Tottenham legend believes club could recoup £50m for flops this summer

Tottenham Hotspur legend and BT Sport pundit Glenn Hoddle says the club should look to recoup £50m of the money they spent on Vincent Janssen and Moussa Sissoko last summer at the end of the season after the duo have suffered disappointed campaigns.

Spurs bought Janssen for £17m from AZ Alkmaar in July to provide competition for Harry Kane but the striker has scored just five goals in 25 appearances in all competitions, and just one in the Premier League – from the penalty spot.

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The 22-year-old was handed a rare start in the 4-0 win against Watford last weekend, but he missed a gilt-edged chance in the first half and was replaced by the returning Kane after the break.

Meanwhile, Sissoko was a £30m addition from Newcastle United but he has failed to produce the performances that he showed while playing for France at Euro 2016.

Even though he has made 29 outings in all competitions for Mauricio Pochettino’s side, most of those have been brief appearances from the substitutes’ bench.

Hoddle believes the north London outfit should look to cash in on the pair this summer and reinvest the money into the squad.

Speaking on BT Sport’s Premier League Tonight show, the 59-year-old said: “I just think £50million for Sissoko and Janssen, what could you do with that sort of money?

“Add to that squad [to improve].”

Tottenham will look to close the seven-point gap to Premier League leaders Chelsea when they host Bournemouth at White Hart Lane on Saturday, with the Blues facing Manchester United at Old Trafford on Sunday.

In Focus: Chelsea will find it difficult to replace China-bound Costa

According to reports on Spanish radio show El Larguero, via The Sun, Chelsea striker Diego Costa is closing in on a £76.2m move to Chinese side Tianjin Quanjian this summer.

What’s the word, then?

Well, the Spain international has long been linked with a move away from Stamford Bridge and he was said to be close to a transfer to China during the January transfer window – however no move materialised.

But now the 28-year-old is ready to make the move to Asia where he would work under Fabio Cannavaro and alongside Axel Witsel on a reported £650,000-a-week deal – after tax – after a rollercoaster stint in the Premier League.

How big a loss would he be for Chelsea?

While supporters may not have been happy with his attitude at times, they will know that he would be a huge loss.

His 19 Premier League goals this term look set to fire the Blues to the title, while he has scored 57 goals in 115 appearances in all competitions for the Blues since joining them from Atletico Madrid in 2014.

Costa offers far more than just being a prolific marksman though, and he gives defenders a huge problem with his never-say-die attitude and strength to hold the ball up, and Antonio Conte will need to find a replacement that can do a similar job if the Spaniard leaves for pastures new.

Who could replace him?

Well, they have been heavily linked with both Everton striker and former Blues star Romelu Lukaku, and Real Madrid attacker Alvaro Morata so it would be a surprise if it isn’t either one of those two.

They certainly both have the ability and physical presence to effectively fill in for the Spaniard.

What’s the verdict, then?

Well, it seem as though Costa has made his mind up that now is the time to go and Chelsea must start searching for a replacement that will bring them as many goals as they return to the Champions League group stages next term.

In Focus: Newcastle United a better option than Spurs for Sandro Ramirez

According to Spanish outlet Sport, Newcastle United and Southampton have joined Tottenham Hotspur as interested parties in Malaga forward Sandro Ramirez.

What’s the word?

Well, the report claims that while Spurs have reportedly tracked the former Barcelona youngster over the last few years, both the Saints and the Magpies are casting keen eyes over his situation.

The 21-year-old, who is valued at £6.8m by transfermart.com, is enjoying a wonderful season with La Rosaleda, notching 15 league goals on the Costa del Sol after leaving the Camp Nou in the summer.

It’s thought the Spaniard is almost certain to leave the Andalusian outfit this summer and his agent’s phone has reportedly not stopped ringing as a result of his prolific form.

He’s believed to have a €6m release clause in his deal, a fee which roughly equates to £5m.

What could he bring?

