All posts by n8rngtd.top

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Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Harry Winks is confident he will be fit to play in the Champions League final, per the London Evening Standard.

What’s the word?

Winks has been out since the beginning of April and has not played since the quarter-final first leg win over Manchester City.

However, the report claims that, having undergone groin surgery, the England international is positive about his chances of featuring against Liverpool in Madrid on June 1.

It remains to be seen, of course, if Mauricio Pochettino will throw the 23-year-old back into the fray; the Argentine deployed Victor Wanyama alongside Moussa Sissoko in the second leg win against Ajax but the Kenya international was substituted at half-time to make way for striker Fernando Llorente.

Winks has been a key member of Spurs’ squad this campaign, making a total of 40 appearances in all competitions prior to his injury woes.

He has also won three caps for England and was included in Gareth Southgate’s squad for the Nations League finals; the Three Lions will take on the Netherlands in the semi-final less than a week after Spurs’ clash with the Reds.

A major boost

Spurs have been without a deep-lying midfield orchestrator in recent weeks and it has shown.

Wanyama was clearly out of his depth against Ajax, while Eric Dier has repeatedly struggled this season.

Having the option to partner Winks with Sissoko against Liverpool will be music to Pochettino’s ears, then, with the Frenchman offering explosiveness and brilliant ball-carrying abilities, and his team-mate giving both subtlety and control.

It also gives Pochettino the option to change up his formation; as Winks is fit he can use a diamond, with Dier or Wanyama in a defensive midfield role, or potentially push into a 4-2-3-1, looking to overload Liverpool’s backline.

One thing is for sure: With Winks in the team, Spurs’ chances of victory certainly increase.

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According to The Daily Mail, Southampton are keen on LASK Linz’s Thomas Goiginger, who has been in sensational form over in Austria this season. The 26-year-old has been on Ralph Hasenhuttl’s radar since January and the Saints boss could now swoop to bring his countrymen across the channel in what would surely be a dream move to the Premier League.

The winger, who is capable of playing on either flank, chalked up 14 goals and 17 assists in 40 appearances across all competitions in 2018/19 – an output that could make him a frugal buy for many clubs at just £5m.

With Moi Elyounoussi failing to impress at St Mary’s Stadium, it’s clear that the Saints need some more options out wide – player of the year Nathan Redmond can’t do it all by himself, try as he might.

Hasenhuttl is surely looking to guide his squad into the top half next season and adding some impetus up front in his high-tempo system would go a long way in realising those ambitions, but is speedy Goiginger the right man for the job? Football FanCast’s writers give their verdicts below…

Jack Saville

“At £5 million he’s well worth a punt. With an exceptional record in Austria this season, he’s the type of player who could follow in Sadio Mane’s footsteps in making the move to the Premier League. His lack of experience in one of Europe’s elite leagues is a natural concern for Saints supporters, but Ralph Hasenhuttl has proved himself as an excellent man-manager and his expertise could help Goiginger become one of the bargains of the summer window.”

A Southampton fan shares his most gutting moment of the last 10 years supporting the Saints in the video below…

Harry Sherlock

“This is definitely a punt but why not? At £5m it’s a low-risk move and, as long as further reinforcements are brought in during the summer, it feels like it’s worth it. Ralph Hasenhuttl and his scouts will have done their due diligence and it could well pay off; one only needs to cast their minds back to other unheralded arrivals in the top-flight, such as Michu at Swansea City, to see there is value in looking beyond the obvious.”

Billy Meyers

“There is so little risk in this signing that it would be foolish not to do it. The stats that Goiginger has recorded are eye-catching to say the least, and it isn’t like he’s performing in a farmer’s league by any means; some serious talent has come out of Austria in the past, such as Liverpool pair Naby Keita and Sadio Mane. This could well turn out to be a masterstroke of a find by Southampton if they get it over the line.”

West Ham United certainly appear to be favouring experience in the transfer window this summer.

Experience is not necessarily a bad thing, however, it can’t help but feel as though that particular quality in a player is being looked at rather more seriously than ambition with some of their reported targets.

David Martin (South London Press), Fernando Llorente (The Sun) and Fabian Delph (Football Insider) have all recently been linked with moves to the London Stadium.

All three men are approaching the stages of their career where serious questions must be asked about what they can actually offer the club in the long-term future.

Now, we’re not saying that they would be bad signings, in fact, they might actually be sensible ones for Manuel Pellegrini’s side as they could fill in holes within his squad and provide them with a little lift.

However, surely the question that will be on everyone’s minds is regarding the ambitions of the club? Signing the likes of Martin, Llorente and Delph do not really signify their intent.

When you compare the aforementioned trio to the likes of Felipe Anderson, Issa Diop and Andriy Yarmolenko, this summer looks set to pale in comparison to the exciting one they had last year.

