By all accounts, Newcastle United captain Jamaal Lascelles is a wanted man this summer.
Indeed, if recent reports are to be believed, Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur and Everton are all interested in signing the centre-back ahead of the 2018-19 campaign.
Lascelles was certainly impressive at St James’ Park last season, and he can count himself unfortunate to have missed out on a spot in the England squad for the 2018 World Cup.
According to the London Evening Standard, it might well cost interested clubs as much as £45m to land Lascelles in this summer’s transfer window.
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Newcastle are desperate to keep hold of their captain this summer, but it is going to prove difficult to hold off the interest if the likes of Chelsea, Tottenham and Everton decide to start putting serious offers on the table.
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That said, the Newcastle supporters are confident that Lascelles will still be with the club entering the 2017-18 campaign.
Indeed, the fans have been reacting to the latest developments on social media, and a selection of the Twitter reaction can be seen below:
Two Premier League games in charge, two clean sheets and four points gained – it’s been a near-perfect start for Paul Lambert at the Bet365 Stadium despite the negativity Stoke City’s decision to appoint the former Aston Villa gaffer initially received.
And yet, we probably shouldn’t be all that surprised. Mark Hughes left behind a decent side but one that – for various reasons including formation changes and injury problems – lost all sense of structure and defensive resilience during the Welshman’s final half-season in charge. By the time Lambert was preparing for his first game as Stoke boss, the Potters had conceded 50 goals in just 23 games.
But there has been an obvious balance and solidity to the team under the Scot and the defenders who looked so ropy a few weeks ago are now putting in immense performances, clearly feeling more confident and secure in Lambert’s better-organised set-up.
That particularly rings true with Ryan Shawcross. Criticisms of the Englishman being past it are now struggling to stack up against the statistics; the scoreless draw with Watford last night saw Shawcross win eleven aerial duels, complete 15 clearances and protect Jack Butland’s goal with two vital blocks.
Stoke are steadily sneaking away from the relegation zone, but Lambert hasn’t worked miracles here. He’s simplified Shawcross’s game, allowing him to focus on what he does best – essentially, put his body on the line to protect his own box – and the 30-year-old is starting to look like a real asset for the Potters once again. The same applies to centre-back partner Kurt Zouma.
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Tottenham head into their self inflicted mini FA Cup break riding high, going great guns under new man Tim Sherwood and understandably buoyed by their convincing 4-0 Premier League demolition of Newcastle on Wednesday night. Next up is a tricky trip to Ukraine in the first of a two-legged Europa League tie with Dnipro, a club that for many Spurs fans represent something of a relative unknown.
Yet come Thursday week Spurs fans will be welcoming back one of their own to White Hart Lane, in the form of one time manager Juande Ramos. But don’t expect street parties and a marching band, because as many of us know the end of the Ramos era was one that left the club with a now infamous 2 points from 8 games. Things may not have worked out in the end for Ramos and Spurs, but his League Cup triumph in 2008 still makes him the most successful Spurs manager in the last couple of decades and surely a man well placed to give his view on the club.
His recent interview with the Daily Mail proved illuminating; with a lot of the home truths simply reaffirming many of the things fans would have surmised about the club already. In fact many of the things he says chime well with a set of fans that remain unconvinced by the boardroom level leadership, a club that forces fans to make huge personal investments in their club but aren’t willing to match the ambition themselves. Ramos was quick to highlight this economic driven approach when discussing the clubs recent approach to transfers:
‘Spurs sold Gareth Bale in the summer and with the €100million they have signed five or six players. They will see if any of those players take off and then maybe sell them on and reinvest: that’s the business plan,’ said Ramos at the Ukraine side’s winter training camp in Alicante.’
‘It works well but you have to ask the question: what are you trying to achieve? Are you trying to win money or titles? The sporting side is the priority at Manchester United, Manchester City and Chelsea. City sign Jesus Navas, Alvaro Negredo. They don’t look at the age of the player, they look at the performances. Spurs look at the age, thinking of a future sale.’
