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In an exclusive interview with Football FanCast, Steve Howey, who made 150 appearances for Newcastle United, has called on Allan Saint-Maximin to become more consistent for the Magpies.

Saint-Maximin was named on the bench against Burnley but made a lasting impact after coming on and registering an assist, before running from his own half and scoring the winner, and he followed it up with another assist in the win against West Ham that moved the Toon nine points clear of the relegation zone.

Lee Hendrie spoke to The Transfer Tavern about Saint-Maximin and claimed that he would be a great signing for Aston Villa, who currently sit nine points ahead of Newcastle and hold an outside chance of qualifying for Europe.

When asked about that and speaking on how Saint-Maximin often fails to deliver on the pitch, Howey told FFC:

“I spoke to Lee the other day and he never mentioned that to me. I think he is one of those players that excites fans but at the same time, he is very frustrating.

“For me, to pay a vast amount of money for him is still a bit of a punt because sometimes you’re like wow, but other times he kind of whizzes around and doesn’t really do a great deal.”

The £38,000-per-week winger made two substitute appearances for Newcastle before starting against David Moyes’ men since returning from a groin injury that he picked up before the international break.

Steve Bruce’s side are unbeaten and have scored seven goals since reverting away from the split striker system and operating with a more conventional back three.

Tim Cahill leads the way for Australia at international level

Australia might not have the history that a lot of other countries have when it comes to the beautiful game, but they have sure had some high-profile names represent them at the international stage over the years.

Just think Harry Kewell.

Or Mark Viduka.

Yet even though the two former Premier League stars got plenty of goals, they are not among Australia's 10 highest-ever goal scorers.

But who is Australia's most lethal attacker ever then?

Let's take a look!

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  1Tim Cahill | 50 goals

  The greatest goalscorer Australia has produced with 50 international goals, Tim Cahill was part of the national team setup for 14 years between 2004 to 2018.

  His first goal for the Socceroos came as part of a brace against Tahiti in May 2004, while Cahill scored two goals each at the World Cup in 2006 and 2014.

  Cahill's stunning goal against Netherlands at the 2014 World Cup is remembered to this day as he beat Jasper Cillessen with an incredible left-footed volley.

  The Everton legend's most lethal performances for the Socceroos came when he netted hat-tricks against Fiji and Bangladesh respectively.

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  2Damian Mori | 29 goals

  Part of Australia's national team for a decade between 1992 and 2002, Damian Mori made his debut against Solomon Islands in September 1992.

  The Adelaide City legend scored his first international goal against Tahiti in just his second game for the Socceroos and he scored a total of 29 goals in 45 caps spanning just under 10 years, making him the second-highest goal scorer for Australia.

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  3Archie Thompson | 28 goals

  Third on the list of Australia's all-time top goal scorers with 28 goals in 51 matches is Archie Thompson.

  The New Zealand-born striker featured for the Socceroos at the 2001 and 2005 Confederations Cup, the 2004 OFC Nations Cup, the 2006 World Cup, the 2007 AFC Asian Cup and the 2008 Summer Olympics.

  Thompson holds the all-time goal-scoring record in a single international match, netting 13 times in Australia's memorable 31-0 win against American Samoa in 2001.

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  4John Aloisi | 27 goals

  John Aloisi made his debut for Australia on March 12, 1997 in a friendly match against Macedonia, with arguably his best performance coming in a 22-0 win against Tonga, a game in which he scored six goals.

  Aloisi featured at the 2006 World Cup and scored in their opening game against Japan, helping them reach the knockout stages from a group that also held Brazil and Coatia.

  The former Osasuna man scored 27 goals over 55 games in his 11-year stint with Australia.

Former Tottenham captain Graham Roberts has exclusively told Football FanCast that Dele Alli can still become world class, but reckons his lack of effort in training saw him clash with the now-departed Jose Mourinho.

Alli was a regular during Mourinho’s early days at Spurs, but has hardly been used all season since being dropped from the squad following the opening-day defeat to Everton.

That first-half against the Toffees and three other brief appearances from the bench were the midfielder’s only Premier League outings until February, with Alli’s main involvement coming in the Europa League.

He did come back into the frame during Mourinho’s final few months, but never appeared part of the Portuguese’s long-term plans.

Despite his lack of minutes throughout this season, Roberts has backed Alli to reach his full potential at Tottenham.

He told Football FanCast:

“I still think he is going to be world class. It’s going to take a little while now because people have doubts about him.

