Juan Foyth is for sale at Tottenham Hotspur but would the club miss him?

On the chalkboard

Sources at the club have confirmed that the Argentina international is expendable in this transfer window, with La Liga club Real Betis interested in signing him.

Spurs would like to sell him due to concerns over their home-grown quota and there is hope that a deal can be agreed before the transfer deadline.

The question must be asked: Would Spurs be making a mistake if they let the 22-year-old go?

His sample size really is too small to examine this season as he has made just four Premier League appearances, with only one being a start.

Last season, though, is instructive as he played 12 times under Mauricio Pochettino.

Per WhoScored, he averaged 2.6 tackles per game, 0.8 interceptions, 1.3 fouls and 4 clearances. He also completed 1.6 dribbles per game and averaged a passing accuracy of 85.2% before Spurs’ midweek encounter.

A ball-playing defender

Foyth likes to carry the ball and he has the accuracy to distribute it effectively too, but it has cost him in the past.

In the 2-2 draw with Norwich City at Carrow Road, for example, he was caught in possession before the Canaries scored their opening goal.

And it appears that Jose Mourinho simply doesn’t trust him given the sheer lack of game time he has had under the Portuguese.

Under Pochettino, Foyth was seen as something of a prospect and was, at one point, set to become the club’s right-back following the exit of Kieran Trippier.

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Injury put paid to that plan, however, and it seems as though he just doesn’t fit in north London anymore.

It is something of a shame but there is unlikely to be too much regret at Spurs if he is sold, particularly if Mourinho is to keep playing in the way that he has thus far.

Meanwhile, Spurs have debated the possible signing of a global megastar!

According to a report published by The Telegraph earlier this month, both Manchester City and Barcelona are set to duel it out for the coveted signature of Villarreal’s 19-year-old sensation, Ivan Morante, who is rated as a £6m player and has been tipped to eventually play for the national side.

But who exactly is this kid and why do these European giants want to sign him that badly?

Let’s find out…

Who is he?

Morante is a 19-year-old who joined Villarreal’s academy as a young child and has been on a steady rise ever since.

And it seems that he couldn’t have chosen a better academy for himself than the Yellow Submarine’s, which has seemingly polished this rough and raw talent into a diamond in the making.

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Rising through the ranks in Spain, Morante quickly gathered pace and went on to achieve great success at the club, eventually even winning both the domestic league and the Copa del Rey with Villarreal’s Juvenile A squad, which was a first for the Yellow Submarine.

And with some international experience in the Spanish youth ranks as well, it doesn’t really come as a surprise to see the likes of Man City and Barcelona prowling around.

Judging by his profile, Morante is a player that would fit both their systems like a glove.

How does he play?

Even though he is still just 19 years of age, his talents are already breaking out for everyone to see. As a player, he is brave and extremely technical on the ball, capable of both retaining and recycling possession under pressure and in the face of the opposition. In general, you could define him as a ‘pivot’, as they would say in Spain, or a holding midfielder.

If his profile was to be compared to some of the greats, we could say that Barcelona would finally land their Sergio Busquets successor and Pep Guardiola would sign someone capable of rivalling Rodri for a place in the midfield anchor role.

Just by looking at his stats from the 2019/20 season across all competitions, we can immediately see where his strengths lie, courtesy of Wyscout.

We’ve already mentioned that the technical side of his player profile is very strong and the numbers certainly back that claim up pretty nicely. Morante has averaged 87.4% passing accuracy in the ongoing season, with 1.39 through balls per game as well. It’s important to note that 47.1% of those have been accurate, indicating that he has a keen eye for a piercing ball and also the vision and the skill to deploy it.

But defending is equally crucial in the pivot role. With 8.73 recoveries and 3.67 interceptions per game, the 19-year-old is certainly making strides in that category.

It’s also important to note that he averages 1.88 fouls per game as well, which could be an indication of his tendency to make tactical fouls in order to snuff out the potential danger coming from the other side, but 0.08 yellow and no red cards also suggest that he is rather safe in his approach too.

How would he fit City or Barcelona?

Man City and Barcelona are both clubs that have excelled and set unprecedented standards under Guardiola.

