Antonio Conte is building a squad at Tottenham that may finally be able to end the club's long wait for silverware, former striker Robbie Keane has told Stats Perform.
Spurs pulled off quite a coup by appointing Conte as their head coach last November after bringing an early end to Nuno Espirito Santo's tenure.
The north London side were eighth in the Premier League when Conte took over, yet a fine second half to the campaign saw them pip fierce rivals Arsenal to fourth place.
Indeed, the 71 points Tottenham accrued in the 2021-22 campaign made up a tally they have bettered in only three previous Premier League seasons (86 in 2016-17, 77 in 2017-18 and 72 in 2012-13).
Guiding Spurs back into the Champions League was described as "being a trophy" for Conte, but actual silverware has eluded the club since winning the EFL Cup in 2008.
Conte has already started to strengthen ahead of the 2022-23 season, with experienced winger Ivan Perisic – a league winner in Germany and Italy – set to join from Inter on July 1.
Other big names have also been linked, and Keane, who spent eight and a half years with Tottenham across two spells, believes the new arrivals can help bring trophies to the club.
"I think what he's doing is he's trying to get the business in early," Keane said at a media day ahead of his participation in Sunday's Soccer Aid charity match.
"He's already brought in Perisic from Inter, a player who has a winning mentality. He's obviously won things.
"I think that's what Conte wants to do. He wants to bring people in who've already been there and done it, because a lot of them Tottenham players haven't won anything.
"So to bring someone like him in, and I'm sure they'll do more business in the next month or so."
Conte is no stranger to winning major honours as a manager, including in his previous stint in England when he claimed the Premier League title and FA Cup with Chelsea.
"Conte's a winner. He has a winning mentality and there's no question that he'll certainly bring that," Keane added.
"Tottenham next year have to do something, they have to win the FA Cup, EFL Cup or the Champions League. I think the Premier League might be a step too far.
"I think if they bring three or four players in, they might be might have a chance, but I think Liverpool and Manchester City are just so far ahead at the moment.
"But to win the FA Cup, EFL Cup, I think that's a step in the right direction, and hopefully, again, finishing in the top four."
All focus at Tottenham this window is on adding to the squad, which is in contrast to 12 months ago when Harry Kane's possible departure dominated headlines.
The England international has appeared more settled since Conte's arrival and finished the 2021-22 campaign strongly with five goals in Tottenham's final five Premier League games.
That took Kane's tally to 17 for the campaign in the top flight, which is his joint-lowest return in the competition in his eight seasons as a regular starter, alongside 2018-19.
He was outscored by team-mate Son Heung-min, who, despite finishing as the league's joint-top scorer alongside Mohamed Salah, was not included in the PFA Team of the Year.
Son was also not included on the list of nominees for the Players' Player of the Year award, much to the surprise of Keane.
"Not to even be nominated is bizarre," Keane said. "For me, he's one of the best players in the Premier League.
"What he and Kane are doing together at Tottenham is incredible.
"I've obviously known Harry since he was a kid, so I taught him! He's a top player, and he's continued to score goals like he always does. "
St. Louis City v LA Galaxy: Reus sets sights on silverware after dream start
Marco Reus is desperate to bring silverware to the LA Galaxy after making a flying start to his time in MLS, with St. Louis City the destination for his first road game on Sunday.
Reus registered a goal and an assist on debut last week as the Galaxy beat Atlanta United 2-0, maintaining their grip on top spot in the Western Conference.
The Galaxy are five points clear of local rivals Los Angeles FC at the top of the standings ahead of Sunday's trip to St. Louis, who are 13th and 10 points adrift of the playoff picture.
Reus' arrival in Los Angeles has caused plenty of fanfare, but he is focused solely on the team's collective aims.
"It's not about me, it's about the team," he said. "We want to be champions. So we take it game by game.
"Besides the traffic, it's really amazing. The people are so friendly. The weather, it's really nice. When you wake up in the morning and the sun is shining, you start the day differently.
"So I'm really, really happy every morning I come into the dressing room. I'm just happy and excited."
St. Louis played out a thrilling 4-4 draw with the Portland Timbers last week, twice throwing away a two-goal lead to leave interim coach John Hackworth bewildered.
"Really don't know what to say," Hackworth said. "It's hard to imagine coming to a place like this and scoring four goals, being up, and then just losing one-versus-one defensive battles.
"Sometimes, the number of goals you give up, or the number of goals you score, can hide a lot of the transition moments.
"An easy way to prevent some of these defensive miscues from happening is to just be better with the ball."
