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Former Aston Villa midfielder Lee Hendrie has told Football FanCast in an exclusive interview how Jack Grealish can evolve as a player.

Grealish has caused absolute havoc in the Premier League this season, scoring six goals and setting up another 10. Statistically, the 25-year-old attacking midfielder is also one of the best dribblers in the division (per WhoScored), making him a player that defenders should absolutely fear.

To go that one step further, though, Hendrie believes Grealish needs to reduce the amount of time he spends on the left flank during games and start drifting into other areas more frequently.

Speaking exclusively to FFC about how the England international can improve, the ex-Villa player said:

“I always speak to Jack on every level. I wouldn’t ever tell him, you know, how to play and how he should be doing things. To be honest, the only thing I would say to Jack, nothing to do with his dribbling ability because he’s got fabulous balance, he’s got great movement and his agility to go past players is second to none.

“So, I mean, the only thing I would say to Jack is sometimes he does stay out on that left-hand side and it’s been recently that teams have [put] that man-marker. I know he relishes the fact of being man-marked, but sometimes it’s just drifting into other areas where he’s going to cause a problem.”

Looking at how often he is fouled, it is fair to say that Grealish is a player who does earn special attention from the opposition in matches.

According to WhoScored, the Villa captain is currently being fouled 4.5 times per game, which is the highest average in the Premier League.

With everything that has happened in the last few days, Manchester City fans would be forgiven if they had forgotten that their side take on Aston Villa in the Premier League on Wednesday evening.

Pep Guardiola’s side can take a huge step towards the title with three points at Villa Park, although if recent reports are to be believed, the result may not matter at all, as the Citizens could soon find themselves kicked out of the Premier League and maybe even stripped of their titles.

Despite this, the players must try and focus on the immediate future and earn the win against Dean Smith’s side, who will be looking to avenge their controversial loss at the Etihad earlier this season.

City fell to a 1-0 defeat in the FA Cup semi-final last time out after Guardiola made plenty of changes and it seems likely that he will rotate his squad again on Wednesday night, especially with the Carabao Cup Final to come on Sunday.

Here’s how we think Guardiola will line his side up at Villa Park, with eight changes from the side that started against Chelsea on Saturday…

After strangely being rested in the FA Cup semi-final, Ederson reclaims his place in between the sticks for this one.

There are three changes in defence, as Oleksandr Zinchenko replaces Benjamin Mendy at left-back, Kyle Walker comes in for the disappointing Joao Cancelo at right-back and John Stones resumes his partnership with Ruben Dias at centre-back, with “the best in the world” Aymeric Laporte dropping to the bench.

In midfield, Fernandinho is replaced by Ilkay Gundogan, whilst Bernardo Silva starts in the absence of the injured Kevin De Bruyne.

After disappointing displays at Wembley, both Raheem Sterling and Ferran Torres are axed by Guardiola, with the more in-form duo Phil Foden and Riyad Mahrez starting at Villa Park, and they support Gabriel Jesus in attack.

And, in other news… Pep handed ideal opportunity to axe “remarkable” Man City gem, he’s been awful

Chris Sutton has said that Odsonne Edouard and Kristoffer Ajer look ‘destined’ to leave Celtic in the upcoming transfer window and has ruled out three of the club’s loans being made permanent.

Sutton was writing in his Record Sport column after the Hoops were beaten 2-0 in the Scottish Cup fourth round on Sunday. They had won the competition for four consecutive years, but defeat condemns them to a first trophyless season for more than a decade.

Celtic’s hand may be forced in case of Edouard and Ajer

Edouard, who is out of contract next summer and has reportedly been the subject of a £15m approach from Leicester City, missed a penalty in the closing stages of the game (via Daily Mail).

Centre-back Ajer also has just over a year to run on his deal and has been named as a Newcastle United transfer target in a potential £8m deal (via Daily Mail).

“You have the likes of Odsonne Edouard and Kristoffer Ajer, who look destined to be on their way in the summer,” Sutton wrote in Record Sport.

“[Edouard] must have something lined up already because if you were a scout watching him yesterday, you’re certainly not putting him forward for a top club in Europe.”

