Football transfer news

Tottenham have been linked with a move for former Chelsea and Juventus manager Maurizio Sarri if Jose Mourinho is shown the exit door.

Pressure is mounting on current boss Mourinho after Spurs fell to a disappointing 3-1 defeat to Manchester United on Sunday. This comes after they blew a 2-0 first leg lead against Dinamo Zagreb in the Europa League round of 16, while their chances of improving on last season’s sixth placed Premier League finish are remote.

Speculation that Daniel Levy is preparing to give Mourinho his marching orders has increased in recent weeks and the latest name to be linked is Sarri. According to Rai Sports (via the Daily Mail), the Italian is one of the names on Levy’s shortlist of replacements.

He is currently without work, having been dismissed by Juventus at the end of last season despite steering I Bianconeri to their ninth straight Scudetto. Prior to taking over in Turin, Sarri was at Chelsea where he guided them to Europa League glory but never fully earned the backing of the Stamford Bridge faithful.

Now, he could become the latest former Blues manager to take over at Tottenham after Andre Villas-Boas and Mourinho were handed the reigns in 2012 and 2019 respectively. However, it is thought that Napoli are also interested in Sarri’s services. The 62-year-old enjoyed a decent spell in Naples between 2015 and 2018, narrowing missing out on the Serie A title in 2018.

If Levy decides to veer away from former Chelsea managers for once, 90min understands that Leicester City boss Brendan Rodgers is another name being seriously considered. The Northern Irishman’s reputation has been strengthened by his fine work at Leicester, with the Foxes challenging at the top of the Premier League table in each of his two full seasons at the club.

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Ladies and gentleman, you can stop worrying. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s son Noah has broken his silence and confirmed that his father has never deprived him of dinner.

In case you have been out of the loop for the past few days, let us contextualise this massive development.

Solskjaer on Son: “If my son stays down like this for 3 minutes and needs 10 mates to help him up, he won’t get any food.” [@footballdaily]

pic.twitter.com/WKjbagOTo6

— United Zone (@ManUnitedZone_) April 11, 2021

The saga began partway through Manchester United’s meeting with Tottenham on Sunday. United thought they had taken the lead in the first half only for Edinson Cavani’s goal to be ruled out after Son through himself to the ground following minimal contact to his face from Scott McTominay.

Although the Red Devils would go on to win the game 3-1, Solskjaer was still fuming with the South Korean during his post-match presser, saying: “I have to say, if my son stays down for three minutes and he needs his ten mates to help him up, he won’t get any food. We weren’t conned, the referee was.”

Incredibly, it is not the first time that Solskjaer has floated the prospect of starving his offspring after a game. In the reverse fixture against Spurs in October, he claimed his son would be living on “bread and water” for two weeks – an oddly specific time period – if he had gone down like Erik Lamela had to get Anthony Martial sent off.

All this talk of draconian punishment had us worried for Ole’s two sons. Thankfully, Noah Solskjaer – a midfielder currently plying his trade for Norwegian side Kristiansund – has helped to put our minds at ease.

“I always get fed, I can assure you of that,” the 20-year-old told local newspaper Tidens Krav (via the Guardian) recently, also revealing that his teammates asked if he had eaten breakfast the morning after his dad’s comments.

“I have never lain down the way Son did. Mourinho probably just wanted to take the focus away from the fact they had lost.”

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Premier League clubs are said to be considering a united social media boycott over one weekend before the end of the season.

The move comes after Tottenham forward Son Heung-min became the latest player to suffer racist abuse following a game against Manchester United on Sunday. He is far from the only Premier League star to be targeted either, with United’s Marcus Rashford, Anthony Martial and Axel Tuanzebe, as well as Crystal Palace’s Wilfried Zaha also reporting abuse.

There is a growing belief that in order to shock social media companies into action, a blanket blackout of all updates is required. Championship Swansea City recently announced they would not be posting on any social media platforms for seven days, with staff and players at Rangers following suit soon after.

According to the Daily Mail, a potential boycott would likely begin on Friday 5pm and run all the through to 9am the following Monday.