Having graduated from the famed La Masia academy, Sandro boasts the sort of technical ability you’d expect from one of their graduates. While he struggled to truly impose himself on the Blaugrana’s first-team last year during Lionel Messi’s injury, his season in Malaga has shown what a lethal finisher and clever marksman he is.

For Tottenham, he’d be a wonderful supplement for Harry Kane. He’s been touted as a target on Hotspur Way for months, though is probably too good to operate as a second choice.

With Newcastle promoted to the Premier League, the Magpies would be a wonderful platform for Sandro Ramirez. The Magpies adore a prolific centre-forward and Sandro is certainly a palpable goal threat.

John Terry scores and then instantly gifts Watford a goal, fans mock him

Chelsea captain John Terry was handed his first Premier League start since September by manager Antonio Conte for the visit of Watford to Stamford Bridge on Monday night, and it turned out to be an eventful appearance.

After the Blues won the league title with a 1-0 victory against West Bromwich Albion on Friday night, the Italian boss decided to make wholesale changes to his team – nine in total – including a rare outing for Terry who announced last month that he is leaving the club this summer.

The 36-year-old was quick to make an impression too as he gave the hosts the lead in the 22nd minutes when he prodded home, scoring his first goal since January 2016 and ensuring that he netted for the 17th consecutive Premier League season.

However, seconds later the skipper headed the ball up in the air inside his own box and Etienne Capoue brought the Hornets level, much to the amusement of football fans all across Britain.

Here is just a selection of the Twitter reaction…

Revealed: 68% of Liverpool fans want Fulham’s Sessegnon over Robertson

Liverpool are back at Europe’s top table after manager Jurgen Klopp guided them to a fourth place finish in the Premier League, earning them a place in the Champions League play-off round.

Whilst the Reds played some scintillating football last season there are a number of issues their German boss will need address before August.

Perhaps the most outstanding of those problems concerns the left-back slot which has largely been occupied by James Milner over the last nine months-or-so, with Spaniard Alberto Moreno having been deemed below the required standard.

With that in mind, the former Borussia Dortmund boss has reportedly been targeting not one new left-back, but two.

The Reds have been linked with both Andrew Robertson from relegated Hull City as well as promising Fulham youngster Ryan Sessegnon.

The 17-year-old has been impressing for Slavisa Jokanovic all season long, however, having missed out on promotion through the play-offs could leave Craven Cottage this summer.

With that in mind we put the question out to the Liverpool fans; who would they rather see at Anfield next season? The result of our poll was fairly convincing, with just over two thirds of them keen to see Klopp snap up Sessegnon instead of Scotland international Robertson.

Does Klopp need two new left-backs this summer? Let us know below…

Liverpool fans eager for the club to land Gelson Martins deal

As reported by A Bola, Liverpool are ready to spend £44m on Sporting Lisbon winger Gelson Martins this summer.

Martins was in fine form throughout last season for Sporting, directly contributing to 15 goals in 32 appearances in the Portuguese top-flight.

Still just 22 years old, he’s only in his second season in the Sporting first team but appears to have all the potential in the world. If Klopp can harness that talent at Liverpool then they could have a very fine player on their hands.

Another key factor is his experience in high pressure matches both for his country Portugal and in the UEFA Champions League. The Reds need that kind of experience, even as limited as it is, if they’re to compete adequately on the continent after the summer.

With pace, good dribbling and fine passing, he could be the spark that Liverpool are looking for to escape the over reliance on the likes of Sadio Mane.

Supporters certainly appear keen to see him arrive at Anfield, taking to Twitter to share their thoughts on the reported deal…

The Strike: Cuco Martina turns Ronald Koeman’s career around

In football, few things are clear cut.

Southampton full-back Cuco Martina is widely acknowledged to have been the first player from Curacao to score a Premier League goal, having found the net against Arsenal on Boxing day 2015. But Aston Villa’s Leandro Bacuna scored five Premier League goals in the 2013/14 season. In 2016, after Martina’s one and only goal for the Saints, Bacuna elected not to play for the Netherlands but to pledge his allegiance to the Curacao national team instead, having been born in Holland to Curacaoan parents.