“I think it’s to do with his training – he’s not the best trainer. I played with players and we’ve all been in those days where we aren’t the best trainers but on a Saturday you scored goals, but Mourinho wouldn’t have that.”

The Brazil U-23 team defeated Germany via a penalty shootout in which captain Neymar scored the decisive goal…

Brazil defeated Germany 5-4 on penalties in the final of the men's football tournament at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games after the game had ended 1-1 at regulation time.

It was the Selecao's first soccer gold medal at the Games after Brazil had been on the podium on five occasions previously, including three silver medals between 1984 and 2012. To top it off, Neymar scored the winning penalty for the hosts after losing the final at the 2012 London Olympics.

Here, Goal takes a look at where the Brazil 2016 Olympics gold medal winning team is now.

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• Lucas Figueiredo / MoWA Press
  

  1Uilson

  Then from Atletico Mineiro, he was the second-choice goalkeeper at the 2016 Olympic Games but did not have a chance to guard the net even for a single shot.

  Now, at the age of 27, he plays for Coimbra, a small club in his hometown.

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  2Felipe Anderson

  The former Lazio attacker was deployed as a versatile player in attack, and he recorded an assist from four games at the 2016 Rio Games.

  Now, at the age of 28, he has made a return to Lazio from West Ham after a loan at Porto.

• Lucas Figueiredo/MoWA Press
  

  3Thiago Maia

  The defensive midfielder from Santos made a total of three appearances at the 2016 Rio Games including a start in the 2-0 win against Colombia.

  At the age of 24, he is now on loan at Flamengo from French side Lille.

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  4Rodrigo Dourado

  The midfielder from Internacional did not have much role to play at the 2016 Olympic Games, taking to the field for just 11 minutes in the game against Denmark.

  At the age of 27, elevated to the position of captain, he still plays for Internacional.

When the summer transfer window opens, Wolves will need to sign some attackers.

Without the injured Raul Jimenez, their strikers have been pretty non-existent in front of goal, scoring just four times between them all season.

Fabio Silva’s £35.6m move from Porto has pocketed just three goals while Willian Jose had to wait until the middle of April for his first strike in Old Gold.

With that in mind, it feels unlikely that Nuno Santo and Jeff Shi will utilise their option to buy the Real Sociedad forward in the summer.

One alternative could be Sheffield United’s Oliver McBurnie. Wolves are looking to take advantage of their relegation by prising the striker away from Yorkshire in a few months time.

The Sun claim a fee of £15m could be enough to tempt the Blades into selling.

However, with only seven goals in 65 outings for Sheffield United, he hardly looks like he’d be a wise investment.

Instead, Wolves could save themselves a bucket load of cash by unleashing Rafa Mir next season.

If that sentence had been used at the start of the campaign you’d have been laughed at. Though, such is the Spaniard’s impressive season on loan at Huesca that he deserves another chance at Molineux.

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Mir’s time in English football has been nothing short of a disaster so far. He’s not scored for Wolves and didn’t beat the goalkeeper during a temporary stay at Nottingham Forest either.

That being said, he is beginning to flourish in Spain and is now among the top scorers in La Liga.

The 23-year-old is enjoying the best spell of his career so far and has 15 goals in all competitions this term, 12 of which have come in the Spanish top-flight. That puts him seventh in the rankings ahead of the £107.6m Antoine Griezmann and the £113m Joao Felix.

Mir is very quickly defying the doubters and his good form, along with the high ceiling he still possesses, should lead to a second chance at Wolves.

He has evolved from a young striker lacking confidence and maturity to a forward with the world at his feet.

He’s even earned comparisons to one of the most bullish forwards around; “He’s a little bit like Diego Costa,” Spanish football write Richard Dunne told The Athletic.

“He’s aggressive, he likes running the channels, he holds off defenders, he’s athletic and strong.”

Dunne continued: “He’s not exactly technically gifted but he has an unorthodox running style that works for him, he can keep the ball, he’s got a powerful strike, he’s quick and he’s good in the air.”

Having become a regular goal scorer in one of the most reputable leagues in world football, Nuno should consider bringing him into the first-team group next season.

He has scored more goals than McBurnie this term and he’d prevent Fosun from shelling out needlessly on £15m.

