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For years and years being loaned out at Leeds United was pretty much a death sentence for your Elland Road career.

The likes of Pawel Cibicki, Caleb Ekuban, Lewie Coyle, Yosuke Ideguchi and countless others all endured temporary spells away from the Yorkshire club that were nothing but a precursor for an eventual permanent switch.

United still have a number of players away from the club on temporary terms that will likely never get a chance.

Eunan O’Kane is currently out on loan, and Phil Hay has stated that he will never play under Marcelo Bielsa.

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However, there is one man out on loan at the moment that may be giving the Argentine no choice but to consider him in the future.

Of course, we’re talking about Rafa Mujica.

The young Spaniard had a lot of hype surrounding him when he arrived at Elland Road in the summer as fans were very excited about his arrival. However, he was immediately loaned out to Extremadura where he didn’t impress, failing to score in any of his eight appearances for them.

January saw another loan move come as he joined Villarreal B, and since that move he hasn’t looked back.

Mujica has scored three times in his first four appearances for the Spanish club, and you really can’t ask for more than that.

Granted, it is the third division of Spanish football, but goals are goals no matter where you score them.

If he were continuing to falter at Villarreal B then the Whites could easily have written him off, but he’s banging them in over in his home country. For that reason, Leeds may want to reassess what they’re going to do with him when he returns.

This loan move was Mujica’s chance to show what he’s got, and he’s doing exactly that.

In other news, Marcelo Bielsa needs to stop with one tactic at Leeds.

Robbie Savage has named the one issue facing Wolves this summer, per BBC 606 (February 23rd, 2:21).

What’s he said?

The Midlands club are enjoying a fine run thus far this season and sit in eighth in the Premier League table.

They are just five points behind fourth-placed Chelsea and there is also the prospect of the fifth-placed team qualifying for the Champions League this season, after Manchester City were banned from next season’s competition.

They are also going strong in the Europa League, where they lead Espanyol 4-0 after the first leg of their Round of 32 clash.

For true Wolves fans only: How much did each of these players cost?

Savage, though, believes that Wolves could struggle to keep hold of their major stars this summer after such an impressive season.

He said: “Wolves are doing incredible this season, the Europa League, they’ve got a chance of Champions League through that.

“I think Wolves have got a better chance of finishing in a Champions League spot than Arsenal.

“The big thing for Wolves would be could they keep hold of the likes of (Raul) Jimenez, (Diogo) Jota and (Ruben) Neves if a big, big club in the Premier League come in for those players.”

Victims of their success

This seems like something of an inevitability.

Wolves have been in excellent form for two seasons now, also finishing seventh in the league last term and reaching the FA Cup semi-final, and are a team that have a number of exciting players who could easily step up into the top six.

Per Transfermarkt, Neves is valued at £45m, while Jota is valued at £31.5m.

The latter has recently been linked with a move to Manchester United, having scored 14 goals and registered five assists in all competitions.

Then there’s Barcelona’s apparent interest in re-signing Adama Traore, not to mention the fact star striker Raul Jimenez has contributed to 18 Premier League goals this season.

While Wolves do have healthy resources – they spent £106.3m in the summer per Transfermarkt – they would surely be unable to resist the likes of United, Liverpool, and Manchester City should they come knocking for their stars.

They do not operate on the same financial stratosphere as those three clubs and there are rich pickings in their squad. Savage may well be right.

Meanwhile, Wolves fans have been left swooning over one man!

The Athletic’s James Pearce joined Steve Hothersall on The Red Agenda podcast and discussed Liverpool’s latest victory against West Ham in the Premier League.

While they were given a scare by the Hammers, the Reds rallied to pick up yet another win, coming from behind to snatch all three points in a 3-2 triumph to keep their unbeaten run alive. Indeed, they were 2-1 down at one point in the game and Pearce believes that it was their midfield that suffered because there was no Jordan Henderson to restore order in that area.

Here’s what he said about the midfielder on The Red Agenda podcast (26/2/2020): “I thought they missed Jordan Henderson. If anyone was in any doubt about his influence on this team, then I think it was laid bare last night because I don’t think there was as much control in midfield. They just lacked his drive.”

The Liverpool skipper missed the clash at Anfield due to a hamstring injury so Jurgen Klopp had to make some tweaks for the game that ended up being closer than expected. Looking at the stats from WhoScored, no Liverpool midfielder other than Fabinho was able to make an interception (while the skipper averages one a game) and Henderson’s range of passing was seemingly missed, as Pearce notices.

On average, he makes 62.4 passes per game in the Premier League and, while Fabinho did beat that with 76, no other midfielder got close with Georgino Wijnaldum only making 49, perhaps explaining the lack of control in midfield that Pearce cited. With the England international due to be out for around another two weeks, Klopp must find a way to control the engine room better.