Martina, then, wasn’t the first player of Curacaoan descent to score a Premier League goals, but was the first active Curacao player to score one. So is Martina the first, or is it really Bacuna? Both seem to have some sort of claim.

What isn’t up for dispute, though, is that Martina has definitely scored the best goal by a Curacaoan footballer in Premier League history.

Coming in a 4-0 win over Arsenal at St Mary’s during a Christmas period when the Saints were struggling badly. Indeed, that Boxing Day victory was the only one that Ronald Koeman’s side picked up between November 7th and January 13th: a run of eight games with only one victory to show for it. The only other time they picked up even one point in that run was a 1-1 draw with, ironically enough, Bacuna’s Aston Villa, who were well on their way to relegation.

The Arsenal result was a crucial one, though. Because although Southampton lost their next two fixtures over the New Year period, that was when they finally turned a corner. After that, they lost only three times in the Premier League, a run that propelled the Saints into the Europa League group stages through their league position, finishing sixth.

And if the victory over Arsenal was a crucial game, giving the side the belief they needed to turn their slump around in the second half of the season, it was Martina’s goal that sparked it, the first of the match. Recently, then-manager Ronald Koeman has been talked about as a potential candidate for jobs at clubs like Barcelona. It’s speculation and probably overly flattering, but it shows how highly the Dutchman is regarded. Without that turnaround at Southampton, though, he’d just be another failed foreign manager.

Still remembered as one of the greatest strikes in Premier League history, the Curacaoan right-back’s right foot rifled a bullet past Petr Cech in the Arsenal goal. One of the greatest goalkeepers in Premier League history was beaten, but the speed would have beaten every keeper. And yet, the speed isn’t even the impressive part.

Starting the ball at least two yards outside the far post, Martina’s outside-of-the-boot swerve brings it back inside the post, nestling into the net with a satisfaction that only a strike like that can bring.

A year and a half later, though, and it’s clear that Martina isn’t going to be much more that a bit-part player at St Mary’s. Beloved forever for a goal of rare quality, maybe, but hardly a step up on Cedric Soares. He’s a player destined to start games on the bench and play when injuries and suspensions have depleted the starting XI.

As luck would have it, though, Martina’s old boss Koeman finds himself in such a position with his new side Everton. Seamus Coleman’s broken leg has already sidelined the Irishman since late March, but it looks set to keep him out for most of next season, too. And when you compare his injury – a double leg break – to the likes of Luke Shaw’s similar break in 2015, you get the feeling that the physical recovery is only the half of it; the mental recovery is just as important, and probably even harder.

This season, Shaw has been criticised for his mental strength by none other than his own club coach, Jose Mourinho. It doesn’t really get any worse than that, and former Manchester United physio Matt Radcliffe told ESPNFC earlier this year that many might see the manager’s treatment of the young England international as ‘bullying’, though he did add that Luke Shaw himself may not see it that way.

That means Koeman will need a replacement for Coleman without actually replacing the Irishman. Someone he can trust in the role for the medium-term, to keep the position open for Coleman’s eventual return. That might just be Martina. Starved of first-team opportunities at Southampton, the right-back could be on his way to Everton this summer, and although he wouldn’t be a long-term first choice on Merseyside either, he would be for the next few months.

It’s a sign that, although Martina has never stood out as one of the Premier League’s best right-backs, Ronald Koeman seems to trust him enough to bring him into a Champions League-chasing side and start him at a time when he knows that Coleman will be out for much of the season and probably not back to his very best for quite a while.

And at what was probably Koeman’s lowest ebb as Southampton manager, over the Christmas period in 2015 when it looked like he might even lose his job if things didn’t pick up, Martina scored the goal that sparked a 4-0 win and, in time, a change in fortune and form.

Every player is made better through a manager’s trust.

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Three reasons why Rangers must say goodbye to Jordan Rossiter

With lots of business done at Rangers already this summer, fans are taking a look at the squad already in place and wondering who should stay and who should go to accommodate the new signings.

