As reported by The Scottish Sun, Rangers have made an official approach to Aberdeen in their efforts to sign Ryan Jack this summer.

What’s the story?

The Light Blues badly need midfield reinforcements over the summer after a poor season in the Scottish Premiership and it seems they’re intent on signing one man in particular.

The Scottish Sun say Rangers have notified the Dons that they intend to open signing talks with their club captain Ryan Jack, who is out of contract at Pittodrie this summer. They don’t need the permission of Aberdeen but it is seen as common courtesy to notify a player’s current club and this represents a big step in securing his signature.

If he does move to Glasgow it would be a bitter blow to both the club and Derek McInnes who claimed as recently as April that his captain was not interested in signing for Rangers.

Caixinha’s a fan

We already know that Pedro Caixinha is a big fan of the Scottish midfielder, speaking earlier this week about his qualities, which prompted a war of words between himself and McInnes prior to their match on Wednesday night.

As quoted by The Scottish Sun, the Rangers manager said of Jack:

I scout and assess a lot of Scottish players, at least those who play against us. He’s one player that because of his age, because of his quality and because of what he has done in the last two seasons, he is a player that I like.

It seems that this is one transfer move that goes beyond rumour and if terms can be agreed then Jack could well end up be turning out for Rangers after the summer.

What does he offer?

With the likes of Emerson Hyndman and Jon Toral returning to their parent clubs this summer, Pedro Caixinha badly needs bodies as much as quality in the middle of the park. In Ryan Jack he could have both on a budget.

With close to 250 appearances for Aberdeen, the central midfielder has become a vital part of Derek McInnes’ side, demonstrated of course by the fact he is club captain. Rangers simply need to finish ahead of the Dons next season and bringing him in would deliver a big psychological blow as much as anything.

Further to that though, he has the tenacity, determination and as the Rangers boss mentioned, consistency, to be a real success at Ibrox and on a free he could well end up being one of the bargains of the summer.

As reported by The Daily Record, English outfits Blackburn Rovers and Sheffield United are interested in signing Celtic winger Gary Mackay-Steven this summer.

What’s the story?

While Brendan Rodgers’ priorities this summer will be signing players of quality, he’ll also be looking to shift out some Hoops players who don’t appear to have a long-term future at the club.

One such player is Gary Mackay-Steven, a player who has struggled to hold down a regular starting spot in Rodgers treble winning Celtic side.

The Daily Record reckon that both Blackburn and Sheffield United are ready to offer him an escape route, even if only on loan.

Is it the right time for him to leave Celtic?

Failure to impress

Despite making over 50 appearances for Ronny Deila in the Norwegian’s time at the club, Gary Mackay-Steven has started for Celtic just five times for Brendan Rodgers and you’d be hard pushed to find a Hoops fan who was impressed by performances in any of those starts.

Rated at £650,000 by Transfermarkt, he does hold decent market value if the Hoops decide to cash in, but finding suitors at that kind of price may prove difficult.

A loan move for all parties makes sense for now. It frees up resources, allows the player to get regular football and increases the chances of a permanent move down the line. The Scottish winger still has two years left to run on his contract at Celtic Park, so finding a solution to the situation is paramount.

Aston Villa owner Tony Xia appears to have launched a dig at arch rivals Birmingham City over their pursuit of former Chelsea captain John Terry.Blues manager Harry Redknapp confirmed toÂtalkSPORTÂearlier this week that the club have made a “good offer†to Terry, who left Chelsea at the end of last season.The move is a controversial one given that Villa have also linked to the ex-England defender, who spent 22 years at the West London club.Sky SportsÂrecently claimed that Terry was considering a switch to Villa Park, but Birmingham’s interest could throw a spanner in the works.The 36-year-old has given no indication as to where he will be playing football next season, and he even admitted that retirement was an option.It seems, though, that Xia is perhaps inadvertently trying to convince Terry to move to Villa Park in his latest tweet.The Chinese businessman posted a photo showing a full crowd of Villa fans, and placed it above an image of a sparse Birmingham following.

As reported by Calcio d’Angolo, Celtic centre-back Jozo Simunovic is attracting attention from Serie A once again after last summer’s transfer drama.

What’s the story?

Having gone as far as having a medical for Torino last year, many thought Jozo Simunovic’s time at Celtic had come to an end. Ultimately that deal fell through and it was of great benefit to the Hoops with the defender having a fantastic season in the Celtic defence.

However, interest from Italy hasn’t gone away. Calcio d’Angolo reckon that Lazio are big admirers of the Croatian. The report reckons Celtic value the defender at £4.4m but after such a strong season we’d expect him to be worth more than that in today’s market.