Obviously, we have only just entered the transfer market and a number of names are going to be churned out of the rumour mill right up until Deadline Day.

However, if West Ham want to build on their solid campaign and challenge for European football next season, the club are going to have to be more ambitious with their recruitment.

As we mentioned, experienced footballers are good but that does not always mean it is the right way forward for clubs.

West Ham fans, what do you make of the club’s rumoured transfer targets? Would you like to see more ambition? Let us know below!

With the dust having settled on Sheffield United’s fantastic Championship campaign, Chris Wilder will now be keen to build towards prolonging the club’s stay in the Premier League.

Yet in order to do so, it is imperative that he brings in several quality additions to Bramall Lane when the transfer window opens in July.

Although he already has a strong squad at his disposal, Wilder could benefit significantly from bringing in Kieran Dowell on a permanent deal this summer. According to the Liverpool Echo, the Blades are reportedly weighing up a move for the 21-year-old with Huddersfield Town also monitoring his situation at Everton.

Having joined the Blades on loan from the Toffees in January, the midfielder showed glimmers of his talent during the second half of the 2018/19 season, providing crucial contributions against West Bromwich Albion and Aston Villa.

A perfect player for Wilder’s 3-5-2 system, Dowell produced encouraging performances both in the central positions as well as on the wing and therefore would bring some much-needed versatility to United.

Whereas it is fair to say that he did have his troubles with consistency during his 5-month stint with the Blades, there is no reason why Dowell cannot develop into a fantastic player under the guidance of Wilder and his assistant Alan Knill.

Already an England under-21 international, the £2.7m-rated ace (via Transfermarkt) clearly has all the ingredients needed to thrive at the top level in order to fulfil his potential, he may have to leave Goodison Park.

Since graduating from Everton’s academy in 2014, Dowell has only made five starts for the club in all competitions and with the likes of Gylfi Sigurdsson, Idrissa Gueye and Morgan Schneiderlin all ahead of him in the pecking order, he could surely be attracted towards a move to United.

Although it will be far from cheap to secure the services of the midfielder, it is well worth the risk for the Blades as he could prove to be the difference between relegation and survival next season.

What do you think United fans? Would you welcome a summer swoop for Dowell? Could he thrive under the guidance of Wilder next season? Get in touch below.

As far as flops of the season go, Southampton’s Mohamed Elyounoussi has to be up there.

The 24-year-old arrived at St. Mary’s last summer after an impressive 2017/18 campaign with Basel, but only went on to make eight Premier League starts, failing to score in any of his 16 appearances overall.

Looking at Elyounoussi’s interview with TV2 (via Sport Witness), though, the Norwegian winger seems fairly confident about turning things around next term if he stays on the south coast.

“He [Ralph Hasenhuttl] knows my qualities and sees that I fit into his plans,” Elyounoussi told TV2. “But we have not set any future plans yet. Now it’s time to get back in shape and take it from there

“We had a good chat together. Both with him and the club. I didn’t get a good run when I got there, so now it is about getting in shape in the preseason.”

In the end, though, Elyounoussi could once again be left feeling a little disappointed. Even if Hasenhuttl does see the Norway international as compatible for his plans, you can still see him easily struggling to get into Southampton’s starting XI next season.

Given the campaign Nathan Redmond has just had, you would have to imagine that the 25-year-old will be one of the first names on Hasenhuttl’s team sheet, a team sheet that could soon include Moussa Djenepo.

Djenepo is close to signing for Southampton from Standard Liege, according to Sky Sports, in a development that would make competition for a place out wide even more fierce for Elyounoussi.

And if the season that has just gone is anything to go by, it is a contest the former Basel man will find difficult to win.

Southampton fans, does Elyounoussi still have a future at the club? Let us know in the comment section below!

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Times are quite tough over in Spain. The forever sunny place for football is far from being all sunshine and rainbows as of late, and the all-English finals in both of the biggest European club competitions was only the icing on the cake; the punchline to the one big joke neither Barcelona nor Real Madrid find amusing. Both of them crashed and burned in the Champions League: Barcelona did that weird thing they do in Europe and Real finally played the piper at the end of the two-legged bout with Ajax Amsterdam, the eventual semi-finalists of the competition.

A similar thing happened in the Europa League as Arsenal quickly dispatched the only real contender for the crown in the Bats of Valencia, while Chelsea made sure the world would get to enjoy two English champions of Europe whatever happened in either of the finals. It’s safe to say a rather dark cloud was suddenly over Spain, and when it started raining, they quickly realised it was not really raining, it was very much pouring, as the saying goes. It also made us all think: Is this the end of Spain’s dominance or can they make a comeback next season?