‘I advised them to sign Luka Modric. He spent a couple of years developing and started performing well and they sold him.’
Spurs under Levy continue to be a finishing school for players; and it is no wonder that players continue to view the club as a stepping stone to better things. Players are identified with a view to a future sale; even with someone like Erik Lamela last summer there was a clear consideration for his long term potential. How can you ever expect to do battle with the Europe’s best when you continuously shirk footballing success for turning a profit? In terms of financial prudence Spurs are up there with the best, but football should be so much more than about balance sheets, in the end it is the fans that matter and at Spurs this has seemingly long been forgotten.
In effect Spurs under Levy are trying to buy success on the cheap, and it just doesn’t work. Ramos can be written off as a bitter failure as much as you like, but the trend has continued and will do so until something emphatically changes. There have been countless times when Spurs have genuinely been on the cusp of something great, only to find themselves returning to old habits and laying their faith in someone like Darren Bent. Spurs are a business, and the football club is simple forming the frontispiece to Levy’s money-spinning exploits, it is clear why Spurs cannot progress:
Why aren’t Spurs going to win the league? Because they are always a small step below those three or four teams. Economically it works well but in sporting terms it needs a slight tuning. What are you chasing? Titles or economic success?’
‘Then you don’t sack the manager for not always being in the top four,’ he said
For all the money that they have at their disposal, Levy continues to try to buy success on the cheap. Last summer wasn’t even a change in tact, the club broke even on transfers and actually ended up cutting its wage bill, the ambition just isn’t there. The thing that makes it even worse is the fact that Levy wont even take the responsibility, he continues to swerve the issue by sacking manager after manager. You can put a couple of failures down to managerial incompetence, but all of them? Given all this it isn’t really a surprise that Spurs are the great underachievers.
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Ramos may not get the cheers he perhaps deserves when he returns to Spurs, but what he will provide is a stark reminder to fans of the continued lack of ambition at the club.
Joe Hart has stated that Wayne Rooney should be handed the England captaincy for the upcoming World Cup qualifier against San Marino on Friday.
With Steven Gerrard suspended and Frank Lampard an injury worry, Roy Hodgson will have to pick a new skipper to lead the Three Lions.
The Manchester City goalkeeper has been touted as a potential replacement, but feels that Rooney is next in line for the armband.
“I’ve not thought about it at all. How the captain is chosen is the manager’s decision. I’ve got a big responsibility to keep my place in the team for club and country,” Hart told reporters, published by Sky Sports.
“If I do get the nod, I’ll try and give as much as I can in terms of helping the team. But I think it’s between Wayne Rooney and Wayne Rooney if we are going to go on experience and how captains have been chosen in the past.
“It’s nice people say nice things but things are easily said. In goal, you can be the worst in the world two days later if you are on television and something mad happens in the game.
“You’ve got to try and take the rough with the smooth. It was a special honour for some special people to say some nice things but we move on. You’ve got to remain level-headed,” he concluded.
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Liverpool will be licking their wounds after failing to beat Real Madrid in the Champions League final, but attention will soon turn to transfers.
Pundit and former Reds striker Stan Collymore has given some advice to the club in his column for The Mirror, and Tottenham Hotspur fans find it hilarious.
The 47-year-old has suggested that Liverpool should offer £150m to sign Spurs trio Christian Eriksen, Dele Alli and Toby Alderweireld.
The group have been crucial members of Mauricio Pochettino’s team, so it would be a huge shock if chairman Daniel Levy would even entertain selling.
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The only one out of the three that Spurs could allow to move on this summer is Alderweireld, who is yet to sign a new contract.
Even so, given how stubborn Levy is, the amount of £150m would likely be far too low for the businessman to consider.
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Tottenham supporters are not the biggest fans of Liverpool following Harry Kane and Mohamed Salah’s tussle for the Golden Boot, which eventually fell in favour of the latter.
So, when they read Collymore’s comments, they could not help but laugh.