Should Celtic sell?

Given the fact they seemed prepared to let him go to Italy last season you might expect that again the Hoops would be up for selling the big defender.

However he’s become a fan favourite at Celtic Park and it wouldn’t go down well with them if the club do decide to cash in on him.

With committed tackling, composed defending and the ability to bring the ball out of defence, he’s emerged as the Hoops’ best defender by a distance.

If they are to progress in Europe next season then they need to keep the core of their team together, at least in the short-term and Simunovic would certainly be included in that category.

According to Italian journalist Gianluca Di Marzio, Leeds United are ready to battle the likes of AC Milan, Lazio and Valencia for the seasong-long loan signing of Chelsea midfielder Mario Pasalic.

The Yorkshire outfit are keen to bring the Croatian to Elland Road as they look to push for promotion to the Premier League next season, having narrowly missed out on being involved in the race last term.

New Whites boss Thomas Christiansen will be looking to better the seventh-place finish achieved by predecessor Garry Monk, and the Spaniard is sure to have already identified the players he wants to bring to the Championship club this summer.

The 22-year-old Blues star is on his list according to Di Marzio, but he must beat off competition from some of the biggest clubs in Europe to land him, including AC Milan where he spent last season on loan.

United will hope that Chelsea manager Antonio Conte wants the central midfielder to gain some experience in England before potentially becoming a first team star for the Premier League champions in the future.

Here are three reasons Leeds must go all out to complete a loan deal for Pasalic…

Quality

Having been snapped up by Chelsea in 2014 and since spent time out on loan at Elche, AS Monaco and AC Milan, there is no doubt that Pasalic has a great deal of quality.

At just 22 years of age, the Croatian has already played twice for his country while he has made a huge during his spells with Monaco and Milan as a box-to-box midfielder.

That experience at the highest level means that he would likely be a stand-out player in the Championship for Leeds, and potentially help them make their long-awaited return to the Premier League.

Goalscoring record

One of the reasons Chelsea signed Pasalic in the first place was his goalscoring record from midfield – the Croatian netted 11 goals in 37 appearances in all competitions for Hadjuk Split the season before moving to England.

The 22-year-old has continued to show that form for Monaco and AC Milan especially, where he scored 12 goals in 56 outings in all competitions for the two European giants.

If the midfielder could bring that sort of goal threat to the Championship outfit next season, it could be the difference between promotion and yet another campaign in England’s second tier.

Point to prove

Having made his mark in France and Italy, the next step for Pasalic may be convincing Chelsea manager Antonio Conte that he can do it in England too as he looks to prove he has a long-term future with the Premier League champions.

That could mean that Leeds hold the advantage in the race to sign the 22-year-old on a season-long loan deal this summer, and would surely also see some eye-catching performances from the Croatia international as he looks to make his mark.

Do you agree, Leeds fans? Let us know below.

After all the debate over his role in the Manchester United setup over the last couple of years, Manchester United hero Wayne Rooney has left Old Trafford to sign for boyhood club Everton 13 years after he moved the other way.

The deal comes with the Toffees’ top scorer for last season, Romelu Lukaku, making the move to join Jose Mourinho at the Theatre of Dreams after a £75m fee was agreed for the Belgian international, although there has been no formal unveiling as of yet.

Rooney, who broke Sir Bobby Charlton’s goal scoring record at Man United last season with a freekick at Stoke City, had been on the fringes of Mourinho’s squad for the entirety of the campaign and admitted himself that it was obvious he’d be leaving the club this summer.

Having brought home their former boy wonder, the Merseysiders moved quickly to announce that the 31-year-old would be wearing the No.10 shirt next season, previously worn by Lukaku.

The club’s decision sparked instant reaction from United fans on Twitter…

Watch the latest 442oons video below!

If there is any opportunity for Newcastle United fans to rub salt into the wound of their arch rivals Sunderland, they are going to take it.

The Magpies were given plenty of ammunition when a video emerged of Darron Gibson describing the Black Cats as “s***”.

The midfielder only joined the North-East outfit from Everton in January, but during a rant in which he admitted that he was drunk, the Irishman criticised the club and a handful of players.

According to The Guardian, Gibson was filmed on Saturday evening after the team, who were relegated to the Championship last season, suffered a 5-0 defeat to Celtic in a pre-season friendly.

In the clip, he reportedly claimed that he still wants to play for Sunderland, but that he is disappointed in the attitude of some of his teammates.

The midfielder did not reveal the names of the players, but during a conversation he suggested that Jeremain Lens, Lamine Kone and Wahbi Khazri were among those who he believed were not pulling their weight.