Pedro Caixinha has made six signings so far from defence right through to attack and many of the established first team stars of last season suddenly find their status at Ibrox in doubt.

Rangers made lots of signings last summer too but in those cases the majority of them didn’t work out; Joey Barton left mid-season, Philippe Senderos made a handful of poor appearances and Joe Garner was sold last week.

Another much-hyped arrival who didn’t quite live up to the excitement was former Liverpool player Jordan Rossiter. The 20-year made just six appearances before injury ruled him out for the rest of the season.

While he has ability and potential, we reckon that he’s another who should be axed this summer, after The Express reported his future at the club is uncertain.

Here are THREE reasons why…

He’s too injury prone

Since the start of 2015 back when he was a young prospect at Liverpool, it seems as if Jordan Rossiter has been almost permanently injured.

From February that year to July he was out with a serious ankle injury, returning for the Red’s pre-season tour. Starting the 2015/16 season well embedded within Brendan Rodgers’ squad, he made his Premier League debut against Arsenal in Auguest and then his European debut in September.

However, by September he was out injured again, picking up a hamstring injury that effectively ruled him out for the rest of the season, returning for just one match in December.

He then joined Rangers and his injury problems at Ibrox have been well documented, with his calf injury keeping him out for the season as specialists tried to figure out where his recovery was going wrong.

It’s a shame to see such a young player ravaged by so many injuries but from a Rangers perspective they must be selfish about the situation. They can’t keep a player that seemingly picks up muscle injuries so easily.

The club reportedly sent him to England to get to the root of the problem and he has returned to pre-season training but there’s no guarantee that will work.

His wages are big by Rangers standards

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Compounding his injury problems is the fact he’s on a decent wage at the Light Blues. The Daily Mail report he earns around £10,000-a-week which by Rangers standards is a fair chunk of money.

Rangers aren’t blessed with limitless resources and they have to make sure what they do have is stretched as far as possible and having players on the treatment table earning a significant portion of their wage budget must be a source of frustration for supporters.

He’s not the only one either with Niko Krancjar having also spent almost his entire spell at the club injured.

With Pedro Caixinha bringing in talent from Portugal, Mexico and the Scottish Premiership, there’s simply no room for players who will be unable to contribute to the first team.

Pedro Caixinha is moving on without him

It’s become pretty clear that Pedro Caixinha doesn’t fancy much of the squad already in place at Ibrox. Mark Warburton spent a few transfer windows bringing in players mostly for the British isles, the majority of them coming from England and Caixinha is going for a vastly different strategy.

Jordan Rossiter may have been an exciting signing at the time but with the likes of Carlos Pena, Ryan Jack and Daniel Candeias arriving at the club, the Portuguese clearly has his own ideas about how his first team will look at the club next season.

The Ibrox boss isn’t taking any prisoners and having admitted as many as 11 players could leave Ibrox this summer, we don’t see much scope for Rossiter being one of the ones who survive.

Three English Premier League youngsters that Rangers should move for

Rangers have very much been out of the public eye in recent weeks, ever since their shocking UEFA Europa League exit. Not much has happened down Ibrox way with Pedro Caixinha taking the time to work with the group of players he has assembled in preparation for their first league match of the season against Motherwell in August.

After exiting Europe, the Scottish Premiership is now the Light Blues’ big priority this season and although they’ve stumbled early, there’s plenty of talent in the Rangers squad that can find consistency in the Scottish top-flight. Caixinha has recruited early, bringing in many players from far and wide.

For us though they could bring in one or two more, a spark in midfield to help drive them forward once they gain possession. For all the signings Caixinha has made, there isn’t much flair and they can’t rely on Niko Kranjcar to be fit all season.

Loan signings in Scotland are very much en vogue and for Rangers it’s a chance to bring in a quality Premier League youngster who needs first-team football.

