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If Leeds United’s director of football, Victor Orta, was keeping an eye on the first day of the U21 European Championships, then there’s little doubt that Teun Koopmeiners would have been the plyer to catch his eye.

Reports in recent weeks and months have suggested that the AZ Alkmaar midfielder is on the radar of Marcelo Bielsa’s Premier League side, and if his display for Netherland’s U21s on Wednesday night was anything to go by, then Leeds should be all over him this summer.

Despite the Dutch side being held to a 1-1 draw against Romania, Koopmeiners stole the show in the middle of the park for the Orange, orchestrating things and dictating the tempo – he was the fulcrum behind his team enjoying a whopping 72% of the possession.

As per Sofascore, he had the most touches and passes of any player on the pitch by far (145 and 107 respectively), and it was quite telling that those high numbers weren’t just as a result of him making the simple choices – he was one of only four Dutch players on the night to deliver at least one key pass.

Koopmeiners also showed he is equally strong defensively, and isn’t just a midfield orchestrator in the mould of a Xavi. His five tackles were the second-most of any Dutch player, while he won ten of his 15 total duels, the joint-most among his teammates.

A couple of tweets from Top Bins Talk during his display really painted a picture of just how dominant he was, noting: “Teun Koopmeiners looks like a man amongst boys for the Dutch U21s. Really feel that his spell at CB for AZ did him the world of good – he always paints a picture before receiving the ball, is so measured in his decision making, and constantly anticipates danger. A lovely player.

“He’s back in a deeper midfield position for club (and country) and he creates so much time and space for himself on the ball. Always scanning his surroundings, drifting into smart areas, and so calm in possession. Expect him to have a long list of admirers this summer.”

Given how Bielsa has really struggled to find genuine quality cover for Kalvin Phillips when he has been out injured – Pascal Struijk has usually been his go-to man but with little success – Koopmeiners showed on Wednesday that he could well be the man to fill that void.

Orta would surely have been left very impressed with the Dutchman’s midfield masterclass on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Leeds must reignite their interest in this star…

Plenty of Crystal Palace fans have been reacting to Patrick van Aanholt’s first-half display against West Brom on social media. 

The 30-year-old was handed his 17th league start of the campaign, with Wilfried Zaha replacing Andros Townsend in Roy Hodgson’s only change from the defeat to Tottenham Hotspur last time out.

Palace went into the game in 13th place, knowing a win would leapfrog them into 11th position ahead of Leeds United following their lunchtime stalemate with Chelsea.

Left-back van Aanholt, valued at £7.2m by Transfermarkt, has made over 125 appearances for Palace and is facing Baggies winger Matt Phillips at Selhurst Park.

Prior to kick-off, van Aanholt averaged a Premier League match rating of 6.48/10 this season, as per WhoScored – and it seems as if numerous Palace fans think he’s having a tough time of it this afternoon.

Palace fans react

This is what these Eagles supporters had to say about the Dutch defender’s first-half display against Sam Allardyce’s side, with one describing it as ‘dreadful’.

“van aanholt playing against us”

Credit: @palacejacob

‘I hate Patrick van aanholt, quicker he leaves the better imo'”

Credit: @cpfc_sean

“Pva is dreadful, just letting Phillips cross”

Credit: @Kevbartleyy

“Any positivity has quickly gone. Pat looks awful already – giving the ball away and not stopping crosses – Eze not natural at helping PVA out either.”

Credit: @PaulGDJ

“PVA already spun inside out”

Credit: @Benteke_SZN

“3 minutes and PvA has been beaten 3 times by Phillips and lost the ball twice. Some going that.”

Credit: @lukec_1987

In other news: ‘Keep him far away’, ‘In a heartbeat’ – Palace fans react as managerial news emerges, find out more here.

Leicester City will be aiming to recover from back-to-back defeats as they travel to Turf Moor to take on Sean Dyche’s Burnley on Wednesday.

The Foxes have endured a tough week having been eliminated by Slavia Prague in the UEFA Europa League before being batted aside by Arsenal at the weekend.

Defeat to the Gunners also came at a cost, with Harvey Barnes and Jonny Evans being withdrawn through injury.

So with that in mind, what starting line-up will Brendan Rodgers select against Burnley?

There are likely to be at least three changes to the Foxes side that fell to defeat against Arsenal – most of them enforced.

