Tottenham are ready to let Heurelho Gomes and Carlo Cudicini leave the club on loan, Mirror Football state.
The White Hart Lane outfit secured a transfer deadline day deal for France international stopper Hugo Lloris, who will now battle Brad Friedel for the No.1 jersey at the north London club.
The ex-Lyon man’s signature leaves Andre Villas-Boas’ side with too many goalkeepers in their squad, and Gomes and Cudicini will be allowed to pursue first-team football elsewhere, most likely at a Championship club.
Neither Gomes or Cudicini have made appearances for Tottenham in quite some time and the pair are believed to not be part of the club’s future plans.
The Championship window for loaning players opens soon, and Villas-Boas is thought to be keen for the pair to leave temporarily with an eye on a permanent sale when the January transfer window opens at the turn of the year.
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Liverpool produced the perfect end to their potent Premier League campaign on Sunday, demolishing Brighton 4-0 at Anfield. It means the Reds didn’t lost a top flight home game throughout 2017/18 and finished their Premier League bid with an impressive 84 goals scored, a return only beaten by champions Manchester City.
Following Sunday’s big victory, we asked Liverpool fans to issue player ratings for each of those involved in the resounding 4-0 win. Here’s a rundown of the players who impressed Reds supporters the most, picking up the highest average scores…
Virgil van Dijk – 7.7/10: Brighton didn’t give the Reds too much to do defensively but you have to wonder if Liverpool would have made much harder work of that game during the first half of the season, when they didn’t have Virgil van Dijk at the heart of the backline. The Dutchman won a whopping nine aerial duels and completed 90% of his passes.
Roberto Firmino – 7.7/10: The unsung hero of Liverpool’s ferocious front three, Firmino’s contributions in terms of goals, chance creation, movement and pressing high have been crucial to Liverpool’s season. Sunday was a somewhat quiet outing by the Brazilian’s usual standards but he still took five efforts at goal.
Andrew Robertson – 7.9/10: The Scotland international has been one of the real success stories of the season on Merseyside, and he fittingly ended it with a goal and assist against the Seagulls. Robertson also completed 92% of his passes and won three headers the cap off a fine debut season with the Reds.
View the results in full below…
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Arsenal director Lord Harris has revealed that manager Arsene Wenger is keen on signing a world-class striker and is prepared to break the current £42million club record fee they used for Mesut Ozil last summer, Daily Mail reports.
The Gunners have been heavily linked with a move for a centre-forward the past few months, with the likes of Real Madrid star Karim Benzema and Borussia Dortmund ace Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang speculated to be targets.
And a deal could be in the works after Arsenal director Harris claimed that there is over £200million currently in the club bank, and that Wenger will be allowed to splash £50million in the transfer market.
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“Money was tight when we moved to the Emirates but it’s a lot freer now,” he said.
“We could go into the market and probably buy any player in the world, apart from half a dozen who are un-buyable. In the accounts, there’s over £200million in the bank.
“You could say to Arsene we’ve got no money and he wouldn’t worry, or you could give him £100m and he might not spend it.
“We get a list of the players that Wenger wants.
“‘On the list is a centre forward, but I’m not going to tell you who he is. I think he wants to come.
“It basically comes down to whether the other team can find a superstar to replace him. We could go into the market and probably buy any player in the world, apart from half a dozen who are unbuyable.
“At the moment there are no plans to sign anyone, unless he finds a real superstar like Mesut Ozil or Alexis Sanchez. He’s looking for one of those but there aren’t many available.
“We would back him to break the club’s transfer record. Apart from Messi and Ronaldo, he could have any player. We will probably have to break the club record to get the man he wants.”
Harris added that Wenger was already keen on Cech – their only major summer signing – last year and that he is glad Sterling went to Manchester City rather than arriving at the Emirates.
“Chelsea couldn’t sell him because they didn’t know how Courtois was going to settle in,” he added.
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“[Raheem] Sterling is a very, very good player but I’m very pleased Arsenal didn’t sign him. He’s got a lot to learn. They were looking at him and the way he treated Liverpool wasn’t good.”
