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This article is part of Football FanCast’s In The Pipeline series, which takes a look at some of the most promising young talent either linked with clubs or emerging from their academies…

For all their early hiccups at the very start of the season and their ongoing struggles to break Barcelona’s tight grip on the Spanish domestic league as a whole, the future certainly does look bright for Real Madrid.

If not because of anything else, then solely for all the talent they have piled up.

Of course, some of them are used more often than others and some have maybe deserved more than they’re getting at this very moment. Such is the way of things in modern football and while it is not necessarily always fair, it’s what happens all over the globe.

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One of those big talents that is still waiting for a real chance to show what they can do is Brahim Diaz, Real Madrid’s 20-year-old attacking midfielder who has been frozen out of the squad.

Diaz arrived from Manchester City in the January transfer window of 2019 and is yet to feature for the squad this season.

Back in 2018/19, he played a total of 11 games across all competitions and managed to score once, tallying two assists in the process as well.

Watch Lionel Messi and Gareth Bale answer the internet’s weirdest questions in the video below…

For the few chances he had in that period, Diaz certainly gave lots in return. But it seems that it wasn’t enough.

Just 11 appearances last campaign and none in the new one only add weight to this.

But is Zinedine Zidane using a completely wrong approach with this young talent? Let’s not forget that Diaz was very much a top talent at City.

He scored 11 goals and assisted ten for their U23 squad and even made 15 appearances for their senior team, netting twice in the process.

The future looked rather bright for him back then, and not much has changed since.

With enough game time, Diaz could transform into a true star. But for some reason or the other, Zidane refuses to give him a proper chance.

Will he regret the decision in the future?

Only time will tell but as it currently stands, Diaz is being wasted in Madrid.

Ex-Everton shot-stopper Tim Howard officially announced his retirement this week, playing his last game of professional football back in his homeland for Colorado Rapids. Howard has immediately returned to the Merseyside club, joining Everton as an international ambassador.The former keeper established himself as one of the Premier League greats in a decade long spell at the club after he swapped Manchester United for Merseyside back in 2006. The initial loan spell in 2006 turned into years of shot-stopping for the Toffees and the American eventually became the club’s leading appearances maker in the Premier League with 354.Howard will make the first appearance in his new position later this month, with an exclusive event for the Toffees fans in Austin, Texas on Saturday 26 October. He will also be a guest star at the future special fan event hosted by the club.He was famous for ridiculous saves and even scoring a goal against Bolton back in 2012, subsequently becoming only the fifth keeper in Premier League history to find the back of the net. Now back at the club, fans are buzzing for his return, especially considering Tim Cahill joined the club recently as a coach as well.Here is just a selection of the Twitter reaction…

This article is part of Football FanCast’s Opinion series, which provides analysis, insight and opinion on any issue within the beautiful game, from Paul Pogba’s haircuts to League Two relegation battles…

In what was Mark Warburton’s first transfer window in charge of the club, QPR embarked on a busy summer of business in which they signed 14 new players.

The R’s managed to capture Marc Pugh and Todd Kane on free transfers from Premier League sides Bournemouth and Chelsea respectively, while Geoff Cameron, Yoann Barbet, Conor Masterson, Dominic Ball and Lee Wallace also arrived for nothing.

It was a major overhaul, but who have been the three best new faces to arrive at the Kiyan Prince Foundation Stadium?

Let’s take a look…

Nahki Wells

Having spent the entirety of last season on loan with the R’s, the Londoners managed to re-sign the Bermuda international from Burnley for the 2019/20 campaign on deadline day.

Impressively, in just six Championship starts, the 29-year-old has scored six goals while also grabbing an assist.

His two-goal haul against Luton helped the R’s to a 3-2 win, while another brace from the former Bradford man helped QPR beat Millwall 2-1 – Wells, in that respect, has won six of QPR’s 19 points alone.

Dominic Ball

This seemed a strange one at the time.

Ball had just been released by Rotherham, before Warburton decided to reunite himself with a player he had coached at Rangers and Brentford.

A defender by trade – as QPR’s announcement detailed him – Ball has shone in a defensive midfield role for the R’s this term, where his mopping up ahead of the defence has allowed Eberechi Eze and Ilias Chair to thrive.

Given his impact, coupled with the fact that he was free, Ball is definitely one of Warburton’s best signings.

Jordan Hugill 

Like Wells, Hugill was also brought in on loan from a Premier League side in West Ham, and has had a similar impact at the top end of the pitch.

The former Preston man has also scored six goals, and similarly to Wells, his strikes have earned QPR six points – Hugill netted the winner in the 2-1 win over Stoke, and also scored twice in a 2-1 win over Sheffield Wednesday.

His physical prowess, coupled with Wells’ pace, has contributed to what is an effective strike partnership for the R’s.

