towering 6’3” striker playing against Manchester City, one of the smallest sides in the league.

Lukaku’s involvement in both of City’s goals, as well as his miss in the second half, will draw most of the criticisms he’ll get this week. As will the fact that his record in big games is suspect. But perhaps the biggest negative was just how ineffective the Belgian was, and even when he did manage to get into the action, just how wasteful he was, too.

The defeat will hurt for United, but the fact that their biggest signing of the summer had such a bad game shows that Jose Mourinho’s side probably won’t lose the title because of the Manchester derby. They may well have lost it in the transfer market in the summer.

Rangers’ hopes of keeping the pressure on Celtic at the top of the Scottish Premiership table took a blow on Saturday as they slipped to a 3-1 defeat at home to St Johnstone.

The afternoon promised to be a good one for supporters after Alfredo Morelos scored after just five minutes, but the visitors equalised shortly afterwards thanks to Blair Alston.

In the second half, Tommy Wright’s side sensed a result was in the offing and scoring on the hour mark through Denny Johnstone before Graham Cummins made it three 20 minutes from time.

Fans were of course left disappointed with the result but they were enraged by some of the performances from their players, with plenty of criticism directed at veteran defender Bruno Alves.

The Portuguese legend could do little to contain the Perth side and looked well past his peak of performing at an elite level.

Supporters took to Twitter to share their thoughts…

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According to a report from Football Insider, Leeds United forward Kemar Roofe has been linked with a move away from Elland Road this summer. The 25-year-old made the move to the Yorkshire giants back in 2016 and has since impressed for the Championship club, thus reportedly attracting interest from fellow second tier sides Sheffield United and West Brom. 

But given how influential the £3.15 million-rated ace (as per Transfermarkt) was for the club last term, retaining his services should without doubt be a summer priority for Leeds and new manager Marcelo Bielsa.

The Breakdown

Ultimately, while last season was something of a disappointment for the Whites given the position they found themselves in near the top during the autumn, 25-year-old Roofe again showed his credentials at second tier level by finishing as the club’s top goal-scorer.

The former Oxford United man bagged 14 times for the Yorkshire heavyweights in their run to 13th place in the Championship table, thus finishing the campaign as one of just two men, the other being Pierre Michel Lasogga, to reach double figures for the club.

And with Lasogga not set to return after his loan spell from Hamburg ended at the rear end of last season, Leeds have already lost a decent proportion of the goals they scored last term, and as such simply cannot afford to lose Roofe as well.

And if Bielsa’s side are serious about sustaining a promotion challenge this time round, it’s absolutely imperative that they have genuine strength in depth in the forward ranks, as over the course of a long, hard slog that is a Championship season, the squad will be pushed to the limit.

And sanctioning Roofe’s departure this summer would leave the Whites with just Caleb Ekuban, Marcus Antonsson, and Tyler Roberts in the striking department – there simply isn’t enough goals in that trio.

Thus, while Roofe still somewhat divides opinion among Leeds fans up and down the country, the Whites would be a much weaker outfit going forward were they to let him leave this summer – the creativity might be there with Samu Saiz, Pablo Hernandez, and Ezgjan Alioski, but they still need someone to put the ball in the back of the net.

As such, retaining the 25-year-old’s services absolutely must be a summer priority for new boss Bielsa and the club’s hierarchy.

Leeds fans… what do you think? Let us know!

According to Sport Witness, reporting via Turkish publication Sabah, West Ham have outbid Everton and Liverpool in the pursuit of Domagoj Vida.

Vida, who plays his club football with Besiktas, reached the World Cup final this summer, and put in a string of good displays in Russia.

His performances on the world stage have earned him Premier League admirers, and now West Ham look to be leading the way in the race for the 29-year-old’s signature.

According to the aforementioned report, Everton have already lodged a bid for the centre-back.

Now, Marco Silva must decide whether or not to take his interest in Vida any further, or chase an alternative option instead. 

The Breakdown

Following Swansea’s relegation from the Premier League last season, Alfie Mawson may be open to an immediate return to the top flight. Everton should prioritise making a push for the 24-year-old, with Premier League experience, over Vida.

Signing Mawson now would give the Toffees a base to build their defence on for the foreseeable future. The acquisition of such an accomplished ball playing defender would also help Silva to instil the passing philosophy he likes his teams to play with. 

Transfermarkt value the Englishman at £13.5 million, making him potentially even cheaper a purchase than Vida too.

If Silva is serious about building a new Everton, who play better football than before, then Mawson is a much bigger step in that direction than Vida.