Jonjo Shelvey can sometimes be an influential figure on the pitch, but other times the Newcastle United midfielder lets anger get the better of him.
The former Liverpool player produced some creative moments on the pitch during this afternoon’s Premier League 1-1 draw with Swansea City.
However, for spells of the game, Shelvey lacked influence and was substituted by manager Rafael Benitez with eight minutes of normal time left on the clock.
In response to getting replaced by Mikel Merino, the English midfielder appeared to bat away Benitez’s offer of a handshake.
After the match, the manager played down the incident, claiming that it is understandable when footballers are frustrated to be substituted.
Shelvey has been at the centre of rumours that he could be on his way out of Newcastle before the transfer window closes at the end of the month.
According to The Express, West Ham United are keen on signing the midfielder in a deal worth around £12m.
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After this latest incident involving Shelvey, some fans are ready to say goodbye.
The landscape of this Premier League season has changed, and it will continue to do so until the end of this month’s transfer window.
Arsenal, currently in first, look to hold with what they have and hope for the best. Theo Walcott is out for the rest of the season, but Arsene Wenger is boosted by the returns of Lukas Podolski and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain. Pivotal figures in Aaron Ramsey and Mikel Arteta are also on their way back; Nicklas Bendtner, regardless of his detractors, is a useful member of the squad. But with Wenger continuously speaking out against the opening of the market midway through the season, he may cost Arsenal the title if he chooses not to act.
There is chopping and changing with what Arsenal need. In December, even after the result at Manchester City, Arsenal looked good value for the title. They had managed to negotiate their way through the Champions League group stages and past the wealth of City and Chelsea to the top of the league table. They’d done that without two vital scoring components in Podolski and Walcott. With those two back, it looked to be a boost for Wenger’s side’s charge on the league title.
But needs change, and not just because of what happens within your own squad.
Chelsea have strengthened. The sale of Juan Mata won’t be felt within Jose Mourinho’s team. What they really needed was to address the centre of midfield, and they’ve done that now with the re-signing of Nemanja Matic from Benfica. We can take the easy route of criticising Chelsea’s transfer policy, but in terms of what they needed at this time, Matic is an excellent buy. Chelsea have just thrown another log onto their own fire, fuelling their push to the summit of the league table.
Manchester United, though not a direct player in the title race, will have a say in the outcome in May. Their capture of Juan Mata, which at time of writing is yet to be made official, will be seen as a phenomenal boost to their hopes of finishing fourth. With Wayne Rooney and Robin van Persie returning in the near future, that game at the Emirates on February 12th has been made that much more difficult with the involvement of Mata.
Chelsea and United are fortunate that the exact players they needed have become available at this point of the season, though many have questioned United’s need for Mata. Arsenal need a striker who is either better than what they have now in terms of out-and-out goal scoring, or a good enough player who will help them over the line and get them to the summer window.
Mirko Vucinic, a good short-term option, looks to be off the table for now. Juventus want a permanent deal but Arsenal are only interested in a loan. Alvaro Morata, Dimitar Berbatov and one or two others around Europe have been touted, but the deal proposed by one party doesn’t suit the other. Arsenal would like to have Morata on loan; Real Madrid are reluctant to let him leave. Even wide players, with Fiorentina’s Juan Cuadrado linked in the recent past, looks to be a difficult area of the market. The Fiorentina winger would be a good addition at Arsenal, but having just lost Giuseppe Rossi to injury, the Serie A side understandably won’t want to lose key players in the market.
Is this an excuse for Arsenal? Yes and no. You can understand the situation the club are in, but at the same time you wonder if the club themselves understand the position they’re in at this stage.
There are players around Europe who don’t hold the same profile as Mario Mandzukic or Luis Suarez who would nevertheless be a fantastic boost to Arsenal’s title ambitions. They may not initially be the first or second choice, but in situations like this, where others are actively strengthening, compromises need to be made.