AND in other news, Forget MGW: Wolves must unleash rarely-seen 18 y/o who creates “things out of nothing”…

With Chelsea and Man City both on form, the two sides contributed several faces to this weekend's ideal XI

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  1Eden Hazard | Chelsea

  Eden Hazard is the fourth player to score more than one Premier League hat-trick for Chelsea (also Didier Drogba, Frank Lampard and Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink).

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  2Marko Anautovic | West Ham

  Since the start of 2018, only Mohamed Salah (23) has had a hand in more Premier League goals than West Ham forward Marko Arnautovic (16 – nine goals, seven assists).

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  3Leroy Sane | Manchester City

  Leroy Sane has had a hand in 18 goals in his last 16 Premier League games at the Etihad Stadium (6 goals, 12 assists).

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  4Mesut Ozil | Arsenal

  Arsenal’s Mesut Ozil has had a hand in four goals in four Premier League appearances against Newcastle (3 goals, 1 assist).

With Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang having been reunited at Arsenal, Goal looks back at other devastating pairings…

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  Dwight Yorke & Andy Cole (Manchester United)

  First brought together early in the 1998-99 season, Dwight Yorke and Andy Cole combined to devastating effect as Manchester United won the treble under Sir Alex Ferguson, albeit with their back-ups – Teddy Sheringham and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer – sealing the deal in the Champions League final.

  Cole and Yorke started 36 matches together in that campaign, with the Red Devils losing on just one occasion. Between them, they scored 53 goals in all competitions and followed that up with 46 in the next campaign.

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  Fernando Morientes & Raul (Real Madrid & Spain)

  During a period around the turn of the millennium, Fernando Morientes and Raul were one of Europe's most feared strike pairings, with their telepathic connection up front leading the Blancos into the 'Galactico Generation'.

  Such was their close friendship, Raul was one of the witnesses at Morientes's wedding, while after Morientes was dropped for the 2002 European Super Cup following the arrival of Ronaldo, Raul wore his great friend's No.9 jersey as a show of solidarity.

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  Ian Rush & Kenny Dalglish (Liverpool)

  Given his legendary status at Liverpool, it is hard to believe that Kenny Dalglish went on a 10-month scoring drought during 1981, with the Scot contemplating a move into midfield as he struggled for form in the aftermath of his 30th birthday.

  That all changed when Ian Rush arrived on the scene, however, as Dalglish became more of a withdrawn forward in behind Rush, and the pair ran riot. Liverpool won the title in each of their first three campaigns together, with the deadly duo scoring 59 goals between them as the European Cup was also secured in 1983-84.

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  Xavi & Andres Iniesta (Barcelona & Spain)

  One of the greatest midfield partnerships of all time, Xavi and Iniesta changed the way the modern game is played with their precision passing for both club and country.

  Together they won four Champions League titles among a whole host of other trophies at Barcelona, as well as helping lead Spain to two European Championships and their first World Cup, in 2010.

Sunderland have had a horrible habit in recent years of letting their academy gems walk through the exit door for not very much money.

Sam Greenwood was one of the first to start the trend. He departed Sunderland for Arsenal in 2018 and is now on the cusp of senior football with Leeds United.

Josh Maja is the most high profile case. His agent convinced him his future lay elsewhere and he left for Bordeaux in January 2019. Now playing at Fulham in the Premier League, there seems to be a familiar trend here.

Other young prospects like Joe Hugill, Bali Mumba, Luke Hewitson, Morten Spencer and Logan Pye have also all departed.

Though, if you cast your mind back to 2014, there is a name who is arguably doing better things than any of those mentioned above.

That happens to be John Egan. The centre-back never made a first-team appearance for the Mackems before being released seven years ago.

He subsequently joined Gillingham on a free transfer, before moving to Brentford and then Sheffield United.

The Irishman has been a wonderful presence in the Blades’ backline, very rarely missing a game. He played 44 matches during their promotion-winning campaign from the Championship in 2018/19 and since they were promoted, he’s been absent for only two games.

During that time, the 28-year-old has become an established international, earning 12 caps for his country, the Republic of Ireland.

Egan has very much become a classic case of one who got away. The defender is Premier League proven and was part of a backline that proved one of the best in the top-flight last term.

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The former Sunderland academy graduate helped Sheffield United to the fourth-best defensive record in the entire division. They conceded 39 times, a better tally than Arsenal, Tottenham and Chelsea.

Egan has come on leaps and bounds over the last few years, being described as “rock-solid” by Chris Wilder.