Laxalt, Kenny and Elyounoussi struggle with departure in the offing

Sutton then turned his attention to the loanees, declaring that Diego Laxalt, Jonjoe Kenny and Mohamed Elyounoussi ‘will all be gone’ come the end of the season.

All three had a difficult evening on Sunday, with Laxalt beaten before Kenny turned the ball into his net for 2-0, while Elyounoussi was guilty of wasting a golden opportunity at the other end after Edouard squared the ball to him.

Prior reports had suggested that Celtic were keen on long-term deals for the AC Milan and Southampton stars in particular.

“You look at the loan players who will all be gone,” Sutton wrote.

“Diego Laxalt had a shocker but it was hardly a surprise. It was one thing getting skinned by Joe Aribo, but the lack of effort to get back in was telling.

“Jonjoe Kenny wasn’t much better on the other side and you’ve got Mohamed Elyounoussi who is also going and he wasn’t clinical enough where it mattered.”

Transfer Tavern verdict

It certainly looks as if a squad overhaul could be on the cards in Glasgow this summer, as Sutton is suggesting.

The sales of Edouard and Ajer could net Celtic £23m if the Daily Mail’s respective reports are to be believed, and while that is a healthy amount to reinvest, the Hoops have put themselves in an unenviable position by allowing the duo’s contracts to reach the final year.

In other news, could this be a goalkeeper target for Celtic?

Southampton are once again being linked with a move for Bologna midfielder Mattias Svanberg ahead of the summer and after failing to sign him in during the January transfer window, CEO Martin Semmens can amend his mistake and acquire him for Ralph Hasenhuttl ahead of next season.

According to Italian news outlet Calcio Mercato, Southampton are keen on signing the Swedish international but will need to see off competition from the likes of Leicester City, AC Milan and Inter if they are to bring him to St Mary’s this summer.

The Saints were heavily linked with the 22-year-old during the winter transfer window but failed to bring him, or anyone else, in on a permanent deal, which has left Hasenhuttl with a serious lack of squad depth in the second half of the campaign.

Following long-term injuries to both Oriol Romeu and Will Smallbone, the Austrian manager has almost exclusively had to play a midfield duo of James Ward-Prowse and Ibrahima Diallo, a partnership which has been exposed on several occasions in recent fixtures.

Although he has sometimes opted to play Stuart Armstrong through the middle, the Scottish star is far more effective out wide, so having someone as versatile as Svanberg in the squad could have been a huge boost for Southampton.

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The youngster has already featured in a plethora of positions in his career, with the majority of his appearances coming as a central midfielder, yet he has also proved himself adept playing on the left, the right, up front and even at right-back.

This season has comfortably been Svanberg’s best with Bologna, as in 30 Serie A appearances he has five goals and two assists to his name, whereas in the last two seasons combined he managed just one goal and three assists.

The young midfielder is not short of suitors and it seems as if his Swedish compatriot Zlatan Ibrahimovic is a big fan, as he reportedly told his club, AC Milan, to seriously consider signing him back in January.

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Certainly, with Southampton desperately needing to add some squad depth ahead of the 2021/22 season, Svanberg could prove to be an excellent addition and as such, he is someone Semmens should definitely look to bring in this summer.

And, in other news… Hasenhuttl suffers fresh blow to £18m Southampton beast, he’ll be gutted

This will be a huge summer for Celtic, not least because the Bhoys are on the hunt for a new manager, but because a mass exodus could be on the cards.

Parkhead better brace itself because there could be a rush to the exits in a few months time.

What’s the word?

Odsonne Edouard and Kristoffer Ajer have both been linked with moves to the Premier League in the last few weeks while Scott Brown is already a confirmed departure.

He’ll head to Aberdeen to take up a player-coach role once the season concludes.

However, an exit could also be on the cards for Ryan Christie. The Scot was linked with Arsenal and Leeds United during the winter but this week, a surprising contract revelation emerged.

It has become apparent that Christie’s contract is due to expire in January 2022, rather than next summer. Consequently, he is free to speak to other clubs in a few months time over joining in the winter.

