Written by Kieran Miller

Diego Costa will undergo a medical at Wolverhampton Wanderers on TuesDiego Costa will undergo a medical at Wolverhampton Wanderers on Tuesday.

Despite, the transfer window closing a few days ago, clubs have the opportunity to employ free agents at any point throughout the season. Bruno Lage’s side are eagerly searching for a new forward after new signing Sasa Kalajdzic went off with an ACL injury during Wolves’ 1-0 win against Southampton on Saturday.

Costa has experience in England as he devoted 2 years with Chelsea from 2015-2017. The 33-year-old hit the back of the net 59 times during his time with the West London club. The former Chelsea and Atletico Madrid striker is eager for a return to the Premier League.

In January 2022, Diego terminated his contract with Brazilian side Atletico Mineiro. Costa’s negotiated deal with Wolves will be until June 2023.

The Brazilian is unquestionably an aggressive and very passionate player for the team he represents. Diego will without a doubt cause trouble for defenders. Assuredly, much more aggression and passion will be instantly brought to England. Upon Raul Jimenez’s restoration, a friendly rivalry will undoubtedly erupt between the decorated veterans.

Written by Jameson Gray

Bernd Leno has completed a permanent move to newly promoted Fulham. 

The 30-year-old goalkeeper made 125 appearances for the gunners in all competitions since joining from Bayer Leverkusen for £22.5M in 2018 and was a regular starter for them during the 19/20 season, and especially 20/21 where he became a real fan favourite at the emirates. During that campaign, the German racked up 16 clean sheets, and registered his 100th Arsenal appearance with a 3-2 victory over Benfica in the Europa league. And, his excellent form in red and white caught the eye of Germany National Team manager Hansi Flick, as Leno became a regular starter for his country, and was named in Germany’s squad for Euro 2020. 

Bernd Leno made some very memorable saves in an Arsenal Shirt, versus Tottenham Hotspur, Manchester City, Burnley and Leicester City being the most popular ones. Unfortunately for the German, Regular first team football became very infrequent when Aaron Ramsdale joined the gunners in the summer of 2021. Leno made only 9 appearances as The Englishman took his place in between the sticks, and thanks to some impressive performances, Mikel Arteta had no plans on replacing him. And earlier on in the window, the American international Matt Turner arrived at Arsenal, who looks to be replacing Bernd Leno as Arsenal’s second-choice goalkeeper. Leno will be missed by many Arsenal Fans, and exits the emirates with an FA Cup and a Community Shield to his name. Leno is one of many players departing Arsenal in this window, he follows the likes of Dan Ballard, Zak Swanson, Alex Lacazette, Matteo Guendouzi, Dinos Mavrapanos and Omari Hutchinson, whilst Nuno Tavares and Auston Trusty have left on loan.

Leno joins the cottagers for a fee of around £3M with a further £5M in potential add-ons. The 30-year-old becomes Fulham’s 4th signing of the window, after the signings of Kevin Mbabu Joao Palhinha and Andreas Perreira, as head coach Marco Silva looks to keep Fulham in the top flight and avoid immediate relegation back down to the Championship. Leno is fit and should be available for the weekend, where the West London Club kick off their season against Liverpool on their return to the Premier League. 

Written by Kieran Miller

Brentford have announced the signing of defender Ben Mee after the former Burnley captain’s contract expired this summer.

The 32-year-old has kindly donated money to a carbon emissions charity following his transfer to Thomas Frank’s compassionate side. Mee has signed a 2-year-deal with Brentford as he hopes to powerfully reinforce their defence and provide experience to one of the youngest sides in the Premier League.

Mee is currently the most experienced player at Brentford being 32 years old. Fellow defender, Ethan Pinnock picked up a knee injury he picked up in training. Although Brentford might be in the market for another fierce defender as they are limited in options at the back as Norwegian, Kristoffer Ajer will miss Brentford’s match against Leicester as he’s still recuperating from a hamstring injury.

Manager, Thomas Frank was questioned about his thoughts on the signing: “I am very happy we have signed Ben. He will add a lot of quality and experience to the squad. He had six good years for Burnley in the Premier League. I really love his defensive mindset; he knows how to defend the box, he knows how to block a shot and he knows how to win duels.”

Brentford will most likely feature both Ben Mee and Pontus Jansson as their centre-back pairing at the start of the season due to other defenders being unavailable.

Mee has featured in over 200 Premier League games, so this is undoubtedly a smart signing by Brentford.

Written by Sam Hardy

Norwich City supporters haven’t had much to shout about over the last Twelve months or so but have today released their new home strip for the upcoming season. The Canaries were recently relegated from the Premier League but their new home shirt has really caught the eye on social media today. The shirt is reminiscent of their home shirts in the 1980s, producing a classic yet still modern and classy look. The green pinstripes going down the top with the new crest integrated in the top right corner of the shirt makes for a really good look.

Today also marks four years since they signed Teemu Pukki from Brondby IF in Finland on a free transfer which is still one of the most remarkable pieces of recruitment in the today’s game. However, this will go under the radar because the deal wasn’t struck by one of the big sides in the country, but Pukki’s importance to Norwich City should never be underestimated, scoring 11 goals in possibly Norwich’s two worst ever Premier League seasons with very minimal service is a remarkable achievement. There has been a quote said this week from his agent that Teemu, his agent and Norwich are negotiating about a possible move away as he has a desire to play at the top level for the last years of his career instead of playing in the Championship with Norwich. I think most Norwich fans would accept Pukki leaving Norwich to play at a higher level and wouldn’t be frustrated due to all he has done for the club whilst hr has been there and may continue to be.

However, the Fin was not spotted in training this week and in the new kit reveal today, so there is some concern amongst the Canaries fan base over him, Tim Krul and many other valuable assets that Norwich possess ahead of aiming for their third Championship title in a row, and their first under new head coach Dean Smith with the beautiful new home strip revealed today.

Written by Warren Hollidge

They say that fans should never fall in love with a loan player, but in the case of Cameron Archer, it could prove to be quite a challenge for fans to forget. A winter loan signing from Premier League outfit Aston Villa, Archer has been instrumental in giving Preston some much needed firepower in the forward department, scoring 7 goals in 20 appearances for the Championship side as the club managed to achieve a midtable finish.

Archer returns to Villa Park this summer with an uncertain future, something Preston plans to take full advantage of, with Peter Ridsdale claiming the club will match any Championship offer for the 20-year-old and has a space saved for him within the squad.

Archers’ talent however, has not gone unnoticed. Both Middlesbrough and recently relegated Watford have both shown interest in young talent, the latter of which will have the financial ability to go toe-to-toe with Preston in offering Villa for the youngsters. Worse still in has now been revealed that Scottish Premier side Rangers, are also interested in bringing the youngster to the Ibrox, either on loan or as part of a permanent deal.

The Scottish side have several key advantages in this transfer race. Of course, one of the key advantages is that Rangers is the former club of Villa’s manager Steven Gerrard and, knowing the system of Rangers well and their ability to utilize younger talents, may see the move as being ideal for the lad. Another bonus that the Rangers can offer Archer is the prospect of European football. Despite the outcome of the final in Saville, it is clear that in Europe’s second-rate competition, they are a force that should not be underestimated, beating the likes of Dortmund.

This move would be ideally suited to the youngster, playing in a position for a club that thrives on attacking football under Giovanni van Bronckhorst, in a league where his confidence could grow to match his already impressive skills.

Ultimately Aston Villa will not decide the fate of this young prospect until after their pre-season campaign, however, with so many clubs circling like vultures, it can only be a matter of time until Archer makes his way out for the season.