Norwich City earnt their first clean sheet of the season as they drew away to Bournemouth, with one player performing well at both ends for Daniel Farke’s side.

The point away at the Vitality Stadium was the Norfolk side’s first of the season, however, the club still sits in the bottom three (via BBC).

In a game of a decent number of shots, just three of them actually hit the target. The best chance for Norwich came in the second half when Aaron Ramsdale produced a fine stop to keep out Teemu Pukki.

Ibrahim Amadou proved a behemoth in defence for Farke’s side, clearing the ball 13 times out of the 33 Norwich managed in the game as he proved difficult to get past for Eddie Howe’s men.

Alex Tettey also put in a strong performance at both defensive midfield and centre-back as Ben Godfrey went off injured early on in the encounter. The midfielder showed his experience, having the third-highest pass completion rate for the Canaries.

However, it was Kenny McLean who was the man to fly under the radar for the Norfolk side, with the Scotland international a threat going forward and proving steady at the back.

The £2.25m-rated (per Transfermarkt) McLean had five of Norwich’s 10 shots at goal and won the most headers, made the second-most clearances and interceptions in an all-round midfield display (via WhoScored). His threat at both ends proved valiant as the club searched for their first clean sheet of the season.

The Pink Un agreed with these thoughts as they gave McLean a seven out of 10.

They said: “Skied over a late cutback from Todd Cantwell. Seemed to enjoy the extra insurance of having Alex Tettey alongside him. Could have no complaint at his booking.” (Source: Pink Un)

Norwich City fans, what did you make of McLean’s all-round performance? Let us know your thoughts!

Matheus Pereira came up with an 81st-minute leveller as West Bromwich Albion recovered from two goals behind to draw 2-2 with Barnsley on Tuesday night.

Cauley Woodrow’s first-half double had put the Baggies in all sorts of bother in the Championship affair, but the home side impressively responded to pick up a point.

Slaven Bilic’s side are top of the Championship with 26 points to show from their 13 matches, and it will be very, very interesting to see whether the club can secure a return to the Premier League for the 2020/21 campaign.

Bilic has Pereira to thank for snatching a point on Tuesday night, and it will not come as a surprise to learn that the club’s fans were delighted with the attacker.

The 23-year-old – on loan at the club from Sporting Lisbon – has now managed three goals and seven assists in 11 Championship outings this season.

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And he is becoming a real favourite with the WBA supporters:

This article is part of Football FanCast’s In Numbers series, which takes a statistical look at performances, season-long form and reported transfer targets…

Nicolas Pepe grabbed plenty of headlines against Sheffield United for all the wrong reasons.

The Arsenal winger, signed for a staggering £72m in the summer, missed a gilt-edged chance in the first-half, failing to connect properly with a cross from just a few yards out.

The Blades subsequently took the lead through Lys Mousset and held on to take all three points at Bramall Lane; Pepe’s miss, then, was intrinsic to the fabric of the game and to United’s victory.

However, the statistics of the game paint a rather different picture.

Pepe had a total of 72 touches throughout the game – one for every million pounds he set the Gunners back – and registered three shots on goal, with only one on target.

He also had five successful dribbles, the joint-highest of either team and recorded a passing accuracy of 89% from 35 passes.

He won two aerial duels, made five tackles and also registered one key pass.

This is a prime example of a player who actually turned in an effective, assiduous performance but made one major mistake, which is likely to colour perceptions of his display.

Pepe’s miss was, of course, execrable but he got on the ball and constantly looked to make something happen.

It is impressive that the Ivory Coast international did not hide following his difficult moment and continually attempted to beat his man and hit the back of the net.

That he failed, of course, is not ideal but one has to believe that, soon enough, the ball will hit the back of the net and Pepe will get the reward his display on Monday deserved.

This article is part of Football FanCast’s Pundit View series, which provides opinion and analysis on recent quotes from journalists, pundits, players and managers…

Wolves manager Nuno Santo has thrown his support behind striker Patrick Cutrone after a slow start to life in England.

And his words should be listened to if his previous exploits are anything to go by.

What’s he said?

The Italian striker made the switch from AC Milan in the summer for £16m but has been limited to just three Premier League starts.

Cutrone has only managed the one goal too, which came in the 5-2 Chelsea defeat back in September, and on Sunday afternoon, he wasn’t even called upon when Wolves needed a goal against the ten men of Newcastle United.

Despite his omission, Nuno has backed him to make an impact this season.

Speaking to Sky Sports, the Portuguese boss said:

“He’s integrating into the dynamic of the team.

“It’s not easy to be already where we expect him to be. It takes time but the best thing is he’s on to it, he wants it, he works hard. We’re expecting good things from him.

“It’s not easy, it’s a challenge.

“This is what we want from players, to be taken out of their comfort zone and always be able to upgrade their performances.”

