Football rumours: Tottenham and Newcastle after James Maddison and Harvey Barnes

By Sports Desk May 31, 2023

What the papers say

Leicester’s James Maddison and Harvey Barnes, who have both been valued at around £40million, could stay in the Premier League while Leicester move down to the Championship.

Tottenham and Newcastle are both reportedly interested in the pair with a bidding battle to ensue over their signatures, The Sun says.

Tottenham’s have another competitor in the fight to sign former Barcelona and Spain manager Luis Enrique as Serie A Champions Napoli are interested in the 53-year-old, according to the Guardian.

The Daily Mail said Juventus were looking the most likely to sign Chelsea’s Christian Pulisic for a reported estimated transfer fee of around £20m.

Social media round-upPlayers to watch

Manu Kone: Liverpool are interested in the 22-year-old Borussia Monchengladbach midfielder – who is valued at around £34m – German media outlet BILD said.

Wilfried Gnonto: Italian media outlet Calciomercato said the 19-year-old Italy forward is being looked at by Premier League rivals Manchester City and Arsenal after Leeds’ relegation was confirmed.

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    Micky van de Ven suffered a hamstring injury and will be out of action for Tottenham until after the international break, head coach Ange Postecoglou has revealed.

    Van de Ven left the pitch in tears while clutching the back of his right leg 14 minutes into Tottenham’s EFL Cup victory over Manchester City on Wednesday.

    While Postecoglou confirmed the fears of Spurs fans, he was optimistic about the prognosis with the defender not expected to be out for a long stretch.

    "Micky has strained a hamstring. It's not too serious, but it will probably be after the international break for him [to return]," the Spurs boss told reporters ahead of his side's clash with Aston Villa on Sunday.

    "He was disappointed. Obviously, he was really looking forward to the game, so he was a bit emotional, but it is definitely not a bad one like last time that kept him out for quite a while.

    "He will work hard, and the good thing is we've got the international break, which is an extra two weeks. Hopefully, it means he won't miss too much football."

    Van de Ven has featured in eight of Tottenham's nine Premier League games this season and has been a reassuring presence in defence.

    Indeed, he has made the second most clearances (23) and blocks (four) in the squad, only second to Cristian Romero and Pedro Porro respectively.

    There was, however, positive news about skipper Heung-min Son, who was absent during Spurs' defeat at Crystal Palace last weekend.

    "Sonny trained [on Friday], so if he gets through training [on Saturday], he should be OK," Postecoglou added.

  • Campion College, Hydel book quarterfinal berths as former champions STGC, Wolmer's Boys, STATHS miss out Campion College, Hydel book quarterfinal berths as former champions STGC, Wolmer's Boys, STATHS miss out

    Campion College and Hydel High booked their spots in the Inter-secondary Schools Sports Association (ISSA)/Digicel Manning Cup quarterfinal round after both registered 1-0 wins over St Jago and Wolmer’s Boys in their respective second round group encounters on Friday.

    The win for Campion College saw them finish second in Group One on six points, behind reigning champions Mona High, who blanked many times champion St George’s College 3-0 to finish on maximum nine points.

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    The same is true for perennial semi-finalist St Andrew Technical High School (STATHS) and 10-time winners Wolmer's Boys, who were both eliminated from the Manning Cup.

    Wolmer’s Boys’ loss to Hydel saw them finish at the foot of Group Three with a point, while STATHS’ 1-0 win over group winners Kingston College was not enough to see them through. They finished third on four points, as Kingston College and Hydel took the top two spots with six points each.

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    Friday’s results

    Campion College 1, St Jago 0

    Mona High 3, St George’s College 0

    Hydel High 1, Wolmer’s Boys 0

    STATHS 1, Kingston College 0

    Saturday’s fixtures

    St Catherine vs Jamaica College

    Calabar vs Charlie Smith

    Excelsior vs Jonathan Grant

    Tivoli Gardens vs Eltham

    *All games are scheduled for 3:00pm

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    After a goalless encounter, the Sounders held their nerve in the shootout, scoring all five spot-kicks before Erik Sviatchenko's miss proved costly.

    They also stopped their opponents from registering a single shot on target, marking the fourth time the Sounders have achieved that milestone in a playoff match, and will be looking to do the same in their second encounter.

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    "We've had our challenges this year sometimes scoring goals. Did we create enough? Those are all valid questions. Again, I would just repeat that those guys put the effort in. We were close on a couple of occasions."

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    “It’s a heightened game of being alert defensively. You have these kind of games in the playoffs. We didn’t do enough to create better opportunities for ourselves to win that game.

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    PLAYERS TO WATCH

    Houston Dynamo – Amine Bassi

    In a team that is not filled with goals, Bassi has impressed for Houston, with his 10 goal involvements (three goals, six assists) in the regular season, a total only bettered by Ibrahim Aliyu (10) for the Dynamo.

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    Seattle Sounders – Albert Rusnak

    Rusnak has played a starring role for Seattle this term, with only Jordan Morris (17) scoring more goals in the regular season for the Sounders than the Slovakian.

    Despite not hitting the back of the net in Game 1, Rusnak notched four goal involvements (two goals, two assists) in three games heading into the postseason.

    MATCH PREDICTION: HOUSTON DYNAMO WIN

    The Dynamo have lost only two of their 18 all-time home playoff matches (W12 D4), though one of those defeats was against Seattle in the 2017 Conference Finals. Houston won nine of their first 10 home playoff matches but have won just three of eight since (D4 L1).

    Seattle, however, have won six of their last seven away matches, including the last three in a row, all with clean sheets. This is the second time they have kept three straight away clean sheets in all competitions since joining MLS in 2009, also doing so between June and July 2011.

    They have also lost only two of their last 23 matches against the Dynamo in all competitions, including securing a shootout win after a scoreless draw at home in Game 1. Houston have also failed to score in 12 of their last 18 meetings with the Sounders.

    OPTA WIN PROBABILITY

    Houston Dynamo – 42.1%

    Draw – 26.7%

    Seattle Sounders – 31.2%

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