19-year-old left-back Luke Thomas was given a torrid time at the weekend – Nicolas Pepe routinely getting the better of him. As a result, Rodgers is likely to select more experience and have Timothy Castagne in an orthodox left-back role.

Another change in the backline could see centre-back Evans drop out and replaced by Daniel Amartey. The Northern-Irishman aggravated a calf injury and is doubtful to play.

The Foxes’ midfield will have more of a familiar look to it, with the partnership of Wilfred Ndidi and Youri Tielemans deployed once again.

Most of the sweeping changes will occur further up the pitch with Barnes set to miss out with a knee injury that looks likely to rule him out for a number of weeks. He will be replaced by Marc Albrighton on the left-flank.

The final alteration is set to be £20.7m-rated AS Roma man Cengiz Under, who is likely to take position on the right, allowing Ricardo Pereira to slot in at right-back. It would be only the Turk’s second Premier League start of the campaign.

Gary Cahill and Tyrick Mitchell could return to the starting line-up later this afternoon as Crystal Palace take on Newcastle at St James’ Park.

While most of the attention of the general footballing public will likely be on Old Trafford on Tuesday as Southampton travel to Manchester United, Palace could create some space between themselves and the chasing pack at the bottom of the table, depending on the result on Tyneside.

However, in order to do that, they will have to pick up all three points against a team who have caused Roy Hodgson’s side problems in the past. Palace suffered a 2-0 defeat to Newcastle at Selhurst Park back in November.

With that in mind, here’s Football FanCast’s predicted line-up for today’s trip to Newcastle.

The Eagles have started the new year with a renewed sense of optimism after bringing in a new striker in the form of Jean-Philippe Mateta.

Nevertheless, the Palace boss will probably play it safe as it’s unlikely he is taking anything for granted, meaning Michy Batshuayi will be back upfront after his solid shift against Wolves and he will play alongside the in-form Wilfried Zaha.

To the left of the Belgian in attack will be Eberechi Eze, who scored the only goal of the game against Wolves, while Andros Townsend will most likely replace Jordan Ayew on the right flank.

In defence, Tyrick Mitchell could come in for Patrick van Aanholt, the latter being heavily linked with the Selhurst Park exit on deadline day, with Gary Cahill back as one of two centre-back options with Cheikhou Kouyate.

Elsewhere, Vicente Guaita is a mainstay in Hodgson’s side, which leaves Jack Butland still waiting for his Premier League debut for the club.

Meanwhile, Jairo Riedewald will be the only other change in midfield, with James McCarthy dropping to the bench as a result.

AND in other news, Vicente Guaita’s new contract could be bad news for Jack Butland…

Aston Villa could unearth their next Jack Grealish-like success story in 17-year-old starlet Carney Chukwuemeka.

The teenager may be more of a household name amongst Villa fans after making the bench for Dean Smith’s side’s Premier League clash against Leicester last week, and though he didn’t come on to make his first-team debut, there is real excitement about the kind of talent that he has.

Chukwuemeka is the prodigy that Christian Purslow went so far as to describe as the best player for his age last year, and there have been glowing reports about his abilities.

One scout told The Athletic: “He’s the best player Villa have got coming through. He can do everything in the midfield area and there are a lot of clubs monitoring his situation at Villa.”

And just recently on the 1874 podcast, Gregg Evans spoke about just how highly thought of he is in and around the club, revealing that “he’s the one everybody’s talking about” – the journalist even went so far as to describe him as “the real deal”.

Villa were able to tie down the teenager to a new contract late last year, and that was a major coup given that The Athletic had previously reported the likes of Arsenal, Manchester United and Tottenham were all looking to lure him away.

Predominantly a central or attacking midfielder, Chukwuemeka can also play slightly deeper as he has done for the U23s this season at Premier League 2 level, and certainly has the creative chops to match a young Grealish.

In just 19 games for Villa’s U18s, he’d racked up six assists, and despite only turning 17 back in October, is already a fully-fledged member of the club’s U23s set up now.

It’s a real testament to just how quickly he is progressing through the ranks at Villa, and Smith’s decision to give him some exposure to life in the first-team by naming him on the bench against the Foxes last time out is a real indication that he features highly in the manager’s plans.

Grealish is where he is now because he was given an opportunity to impress. Chukwuemeka has got the talent, now it’s up to Smith to really harness it.