The Guardian quotes Gibson as saying:

“We’re f****** s***. Of course I am [bothered]. I don’t want to be s***. There are too many people are the club who don’t give a f***.

“Right, I might be off my face in here but I still want to play for Sunderland. The rest of them f****** don’t though, the rest of them don’t.”

As expected, some Newcastle fans took pleasure in Gibson’s outburst.

There was one Newcastle supporter who cut him some slack…

According to reports in The Mirror, Chelsea are ready to spend £120m on three Premier League stars following their shock defeat to Burnley on Saturday.

What’s the word, then?

Well, The Mirror says the Blues are ready to spend £120m before the transfer window slams shut at the end of the month and they will begin by making a £35m bid for Arsenal midfielder Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, before stepping up their interest in Leicester City’s Danny Drinkwater and Southampton captain Virgil van Dijk.

The Premier League holders have seen a number of players leave on loan or on a permanent basis – such as Nemanja Matic to Manchester United – this summer, and injuries to the likes of Eden Hazard, Pedro and new boy Tiemoue Bakayoko saw them come unstuck against the Clarets in a surprise 3-2 loss at Stamford Bridge at the weekend.

The Mirror says that Roman Abramovich is ready to back the Italian boss to ensure that the club is strong enough to retain its English top flight as well as competing on their return to the group stages of the Champions League.

Would the trio improve the Chelsea squad?

They certainly would, and Oxlade-Chamberlain and Drinkwater would improve their quota of home-grown players too.

Even though he would likely want to establish himself in one position if he did make the move to Stamford Bridge, the former has shown that he can feature in central midfield, out wide or at wing-back on either flank during his time with Arsenal, and he would be a hugely useful addition.

Meanwhile, the Blues are lacking depth in the middle of the park right now with Bakayoko missing through injury and Cesc Fabregas suspended after being sent off against Burnley, and Drinkwater knows N’Golo Kante well having won the Premier League title alongside the Frenchman in 2016.

Gary Cahill was also dismissed against the Clarets and while Conte can pick from the likes of Cesar Azpilicueta, David Luiz, Antonio Rudiger and Andreas Christensen at the back, he may feel that Van Dijk would add some quality and leadership to the backline following some outstanding performances for Southampton over the course of the last two seasons.

What’s the verdict, then?

Well, it is clear that Chelsea need to boost their squad and if they could sign these three, they would be looking in much better shape for what is sure to be a long season.

According to reports in French publication L’Equipe, Barcelona have opened talks over a £90m move for Borussia Dortmund forward Ousmane Dembele, but Manchester United fans want their club to hijack the move for the highly-rated Frenchman.

L’Equipe says that the La Liga giants are looking to quickly secure a replacement for Neymar, who left to join Paris Saint-Germain in a world-record deal last week.

The report adds that they have identified Dembele as a replacement after the winger made a huge impression in his first season with Dortmund.

The France international scored 10 goals and provided a further 21 assists in 49 appearances in all competitions following a move from Rennes last summer.

Man United supporters have been having their say on Dembele via social media, and they have urged Jose Mourinho to move for the exciting attacker, with some even claiming that he is good enough to win the Ballon d’Or in the future.

Here is just a selection of the Twitter reaction…

The next seven days for Liverpool fans are bound to be nerve-wracking as the future of Philippe Coutinho remains uncertain.

The odds of Barcelona nabbing the Brazilian’s signature have shortened, suggesting that the Catalan giants have not yet given up on their top target.

The Independent reported earlier this week that the 25-year-old was prepared to hold clear-the-air talks with Liverpool after accepting that his desired switch to the Camp Nou looked unlikely.

It is believed that the Reds, who have publicly stated a handful of times that Coutinho is not for sale, rejected three bids from the Spanish giants.

The majority of media outlets suggested that a deal was dead in the water, but on Wednesday, Sky Sports claimed that the Catalan club were preparing to table a fourth offer in the region of £138m.

The broadcaster stated that Barcelona are willing to pay £101m up front, with a further £37m agreed in add-ons, which are Champions League related.

The topsy-turvy transfer saga has affected the betting market, with Sky Bet shortening its odds to 6/4 on Barcelona getting their man.

Liverpool still remain favourites to keep Coutinho, though, with Betfred offering 1/3 on the playmaker staying put for the season.

The former Inter Milan star is yet to play for Jurgen Klopp’s team since the campaign got underway.

The creative player has missed all four games of the season, including both legs of Liverpool’s Champions League qualifier against Hoffenheim, which the Merseyside outfit won 6-3 on aggregate.