Inside Futbol

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Tottenham Hotspur loan star Alfie Devine has admitted that he was star-struck when he saw former Liverpool stars Luis Suarez and Daniel Sturridge.

The 20-year-old is a youth product of Tottenham’s academy but his youth career started somewhere else.

The Warrington-born midfielder started his youth career with Liverpool before he went on to play for Wigan Athletic and Spurs’ youth sides.

He admitted that watching former Reds striker Sturridge score a goal at Anfield when he was a ball-boy was a special experience.

Devine, though, insisted that watching Suarez and Pepe Reina in training sessions dazzled him during his youth days with the Reds.

“I can still see Pepe Reina and Luis Suarez walking around”, the Spurs loan star told Belgian daily Het Belang van Limburg about his star-struck moment back at Anfield.

“And yes, I was a bit star-struck, of course.

“I was also a ballboy once in a home game at Anfield.

“Seeing Daniel Sturridge score from very close range was a special experience.”

Devine is currently on a season-long loan at Belgian outfit Westerlo and he will aim to play against the Reds for Tottenham in the near future.

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Tottenham Hotspur out on loan star Alfie Devine has revealed that Ange Postecoglou and the club are always available for him when he needs anything.

The 20-year-old central midfielder came through the youth ranks at Spurs and is considered to be a bright prospect at the club.

Devine has spent time at lower-league English clubs on loan, but this year he has been sent to Belgium for first-team football.

The England Under-20 international is currently plying his trade with Westerlo in Belgium.

Devine is being watched closely by Spurs and he admits that if he needs anything then the north London side are always there, while they make him feel involved with the first team.

“If I need anything, they are always there at Spurs. I also had good conversations with coach Ange Postecoglou”, the Tottenham loanee told Belgian daily Het Belang van Limburg about his relationship with the Premier League club.

“I went on a training camp with the first team and I still feel involved with the group.

“You never know what the future will bring, but that way you stay in the picture of course.”

He will look to impress the Spurs hierarchy with his performances in Belgium if he is to have a crack at the first team squad next season.

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Tottenham Hotspur star Dejan Kulusevski believes that Sweden’s national team will be one of the best in the world.

The 24-year-old Spurs man made his senior international debut back in 2019 and he has been a consistent name in the Sweden national set-up since.

Kulusevski has already acquired 43 caps for Sweden and played the full 90 minutes against Estonia on Monday night.

Jon Dahl Tomasson’s side grabbed a 3-0 victory over Estonia and Kulusevski has insisted that Swden’s style of play will entertain everyone.

The Tottenham attacking midfielder believes that his national team are going in the right direction and reiterated Sweden will be one of the best teams in the world.

“There will be so much more happening [in the Sweden national team], I can tell you that”, Kulusevski told Swedish outlet Fotbollskanalen about his national team.

“It will be big, very big and everyone will want to watch when Sweden plays football.

“It gets better all the time. The national team will be one of the best in the world.

“That’s where we’re going.”

Kulusevski registered an assist against Estonia last night and he will be looking to have the same effect when Spurs face West Ham on Saturday.

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Former Dutch international Ben Wijnstekers has insisted that Tottenham Hotspur star Micky van de Ven is not at his best as a centre-back.

The north Londoners agreed to pay a sum of around €50m to Wolfsburg to secure the 23-year-old defender last year.

He has been an important cog in Ange Postecoglou’s system and despite being a central defender primarily, his pace is one of his top qualities.

Wijnstekers feels that Van de Ven has been partially decent as a left-back for the Netherlands national team because of his speed.

The former Dutch international, though, made it clear that the Spurs defender is wobbly when he is deployed as a central defender.

“For Netherlands, he [Van de Ven] also did quite well as a left-back, partly because of his speed that is now well-known”, the 69-year-old told Dutch daily De Telegraaf about the Tottenham star man.

“But in central defence, he was swimming at times.”

Van de Ven started both matches during the international break for the Dutch national side but failed to end up on the winning side on both occasions.

He played as a centre-back against Germany, with Virgil van Dijk suspended.

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One of Tottenham Hotspur’s stars insists he is keen to be a deciding factor in games and is waiting for his chance to do so.

Spurs’ stars are scattered across the globe at present on international duty, with boss Ange Postecoglou facing an anxious wait to see who comes back fit and who picks up any issues.

Postecoglou is well aware of the need for his side to get back to winning ways after the international break following a damaging capitulation at Brighton & Hove Albion.

In-form attacker Brennan Johnson was brought off early for Wales after suffering a kick, but another in-form Spurs star in the shape of Dejan Kulusevski is so far unscathed.

The Swede was in action with his national team against Slovakia in the Nations League on Friday night as the game ended 2-2.

He admits that he is in great form at the moment and wants to be the decisive factor in games.

“This is how it should be. I will take responsibility, try to be as good as possible”, Kulusevski told the Dagens Nyheter.

“I want to decide.

“I’m just waiting to decide the match, but sometimes it doesn’t work out.”

The winger feels that Sweden conceding before half-time made the game tough, but on the whole they did create a host of chances against Slovakia.

“We concede a goal that makes the whole match difficult. Nevertheless, we come out in the second half and are as good as in the first.

“We create many chances. They score 2-2 but we try to win the game.”

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Wales boss Craig Bellamy has insisted that Tottenham Hotspur forward Brennan Johnson was only taken off against Iceland as a precaution.

Spurs man Johnson scored Wales’ opening goal in the Nations League meeting with Iceland, hitting the back of the net after just eleven minutes.

Harry Wilson extended the visitors’ lead to make sure they went in 2-0 up at half-time and Johnson was brought off.

Iceland though scored twice in the second half to earn a 2-2 draw and even had chances to win.

There were concerns for Spurs star Johnson, who is in red hot goalscoring form at present, but Bellamy has moved to ease those worries.

He insists that Johnson was just brought off as a precaution having felt something.

“It was a precaution. He took a kick”, Bellamy was quoted as saying by the BBC.

“He did feel something from impact so we’ll get him checked out.”

Tottenham boss Ange Postecoglou will be hoping there are no issues with Johnson as he looks for his Spurs side to get back to winning ways next weekend against West Ham United in the Premier League.

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One of Tottenham Hotspur’s stars is ‘not shocked’ by one of his recent performances that was ‘extra good’.

Spurs headed into the international break sitting in ninth spot in the Premier League table and on the back of a damaging 3-2 loss away at Brighton & Hove Albion.

The loss on the south coast overshadowed a good period which saw Spurs record a fine 3-0 win over Manchester United at Old Trafford.

Brennan Johnson, Dejan Kulusevski and Dominic Solanke all got on the scoresheet at the Red Devils.

Kulusevski feels he reached a special level during the Premier League game at Manchester United, but is not surprised as he feels he has always had it in him to reach that standard.

“It came out in that match, but I have worked incredibly hard to play at that level”, the Swede was quoted as saying by Bold.

“I’m not shocked.

“I’ve just been waiting for it.

“Every match has felt good, but that one was perhaps extra good.”

Spurs boss Ange Postecoglou will be hoping that the winger comes back from international duty with Sweden without any fitness issues.

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One of Tottenham Hotspur’s stars has insisted he understands a decision made by Ange Postecoglou which affected him in one of Spurs’ recent games.

Postecoglou has been under some pressure at Tottenham of late as worries that his approach is leaving Spurs too open have been the subject of much discussion.

Before the international break, Tottenham let a two-goal lead slip and went down to a 3-2 loss at Brighton.

Matters have been somewhat brighter for Tottenham in the Europa League, with wins over Qarabag and Ferencvaros.

The victory over Qarabag was gained with ten men, following an early sending off for Radu Dragusin, which meant Lucas Bergvall was brought off just over ten minutes into the game.

The Swedish midfielder though is not upset about it and insists he understands Postecoglou’s decision, which he has let go.

“Of course you’re disappointed, maybe you should be too”, he told Swedish daily the Dagens Nyheter.

“But I just had to let it go, I completely understood the decision.”

Bergvall did get to play against Ferencvaros and savoured the experience.

“Incredibly fun, something I’ve dreamed of since I was a kid. It was great fun and big for me.”

Tottenham beat Barcelona to secure his signature and there are high hopes attached to the young midfielder.

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Anderlecht were split on the idea of appointing Tottenham Hotspur assistant Ryan Mason as their new boss and so are sticking with David Hubert.

The Belgian giants have been looking for a new manager to bring in, with Hubert having been holding the fort in a caretaker capacity.

They held talks with Spurs assistant Mason about taking over at the club and looked set to appoint him.

However, according to Belgian outlet Voetbal Belgie, there was a split on the Anderlecht board about Mason.

Some felt that paying a compensation fee to appoint a coach who has little experience as a boss and no experience of Belgian football was not a smart move.

They argued that Scott Parker did not succeed at Club Brugge and Mason was a gamble not worth taking.

Anderlecht have now handed Hubert the manager’s job, with Mason remaining at Tottenham.

Hubert will look to continue Anderlecht’s good recent form, with the club registering a run of three wins in their last four games across all competitions.

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Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Lucas Bergvall has stated that Spurs have incredibly good players and admitted that competition to get into the starting line-up is tough.

The 18-year-old midfielder has already featured eight times for Tottenham, appearing twice in the Europa League.

Bergvall is highly rated by the Tottenham coaching staff but has yet to start a game for Spurs in the Premier League.

The Swedish international admitted that despite not being able to start games, he is still enjoying coming on as a substitute in the Premier League.

Bergvall pointed out that the Tottenham squad is full of incredibly good players who are doing well in Europe and stressed that it is tough to get a place in the starting line-up because of the competition.

“It’s great to be able to start games and make substitute appearances in the Premier League”, Bergvall told Swedish daily Dagens Nyheter.

“They are incredibly good players who belong to the top of the world.

“They are good players that I compete with, players who are doing well in Europe.

“So of course it’s tough.”

Bergvall is currently with the Sweden national team and he will be hoping to make his first start for the national team when they take on Slovakia on Friday.