After winning the FA Cup in his first season in charge of Arsenal, Mikel Arteta would no doubt have been intent on trying to retain the trophy this year.

The Gunners had to grind out a victory over Newcastle in the FA Cup third round, and were rewarded with a hugely tricky away tie against Southampton.

And in keeping with how this season has gone for the Premier League giants, the north Londoners looked completely toothless, as they were knocked out of the FA Cup with a 2-0 defeat to the Saints.

Nicolas Pepe was given the chance to impress by Arteta at St Mary’s, and whilst the Ivory Coast international showed touches of briliance – not least his cute through for Eddie Nketiah – he was once again largely disappointing.

None of his two attempts on goal found the target, including particularly awful strike from a free-kick late on in the game. He also failed to provide a single accurate cross despite getting in promising positions, and that left the likes of Eddie Nketiah and Gabriel Martinelli to feed off scraps.

Countless times Pepe had the chance to run at Southampton left-back Ryan Bertrand, but instead either let a loose first touch get away from him, or didn’t have the convince to really take him on one-on-one.

One moment in the second-half saw Hector Bellerin play a line pass in behind the Saints defence, only for Pepe to get his feet tangled up and see Ibrahima Diallo recover and nick it back off him. In total, he lost possession 16 times, with only two Arsenal players losing it more, and Football.London simply said that he “fell over a lot” in their post-match ratings.

It led to The Telegraph journalist Sam Dean to describe both him and summer signing Willian as an “increasingly pressing problem”. Given how Bukayo Saka has played for the Gunners out on the right-hand side, Pepe’s chances of first-team starts look set to be thin on the ground.

Dean’s assessment was followed up by a number of Arsenal fans on Twitter calling on the £100k-a-week earning Pepe to just be sold by the Gunners.

And Saturday afternoon’s display against Southampton would have just confirmed to Arteta that trusting in his youth is the best way to go forward. The Arsenal boss must make the ruthless decision and axe Pepe from his starting line-up for the return clash against Southampton in the Premier League in mid-week.

Meanwhile, this Arsenal star badly let Mikel Arteta down versus Southampton…

Recent Leeds recruit Rodrigo has made some interesting comments on his preferred position to play in. Speaking to BBC Sport, the £57,000 per week summer signing admitted that he is most comfortable operating just behind the striker.

Despite being pegged as a centre-forward, the Spaniard would rather play in support of Patrick Bamford in order to maximise threat in front of goal.

According to Transfermarkt, Rodrigo has made just four appearances in his preferred role out of his total 18 as a Leeds player. In other matches, the 29-year-old has been deployed as either a striker or attacking midfielder.

Voicing his preference and where he feels most clinical may have thrown a spanner in the works for Marcelo Bielsa. The Argentinian rarely strays from his 4-1-4-1 staple formation, which leaves little room for Rodrigo to operate in his favoured role.

However, his comments may make Bielsa sit up and listen and start to experiment more with his lineups. Leeds have struggled in attack recently, winning just four of their last ten fixtures across all competitions. Their unstoppable flair from last season seems to have dimmed since their promotion and they must dig deep to rediscover it.

The Premier League is a cruel mistress and it can chew up and spit out the lesser prepared teams with ease. After 16 years away from the top flight, the Whites can’t afford to fall at the first hurdle.

Bielsa must dare to do something different and catch his opponents off guard. Although they bagged an impressive 5-0 win over West Brom last month, Leeds have been very inconsistent with finding the back of the net. They also rely heavily on Bamford, who is the club’s leading scorer by a landslide right now, with 10 goals to the next in line’s three, via BBC Sport.

Switching up his formation and trusting in players like Rodrigo’s ability could transfer Leeds and spark up their clinical nature once again.

In other news, Marcus Tavernier would be ideal Jack Harrison replacement…

According to HampshireLive, Southampton striker Michael Obafemi could be forced to leave the club on loan in January as he looks for more game time.

Obafemi may move on loan

Despite making 21 appearances in the Premier League last term, Ireland international Obafemi has appeared in just one match in the English top flight so far this campaign.

As such, this latest report suggests he will need to leave St. Mary’s Stadium on a temporary basis as he looks for regular first-team football.

Just the ticket

Obafemi has been in and around the first team for about two years now since he was a teenager making his first steps into the game. Mark Hughes lauded the 20-year-old during his time on the south coast, saying the striker has “unbelievable pace”, while Mauricio Pellegrino called him a “good finisher”.