It’s unsurprising, therefore, that his value has risen so dramatically. Released on a free transfer by Sunderland all those years ago, he is now rated at an eye-catching £9m by Transfermarkt.

That kind of fee is one to bulk at, especially for a club now plying their trade in League One. As the Black Cats tumbled down the leagues, it would have been difficult for them to keep hold of him.

That being said, they got rid of him at a time when they were in the Premier League. He has since proven he is up to the challenge of performing at that very level.

AND in other news, Rarely-seen 18 y/o could rival Diamond at Sunderland, he’s a “talented lad”…

Former Aston Villa midfielder Lee Hendrie has told Football FanCast in an exclusive interview that Dean Smith needs £150m this summer in order for the Midlands club to continue progressing.

After coming close to relegation last season, Villa are having a brilliant campaign this time round.

Under Smith, the Villans sit ninth in the Premier League and are still very much in the conversation when it comes to those European qualification spots.

To go that one step further, though, and truly challenge for a Champions League place, Hendrie believes Smith will have to spend some serious money in the next transfer window. He told FFC:

“That’s what Dean’s going to have to do. He’s got to bring someone in, or two or three players in, whether it’s £150m he spends. If you’re going to certainly push for that Champions League spot or a European spot, you know, I think he’s got to spend around £150m.

“These days £150m is nothing, but I think Dean will be looking to bring three players maybe that certainly can push Villa forward and build them small steps because that isn’t an overnight process.”

One area Smith could look to strengthen this summer is up front, with The Telegraph reporting that there is a desire at Villa Park to bring someone in who can provide some competition for top scorer Ollie Watkins.

As for outgoings, the same outlet reports Jack Grealish could become a priority for Manchester City if they are unable to land Borussia Dortmund’s in-demand striker Erling Haaland.

Seven years ago to the very day, Wolves took 10,000 fans to Stadium MK when the club were sat in League One.

It was a period of time that Wolves spent in the doldrums of the football league, but that day will stand tall as one of their proudest moments, certainly from a supporter’s perspective.

In early 2014, a group of fans sat down in a pub and embarked on the project of taking 10k to Milton Keynes. Then, in March 2014, they achieved exactly that.

Decked out in Old Gold, their supporters witnessed a 1-0 win thanks to a goal from Liam McAlinden.

Wolves have come a considerable way since. McAlinden is now playing in League Two for Morecambe while the Molineux outfit have now even competed in Europe again.

They have spent a considerable sum of money and have established a partnership with super-agent Jorge Mendes. He has a number of Wolves players and the manager, Nuno Santo, on his books at Gestifute.

He has helped take Wolves to the next level but he could be on the verge of making his biggest deal yet with the Midlands club.

That’s because according to sensational reports in Spain (via The Express), Cristiano Ronaldo is being linked with a move back to the Premier League.

Ronaldo’s future at Juventus is currently in doubt and because of his agent’s ties with Wolves, a natural link has been drawn.

It is, of course, incredibly farfetched to think one of the best footballers of all time could end up at Molineux but it’s a prospect worth drooling over.

Wolves have been desperately poor in attack this season with club-record signing Fabio Silva scoring just twice since his £35.6m arrival. Willian Jose has hardly set the world alight either, failing to find the back of the net after moving in January.

Merely improving their forward line in the summer is crucial, but adding Ronaldo would be mind-blowing.

He is one of the greatest to grace the football world and has won four Ballon d’Or trophies; the latest of which was awarded to him in 2020.

The forward is now 36 years old but age is no barrier to the Portuguese legend. His performances for Juventus have defied description with the veteran racking up 30 goals this term, taking his tally in black and white to 95 since he joined from Real Madrid.

This is a player who has earned copious amounts of praise during his career, but two comments stick out when assessing just what Ronaldo is.

Writing about the icon in his book, Sir Alex Ferguson said: “He possessed an unbelievable talent. I can place everything on that list: training performances, strength, courage, skill with either foot, heading ability.”

When comparing Ronaldo to a certain Lionel Messi, Robbie Savage told BT Sport: “Both are from a different planet, both work incredibly hard, but for me Ronaldo edges it because he’s done it in England, Spain, Italy and for his country.”

We don’t need to tell you why this would be a good deal for Wolves; the statistics, honours and appraisals paint a perfect picture.

This would be one of the biggest moments in the club’s history.

AND in other news, Bye-bye Neto: Wolves must sign “complete” £140k-p/w gem whose “shot is incredible”…