And for that reason, they also share some similar ideals, principles and ultimately, styles of play. Their tactics can be described as vertical, highly focused on possession domination and maybe above all, structural that follow the principles of positional football.

The player that is usually the hub of such systems is the defensive midfielder, or the pivot. With his great technical ability and potential to turn into a star of the future, Morante could well occupy that role for one of the greatest clubs in world football.

He is the type of player to start attacks from the deep, helping move the ball from inside their own half and transition it into the final third. This is reinforced by his average of 11.59 passes into that area per game with 73.9% accuracy, as stated by Wyscout above, suggesting that he is often the one initiating the progression from deeper areas.

Since both Man City and Barcelona love to build all the way from the back, Morante could have a huge role to play in those scenarios in the not so distant future as he seems secure and brave enough on the ball to actually accomplish such a task.

Verdict

Even though they have done a fantastic job nurturing the 19-year-old talent and polishing his skills, Villarreal may succumb to the advances of rival clubs.

But on paper, a transfer to either of the aforementioned giants looks like exactly the right move for Morante.

BBC Radio Solent journalist Adam Blackmore has said via his official Twitter account that he has “had it on good authority” that there is no truth in the reported transfer interest in key Southampton duo Danny Ings and Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg this month.

Ings is Saints’ top scorer this season with 16 goals in 27 matches all competitions and had reportedly been the subject of an enquiry from Manchester United, as per The Telegraph.

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Meanwhile, captain Hojbjerg was linked with a last-gasp window move to Tottenham Hotspur by Sky Sports, although they later backtracked and said he was a target in the summer instead.

The south coast outfit are on an upward curve at the moment having won their previous four Premier League away matches, and they certainly couldn’t afford to lose either player at this stage of the campaign.

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While Blackmore says this is simply agent talk and that the club are convinced that both players aren’t going anywhere, it will be interesting to see what happens in the summer.

If Ings’ fine form continues he will surely be a target of some bigger clubs, while if his Danish teammate hasn’t signed a new deal he will only have 12 months remaining on his contract at that point.

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You could cut the tension around Elland Road with a knife at the moment.

Everything is quite jittery at Leeds as their grasp on the automatic promotion places is slipping week by week.

Indeed, after the Whites’ latest loss they’re just three points off third place, and with their next three games coming against top-six sides, there is a real danger of them falling out of the top two.

Understandably, fans have been furious with some of the players in recent weeks, and that hasn’t gone down well with some people that have ties to the club.

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Indeed, Tony Dorigo tweeted telling supporters to put their dummies back in and back the boys rather than getting on their backs.

Now, a former player tweeting that is fair enough as he has no control over the team, but when the owner echoes that sentiment it’s only going to end one way.

Andrea Radrizzani showed his support for Dorigo’s tweet by responding with a GIF of people applauding.

Unfortunately, that didn’t go down too well with the supporters, and you can understand why.

Leeds’ current demise is at least partly down to Radrizzani – he’s a man who had the power to change their fortunes, and to tweet this just days after the January transfer window closed is quite short-sighted.

As you can imagine, the Elland Road faithful weren’t too happy with this.

In other news, Leeds may actually be weaker now than they were before January.

Football.London’s Tottenham Hotspur correspondent Alasdair Gold has given his verdict on the possibility of the club swooping for Manchester United midfielder Nemanja Matic in the summer.

The Serbia international’s contract is set to expire in the summer, though the Red Devils do have the option to extend it by another year should they so wish.

Matic, though, could well become available in the next transfer window, having made just eight Premier League appearances this season.

He did play five games in a row under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, against Burnley, Arsenal, Norwich City, Liverpool, and Burnley, though he was left out of the squad for the 0-0 draw with Wolves.

And Gold believes that, if he is available, Spurs will look to bring him into the club.

Matic is a previous Mourinho favourite and has played 159 times for the Portuguese for both Chelsea and United.

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Gold, assessing the prospect of a move for the midfielder, said: “Spurs will look at the Serbian this summer if he becomes a free agent but they will not want to get into an auction for his services.”

Matic is 31 and will turn 32 in August.

Meanwhile, Spurs’ Player of the Season should be clear!