But this was not the first time Spain’s monopoly, or duopoly if you will, was broken. Remember, back in 2012/13 season, Bayern Munich prevailed in the all-German affair, beating Borussia Dortmund 2-1 in the Final of the Champions League, while Chelsea brushed Benfica aside with the same final result in the Europa League. The Spanish teams were nowhere to be seen. The machine that Pep Guardiola spent four years building was slowly getting figured out, Real Madrid got steamrolled by the eventual finalists, and the only Spanish team to make it past the Round of 32 in the Europa League was Levante. But Rubin Kazan made sure they would have none come the Quarter-Finals, as they swiftly netted two in the second leg, hitting the final nail into Spain’s coffin.

So this is very much something that, granted, hasn’t happened in a while, but is something that’s not much of a novelty either. But what’s even more interesting than that is the usual response the nation as a whole has in those scenarios. After Chelsea’s triumph in the Europa League, Spain went on to claim four out of the next six, involving Sevilla’s treble from 2013/14 to 2015/16 and Atletico Madrid bagging one in 2017/18. A similar thing happened over in the Champions League.

Ever since Bayern lifted the trophy in 2012/13, and before the latest iteration in 2018/19, all of the Champions League winners were of Spanish descent. That makes for five trophies in five years and, of course, four going Real Madrid’s way while Barcelona managed to salvage one for themselves in 2015. So, when everything is said and done, maybe we should rephrase the question posed earlier. It is not really a question of whether or not Barcelona, Real Madrid and the rest of Spain will get back on the horse after suffering a setback, but it’s rather can England sustain their run now that they have seemingly gotten back to the summit?

English football dominated Europe back in the late ’70s and early ’80s, and a case could be made for Fergie’s early Manchester United era but since then, the world has been catching up rather swiftly. The cycle of dominance, after all, is a never-ending one. In short, if you are at the top today, nothing guarantees that you’ll be there at the start of tomorrow. This is true for life in general, not just football. It’s a dog eat dog world out there, and we’re just living in it.

Liverpool look as dominant as ever, Chelsea were great in the Europa League, Manchester City are playing the most beautiful and tactically complex football on the planet and are, therefore, dubbed one of world’s best, despite failing in the Champions League. The future does look great for them, especially since both Barcelona and Real Madrid have ageing squads that are in dire need of refreshment. If there was ever a time to strike, it is now, because the chances are, their biggest rivals cannot be kept down for too long before they mount a comeback.

For now, though, it doesn’t seem like next season will see a dramatic shift in power, because processes and cycles like these take time. Currently, England once again have the best teams and the best coaches, and the results are showing. But the sleeping giants are known to cut their hibernations short when needed.

Will England withstand their strikes once the time comes? We’ll just have to wait and see.

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This is a remarkably important summer for Tottenham Hotspur.

Fresh from finishing fourth in the Premier League and reaching the Champions League final, a rebuild is needed under Mauricio Pochettino.

The Guardian have reported that the Spurs boss is currently in Barcelona, having told chairman Daniel Levy of the players he wishes to be signed this summer, as the club look to break their self-imposed transfer duck that stretches back to January 2018.

In that report, Lyon’s Tanguy Ndombele, Ajax’s Donny van de Beek, Nicolo Zaniolo of Roma and Fulham’s Ryan Sessegnon are all touted as targets. Giovani Lo Celso, of Real Betis, has been linked separately.

One feels, then, that Pochettino is being ambitious and that, on one hand, is to be understood. Spurs reached the final of Europe’s elite club competition and actually outplayed Liverpool in Madrid, though they were blunt and unable to score. A 2-0 defeat was perhaps harsh but Jurgen Klopp’s men boasted superior firepower and used it effectively.

Yet, on the other hand, that was a potentially once-in-a-lifetime chance. Spurs have never before reached the Champions League final and their progression was not built on investment in the squad; VAR, a healthy dose of luck and Lucas Moura’s genuine brilliance all played their part. Spurs cannot now buy the best players in the world just because of one cup run.

And it has become apparent that Tottenham will need to break their transfer record this summer if they are to secure the players they want, perhaps twice over.

Ndombele, per a separate Guardian report, is valued at €75m (£66.9m). Lo Celso has a €100m (£89.2m) release clause. Fulham have even demanded £40m for Sessegnon.

That money isn’t necessarily readily available, particularly if Christian Eriksen ends up staying at the club. He had been linked with Real Madrid but they now appear likely to instead prioritise Paul Pogba of Manchester United and that could see Spurs lose out on around £100m.

Now, one thing that Spurs fans seem to love to do is bash Daniel Levy, especially when it comes to transfers. The club chooses to operate without a Director of Football and, as a result, it is the chairman who does the negotiating. He is the man at which the stones are thrown if deals don’t get done.

And yet, this summer, it will not be his fault. Examine the list again: Ndombele is one of the best midfielders in Europe; Van de Beek enjoyed a breakout year at Ajax and was a standout player in one of the best young teams the Champions League has ever seen; Zaniolo is 19 and Roma’s next great hope; Sessegnon is the jewel in Fulham’s crown.