This is a piece of news that’s left reporters rather shocked. Speaking on the Celtic Huddle Podcast, journalist Derek McGregor commented: “We were all quite stunned when it emerged over the weekend that in actual fact, his contract runs out in January.

“I’m amazed that Celtic certainly would allow a top player [or] most players to have a contract that would expire halfway through a season. Why that was allowed to happen? I don’t know if it was a condition of Ryan signing his last contract extension but regardless, it is what it is.”

Time to go, Christie

This is news that should have Celtic supporters dancing from the rooftops in Glasgow.

Christie has been a handy player for the Hoops down the years, scoring 20 goals and registering 16 assists last season for instance. However, this term, the creative midfielder has been nothing short of shambolic.

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After a game against Livingston earlier this year, the Scotland international was crucified by supporters on social media. One described it as the worst performance they’d ever seen from a Hoops player while another sarcastically suggested a snowman would have done a better job.

It’s not hard to see why Christie has been slated so relentlessly. The 26-year-old has only netted seven times in 43 outings, beating the goalkeeper just once in his last 19 league outings.

It has been a disastrous season, one where he’s wasted opportunities on a regular basis.

In the draw with Ross County, he fired four shots off target and missed a chance from just a matter of yards out, blazing the ball high over the stand behind the goal.

His inability to hit the target has been a nasty habit all term, particularly with efforts from outside the box. Rather than finding a creative option with a pass, he opts for goal and traditionally misses altogether.

Losing him this summer, therefore, would certainly not be the end of the world. Christie has been abject and would be easy to replace.

AND in other news, Forget Mourinho: Celtic can dominate again if Desmond hires 42 y/o with “big emotions”…

Aston Villa have suffered a major blow ahead of their Premier League clash against Manchester United on Sunday afternoon, with Dean Smith confirming that the game has come too soon for Jack Grealish.

Speaking in his pre-match press conference ahead of the game against the Red Devils, the Villa manager said: “It will be 12 games that he misses. He’s out on the grass loading the injury, so he’s on his way back, but this game will be too soon for him.

“He starts training with the actual group tomorrow. As I’ve said many times, we want him back as soon as possible, but we’ve got to do it right as well. We obviously had a spike in his loading last time and we had a reaction, so we have to make sure that we’re very conservative with our approach this time with it.”

The news comes as a major blow for Villa as the Premier League enters the closing stages of the season, with the Midlanders having understandably struggled in the absence of their talisman. In the 11 league games that Grealish has missed, Villa have won just three and scored only 12 goals in the process, putting a major dent in their hopes of securing a surprise European spot for next season.

With Manchester United flying high both domestically and in Europe – they clinched their place in the Europa League final on Thursday – Smith will have been hoping for some good news on Grealish to try and give his side a much-needed boost before the match.

It is a sign of his importance to their attack that his tally of 19 goal contributions (seven goals, 12 assists) is the joint-highest in the Villa squad alongside top scorer Ollie Watkins, per Transfermarkt.

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Instead, Villa will have to try and stop Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side without the 25-year-old, and that’s a tall order given how poorly they’ve performed without him.

Last week’s win over Everton at Goodison Park will give them hope, but Smith will no doubt be disappointed at missing his key player once again.

Meanwhile, Villa must land this £60m-rated star this summer…

Mark Warburton’s reported Queens Park Rangers transfer target Charlie Austin has dropped a huge hint about a potential move to the Kiyan Prince Foundation Stadium.

What’s the talk?

In a recent interview with the QPR website, the 31-year-old centre-forward revealed that there are talks ongoing about a move from West Bromwich Albion to the Hoops this summer.

He said: “At the moment, the talks are ongoing. There are talks. It’s not like there’s nothing – there are talks going on with the football club. As much as it’s in my hands, it’s in the football club’s hands as well. That’s all I can really say.

“Everybody knows how I and my family feel about the football club. But it’s what direction myself and the club want to go in. Hopefully we can meet and who knows what will happen.”

Fans will be buzzing

Having fallen down the pecking order at West Bromwich Albion in the season just past – making a mere five appearances in the Premier League for the Baggies, none of which came as starts – Austin showed what he is truly capable of upon linking up with Mark Warburton’s side in the January transfer window.