There are a few potential roadblocks for the plans. The majority of Premier League clubs have lucrative commercial agreements in place which rely on social media posts. Infringing these contracts could seriously harm income at a time when money is already tight due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Steve Cooper outlines the reasons behind our club-wide boycott of social media.

Over to you, social media companies… pic.twitter.com/frQ8gpvEhR

— Swansea City AFC (@SwansOfficial) April 8, 2021

Despite these issues, there is understood to be a growing confidence that the boycott will go ahead before the end of the season. However, top flight clubs are keen to form a united front, as they did with the Players Together Covid-19 relief scheme.

“What we don’t want is a situation where some clubs have their own boycott while others do not,” a source at one club said.

“This is very much all or nothing. If every club decided to do a blanket ban at the same time – and if that was around the same round of fixtures – it would have the maximum possible impact.”

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After looking so good for most of the campaign, Leicester City’s season is fraying around the edges.

Since returning from the international break, Brendan Rodgers’ side have fallen to damaging defeats against Manchester City and West Ham, while also being embroiled in an off-field scandal.

The feeling of deja vu following last season’s horrific implosion is getting harder to ignore and while nothing is set is stone yet, the Foxes face an uphill battle to stop their season unravelling. Here is why Leicester will find it so difficult to finish in the Premier League top four this season.

With only a handful of games left to play, several of the Premier League’s big hitters are starting to pull themselves together.

Ever since Thomas Tuchel has taken over at Chelsea the Blues have been transformed, with a recent defeat to West Brom one of the only blots on the German’s copy book.

Things are not perfect at Anfield but Liverpool have still managed to string three Premier League victories together and, barring a miracle in their second leg against Real Madrid, they will not have any Champions League commitments to distract them.

West Ham are also looking like serious contenders, playing Leicester off the park for most of the pair’s meeting on Sunday. All of this does not bode well for the out of sorts Foxes heading into the home stretch.

What was going through Ayoze Perez’s mind when he decided to have James Maddison, Hamza Choudhury, Wes Morgan and Harvey Barnes round his house on the eve of Leicester’s two biggest games of the season is a complete mystery.

Ever the disciplinarian – who can forget those envelopes at Liverpool – Brendan Rodgers took the bold step of removing the offenders from the matchday squad against West Ham on Sunday.

However, the ramifications of the fivesome’s bizarre actions could continue to be felt for the rest of the season. According to the Athletic, their teammates are – quite understandably – fuming at their behaviour.

Rodgers has done a superb job of managing the dressing room since his arrival, something his predecessors struggled with, and his man-management skills will be seriously tested over the coming weeks.

After an explosive start to their season, there were genuine hopes that Jamie Vardy might become the first player to retain the Premier League Golden Boot since Harry Kane.

Since Christmas though, Vardy has been plagued by a hernia problem. He underwent surgery in January but he is still not at 100%. Either that, or his powers may finally be waning. Whatever is happening the fact is that Vardy has scored just once in his last 14 Premier League games.

The lack of goals is not his only problem either. He also seems to have lost a yard of pace – terrible news for a player who relies on running in behind. As a result Vardy has been reduced to a spectator in some games, registering less than 17 touches against Chelsea, Arsenal and Burnley recently.

His finishing has suffered as well and although he has always been a player who scores in streaks, time is running out for him to get on a good run.

For the second season in a row Leicester have been handed a tricky run-in. Last time out they closed the campaign with games against Tottenham and Manchester United, both of which they lost.

This season they face United and Spurs again, with a trip to Stamford Bridge sandwiched in-between. Compared to the vast majority of the other sides vying for Champions League qualification, this is an extremely challenging run-in.

Recent defeats to City, Arsenal and West Ham also suggest that the Foxes’ knack for beating the Premier League big boys may be running out.

Without wanting to tempt fate, the distraction of an FA Cup final could also harm Leicester’s top four prospect.

Despite being out of form, their semi-final opponents Southampton recently lost 3-0 to West Brom – the second worst team in the Premier League.

This makes the Foxes favourites going into Sunday’s meeting and if they do reach the final it is only natural that they may take their foot of the gas in the league.