But it’s not just the addition of an extra player that will help on the pitch, it’s what they will do for the mentality of those already at the club.
United’s players, those down on confidence, will be boosted by Mata’s arrival. You’d struggle to imagine many of them not wanting to raise their game with the Spaniard in the red of Manchester United. Arsenal need the same. At times important players have looked fatigued, in need of a helping hand and a catalyst to help them find that extra 10 per cent. It can’t be dismissed the importance a new arrival can have in a season like this.
To borrow a phrase from Wenger, Sergio Aguero is like a new signing for Manchester City. And if Manuel Pellegrini decides to include Stevan Jovetic for the remainder of the season, the Montenegrin will also have a say in the title race.
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Arsenal, as good as they’ve been as a unit, could do with an injection of quality like that. Maybe not a £30 million player, but someone who can help to make a difference.
The league season is changing. It’s even less straightforward than it was before. A month ago it seemed OK for Arsenal to let this month go by without any action. Now, amidst the transfer business of others, a lack of action just might cost Arsenal the title.
Click below to see Arsenal, Fulham and Everton in action this weekend!
Newcastle United defender Steven Taylor has claimed the Toon Army deserved their luck after scrapping to a 2-2 draw at Goodison Park.
United were overwhelmed in the first half but fought back in the second to earn a point, but were twice the lucky recipients of officiating errors. Marouane Fellaini wrongly saw an effort chalked off as offside, while Victor Anichebe saw an attempt not given that had clearly crossed the line.
Taylor told the club’s official website, “We’ve had a look at it and it does look like it was past the line so we got lucky.
“But sometimes you need that. For Newcastle United, a few years ago we wouldn’t have got that. We’ve got players who work hard day in, day out, players who want to get into the team and put pressure onto each other.
“That’s what we need and I think today was just a great example of what a hard team performance is.”
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The future looks very bright for Liverpool under manager Jurgen Klopp, but for some of the club’s academy starlets, they face a battle to break into the first team.The German coach has always been open to giving young talent a chance, but given the prolific form of Mohamed Salah, Roberto Firmino and Sadio Mane, any forward player will find it difficult to win a place.That could have been part of Yan Dhanda’s thinking when he, according to Goal.com journalist Neil Jones, rejected a new contract at Anfield.
It is believed that the 19-year-old will join recently-relegated Swansea City when his current deal expires this summer.
The Birmingham-born attacker has been part of Liverpool’s academy since 2013 when he moved from West Bromwich Albion.
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His pathway to the first team was never going to be an easy one, but Reds fans think that the club has missed a trick by not tying down youngsters to longer deals and then agreeing buyback clauses, much like Chelsea do.
Other supporters, though, understand Dhanda’s desire to move on.
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Liverpool may not be challenging for the Premier League title this season, but at the moment Jurgen Klopp’s men are in positive form.
The Reds are unbeaten in their last 13 top-flight games, which has left them fourth in the table, just three points adrift of second-placed Manchester United.
Manchester City are the runaway leaders with a 15-point advantage, but Liverpool can still have a successful charge in the second half of the season as they look to cement a top-four spot.
The so-called ‘Fab Four’ are largely responsible for the team’s current form.
The quartet of Philippe Coutinho, Sadio Mane, Roberto Firmino and Mohamed Salah have left opposing teams in their wake at stages this season.
So far, they have scored 59 goals between them in all competitions, but it is summer signing Salah who has been stealing the headlines.
The Egyptian international has netted 23 goals so far in the campaign and he was recently awarded with the African Player of the Year award.
Salah’s teammate Mane was also in contention for the gong, as was Borussia Dortmund hitman Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.
Eyes would have been on the Liverpool pair due to speculation relating to off-the-pitch matters.
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The Mirror reports that rumours were rumbling that Salah and Mane had fallen out behind the scenes, but the latter has denied such claims, according to the newspaper.
“We’re on the same team and we’re happy to be on the same team. We are happy to play together. We always enjoy to play alongside [each other]. We are looking forward.”