Over his 21 Championship fixtures with QPR, the £1.8m-rated man scored eight goals, provided one assist and created two big chances for his teammates, as well as taking an average of 2.3 shots and making 0.5 key passes per game, culminating in an impressive average SofaScore match rating of 6.94 – ranking him as the club’s eighth-best performer in the second tier.

It is no coincidence that the arrival of the former Southampton man coincided with a dramatic upturn in form at the Kiyan Prince Foundation Stadium, with Warburton’s side ranking third in the Championship table since the turn of the year.

As such, the news that there are talks underway between the hitman – whom Claude Puel dubbed an “important” player – and QPR regarding a permanent move this summer would appear to bode extremely well for the club’s potential promotion push next season, something that is likely to leave fans of the Rs buzzing.

In other news: Get him gone: Warburton must ruthlessly axe “massive” £4k-p/w QPR dud this summer – opinion

Gary Neville has described Marcelo Bielsa as ‘exceptional’ following Leeds United’s impressive return to the Premier League.

The Lowdown: Leeds excel on Premier League return

The Whites secured promotion back to the top flight last year and they have shone in their first year back in the big time, sitting 10th in the table and taking points off the likes of Manchester City, Liverpool, Manchester United, Chelsea and Tottenham.

It is Bielsa’s influence which has been the key to the Whites’ success, and Neville has been left hugely impressed by the Argentine.

The Latest: Neville lauds Bielsa

Speaking on Sky Sports’ Monday Night Football [via Leeds All Over], the former Manchester United defender showed his appreciation for Bielsa, but stopped short of giving him his Manager of the Year prize. He said:

“To be honest with you, Bielsa at Leeds, absolutely exceptional performance.

“But I would still go with Tuchel or Guardiola, because to win the Champions League and the league and the Carabao Cup, which Pep could do, that takes some doing.”

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The Verdict: Leeds’ most important figure

As mentioned, Bielsa is perhaps the key reason that Leeds have enjoyed such a glorious period, with the 65-year-old transforming matters on and off the pitch since taking charge in June 2018.

He has got the Whites playing some of their most entertaining and effective football in decades, also connecting with the fans in a manner similar to Jurgen Klopp at Liverpool, often being seen around town living a normal life.

The fact that Leeds are 10th in the Premier League – which would be their highest finish since 2002 – speaks volumes about Bielsa’s quality, with promoted clubs often battling the drop. Fulham and West Brom, who both came up with the Whites last summer, have both been consigned straight back to the Championship.

If Bielsa hasn’t been the standout manager this season – there are a number of valid contenders, in fairness – he is certainly not far away from being given that accolade. Neville is right to speak highly of the Argentine’s work at Elland Road.

In other news, a pundit has talked up the idea of Leeds signing a left-back this summer. Find out who it is here.

One of Celtic’s goals for the future should be to hand regular first-team opportunities to the younger players coming through at Lennoxtown.

The Hoops have begun to give them a better platform in the closing weeks of the season but there is still a long way to go before young players view Paradise as a place to rise through the ranks.

There have been exceptions at Parkhead in years gone by with young individuals like Kristoffer Ajer and Kieran Tierney make the breakthrough.

However, under Neil Lennon, he didn’t really give a second look at the reserve team.

Cameron Harper decided his future was elsewhere as he headed back to America while Armstrong Oko-Flex could have easily departed too.

Yet, there are now more positive signs. Karamoko Dembele has scored his first senior goal for Celtic and will be staying at the club this summer with his deal not expiring until 2022.

Many will be hoping to follow in his footsteps next term from Luca Connell who won League 2 with Queen’s Park to Leo Hjelde, a young defender compared to Virgil van Dijk.

One of their brightest prospects, though, is Adam Montgomery.

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Transformed from a striker to a left-back, he’s made his first-team breakthrough in recent weeks, starting against St Johnstone in the 4-0 win and then appearing as a substitute on the final day against Hibernian.

Compared to Tierney by John Kennedy, the 18-year-old looks ready to be given a full-time role at senior level next season. By doing so, Dominic McKay could save the club millions.