Another potential distraction are the mental scars that many Leicester players still carry from last season, where they blew an even bigger lead to surrender their top four place.

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Sunday’s loss to Manchester United marked the 28th occasion that Spurs have played a competitive fixture at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium without a full crowd and in the pandemic, equalling the amount of games held there at 100% capacity.

When Tottenham left White Hart Lane in 2017, they could not have possibly foreseen what the first two years at their new home would have looked like. And as that anniversary of the long-awaited opening rolled around at the start of April, fans have been longing for that time back when their connection with the club was greater.

Results and performances haven’t helped, but the starvation of a proper matchday experience definitely hasn’t either.

Spurs have consistently averaged around two points-per-home-game since leaving White Hart Lane, wherever ‘home’ may be. In the 28 games with fans at the new gaff, there had been scarce few occasions where Tottenham have looked like the genuine proprietors of a billion-pound stadium. In fact, their crowning moment since returning to N17 came less than a week after inauguration day.

A 1-0 quarter-final win over Champions League favourites and eventual Premier League title winners Manchester City has yet to be topped, the only highlight from Spurs’ run to the final to have come at their spiritual home.

Part of Daniel Levy’s vision was to make a day at football feel more of an occasion outside of the match itself. It’s why so much time and money was invested in the other facilities at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, featuring the longest bar in Europe and hundreds of food and drink choices.

Two year anniversary of this later this week btw pic.twitter.com/TzLI6l4uRV

— Sean Walsh (@SeanDZWalsh) April 6, 2021

Spurs fans danced on the concourses long into the night. The chant that gave 90min’s Spurs podcast its name was initiated by thousands of supporters lining the wide corridors and gangways of the south stand.

These are the memories I choose to treasure of that stadium, jubilating with my dad beneath the bowl beyond last orders. But since then, Spurs have been walloped 7-2, humiliated by rivals, and fans have been shut out. It’s no wonder the feeling isn’t universal.

Every stadium and every fanbase share many of the same issues. The rose tinted glasses of nostalgia make the original White Hart Lane seem like a place that was always loud and worthy of being the 12th man, that the love of the design and aesthetics of the old stadium isn’t at all like Trigger’s broom in Only Fools and Horses.

“This old broom’s had 17 new heads and 14 new handles in its time.”

– Trigger

My first game at White Hart Lane was on 8 April 2006 – a 2-1 win against Man City (what a coincidence, eh?). I was so excited – footballing Christmas was delivered. Sure, the stadium was a little rusty and very ’20th century’, but I was so infatuated with everything about the matchday experience.

The journey round from west London on public transport made me love trains, the smell of burgers and onions eventually forced me into trying one when I was a notoriously fussy eater. I went back to school the next week and recited ‘Glory Glory Tottenham Hotspur’ to my friends because I thought it was a banging tune, I imitated Pete Abbott reading out the lineups and scorers whenever I was on the playground.

Sure, these are the testimonies and adorations of an eight-year-old loser, but the feeling of going to a game can’t be replicated, and current day Spurs have been a misery to watch from home – at least if fans were present they would be able to boo the team and express their emotions, or Eric Dier could climb into the stands after them (Tottenham should package this as a 4D horror experience for adrenaline junkies, by the way).

Tottenham Hotspur Stadium wasn’t much of a popular place for Spurs fans to go when the pandemic hit (you know, in an intangible way, thousands of people obviously still bought tickets), and their dwindling fortunes mean it’s still rather undesirable to think about watching them now. By the time full crowds can be welcomed back, Harry Kane might have left the club. Then again, Jose Mourinho might have too.

But for all of the faults and all of the criticisms that can be laid at Levy’s door, he ultimately has delivered a world-class stadium that retains the feel and traditions of the one that stood before it, maximising modern technologies and architecture, buying every necessary property to ensure the club wouldn’t have to permanently up sticks – trying to find space to build a giant stadium in one of the biggest cities in the world is hard.

Results and performances will always be the ultimate barometer of fan happiness and success. Whenever Spurs pick up steam in a post-pandemic world, fans will warm to the new stadium. It will feel like home.

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