According to a new report from The Mirror, Manchester United are interested in Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Harry Winks and have made him one of their top summer transfer targets.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is apparently quite a fan of the player, with his ability and age fitting the bill ahead of a potential title challenge next season.

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The Mirror also mention that the 24-year-old Spurs man is valued at around £40m and, with the potential sale of Paul Pogba, Ed Woodward could test the resolve of Jose Mourinho and try to lure Winks away from north London.

Upon hearing this update, however, many of the fans had a crystal clear message for the Red Devils – no, thank you.

One fan stated that he would be willing to part with Winks if United were to offer around £100m, but that scenario is highly unlikely and effectively akin to saying he’s priceless to the Lilywhites.

But it has to be said that fans were somewhat divided on the matter.

While there were many who don’t want to part ways with the midfielder, others would let him go immediately.

Some were begging Solskjaer to take Winks and saying that United can definitely have him.

Finally, there were also some fans who were not so eager to let go of Winks but would have absolutely no problem sending Eric Dier to Old Trafford.

It seems that he is no longer really welcome at the club…

Meanwhile, many Spurs fans wanted to sign a playmaking Premier League star…

Garry Monk isn’t the most popular man in the blue-half of Sheffield at the moment.

Indeed, the manager has frozen out two fan favourites, which has drawn anger from the fans, and to make matters even worse he’s overseen just one league win since the turn of the year.

It’s fair to say that he isn’t doing a great job, fans have been calling for his head, and the results speak for themselves.

However, it could all have been so different for Wednesday.

Cast your mind back to the summer, Steve Bruce had just been poached by Newcastle and there was an air of uncertainty around Hillsborough.

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The Owls were fantastic under Bruce, losing just three of the 18 games he took charge of, and even after his departure, the same group of players who produced that run were still at the club, and it was a real chance to build something.

To be honest, Bruce couldn’t have left at a better time, there were plenty of experienced Championship managers without a job and Wednesday were in a great position to get a suitable replacement through the door.

Chris Hughton, Aitor Karanka, Tony Pulis and Nigel Pearson were all available in the summer, as they were unemployed at the time, and each manager mentioned has previously tasted promotion from this division with Brighton, Middlesbrough, Stoke and Leicester respectively.

Away from those who have actually been promoted, there was another good option in the shape of Gary Rowett, who is now proving his worth at Millwall by taking them to the verge of the playoffs.

You can read more on this and other top stories via our Sheffield Wednesday News page.

Instead of going for any of the aforementioned managers, the Yorkshire club appointed Monk, a man who has never guided a team to a top-six finish, despite managing sides that were more than capable. That included a Leeds team that finished seventh in 2016/17, and a recently-relegated Boro side the year after that.

It’s now become quite clear that Monk wasn’t the right choice with the team languishing in mid-table.

Unfortunately, the good atmosphere built up by Bruce’s time at the club has vanished, key players have been frozen out, and the cohort of stars that were pivotal to getting Wednesday to the playoffs under Carlos Carvalhal are another year older – they may have just missed their chance for one last hurrah.

Monk’s appointment could be a decision the Owls live to regret for years to come.

In other news, Sheffield Wednesday must never do one thing again.

Daniel Arzani’s Celtic career has been full of misfortune. On his debut for the club in October 2018, he suffered a devastating ACL injury – a problem that had kept him out until earlier this month.

The Australian signed on an initial two-year loan from Manchester City but hasn’t been able to demonstrate his true capabilities to Neil Lennon.

He’s appeared on the bench twice in 2019/20, featuring in the Scottish Cup but his time in Scotland has been one full of a lack of football.

The youngster would have arrived at Celtic Park in order to continue his development but instead, his career has gone in the opposite direction.

That ACL injury was a huge setback, but even if he has done enough in training to convince Celtic to sign him again, they shouldn’t do.

It was reported in November that Lennon’s side might be willing to loan him for another season, however, recent claims have been suggesting he’ll go elsewhere.

Former striker Scott McDonald commented: “We’re lucky that he’s still very young but with Celtic chasing silverware again, I think he’ll probably be looking elsewhere (for game time).

“After this season, he’ll need to sit down with his advisors and the City Football Group and decide what’s the best move for Daniel to play senior football and achieve what we all think he’s capable of.”