Wenger, 65, has managed Arsenal since 1996, winning three Premier League titles and six FA Cups during his tenure.
I don’t believe a player like Luis Suarez owes any club anything, no matter how big they are. There’s no hidden meaning behind it, it’s just the damning nature of the game today.
It is, more often than not, harder to replace a player like Suarez than it is for the player himself to find an equally good or better club. But for everything that is happening this summer in the Suarez saga, is it really unexpected or shocking?
Liverpool, surely, would like to think that they’re owed something back for all the times they stood by the Uruguayan, often risking their own reputation in order to maintain a working relationship with their biggest asset. But that’s not how football works, and it would be naïve to think otherwise. Beyond these two-and-a-half years Suarez has spent at Anfield, there is nothing linking him to the club. No emotional bond, no reason to extend his stay in spite of a lack of Champions League football or trophies; he is far from a Francesco Totti or even Steven Gerrard.
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And even so, can we really say Suarez hasn’t given anything back to Liverpool? He’s a little (or a lot) like Carlos Tevez: a whole lot of nonsense off the pitch, but nothing but 100 per cent on it. Suarez rarely misses a beat when he takes to the field. There was a strong claim for him to be awarded Player of the Year last season. Some of his goals, the Newcastle effort springs to mind, were absolutely magnificent. He’s far from coasted along since arriving in 2011. Considering what Liverpool paid Ajax for his services, they’ve more than got a healthy return.
I’m in no way buying into the player’s claim that he wants to escape England because of the media. The thing about players like Suarez is that they have a level of resolve whereby they can brush off such harsh criticism and continue to perform at the highest level. It would be unkind to say that he doesn’t feel the effects of the continued storm of hate, but his reputation, and the media’s ability to target him, isn’t something he’s going to be rid of anytime soon. If he thinks the media in England are a handful, he’s in for a rude awakening in Spain.
For Suarez, it’s motivation to succeed. He understands, like most do, that Liverpool are in a transition, and not the luxury kind where they’re armed with blank cheques and the promise of immediate and unparalleled wealth and trophies. All of Liverpool’s building this year is to see rewards in the form of trophies a few years down the line. It’s the way most sporting clubs do it and there’s nothing wrong with Liverpool’s admirable approach. But the player himself knows that there is an alternate option, and for that the whole notion of loyalty goes out the window. Maybe labelling athletes as mercenaries is too harsh, but football isn’t the only realm where athletes move on quickly for one reason or another. The modern makeup of sports means it’s a foolish for supporters to create strong bonds with players.
We’ve been down this road before in previous years, with Fernando Torres, Robin van Persie, Wayne Rooney, and plenty of others switching allegiances to those who are perceived to be the enemy. Real Madrid and Barcelona, arguably the biggest football rivalry in Europe, are no strangers to it. Far be it from me to say Liverpool supporters can’t conjure up all the hate and scorn they believe Suarez is deserving of, but to suggest that the player owes Liverpool a degree of loyalty is to stubbornly fly in the face of what is the norm in modern football.
For Liverpool, the best thing that can happen for them is to receive a good fee for him – £60 million or thereabouts is unrealistic considering the circumstances – and move on. Leaving the Suarez saga hanging over them for another year and a player who doesn’t really want to be at Anfield is far too damaging and risky with so many young players now looking to help guide the club forward.
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According to The Manchester Evening News, Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho has made Juventus left-back his number one target this summer.
What’s the story?
Jose Mourinho is keen to clear out the dead wood from his squad and strengthen at the back in this summer, as he aims to challenge Manchester City for the Premier League title next season.
Luke Shaw, Matteo Darmian and Daley Blind are among the defenders expected to leave Old Trafford during the close season. All three players have failed to establish themselves at left-back, with Ashley Young filling in for most the season.
While Young has acquitted himself extremely well, playing his way into the England squad, Mourinho will be looking to sign an established left-back this summer and the Portuguese manager has prioritised signing Brazilian star Sandro as a replacement for left-back Shaw.