Liverpool fans, do you agree with Pearce’s verdict or do you think the midfield wasn’t the problem against West Ham? Let us know in the comments below!

Newcastle have been dealt a blow ahead of their trip to West Brom in the FA Cup on Tuesday, as Sky Sports’ Keith Downie suggests Allan Saint-Maximin will probably be unavailable.

What’s the latest?

The Frenchman wasn’t fully fit for the clash against Burnley on Saturday and could only feature for 12 minutes, but it now seems that his injury situation has got worse.

Downie reports that he is now suffering from back and hamstring pain and is therefore a “major doubt” for the fifth round visit to the Baggies.

Saint-Maximin was recently ruled out for a month due to a hamstring injury he picked up in December. Newcastle won just one out of the six games he missed so news that he has pain in the same area will likely be a big concern.

Notable absence

The winger has been one of Newcastle’s most exciting players this season and most teams would miss a player of his quality, having made 4.3 dribbles per game this term.

Only Wolves and Crystal Palace possess players who have performed better in that department, Adama Traore and Wilfried Zaha, and it was little surprise that Newcastle failed to penetrate the Clarets without him for the large part at the weekend.

Who the heck is that?! Can you name all 25 of these obscure Newcastle signings…

West Brom may be playing in a lower division but like Burnley they won’t be pushed over easily, having lost just five league games this season and conceded 37 goals in 36 league games.

Of those, just three losses have come at home this campaign and if their previous performances are anything to go by they will look to restrict Newcastle, having averaged 54% possession so far.

That will help to influence the likes of Matt Ritchie and Miguel Almiron, with the former looking most dangerous in Saint-Maximin’s place on Saturday, hitting the post and flashing a long-range strike narrowly wide.

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Newcastle need to be careful and avoid rushing back the 22-year-old, as they are now just five points above the relegation zone and therefore have a number of crucial games in the season remaining.

In other news, Newcastle supporters have been reacting to one contentious player’s recent performance…

Rangers returned to winning ways in the Scottish Premiership as Steven Gerrard’s side endured a nervy encounter on Sunday afternoon.

The Ibrox-based outfit defeated Ross County 1-0 to move to within 13 points of the league leaders with winger Ryan Kent nabbing the winner in the 77th minute.

Gers had endured back-to-back defeats in recent weeks, crashing out of the Scottish Cup and falling further adrift from Celtic at the top of the SPFL standings, but Gerrard’s men were able to come out on top at last.

Fans were still far from pleased with the display, but many found light in the performance from Joe Aribo in the heart of the pitch.

Here’s what has been said…

Overall, there were glowing praise for the 23-year-old as he was described as a “top player” as well as a “very talented boy” as he played the entire duration of the match in midfield.

One supporter believed Aribo was never one to hide, taking a dig at the goalscorer, Kent, who fails to do the same while a further fan claimed the Nigerian international was the only player on the pitch trying to create something, blasting the performance of the team as “dire.”

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This was a recurring theme throughout as many pointed out the fact that Aribo was the only player in the starting XI doing things, even going as far as suggesting the young talent was the only leader out on the pitch.

Only player “interested”; “willing to try something”; “capable and wanting” – the list goes on. It’s clear to see that Aribo had a huge effect on the travelling Ibrox faithful.

There were even comparisons made amongst the current squad with one supporter suggesting that the midfielder needed to swap positions with Ianis Hagi as the latter is a “waste of a jersey”.

Where is he from?! Can you name which obscure countries these famous players have represented?

And in other news, Rangers should rue not signing one of Gerrard’s former teammates…

Having played the majority of the game with a man advantage following Ruben Semedo’s sending off, Nuno Espirito Santo may have been slightly disappointed that his Wolves side could only draw 1-1 with Olympiacos.

They may have got a precious away goal in the first leg of their Europa League clash, but there was surely far more for them to take.

And whilst Nuno certainly played arguably his strongest line-up out there (perhaps Jonny instead of Ruben Vinagre), the Portuguese man may have missed a massive trick by not selecting one man: Daniel Podence.

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The attacker only arrived from Olympiacos themselves back in the January transfer window, for a reported fee of £17m. There is certainly an element of Nuno needing to finally unleash him at some point or another, but Thursday night was surely the perfect opportunity for him to do so.

Coming up against his former side – a team that he had played 68 times for and scored 13 times and provided a further 14 assists – would have surely got the excitement going in him.

Indeed, after seeing Olympiacos knock out Arsenal in the last round in dramatic fashion when they scored a late winner, Podence took to social media to post a message saying “see you in Greece”.

The 24-year-old would know first-hand all the intricacies of going to such a ground, even without the fans being there to create an atmosphere. Even small things like knowing the layout of the tunnel, the changing rooms, the pitch, the distances would all have been oh-so familiar to him.