That’s because they’re targeting the addition of Bologna full-back Aaron Hickey. Once of Celtic, he left for Hearts and then made the brave jump to Serie A last summer.

He’s developed nicely but instead of bringing one of their ex-players back, they’d be better off investing their time in the development of Montgomery.

Hickey might be more experienced at senior level but they possess similar traits, meaning Celtic could save money to invest in other more important areas of the team.

Speaking about Montgomery after his senior debut, Kennedy commented: “Adam was unfortunate not to play before now. He has been around the first team for the last five or six months training.”

The interim boss added: “He is similar to Kieran [Tierney] in a way. With young players we bring them up to train and after a week or two he made an impression and we could see he could handle it.

“You just see they are good to go – and he was. It’s a great start for him, we have high hopes for him for the future.”

Montgomery showed on his first start that he’s one to watch heading into next season.

The youngster completed 90% of his passes and also won three tackles, demonstrating competency in defence and attack.

It’s been a strange journey for the 18-year-old, but one he’s relished: “When [changing position] was first to put me, I was a bit ‘ahh’. I am a tricky winger normally, I like beating players and getting at people, he said.

“The way Celtic play full-backs is very attacking so going back to full-back, it hasn’t been a massive difference for me. I’m really enjoying it,” Montgomery concluded.

Starting out as a striker in the reserve team, he’s had to learn the ropes defensively but already looks rather accomplished in that area.

That’s more than can be said for the erratic Diego Laxalt, a defender who was at fault considerably during his final few weeks in Glasgow.

Whoever the new manager is, they need to ensure he has a route to first-team starts next season. Signing Hickey would not allow that to happen.

AND in other news, Imagine him under Howe: Celtic must unleash rarely-seen 17 y/o with a “massive future” …

Tottenham Hotspur are still looking to formally select their next managerial appointment and it’s believed that Erik ten Hag is still in the running…

What’s the word?

That’s according to The Athletic’s Jack Pitt-Brooke, who claims the 51-year-old is ‘a leading contender’ for the Spurs job despite signing a new two-year contract at his current club, Ajax.

This ties in with information from Italian transfer guru Fabrizio Romano.

He suggested that the Dutchman did not reject an approach from the North London outfit after their attentions turned to him following setbacks over Julian Nagelsmann and Brendan Rodgers.

Dream appointment?

Pitt-Brooke also states that the other names in the running are former RB Leipzig man Ralf Rangnick, current Belgium head coach Roberto Martinez and Graham Potter of Brighton.

Of all these candidates, it is easy to see why ten Hag would be a front-runner. He’s certainly a mouth-watering prospect for what Levy is looking for – he could even be his dream hire.

The Guardian believe the Lilywhites chairman is on the lookout for an ‘attack-minded’ coach that has ‘strong credentials in the development of young players.’

Almost as if they were looking for Mauricio Pochettino, mark two.

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Ten Hag has just clinched his second Eredivisie title in Amsterdam, where he holds a mightily impressive 73.6% win rate since being appointed in December 2017.

His playing style has been described as ‘Total Football 2.0’ and takes inspiration from two huge influences on his coaching career, Pep Guardiola and Johan Cruyff.

That would certainly tick one box for Levy.

The 51-year-old has also seen the progression of many a young player, and eventually raking in huge profits for Ajax, as a result.

Frenkie de Jong (£65m to Barcelona), Matthijs de Ligt (£67.7m to Juventus) and Donny van de Beek (£35.7m to Man Utd) are just three prime examples, so it would be another tick next to ten Hag’s name.

Furthermore, he has received glowing praise from Liverpool’s title-winning boss Jurgen Klopp, who described the Dutchman as “one of the most exciting coaching talents in world football.”

All in all, on the above evidence, it’s no wonder that Spurs see the Ajax chief as their best candidate now.

He matches so many of Levy’s requirements.

So if he can tempt ten Hag to swap the comforts of the Champions League-bound Dutch side for the faltering North Londoners, then he could well be onto a winner.

AND in other news, Forget Reguilon: £26m-rated Spurs lightweight who lost possession 21x betrayed Mason vs Villa…