It is all very well asking for these players but there is no guarantee. Ndombele, for example, has also been linked with the likes of Manchester City, Real Madrid, Barcelona and Manchester United.

All four of those clubs have significantly better resources than a Tottenham side that have just opened a £1bn stadium.

It must be said that signing all four is unlikely. It is perhaps more logical to suggest that Pochettino has touted Van de Beek and Zaniolo as potential back-ups to Ndombele.

But this still feels incredibly risky and ambitious.

Spurs tend to operate best when they are working away from the marquee deals. Look at the likes of Dele Alli, Son Heung-Min and Toby Alderweireld. All three have played key roles in the club’s progression and yet they arrived from MK Dons, Bayer Leverkusen and Atletico Madrid respectively. The other main suitors for Alderweireld were Southampton.

Pochettino perhaps believes that Spurs have earned the right to work to a higher level now and he could well be right. Ndombele has expressed his openness to a move to the club.

But this is a list unlike any Levy has been handed before by Pochettino. He will surely do his best and he will surely attempt to bring in as many of the players Pochettino wants as he can.

Yet if he fails, all of the blame cannot be apportioned to the chairman. Pochettino may well have been too ambitious, and he will deserve an equal share of the flak if this summer goes wrong.

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The agent of Everton attacker Nikola Vlasic has told Russian website Championat that his client is in talks with CSKA Moscow over a permanent move to the club in this summer’s transfer window.

Indeed, Tonci Martic refused to confirm that Everton and CSKA had reached an agreement but said that talks were taking place, in quotes carried by Sports Witness.

Vlasic has been with the Toffees since 2017 – scoring twice in 19 appearances for the Merseyside giants in all competitions.

The attacker spent last season on loan at CSKA, though, and managed eight goals and seven assists in 31 appearances in all competitions.

The Everton fans have been on social media discussing what should happen with the Croatian in this summer’s transfer window.

Check out the below above to see football played as you’ve never seen it before… in a maze!

And it would be fair to say that there are a number of differing views when it comes to the 21-year-old – a selection of the Twitter reaction can be seen below:

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According to El Gol Digital, Everton are willing to pay €40m (£35.7m) to sign Atletico Madrid right-back Santiago Arias.

The Colombian international made 31 appearances for Diego Simeone’s side last term, scoring one goal and recording one assist following an €11m (£9.8m) move from PSV Eindhoven last summer.

Atletico could make a huge profit on the 27-year-old who Marcel Brands has openly praised in the past just a year on from signing him, if Everton make good on their intentions to offer the aforementioned sum of course.

The fans in the video below had some very strong words for Michael Platini who was detained over alleged corruption this week…

That is a lot of money for a right-back though; it would break the Toffees’ existing record initial fee for a defender which currently stands at the £27.2m that they spent on Yerry Mina last summer.

There is no way that the Merseysiders should pay that much for Arias, especially given the statistical comparison between him and the club’s current first-choice right-back Seamus Coleman.

As is common knowledge, the modern day full-back must be able to perform at both ends of the pitch – it is vital that they contribute to the attack as well as the defence.

Coleman’s two goals and two assists show that he does that part of the game well, and practically twice as good as Arias does seeing as he has doubled his goal involvement numbers.

Watch Everton Live Streams With StreamFootball.tv Below

The Irishman also completes more dribbles per game than Arias, recording 0.7 compared to the Atletico man’s measly 0.3.

The acknowledgement of being effective at both ends of the pitch is evident in Coleman’s stats above, as he records a solid 2.4 clearances per game – a whole one more than the former PSV defender makes on average.

The only area that Arias outperforms Coleman in is tackles per game, where he makes 1.9 compared to the Everton icon’s 1.5 – is that 0.4 difference enough to warrant spending £35.7m on the 5 ft 8 man to replace the former Sligo Rovers right-back?

Not really, in all honesty.

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According to Football Insider, Liverpool are confident that Divock Origi will sign a new five-year contract with the club.

Origi’s future has been the subject of recent speculation with Real Betis said to be interested in a swoop for the Belgium international.

However, according to Football Insider, Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp recently held talks with the attacker on holiday and a new deal is now in the offing.

Origi was far from first choice at Anfield last season due to the presence of Mohamed Salah, Roberto Firmino and Sadio Mane in the final third of the field.

The 24-year-old still managed eight goals in 22 appearances for the Reds during the 2018-19 campaign, though, including a brace against Barcelona in the semi-finals of the Champions League and late goal against Tottenham Hotspur in the final.

“It reminds me of a bus seat!” – Watch a damning verdict on Chelsea’s new kit in the video below…

The Liverpool fans have been on social media offering their views on the latest news and many are very pleased indeed: