Football365

Ex-Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Rafael van der Vaart has reacted to Aston Villa missing out on one of their top summer transfer targets.

The Birmingham club had their sights set on Feyenoord’s Lutsharel Geertruida as Villa manager Unai Emery was keen to strengthen the right back position to give himself options in a busy season.

However, the Dutch club were seeking £30 million for him which meant Villa needed to sell players to make way for the defender. This deal never came to fruition which disappointed Villa fans.

This allowed German club RB Leipzig to swoop in and sign Geertruida for a fee of £25m in a late deadline day deal with the right-back agreeing to a five year contract at the Bundesliga club.

The former Tottenham midfielder Rafael Van Der Vaart has given his opinion on the 24 year old’s decision to join Leipzig over Aston Villa.

“A really good step, I think. This is a nice intermediate step. It’s really a perfect club for him,” the Dutchman told Voetbal Primeur.

“He is very calm and can also play in midfield. Not many defenders can do that,” the pundit continued. “I thought it was a relief when I saw him play.”

Emery has had a busy time with it in the transfer window but is pleased with who they signed to help bolster their squad for the Champions League. He spoke to the press on their business in the transfer window and the high demand of playing in the Premier League and Champions League.

The Villa manger said: ” “I’m very happy because we did the things we were planning at the beginning. The squad we have now, with some important players like Tyrone Mings, Boubacar Kamara and Emi Buendia who are coming back progressively and feeling good.

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“It is very difficult. Very, very difficult, but this is football. We are in the best league in the world. It is the most difficult because every match we face against West Ham, Arsenal, Leicester City tomorrow, they are all difficult to get three points. Through the Premier League you usually can get your first objective which is to play in Europe and hopefully the Champions League.

“We are excited and motivated. We are really being connected to our supporters, enjoying playing together playing in the Champions League. If we want to play in it again then we have to be consistent in the Premier League.

“Last year we finished two points ahead of Tottenham and every game we fight for three points. Brentford then finished two points behind the previous season. We are very, very motivated and we know our way. To be intelligent, working hard always and very, very demanding. Even more than last year and more than other teams as they have more potential than us to be in the top four, top five.”

Aston Villa will face Everton on Saturday night football after the international break.

Netherlands head coach Ronald Koeman says he will no longer consider Steven Bergwijn for selection after his move to Saudi Arabia.

Former Tottenham winger Bergwijn completed a £21million transfer from Ajax to Al Ittihad on Monday – a switch Koeman claims is based on money.

“The book is basically closed to him,” said Koeman. “He knows what I think about this.

“When you are 26, your main ambition should be sporting, not financial. These are choices that players make.

“I have never been in that situation, because I could go to Barcelona. He could have stayed at Ajax. That’s not bad, is it? You have to respect that choice, but personally I wouldn’t [have moved to Saudi Arabia].”

Asked if Bergwijn had spoken to him before signing, Koeman said: “No. I think he would have known what I would have said.”

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Georginio Wijnaldum, 33, was in the Dutch squad at Euro 2024 despite playing for Saudi Arabian club Al Ettifaq.

But Koeman added: “He had problems at Paris Saint-Germain and this was the only opportunity for him to play. In addition, there is a difference in age.”

Bergwijn, who has 35 international caps, was left out of the Netherlands squad for the Nations League matches against Bosnia-Herzegovina and Germany.

Meanwhile, Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk has committed his international future until at least the 2026 World Cup, following talks with Koeman.

Koeman said: “I thought it was so important to go to him to see and feel with him: are you going to give it your all for another two years at the highest level and do you still see a future for yourself? And he does. And I do the same with him. All doubt is gone, he just goes on.

“He admitted he did not reach the level you would expect from him as a player at the European Championship. As captain, I think he did a great job. But perhaps as a result, he put too much energy into others rather than into himself.”

Dutch stalwart Memphis Depay was not included in Koeman’s squad for the Nations League fixtures because he is currently a free agent.

“Memphis is looking for a club, but if you don’t have a club, you can’t be called up,” Koeman said.

“He is aged 30, let’s hope he gets a club, gets fit and plays a lot, because when you are 30 years old you are not yet old enough to stop. Then he is still an option.”

Like initialsake Alan Partridge at the end of his spell on This Time, we imagine Ange Postecoglou must be hopping mad and wants something in the middle.

There are few sides as useful as Newcastle or games as useful as this to expose Spurs’ own self-inflicted failures. Had Tottenham been able to just stay in that lovely zone that was attacking but neither irresponsible nor tentative, you feel this game would have been theirs.

The Spurs manager has struggled to get his side to find that balance between timid and reckless since arriving at the club last summer. Against Newcastle United they were punished for sitting at either end, despite finding a sweet spot in the middle that at one point made them look the more likely winners.

An overall lack of urgency, Guglielmo Vicario’s unconvincing punching, Spurs’ spells of conceding possession needlessly in their own half, Pedro Porro’s pot-shots and Wilson Odobert’s complete lack of instincts for making runs – watching Spurs in that first half felt like watching a talented academy side with a couple of senior players in the mix in the shape of James Maddison and Son Heung-min. They’d do great at the Olympics, you feel.

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That naivety came to bear as Newcastle United – dominant in the early stages but more subdued after a stoppage for an injured linesman to be replaced – took the lead off a quickly-taken throw-in to which Spurs just didn’t respond. Lloyd Kelly was allowed up the left to cross for Harvey Barnes to side-foot home superbly in his first league start of the season after an injury-hit first campaign at St James’ Park.

Tottenham had played that first half like a team carefully trying to follow instructions not to let last season’s caution-to-the-wind approach become too costly. If that was the case, then Postecoglou clearly remembered that Newcastle can’t really defend and just told his players ‘f*** it, you do you’ at the break; Spurs were much better for it.

With everyone playing 20 yards further forward, Newcastle were placed firmly under the Tottenham thumb until the pressure was too much to withstand.

Just moments after Odobert finally made a good run to the back post only to blaze over the bar from all of about two yards, Dan Burn showed him how it was done, burying the ball firmly into the net after Nick Pope’s poor save allowed Brennan Johnson to slide in and poke the ball towards goal. Shame Burn plays for Newcastle and the net he stuck it into was his own, really.

A Spurs winner felt likely, with Newcastle looking for chances on the counter but finding them limited. An emboldened Spurs encroached yet further forward…and that final step proved to be fatal, as Joelinton’s superb ball in behind a Spurs back line stationed on the halfway line released Jacob Murphy to race clear of Destiny Udogie before squaring for Alexander Isak to tap into an unguarded net.

Postecoglou must feel like Polonius at this point, warning his young charges to be one thing but not too much of that thing, and telling them to be true to their own selves while fighting that impulse within himself, knowing it is not a pragmatic way to get consistent Premier League results. He has ten months’ worth of evidence to back that up.

Despite being technically bested for much of the middle hour of the game, Newcastle won because they were simply more competent and more clinical. How Postecoglou must wish he had more of that in his own side.

Tottenham have agreed to let Giovani Lo Celso return to Real Betis, and within the deal they have been given ‘priority’ access to the future signing of Johnny Cardoso, as per Fabrizio Romano.

Spurs have been open to the exit of Lo Celso throughout the summer. The midfielder played just 22 Premier League games for the north London club last term, with Yves Bissouma, Pape Matar Sarr and James Maddison largely preferred in midfield.

Real Betis have been keen on him, having originally sold him to Tottenham for approximately £27million, but the terms have not been right for the Spanish outfit.

As such, Spurs came up with a creative way of letting Lo Celso return to Betis for reduced terms.

Indeed, Romano has confirmed that the deal has been ‘completed’, with a move for Betis man Cardoso involved.

Rather than an immediate swap deal, Romano states that Tottenham have been given a ‘priority option’ to snare the USA international ‘in the future’.

Cardoso has agreed to that, and therefore if at any point Spurs decide to pull the trigger, they will be able to beat other clubs to the signing.

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Last season, the midfielder was useful, scoring once and assisting twice in 17 games, but has not cemented his place in Betis’ side, so Tottenham do not yet deem him a player worth of signing, but certainly see his potential.

If he does not reach the heights they think he can, Ange Postecoglou’s side can still benefit.

Indeed, Romano states that if Tottenham decide against signing Cardoso, for whatever reason, they’ll essentially have a sell-on clause for him.

As such, even though he is not their player, they will receive a portion of the fee that Betis make from the midfielder.

It seems they have done a good job in getting Lo Celso, a player who was not entirely fancied, out the door, with multiple routes to success in the future as part of that deal.

For the Tottenham man, he returns to a side where he scored 16 goals in his final season, and he could therefore rediscover form.

Tottenham have been mooted as a potential destination for PSV defender Olivier Boscagli when his contract expires next summer.

Boscagli has been linked with Brighton in recent weeks but Fabian Hurzeler has decided not to improve in centre-back.

The 26-year-old Frenchman was one of the best defenders in the Eredivisie last season, helping PSV win the Dutch top flight at a canter.

He is a left-footed centre-back, which Tottenham are reportedly keen on signing before Friday’s transfer deadline.

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There are no indications that Ange Postecoglou’s side will land anyone before the summer transfer window closes but there is believed to be some interest in Boscagli.

The Premier League club could wait until next year to make their move though, with the player out of contract at the end of this season.

Tottenham named as potential destination for PSV star

Dutch journalist Dennie van Laar thinks it would be a good move for Spurs and Boscagli, who has been linked with Brighton this summer.

Van Laar reckons the 26-year-old should wait it out to join a top club like Spurs, Napoli or Atletico Madrid in 2025.

It has been claimed that Brighton recently failed with a 10 million euro bid for Boscagli, with PSV deciding against cashing in this summer.

“But he can also just wait, because you will soon be a free agent,” Van Laar said. “Then you really laugh your head off. You can then sign for Napoli, Atletico Madrid or Spurs. I’m really convinced of that.

“If he stays fit now, he will sign with a big bag of signing money [signing on bonus] at a dream club next year with a smile. I wouldn’t go completely crazy about Brighton.”

There are no real claims that Spurs want to sign Boscagli, only that the journalist believes they would be a favourable destination.

Spurs learned their Europa League opponents on Friday, with a trip to Ibrox to face Rangers the standout fixture as former Celtic manager Postecoglou returns to Glasgow.

The Scottish giants also landed Manchester United in their league phase fixture list.

Spurs, who finished fifth in the Premier League last season, have home games against Roma, AZ Alkmaar, Qarabag and Swedish side Elfsborg.

As well as a trip to Ibrox, the other away fixtures will see Spurs travel to Ferencvaros of Hungary, Turkish giants Galatasaray and also Hoffenheim in Germany.

The top eight teams from the league stage will go straight into the last 16 while a round of play-offs involving those finishing between ninth and 24th will decide the other eight places.

The full fixture list with match dates and kick-off times will be announced on August 31, so to ensure no calendar clashes with teams in the Champions League and Conference League playing in the same cities.

Scottish Premiership side Rangers will face both Manchester United and Tottenham in the first stage of the new-look Europa League.

United were also handed a reunion with their former manager Jose Mourinho at the hybrid draw in Monaco, where teams were pulled out of the pots by rank then each allocated opponents by the UEFA computer.

The revamped format sees all 36 teams forming a single league, with each entrant playing four home games and four away.

Scottish Premiership side Rangers were the first team drawn out of pot one, with the algorithm determining a home game against Spurs as well a trip to Old Trafford.

Lyon, Olympiacos, Union Saint-Gilloise, Malmo, Steaua Bucharest and Nice complete the initial Europa League fixtures for Philippe Clement’s side, with the full schedule to be confirmed by UEFA on Saturday.

United, also in pot one, were handed a trip to Turkish side Fenerbahce – managed by Mourinho.

The other games in United’s away schedule will be at Porto, Steaua Bucharest and Czech side Viktoria Plzen.

United’s remaining home games will be against PAOK, last season’s Greek champions, Bodo/Glimt of Norway and Dutch side FC Twente.

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Tottenham, who finished fifth in the Premier League last season, have home games against Roma, AZ Alkmaar, Qarabag and Swedish side Elfsborg.

As well as a trip to Ibrox, the other away fixtures will see Spurs travel to Ferencvaros of Hungary, Turkish giants Galatasaray and also Hoffenheim in Germany.

The top eight teams from the league stage will go straight into the last 16 while a round of play-offs involving those finishing between ninth and 24th will decide the other eight places.

The full fixture list with match dates and kick-off times will be announced on August 31, so to ensure no calendar clashes with teams in the Champions League and Conference League playing in the same cities.

Former Premier League defender Sebastien Bassong has labelled “top-notch” Tottenham defender Micky van de Ven as the best defender “in the league” as he is the “overall player”.

Van de Ven was a very important asset at the beginning of last season for Spurs. He and fellow new signing James Maddison were both very influential, and that both were injured in the same game, against Chelsea, hampered the north London outfit.

Tottenham had not lost any of their first 10 games in the Premier League, winning eight of them, and keeping four clean sheets. Of the games the defender was sidelined in (and the one he got injured in), Spurs lost six out of 10.

This season, with Van de Ven playing every minute, Tottenham have conceded one goal, and have won and drawn their opening two games.

According to Bassong, the Dutchman is the most complete defender in the league.

“He is top, top-notch. Honestly, from last season, I couldn’t praise him enough,” Bassong said on talkSPORT.

“Sometimes I go to the game or watch the game, people keep asking me ‘one defender in the league’. I say Van de Ven. For me, he is the overall player.

“He’s quick, strong and good on the ball. He takes risks. Sometimes he oversteps. When he is in trouble, he isn’t panicking. And he is so calm on the ball.

“So, you know, even when he is in a one-v-one situation, he is going to do the job. He is the perfect player.”

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It’s high praise for a defender at just the start of his second season to be placed in such high esteem, ahead of Virgil van Dijk, who is frequently seen as the league’s best centre-back, as a result of his quality and longevity for Liverpool.

Van Dijk could leave Anfield at the end of the summer, with his contract up then, and Van de Ven could potentially then keep the crown for some time.

Tottenham could make as many as “two more signings” before the transfer deadline on Friday, according to transfer expert Fabrizio Romano.

Spurs have made five transfers so far this summer with Dominic Solanke, Archie Gray, Wilson Odobert, Lucas Bergvall and Min-hyeok Yang all joining Ange Postecoglou’s side this summer.

That is according to Romano, who reckons there is “still the possibility to do one or two more signings” before the deadline on Friday.

Romano told GiveMeSport: “I would not exclude anything from Tottenham. Apart from Solanke, who was always the top target, all other signings they’ve been very good at keeping in the background. I think, for Tottenham, there’s still the possibility to do one or two more signings.

“I’m not sure it’s going to be two, but it could be. I think Tottenham are going to be one of the clubs to follow in the final days.”

And Football Insider insist that Spurs ‘are prioritising a late-window deal for a centre-back’ with just a few days of the transfer window left.

It is understood that Tottenham are ‘also lining up a move for a new central midfielder’ while they have ‘identified centre-back as a key position where more depth is required in the 2024-25 campaign’.

Solanke, who cost Spurs £65m from Bournemouth, has been their marquee signing of the summer and former Premier League midfielder Gordan Strachan reckons Postecoglou has found his man to “apply the finishing touch”.

Strachan told Lord Ping: “I think Solanke is more than just a goal-scorer; he’s a threat all the time, he wants to go in behind.

“Everyone always talks about a striker getting you 20 or 25 goals a season, but I don’t think that many teams play with one striker that is the complete focal point of a team, where all of the other players are there to feed him.

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“I think Ange wants all of his players in the attacking areas to contribute for him. That’s what happened with his Celtic teams – it wasn’t about one man taking on the scoring burden, it was about everyone chipping in.

“He’ll look at it and think, ‘what can my front three give me?’ He’ll be looking at total goals, so he’ll be happy if Solanke gets 15 goals and Son or Kulusevski get 10 each. That’s what he’ll be aiming for.

“If you’re looking for an out-and-out finisher, then you have to watch Manchester City. Everyone always talks about the limited number of touches that Erling Haaland has, but it’s a complete nonsense because he is in the team to finish off the moves and he does it brilliantly. Keep him as far away from the game as possible. Ange played a bit like that at Celtic with Kyogo finishing everything.

“He’ll get all of his players to play around Solanke and to create opportunities for him, but Solanke may have to make a few adjustments to his game and resist the urge to drop off, because we know he’s got the ability to do that.

“Tottenham definitely needed a player to apply the finishing touch. Hopefully, Ange has found that man in Dom Solanke.”

Barcelona are reportedly eyeing a cut-price deal for Tottenham left-back Sergio Reguilon, who the club are reportedly ‘keen to cash in on’ with his contract ticking down.

Reguilon has never played north of 27 Premier League games in a season at Tottenham. While he was signed in 2020, he only played at Spurs – sparsely – in 2020/21 and 2021/22.

He has since been sent out on loans to Atletico Madrid, Manchester United and Brentford. Two of those loans were in one season, Ange Postecoglou’s first as Spurs manager, and he did not include the left-back in the squad for the first game of this season.

According to Football Insider, the club would be ‘keen to cash in’ on Reguilon now, given his contract with them is up in a year’s time.

And they have got a perfect opportunity to make some money off him, as the report states Barcelona are looking for a cut-price deal for the Spaniard.

With Reguilon ‘almost certain to leave’ amid his club’s stance, it is no surprise that Barca think they can get him on the cheap. What price that would be remains to be seen, but Tottenham will be open to offers.

The La Liga giants are not the only Spanish side who are interested in snaring Reguilon this summer, though.

The report states other La Liga sides are ‘keeping a close eye on his progress’ and have been ‘put on alert’ by his availability late in the summer.

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With Barca having seen Marcos Alonso leave on a free transfer earlier this summer, they want to provide cover for Alejandro Balde at left-back, and feel Reguilon would be useful given he is from Spain and may be willing to ‘play a squad role’.

It has previously been suggested that his future lies in England, with interest from a couple of sides, so it remains to be seen if he’d be open to returning to his native Spain.

If the option is that or sitting on the bench at Tottenham, or even watching from home – if he is indeed given a choice – the former would surely be the best plan for him.

After the giddy optimism and excitement of pre-season comes the second and much more fun staging post of a football season.

The widespread mass jerking of the knee. In some cases, this involves doubling down on the optimism. That’s fine, but also quite boring really. Happy people are enormously dull, and happy football fans the absolute worst of them. Their only use is as an investment, because while they may be annoying now you know that for 90% of them the bum’s rush is coming and you’ll get to watch the show.

But in the first instance the far more enjoyable jerks are those that lurch the other way. Where hope is instantly replaced by despair. Where optimism gives way instantly to the familiar dark clouds.

And lads, it’s Tottenham.

There was so very much to enjoy about their season opener for a committed knee-jerker. What was particularly exciting was the way they managed to package up the entire narrative arc of Angeball season one into a single bitesize, 90-minute chunk.

A hugely exciting and encouraging start that suggests something really quite special might be about to happen, eye-catching early success for the unorthodox attacking methods at the heart of the strategy, then one defensive setback causes the entire house of cards to dramatically collapse in a flurry of panic and bad decisions, meaning in the end nothing of any great tangible value can be achieved and questions must be asked about the entire strategy.

At the very, very least, Spurs have this season saved us all a lot of time.

But while that more macro knee-jerk is fine – and hard to argue with the ‘don’t qualify for Europe’ shout that made it into our official list of matchday one jerkings – we found ourselves with a more specific one.

Even we’re not going to judge Dominic Solanke too harshly for missing a few chances on debut, even though it only served to heighten the nagging doubts gnawing at us, nor Brennan Johnson for his continued refusal to quite be the finished product when it comes to decision-making in promising areas.

With both those lads, there is at least reason to believe or at least hope their career trajectory remains upwards.

It was the other starter in Tottenham’s front three who alarmed us most; Son Heung-min’s career is not on an upward trajectory.

He has been a sensational player for Tottenham, quite obviously, but it’s starting to feel like that past tense might be necessary.

The club captain can no longer be considered undroppable.

Son started 34 of Spurs’ Premier League games last season. He missed three games on Asia Cup duty, and then came off the bench in his first game back on club duty.

Apart from that, he was the first name on the team sheet. Of those 34 starts, the only time he played less than an hour was when withdrawn on 58 minutes at Newcastle with the game already demonstrably up.

No other attacking player came particularly close to his level of involvement. Son played 2948 minutes of Premier League football last season, with Dejan Kulusevski 200 minutes behind and a distant third on that list James Maddison despite missing a large chunk of it through injury.

That’s what needs to change. Son remains a perfectly viable option for Spurs’ multi-faceted attack, but that’s how he should now be seen. Another option among many. He no longer merits a starting spot in all conditions against all opposition, no questions asked.

And in truth while this is in part a lashing-out response to one night of disappointment for Spurs, it’s not entirely that. We’ve already this summer included Son on a hot-take list of players each club should be selling.

That’s maybe a touch far – but only a touch. Son did score 17 Premier League goals last season, but nearly half of those came in that giddy and illusory 10-game opening run when all things seemed possible. He scored only five goals in 15 games after the Asian Cup, and Monday night’s blank makes it two goals and two assists in his last 10 Premier League games.

It already feels like a significant early test of Angeball Mk II. Does the boss have the big Aussie balls to make a statement and leave his captain out of the starting XI over the next couple of weeks?

There’s a compelling argument for doing so based purely on Son’s own form, but another exists in the identity of their next opponents.

Spurs face Everton in their first home game of the season, an Everton side reeling from a 3-0 spanking from Brighton in their own opening game and who, thanks to an injury crisis and Ashley Young’s wonky decision-making, find themselves without a single recognised first-team right-back for their trip to London.

It could therefore be just the game for Son to rediscover his form. But more tantalisingly, could it not be a game for unleashing your shiny new quick, tricky, dribbly winger to give whichever poor sod is asked to fill in some twisted blood?

Football moves fast and ‘Spurs should leave out Son Heung-min and pick Wilson Odobert instead’ is a sentence that even a week ago would make you sound like a mad man. But one jerk of the knee later and you can’t deny it makes perfect sense. Go on. Admit it.