Transfermarkt value the Brazillian at £45million.
Why Luke Shaw never worked out?
Luke Shaw joined Man United from Southampton for £27m in 2014, making him one of the world’s most expensive teenagers. He never fulfilled the potential that made Man United fork out such a large sum.
He has had a torrid time with injuries, the worst of which was a broken leg in a 2015 Europa League against PSV Eindhoven.
He spent almost a year on the sidelines and has struggled to reach his full potential since.
In fairness, Mourinho never gave him a consistent run in the team. However, when he did play he never looked solid. He looked slow, lethargic and out of shape.
Only the player and manager know what really went wrong but it is clear the Shaw did not do enough in training or in games to fulfil is potential. Whether it was an attitude problem or confidence issue it is a shame for both Shaw and Man United that it never worked out.
Alex Sandro would solve Man United’s left back conundrum
Man United will most likely cut their losses and sell Shaw this summer. In Alex Sandro, they will be signing a left back who has been an integral part of Juve’s solid defence. Despite being in an out of the team this team, in 2016/17, Sandro was part of a defence that did not concede a goal until the semi-finals of the Champions League.
Sandro created more chances (50 to 44), completed more dribbles (49 to 43), made more interceptions (57 to 40) and won more duels (207 to 122) than fellow Brazillian Marcelo last year, despite playing three fewer league games.
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He is the archetypal modern fullback – dangerous going forward and solid defensively. He can not only play as a full-back but also as a left wing-back.
If Man United sell Darmain, Blind and Shaw, they might be able to balance the books. In reality £45 million for a player is nothing in today’s market and Mourinho is right to make the Brazillian his number one target this summer.
Before last week’s point at home to West Brom, Newcastle looked in big trouble. Unsure of where the next point was going to come from, every game looked to be fraught with danger, and every game looked like bringing them a game closer to relegation.
It’s a club with real problems, and you can see the depth of feeling around the club – the fans, the players, the coaching staff – most are passionate about the club and frustration at the position they find themselves in is inevitable.
And now, with two games of the season left to play, Newcastle are close to survival. They’re two points clear of Hull with two games to play, and Hull have two horrible games left to play – Tottenham and Manchester United. Meanwhile Newcastle have games against West Ham and QPR to negotiate. Two teams with nothing to play for.
So Newcastle look fairly safe. But they only look safe almost by default. They look safe because Hull look doomed.
Last week, it was probably expected that Hull would beat Burnley at home, and a win for them would have put Newcastle into the relegation zone – they would have been in huge trouble.
But you have to give some credit to the team – they came back from a goal down to get something out of a game against West Brom. They showed at least some heart, some character and some pride in the shirt they were playing in and managed to get what could turn out to be a vital point. It might just be the point that keeps them in the league this season.
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Sometimes the best thing that can happen is disaster. Not all-out catastrophe, but disaster that could have been much worse.
It’s the principle of once bitten twice shy. If something bad happens, you can learn from it and stop it from happening again. The problem is that you have to survive the misfortune in the first place.
For Newcastle, their terrible form of late should send warning bells ringing for next season. They need to learn from their mistakes and stop it from happening again.
First-off they need to stay up. But beyond that, let’s hope that Mike Ashley wakes up and realises that the club deserves better. They need a manager that plays football in the right way and tries to win trophies. Put simply, Newcastle need a manager who will get the team to mirror the passion from the stands. John Carver said that if the players were as passionate as he was, there’d be no problem. In a way he’s right, passion is what’s needed. But what he and the ownership need to realise is that the manager is the man who gets the team to play – it’s the manager who transfers that passion to the players. And in this respect Carver has failed.
No one is hopeful that the next manager into Newcastle will be anything other than a puppet for Ashley and his business. But what I do hope is that Ashley heeds the warning from this season.
In football, business and pleasure should go hand in hand. The best-run clubs should be the most successful. If Ashley wanted to treat Newcastle like a business, then he’d want it to be successful. A Newcastle with a strong squad, huge stadium and a passionate fanbase should be a force in Europe, never mind England. Surely that would grow his businesses better than a club that he keeps locked in the mid table year after year?