It would made have him comfortable playing, and perhaps even inspired to produce the kind of display that got Wolves interested in luring him away from Olympiacos in the first place.

And not only that, he would of course know the ins-and-outs of his former teammates too. What weaknesses to target, how he would go about exploiting them for instance.

Instead, Nuno only decided to use him as a substitute, and he barely had more than ten minutes to make his mark. The Wolves boss missed a great opportunity for Podence to have inspired his new team to victory.

Meanwhile, this ace has just given Nuno something to think about.

Aston Villa simply have to stay up this season.

It seems like an obvious thing to say, and, in some cases, it really is, but for Villa, there is an ominous trend hanging over their potential relegation.

The standings have them 19th in the currently suspended Premier League, two points away from safety.

And of the last 18 teams to drop into the Championship, just four have bounced straight back up.

More ominously, the last time it happened came in the 2016-17 season, when Newcastle United won the title having dropped through the trap door the campaign prior.

Having crunched the numbers, the statistics for Dean Smith’s men are stark.

Of the last 18 teams to be relegated – stretching back to 2013/14 – just six have finished in the play-offs the following season.

And the average placing of teams to have dropped out of the top-flight the following season is 10th in the Championship.

It is a bleak picture, and one Villa know all too well.

They were relegated in 2015-16, along with Newcastle and Norwich City; they only came back last term, through the play-offs, after sacking Steve Bruce midway through the campaign.

The teams to come straight back up are as follows: Norwich, Hull City, Burnley, and Newcastle.

Norwich were actually relegated again in 15-16, after bouncing back, as were Hull. Only Burnley and Newcastle have managed to keep themselves afloat.

Sunderland, by comparison, who dropped down in 16-17, are currently playing in League One, having suffered successive relegations.

It shows just how difficult the Championship can be, and how imperative it is that Premier League survival is secured.

Red Herring or Real Hero: Only hardcore Villa fans will get all of them right….

Of course, there are parachute payments that are meant to make life less difficult but few can imagine the likes of Jack Grealish and John McGinn sticking around to help them back up next season; their first-team squad could be gutted by those looking for a bargain buy in the summer.

It adds up to an anxiety-inducing picture for Smith and his men but the lesson, really, is clear: if they’re relegated, they’ll likely face a lengthy fight to find themselves back at the top table again.

When the season resumes, Villa will have 10 games to save themselves.

They dare not fail.

Meanwhile, Villa must keep one man around even if they are relegated!

Tottenham Hotspur have frequently been linked with a move for former Premier League star Philippe Coutinho in the past few transfer windows, but Football.London reporter Alasdair Gold believes it isn’t likely to crop up again this summer.

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What’s he said?

The north Londoners pursuit of the ex-Liverpool man has been well documented in the past, according to The Sun, Mauricio Pochettino was reeling by their failure to land him before the season while Mundo Deportivo claims Coutinho could be used as a bargaining chip for Barcelona to land Tanguy Ndombele.

Spurs’ season, prior to it being put on hold, was hurdling fast towards a disaster after they sunk to seven points adrift of the top four and crashed out of all cup competitions.

Speaking in recent Q&A this week, Gold has poured cold water on Daniel Levy making a splash for the 27-year-old playmaker. He said:

“That felt like a Pochettino link to me.

“Spurs enquired about Coutinho last summer but the financial side of it didn’t add up for them.

“Pochettino had coached the Brazilian during a loan spell at Espanyol and had got him firing again after a tough start at Inter Milan.

“The Argentine of course has now gone and I’m not sure the figures being spoken about lend themselves to a Tottenham move for the former Liverpool man and a second loan move is unlikely to entice Barcelona unless there’s simply no other offers, which would be strange for a player of his quality.

“We still need to see what happens with the transfer window and how movement around Europe works in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. Football is going to take a long time to settle down again to what it was, if it ever does.”

Alasdair Gold, Football.London.

Lo Celso factor

Coutinho, who is valued at £63m by Transfermarkt, was clearly admired by the former Spurs chief but now he’s gone there do have to be question marks over whether or not Jose Mourinho feels the same way.

Add in the Daniel Levy factor, whose biggest deal was last summer – a £55m club-record transfer for Ndombele.

The Portuguese chief also has Giovani Lo Celso at his disposal, a player described by some fans as the ‘only shining light’ of the season. Could he really have both him and Coutinho battling it out for that one number ten spot? It has to be rather unlikely.

Missing football!? There’s still plenty of Spurs discussion going on in the Vital Tottenham Forum! Click here to get involved!

Although, the attacking midfielder has been in red hot form for loan club Bayern Munich this season, scoring eight goals and providing six assists in the Bundesliga – also averaging more shots (2.6), dribbles (1.5) and key passes (1.4) per game than his Argentine counterpart.