PLAYERS TO WATCH
St. Louis City – Eduard Lowen
Lowen scored his fourth goal of the MLS season last time out, converting from the penalty spot as St. Louis drew 4-4 with the Timbers.
Only Joao Klauss, with five goals, has outscored him for St. Louis this term.
LA Galaxy – Marco Reus
Reus is one of 20 players in MLS history to record a goal and an assist on his regular-season debut.
He is also the fifth Galaxy player to do so, after Steven Gerrard, Andreas Herzog, Giovani dos Santos and Sasha Victorine. No other team have had more than two players achieve the feat.
MATCH PREDICTION – DRAW
The Galaxy have won 10 of their last 13 regular-season matches, the first time they have done so in a single season since 2011. LA have not recorded 11 wins in a span of 14 matches within a single regular season in the post-shootout era (since 2000).
It would be no surprise to see the points shared in this one, though. All three meetings between St. Louis and the Galaxy have ended level, all with different scorelines (1-1, 2-2, 3-3).
St. Louis have only won one of the last six matches in which they have held the lead in regular-season play dating back to the beginning of June (four draws, one defeat).
OPTA WIN PROBABILITY
St. Louis City – 35.8%
LA Galaxy – 38.1%
Draw – 26.1%
Raphinha hails Barcelona after statement win over Valladolid
Barcelona forward Raphinha believes the team have laid down a statement of their intent by starting the season with four straight wins in LaLiga.
Raphinha scored the first hat-trick of his career and also delivered two assists on Saturday, as Barca crushed Real Valladolid 7-0 at Camp Nou.
Hansi Flick's side already possess a four-point cushion at the top of the table after also recording victories over Valencia, Athletic Bilbao and Rayo Vallecano.
Raphinha believes their results have demonstrated the club got things right in the transfer market, telling Movistar: "Today's game has shown that there is no need for anyone else to come. We are very happy because of that.
"We are in very good shape. The team is working hard. Today's result shows what we are working for.
"We saw that the coach was on the sidelines asking for more goals and that's our mentality.
"We are hungry and want to score as many goals as we can. When we are dominant like we have been, the best way to respect our rivals is not taking the foot off the gas."
Raphinha was one of the players who faced criticism during Barca's trophyless 2023-24 campaign and was rumoured to be on his way out ahead of the new season.
The Blaugrana again battled financial restrictions throughout the window, allowing Ilkay Gundogan to leave in order to secure the registration of new arrival Dani Olmo.
With his future now certain, Raphinha is keen to nail down a starting spot and contribute on a regular basis.
"I don't know if today's was my best game, but it's certainly among my best. I will try to play even better and as much as I can," the Brazilian said.
"I'm very happy to be able to help the team. I feel good. I knew that this season would be very important for me. I'm looking for my best version to help my team-mates and be more confident."
Lazio 2-2 Milan: Leao salvages draw but Rossoneri still winless
Rafael Leao came off the bench to earn Milan a 2-2 draw with Lazio at the Stadio Olimpico on Saturday, but Paulo Fonseca's side are still without a Serie A win this season.
Milan were in front at the break through Strahinja Pavlovic's eighth-minute goal, the Serbian rising highest to power home a header from Christian Pulisic's corner.
However, Lazio hit back in the second half with Valentin Castellanos and Boulaye Dia scoring in quick succession.
Nuno Tavares' first-time ball into the centre was met by the unmarked Castellanos to level in the 62nd minute, then Dia tapped another Tavares cutback home to put the Biancocelesti ahead four minutes later.
Fonseca reacted by sending on four substitutes, and those changes had a swift impact as three of them combined for the leveller.
Theo Hernandez – who joined Leao in being dropped from the start – picked out Tammy Abraham, and his lay-off allowed Leao to escape Tavares to fire past Ivan Provedel.
The game was preceded by an emotional tribute to the man who led Lazio to their last league title, Sven-Goran Eriksson, who died at the age of 76 on Monday.
A Lazio shirt bearing the Swede's name was displayed on the home bench, while a banner held up by the home fans read: "You brought us to the top of the world... Have a good trip Mr. Sven."
Data Debrief: Milan's slow start continues
New Milan boss Fonseca is already under pressure after overseeing a return of two points from his first three league games at the helm.
It is the first time the Rossoneri have drawn two of their opening three matches in a Serie A season since 2011-12, when they also drew two and lost one,
They went on to finish second that season, just four points adrift of champions Juventus. If a title challenge is to take place this term, rapid improvements are needed.
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