It certainly feels like this would be best for all parties. After all, the 21-year-old has a ready-made replacement just waiting to take his role in the squad.

That happens to be a certain Karamoko Dembele. The diminutive teenager burst onto the scene last season but has been rarely seen in the matchday squad since, appearing on two occasions this campaign.

Though, this is clearly a player blessed with a huge amount of potential given he made his senior debut at the age of 16. Not only that, but the youngster was also playing U20 football at the age of 13.

Capable of playing on either wing, Dembele was busy making headlines again this week as he starred for the reserve side, earning positive reviews from supporters who wanted to see him start for Lennon’s first-team.

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Coincidentally, the duo both played in Celtic’s academy win over Hibernian. Arzani claimed an assist from a deal ball situation before Dembele rifled the ball into the back of the net via the crossbar towards the end of the first half.

The 17-year-old then netted a second, dancing through the defence before slotting home in quite magical fashion. It was a performance that outshone Arzani and proved why he has every reason to be ahead of him in the pecking order.

Rather than bringing the Australian back next term, Celtic would be better off handing more regular minutes to Dembele.

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Newcastle huffed and puffed but they couldn’t blow the Burnley defence down.

The Magpies racked up 21 total shots on goal on Saturday afternoon, but only four of them were on target. In the end, Steve Bruce’s side had to settle for just the point at St James’ Park, and Newcastle fans weren’t entirely happy with one man in particular: Matt Ritchie.

As per Sofascore, the 30-year-old had just a 69% pass accuracy and lost possession 20 times, whilst none of his whopping seven shots on goal were on target.

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After seeing his display, fans of the Tyneside club took to Twitter to voice their thoughts on the Scotland international.

A couple of Newcastle fans simply suggested that Ritchie isn’t good enough, with one supporter in particular saying that he’s “finished” at this level.

Another supporter meanwhile claimed that Ritchie’s display proved exactly why former manager Rafa Benitez reportedly wanted to let him go.

To Ritchie’s credit however, he was one of the few Newcastle players who appeared to at least be giving it a go – even if his lack of end product did let him down.

He made a team-high six tackles (double that of any other Newcastle player), provided two key passes and won ten of his 16 duels.

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The one thing Newcastle fans can’t really question his commitment and work-rate, although whether he still has the technical ability to be a top-level Premier League player remains to be seen.

Meanwhile, Newcastle’s chances of survival have been discussed by this journalist.

Liverpool fans have taken to Twitter to react after Takumi Minamino spoke about his start to life at Anfield.

The 22-cap Japan international – who has 11 goals for his country – joined the European champions from RB Salzburg in January for £7.25m, after the Reds activated his release clause.

The 25-year-old scored against Jurgen Klopp’s side at Anfield in the Champions League, which helped add to his tally of nine goals and 11 assists this term.

However, since arriving at Liverpool, Minamino has only made six appearances for the club with three of them being starts – all coming in the FA Cup, while he has made three outings off the bench in the Premier League.

Liverpool’s new No.18 is yet to either score or assist for his new side, and his most recent display against Chelsea was met with criticism by the Reds supporters on Twitter – they also hammered him for his display in the 2-2 draw away at Shrewsbury.

Speaking to the club’s official website, Minamino mentioned that he hasn’t had much game time to show what he’s about, but doesn’t view that as a good excuse and admits that he has to “show results” to his teammates.

Let’s see how the Liverpool fans on Twitter reacted to his comments…

To kick off the reaction, one fan said that Minamino doesn’t need to explain himself at all.

In fairness, this supporter has a point – he is only six games into life at a new club, who are also European champions, so it will take some time for him to settle in and also break into the XI properly.

The Japanese star has no need to explain himself.

Another fan made the very valid point that he will come good after a pre-season – having to adapt to the Premier League mid-season is an extremely difficult task.

Elsewhere, another Liverpool supporter harshly said that they’ve already seen enough and that it’s time to get rid.

That’s obviously a foolish statement, as Minamino has only played a handful of matches and certainly hasn’t shown his best form yet – he needs time to thrive.

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In other news, these Liverpool fans want Jurgen Klopp to sign “great addition” after his crafty display…