But Lo Celso has started eight fewer league games, so, all in all, it is surely quite relative, and given the fact that his move was made permanent in January, it seems improbable that they’ll add another player to compete with him.

A true test for any Spurs fan: Can you match these iconic images with the right results?

AND in other news, Spurs should look to sign Maxime Lopez this summer…

When Oumar Niasse arrived at Goodison Park in early 2016, then Everton manager Roberto Martinez waxed lyrical about his latest recruit.

He said: “We’re delighted as Oumar is a player we’ve been following for a long time. He brings a real hunger and desire to be successful into what is already a strong squad.”

The Senegalese ace cost the Toffees £13.5m in bringing him in from Lokomotiv Moscow, and he put pen to paper on a four-and-a-half year deal with the club.

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But sadly for both Niasse and Everton, that move has just turned into an unmitigated disaster.

He has played just 42 times for the first-team at Goodison Park, scoring only nine goals and providing a further four assists – it means he has cost the club £1.5m per goal. It spoke volumes that in the very next campaign after joining Everton, Niasse was allowed to go out on loan to fellow Premier League side Hull.

The striker’s best season to date came in 2017/2018, when he notched eight times in 22 games in the top-flight, but that wasn’t considered enough for him to be given much of a chance the following year.

Call yourself an Everton expert? How much did each of these January signings cost?

In the end, he headed out on loan again, this time to Cardiff, where his miseries continued by failing to find the back of the net even once in his 13 games for the Bluebirds.

His contract on Merseyside comes to an end this summer, and it’s difficult to see how the club can genuinely justify handing him a new long-term deal. The forgotten man continues to drain money at Goodison Park, but if Everton do things right, then that will come to an end very soon.

Meanwhile, Everton must be ruthless about this loanee once lauded by Martinez.

Newcastle United welcomed Arsenal to St James’ Park in February of 2011.

Nobody, anywhere in the world, could have predicted what happened next, as the Magpies staged one of the most incredible comebacks ever seen in Premier League history.

Newcastle’s week started badly as Andy Carroll was sold to Liverpool and Shola Ameobi picked up an injury, leading manager Alan Pardew to field Leon Best in attack for the visit of the second-placed Gunners. At the time, they were chasing Manchester United for the title.

It got even worse inside the first ten minutes, when Theo Walcott, Johan Djourou and Robin van Persie made it 3-0 to Arsenal, before the Dutchman bagged a second – and his team’s fourth – on 26 minutes.

It was a disaster which, perhaps in hindsight, gave a glimpse of what was to come: Newcastle, who had sacked a manager the fans were behind in Chris Hughton, had sold their best attacker on deadline day without adequately replacing him, and had won just three games since his dismissal, were now facing utter humiliation in front of their own fans.

A comeback wasn’t evident, either. Half time came and went without a sign of Newcastle life, and it wasn’t until Abou Diaby inexplicably lost his head that the game started to come away from the Gunners’ grip.

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It was, naturally, Joey Barton who lit the touchpaper. A loose ball in midfield was pounced upon by both Diaby and the Newcastle midfielder, when the Frenchman saw red: he grabbed Barton by the neck before shoving him to the floor and pushing Kevin Nolan, who had come in to intervene.

At 4-0 up, that’s far from a smart move, and he was rightly shown a red card. Not only did it make life more difficult for an Arsenal side who already lacked leaders in their team, but it rallied the Magpies who started to believe that there was some way back.

It would take nearly another 20 minutes for that to come to any sort of fruition: on 68 minutes Arsenal defender Laurent Koscielny brought Best down in the box, and Barton fired home to cut the deficit.

Their tails were up, and so was the spikiness. Arsenal’s soft underbelly was ruthlessly exploited by a midfield duo of Barton and Nolan.

A man light, Arsenal succumbed again when Best stepped in front of his man to head the Magpies’ second goal of the game past Wojciech Szczesny in goal. With just seven minutes to hold out, the Gunners failed to hold their nerve as Koscielny again brought down a Newcastle player and referee Phil Dowd pointed to the spot once again.

It proved to be a second goal for Barton and the stage was set: not just for a Newcastle comeback, not just for an Arsenal meltdown, but for one of the Premier League’s most memorable strikes.

As the Gunners dropped deep into their box to defend a lead which had narrowed dramatically, they failed to adequately deal with a free-kick from the left. Headed only as far as the late Cheick Tiote, the Ivorian lashed a stunning strike into the bottom corner to send a sparsely populated St James’s Park into raptures.

Those who had left their seats did so at half time or in the start of the second half and missed one of the most memorable comebacks of the Premier League era.

But it was to be a fleeting moment of joy in a decade characterised by false dawns for Newcastle.

Unable to use that comeback as a springboard, Pardew’s side would win only three more Premier League games all season before shocking the league with a fifth-placed finish the next year: again, it didn’t last.

Still, the memory remains particularly sweet.