Here are THREE such players we think can do a job on loan at Ibrox next term…

Domingos Quina

Domingos Quina is a very highly-rated 17-year-old currently signed up at West Ham United. Although he’s yet to make his English Premier League debut, he did feature twice for the Hammers in their ill-fated UEFA Europa League qualifying campaign last season.

He’s a player in great need of first team football if he’s going to reach his potential. It’s quite a potential too. The attacking midfielder was a big part of the Portugal side that won last year’s UEFA U17s Championship and he’s currently playing above his age group for his country’s U19 side.

Predominately a number 10, he’s exactly the kind of flamboyant and creative spark that Rangers could do with to bridge the midfield to the final third.

The Light Blues will be up against packed defences all season and they’ll need someone with a cutting edge that can slice through static rearguards.

Although he may get sporadic appearances for West Ham over the coming season, he really needs consistent week-to-week football and Ibrox is a destination he’d get it, for a high profile side.

Matty Willock

Matty Willock is another young player that appears to have too much talent to have it wasted in youth sides and reserve leagues. Another attacking midfielder, Willock has progressed nicely at Manchester United, to the extent that he was given a squad number and named a matchday squad towards the end of last season.

However, he’s not been included in United’s pre-season plans meaning that there could be scope for him to go north to Rangers on loan at Ibrox. The 20-year-old was a mainstay in the club’s U23 side last term, a team that won the title at their level.

Scoring five goals across the season in that set-up, it’s clear he’s a midfielder with an eye for goal and that is something that Rangers undoubtedly lacked last season.

With an opportunity to prove himself at Rangers, he could shine and show everyone why he’s knocking on the door of the Man United first-team squad.

Emerson Hyndman

Emerson Hyndman’s move to Rangers in January went about as well as you can expect from these loan deals. Short-term ones that span half a season are difficult to get right but Hyndman settled himself in immediately and became a key part of Mark Warburton’s side and subsequently Pedro Caixinha’s too.

He’s proven he has the kind of drive and ability to push Rangers into the final third and although he’s returned to his parent club Bournemouth this summer, whose to say another move to Ibrox wouldn’t do him the world  of good?

We don’t think he’s quite at an English Premier League level yet but with another 12 months at a team like Rangers he could enhance his game massively.

In Focus: Newcastle risk relegation as they stall on deals for players like Samaris

According to reports in The Mirror, Newcastle United are at risk of missing out on signing £17.5m-rated Benfica midfielder Andreas Samaris as Rafa Benitez’s budget headaches continue.

What’s the word, then?

Well, The Mirror says that Benitez is keen to complete a club-record deal to bring the defensive midfielder to St James’ Park before the start of the Premier League season later this month, with the Greece international himself keen on a move to England.

However, The Mirror says that as the Spanish manager continues to juggle his resources and the Magpies dither about paying the £17.5m asking price, they could miss out on the Greece international as he is not prepared to wait indefinitely for the newly-promoted club to strike a deal.

How did Samaris do last season?

He generally found himself in and out of the Benfica side but still made 32 appearances in all competitions – including 18 in the league and three in the Champions League.

The tall 28-year-old is able to play in both the central and defensive midfield positions, and he showed that he is comfortable in possession with a passing accuracy of 87% in those 18 Liga Nos outings.

While he made 19 clearances and 15 interceptions, Samaris also showed his strength in the air by winning 10 aerial duels.

Should Newcastle sign him?

It’s difficult to say.

Considering he is 28 years of age and has just two years remaining on his contract it is understandable that the Magpies would rather try and negotiate then pay the £17.5m asking price.

However, the Premier League season is less than two weeks away now and one would imagine that Benitez will not be happy with how his squad is looking right now, and he would have hoped to bring in more players.

If the Spaniard really does want Samaris – who would be an experience addition to the middle of the park for Newcastle – he should perhaps consider paying what it will take to get the Greece international, especially in a summer transfer window where prices are so heavily inflated.

What’s the verdict, then?

Well, Benitez knows his budget and what he needs to add to his squad, but risks may have to be taken sooner rather than later otherwise Newcastle could find themselves back in the Championship next year if they fail to strengthen.

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