This season should be the near-miss disaster that sparks Ashley into action. Action to bring in a good manager and convince him that the ownership will back him to play good football and win trophies.
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But somehow I fear that 17th place on goal difference is the only objective that the owner will ever want for his club. If Newcastle stay up, it’ll be because Hull are worse. If that’s fine for Ashley then not only is he a terrible owner, but he’s missing a business trick too.
Surely this is the season to spark a change? If you can’t appeal to his sense of passion for the club, his sense of pride at being the owner, his sense of nobility to do the right thing, then you should at least be able to appeal to his wallet – make Newcastle strong again and he’ll make more money than he does right now.
Manager Chris Hughton admits his side need to forget the defeat to Aston Villa in order to make a final push for survival.
The Canaries suffered a 2-1 defeat at Carrow Road on Saturday as a late Gabriel Agbonlahor strike secured maximum points for Villa.
Norwich are now just three points clear of the drop zone with two games remaining, against West Brom (h) and Manchester City (a).
Hughton admits the defeat to Villa came as a major disappointment and the Norwich boss is desperate for his side to bounce back when the Baggies visit on Sunday.
“It is hurting at the moment and there won’t be much sleep over the next day or so, but we have to bounce back,” said Hughton. “We are all in the same boat as managers. We of course have sleepless nights over results and the team you are going to pick and your form. Unfortunately it is part and parcel of the game.
“I go through all the torments. The next couple of days are not going to be particularly good days for me, and I wouldn’t expect it to be for any of the players.
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“But we have to bounce back and the only way to put ourselves in a position to get a result on Sunday is to make sure that we clear this one as quickly as we can.”
Philippe Coutinho dominated Liverpool’s transfer window last summer due to the will-he-won’t-he leave saga.
In the end, the Brazilian got his wish to join Barcelona in January, and now attention has switched to the future of Emre Can.
The Germany international’s current contract expires at the end of the season and he is yet to sign fresh terms.
Liverpool fans have gone back and forth with their views on Can’s situation, but the media have already begun suggesting that the Merseyside outfit are hunting for replacements.
According to the Daily Star, Napoli midfielder Jorginho is one of Jurgen Klopp’s top targets for the summer window.
The report, which was published in March, claimed that the Reds hope to seal a deal for around £25m, but they face competition from Manchester United and Manchester City.
With the transfer window just a matter of months away from opening, rumours are beginning to do the rounds.
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Some eagle-eyed Liverpool fans recently spotted on Instagram that Jorginho had liked a post from lfcvids8 claiming that the midfielder would be a good addition to Klopp’s team.
Well this is interesting (look who liked it). from r/LiverpoolFC
Liverpool fans have now had their say.
Comment from discussion Well this is interesting (look who liked it)..Comment from discussion Well this is interesting (look who liked it)..Comment from discussion Well this is interesting (look who liked it)..Comment from discussion Well this is interesting (look who liked it)..Comment from discussion Well this is interesting (look who liked it)..Comment from discussion Well this is interesting (look who liked it)..Comment from discussion Well this is interesting (look who liked it)..Comment from discussion Well this is interesting (look who liked it)..Comment from discussion Well this is interesting (look who liked it)..Comment from discussion Well this is interesting (look who liked it)..Comment from discussion Well this is interesting (look who liked it)..Comment from discussion Well this is interesting (look who liked it)..
Whether it be domestically with Arsenal, or on the international scene with Roy Hodgson’s Three Lions, Theo Walcott has seemingly always been a name guaranteed to split public opinion within the English footballing community.
It seems a complete age ago when the former Southampton man struck three goals past Croatia all the way back in 2008 – an achievement that incidentally sees the Gunners no. 14 remain the youngest England player to score a hat-trick at the tender age of 19-years-old. Nowadays though, things just haven’t quite been the same for Arsenal’s once priceless asset.