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Traore’s early troubles

If there’s anyone that knows about the struggles of adapting to a new club, new manager, and new conditions, then it is Adama Traore.

The tricky 23-year-old has been one of Wolves’ best players this season, playing in a new right wing-back role as well as occasionally going back to his old forward position.

No one could have imagined this sort of turnaround for the Spaniard, considering he only started eight top-fight matches in his first season at the club and was often doubted at times last campaign.

Watch an interview with former Wolves and Wales hero Dave Edwards in the video below…

He kept the faith in Nuno, and it has led to this monumental change in performance, so the same needs to occur with Cutrone.

Given enough time to develop at the magical hands of the Portuguese native, there are no doubts that the striker will come good eventually.

He’ll be granted plenty of opportunities to do so with Wolves facing multiple cup competitions on top of the Premier League.

It was a difficult afternoon for West Ham United on Saturday, as they succumbed to a disappointing 3-2 defeat against Newcastle United at the London Stadium (via BBC Sport).

The Hammers were far from at their best against Steve Bruce’s side and went 3-0 down in the game before netting a couple of late consolation goals.

In an effort to try and get back into the game, Manuel Pellegrini decided to bring off Pablo Zabaleta after 72 minutes, replacing him with Ryan Fredericks (via @WestHam).

The Argentine had a poor game for the Hammers, two of his three long balls were inaccurate, both of his attempted crosses did not find a teammate and he also had one unsuccessful touch, ultimately finishing with a meagre WhoScored rating of just 5.96.

Zabaleta hasn’t been a regular this season; indeed this was only his second start in the league (Transfermarkt).

Most supporters cannot understand why Pellegrini has started the former Manchester City man instead of Fredericks in the last two games, and many of them suggested that when the manager did swap the two players in the second half that it was far too late as the damage was already done.

Here is how some Hammers fans reacted on Twitter when Zabaleta was brought off against Newcastle…

West Ham fans, should Ryan Fredericks be starting ahead of Pablo Zabaleta? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below…

Losing a defender is one thing, but losing your captain at the same time just makes things a whole lot worse

It was confirmed on Wednesday that Harlee Dean’s red card that he picked up against Cardiff City has been upheld and he will be forced to miss the next three games, starting with this weekend’s clash against Fulham.

It’s not the news the Blues or their fans wanted to hear, and now they’re going to be left in a bit of a tricky situation.

And speaking of the fans, needless to say, they were not happy with the decision.

They took to Twitter to outright condemn the EFL for their decision, with a number of them claiming that it’s only being upheld because they’re a relatively small club.

Although there were a couple of supporters who used the opportunity to try and make their cases for which player should take Dean’s place in the interim.

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Whilst there were some of them who bizarrely seemed delighted with the decision.

Think it’s clear to see where these guys stand when it comes to the captain.

This article is part of Football FanCast’s Pundit View series, which provides opinion and analysis on recent quotes from journalists, pundits, players and managers…

Laurie Whitwell of The Athletic has indicated that Fred could be Paul Pogba’s replacement when speaking after Manchester United’s 3-1 win over Brighton & Hove Albion.

What did he say?

Fred put in an impressive performance during the victory over Brighton on Sunday, with many fans feeling he was robbed of being named Man of the Match.

This is another encouraging sign for the Brazilian, who has now gone on to start five Premier League games in a row for the Red Devils.

Following the victory, one fan asked Whitwell whether Fred could push Pogba out of the team, to which he replied: “It’s certainly an interesting question, with Pogba seeming on course for the exit next summer. I think United have to plan without him. Fred is finally beginning to show why United paid that money. Maybe not £52m, but he clearly has all the tools.”

Big shoes to fill

Pogba’s performances are often intensely critiqued, as indicated by Darren Fletcher’s comments on Sky Sports in October: “His performances get scrutinised to the level where it is a little bit unfair. If you look at the stats over a season – goals, assists, chances created, passes – he is Manchester United’s most dominant and influential player.”

Therefore, whoever is recognised as the World Cup winner’s successor in a United shirt, whenever he leaves Old Trafford, could also come under huge pressure.

Fred endured a tough start to life at Man United, as he only managed 13 Premier League starts during his maiden campaign, partaking in no more than four games in a row.

Things have already improved for him this campaign due to the aforementioned run of the games, but it is perhaps a bit much to suggest he could fill the void of somebody of Pogba’s quality – especially with his return of 27 goal contributions last season.

Even without this added pressure, there are still those with reservations about Fred, as Charlie Nicholas said last month while speaking on Sky Sports, via The Metro: “Their [United’s] midfield cannot keep the ball. Scott McTominay and Fred are grafting but they cannot pass the ball.”

So while it is encouraging to see Fred improving, he should be allowed to get himself up to his own top level for now, rather than being considered for bigger roles in the team.