With Che Adams and Danny Ings in good form so far this campaign – they have eight goals between them this season – it doesn’t look as though Obafemi will be starting regularly any time soon, especially when Ralph Hasenhuttl also questioned his professionalism. It seems that, at this stage in his career, a loan move until the end of the season could be the best thing for the £4.05m-valued (Transfermarkt) youngster.

In other news, Southampton fans love the club’s tweet on this former star.

Leeds United have somewhat stagnated in their returning Premier League season after winning just one of their last five matches. Whilst they currently sit in a respectable 14th place in the table, things could rapidly turn bad for the Whites unless they start getting some more points on the board.

If they continue to struggle, they run a very high risk of losing some of their key players.

The likes of Luke Ayling has seriously impressed so far this term, performing well not only in his usual position at right-back, but adapting to a more central role in Marcelo Bielsa’s hour of need.

His versatility and strength are key components that other clubs will be looking for in a defender.

Once the January transfer window opens up, it wouldn’t come as a surprise if a few offers are made for the Englishman.

Leeds could lose Luke Ayling

Ayling has been one of Leeds’ key players throughout the last two seasons, shining during their Championship-winning campaign and indeed impressing this term as well.

The 29-year-old has attracted a lot of praise, with Alex McLeish recently paying him a huge compliment by stating he is “an example to youngsters everywhere”. He also lauded Ayling as an “impeccable” player who has adapted well to England’s top-flight, via Football Insider.

As he nears his 30th birthday, Ayling will be sizing up just how high his career can go. If a top club shows interest in his services and Leeds struggle to re-establish themselves in the Premier League, he could be tempted to take a move and try for more silverware.

The defender’s £45,000 per week contract runs until 2023 but if a Premier League club comes knocking, Leeds could squeeze a pretty penny out of them for the sale of Ayling. But they cannot afford to let him want a move away or they will lose an extremely valuable member of the club.

However, unless Bielsa changes up his tactics from his usual lineups and repetitive 4-1-4-1 formation, the Whites will be easily found out and losses will become more and more of a regular occurrence.

Indeed, this could spell a potential exit for Leeds’ star defender should he become indemand.

In other news, Andrea Radrizzani update could spell huge news for the Whites…

Speaking exclusively to Football FanCast, former Tottenham man Gary Mabbutt has called on Harry Winks to seize his chance at the club and “become a dominant force”.

The midfielder has been a regular in Jose Mourinho’s side this season, playing eight games across all competitions, but has completed the full 90 minutes just twice in the Premier League.

With Spurs now seeing a revitalised Tanguy Ndombele, and the summer addition of Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg too, Winks has got far greater competition for places in that middle of the park.

And Mabbutt has urged him to take his opportunity when it comes, and insisted that he has got all the quality to become a really top level player for Spurs.

He said: “Harry Winks is a great player. Harry’s still got that opportunity, and he’s got to grasp that opportunity because things can come and go very quickly in football. Harry is also another player who could be in a similar position in that midfield area where he could become a dominant force.”

Whilst the Englishman, who earns £50,000-a-week according to Salary Sport, continues to play a lot of football at Spurs – last season saw him make 31 appearances in the Premier League alone – he hasn’t quite hit the heights that former manager Mauricio Pochettino tipped him to reach.

The Argentine, who even compared Winks to Spain legends Xavi and Andres Iniesta, once called him “perfect”, raving: “For me, he is the perfect midfielder, who can play box-to-box and like a holding midfielder.

“He has the quality and capacity to play and use the demand of the game and read it. He’s so clever, and we are so happy that he starts to feel better now because he provides to the team qualities that we don’t have.”

But if Pochettino envisioned him as a box-to-box midfielder, then he hasn’t shown any inclination of adding an attacking threat to his game, managing a measly two goals and two assists across all competitions in his last five years at the club. Winks hasn’t established himself as a regular at international level either, with just seven caps to his name with England.

Winks’ situation at Spurs is comparable to that of teammate Dele Alli, who like the north London side’s academy product, has hit a bit of a roadblock in his career. The former MK Dons starlet has fallen out of favour under Mourinho, playing just 67 minutes of Premier League football this season, and was hooked at half-time in the Europa League clash against Royal Antwerp.

But if Mourinho can really work out what kind of midfield talent Winks can develop into, then that will be the key to seeing him realise his potential.