The England striker is now at the most testing crossroads his career has yet faced with both club and country. Should the 26-year-old be a definite first team starter for Arsene Wenger next season, could he be played as a traditional out-in-out striker rather than a hybrid-type winger, and will Roy Hodgson even see fit to give the quick-footed star a ring next time his England squad selection is due?
Many questions seemingly remain present when it comes to the player in question, yet one thing should nevertheless remain clear – Theo Walcott must not become a forgotten man any time soon, either with his national team, or closer to home at the Emirates.
On his day he is simply too good a player for his respective managers to ignore. Walcott has a turn of pace that is scarcely matched by anyone in the game at the moment, even if the England striker is still yet to put his true talents on full display this season. The highly coveted no. 14 is more often than not able to link up effectively with his teammates at Arsenal, can be a real nuisance for defenders with his determination in the final third, and normally proves a strong force on the counter-attack with his lightening quick pace and keen eye for goal.
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The much talked about 26-year-old can also add that something special to his team when circumstances allow. Although the likes of Harry Kane, Danny Welbeck and Daniel Sturridge will likely be filling the striking positions for England in the near future, neither of the aforementioned names share the same set of match-winning abilities that used to be oh so present in the Arsenal man just a few seasons ago.
Yes, 2014/15 has hardly been a vintage year for the former Saints graduate to remember, but as much of that has been down to the player’s lengthy injury spell on the side-lines this season, it would be unfair to cast judgement on Theo Walcott’s overall game based on this campaign alone. Fitness has obviously been a worry, yet things should definitely start looking brighter for the Gunners when their star striker finally gets back in shape.
Having said that tough, there are still those out there who simply fail to rate the Arsenal forward and the potential impact Walcott could have for England in Euro 2016. His critics suggest that the striker often drifts out of important matches and all too often fails to make a meaningful impact for his team. The Gunners man has also been described as a headless chicken at times – as although the player himself certainly seems to know where the goal is – Walcott has on occasion failed to deliver the goods when he has had to think about the play rather than acting on instinct alone.
That suggests that whilst Arsene Wenger has almost always utilized the England forward out on the flanks for his undeniably quick turn of pace and speed across the pitch, Theo Walcott would ultimately serve his manager better by playing as an out-in-out striker. He simply has all the necessary qualities to make it in such a position, and wouldn’t have his weaknesses highlighted so much when placed away from the isolation of the wing.
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As teams in Europe invariably opt against a traditional 4-4-2 formation these days however, perhaps the once un-droppable front-man is rapidly on the verge of fading away with every passing season. Without a strike partner up top for the Arsenal talent to work with, the impact he has on the pitch simply can’t reach its full potential.
It would therefore be a great shame if such an eventuality did in-fact take place – but as Theo Walcott still goes down as one of the most effective and potentially exciting England players currently plying their trade in the Premier League at the moment – his name and future role on the international scene should definitely not be forgotten any time soon.
Manchester City have been given a boost after Yaya Toure declared himself fit after he missed the mid-week win against West Brom. Costel Pantilimon is expected to start in goal ahead of Joe Hart, while Robert Mancini could go with Edin Dzeko in attack.
Roberto Martinez has a big decision to make regarding his Wigan side after they lost at home to Swansea on Tuesday. Antolin Alcaraz (hamstring) isn’t fully fit but could be risked ahead of captain Gary Caldwell. Ali Al-Habsi should step in for Joel Robles between the posts after playing in the semi-final.
Roberto Mancini pre-game…“It’s important for the mentality and the attitude that we win tomorrow. It’s important that you win something special every year. It’s better to win the League or Champions League but we need to work more.”
Roberto Martinez pre-game…”Manchester City rested eight players on Tuesday. We couldn’t do that because we are in the most crucial stage of our season and we still will be after the final. If you ask me, this is not the right time. Traditionally the FA Cup final has always been the last game of the season, and that makes sense.”
Match Statistic: Wigan, currently 18th in the Premier League, would be the lowest-ranked side to win the FA Cup since West Ham in 1980.
Prediction: Manchester City 2-0 Wigan Athletic
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