Metro.co.uk

Anfield legend Robbie Fowler believes his former club Liverpool should ‘have a look’ at signing Micky van de Ven from Tottenham.

Liverpool fans are sweating over the future of star defender and club captain Virgil van Dijk, who will be out of contract come the summer.

Mohamed Salah and Trent Alexander-Arnold have also entered the final six months of their contracts at Anfield, with Liverpool keen to get at least one of the trio to extend their stay on Merseyside.

But the Reds must at least begin to think about life after Van Dijk and their former striker Fowler believes Van de Ven could be an ideal replacement.

Van de Ven has enjoyed an impressive if injury-prone spell at Tottenham since his £43m move from Bundesliga outfit Wolfsburg in 2023.

The 23-year-old, who is currently out injured and missed Sunday’s much-needed victory over Manchester United, has established himself as one of the best centre-backs in the Premier League over the past 18 months.

Fowler reckons the Netherlands international would ‘look right in a Liverpool shirt’ and could be the man to replace Van Dijk should he depart Anfield this summer.

Ex-England striker Fowler named Bournemouth’s Dean Huijsen as another option for Liverpool as they brace themselves for an important summer given the possible high-profile departures.

‘When it comes to potentially replacing Virgil van Dijk, I’m a big fan of both Dean Huijsen at Bournemouth and Micky van de Ven at Tottenham,’ Fowler told BoyleSports.

‘Having said that, we are talking about players who are not as good as Van Dijk, he is the absolute stand out in the Premier League and all effort should be made to keep him at the club.

‘As a football fan you want your club to keep improving and keep signing good valuable players, but first of all it’s about keeping your best players at the club.

‘He is a Rolls Royce of a player and I do think that the game looks too easy for him at times, he is a tremendous player and a tremendous leader. We’re in the realms of just giving him what he wants to ensure he stays.

‘There are good players out there but no one as good as him, if he does go then it should be someone that knows the Premier League.

‘Someone who knows the speed and the intensity. But replacing Van Dijk with anyone is a gamble.

‘I’m the sort of fan that thinks if you’re not out there signing good players then you’re slipping behind the competition and are slipping backwards.

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‘If you’re not doing that and improving the squad you can plateau. When it comes to Micky van de Ven, he’s a very, very good player despite having his injury problems.

‘I think he is strong, fast and I think he would look right in a Liverpool shirt. I know Tottenham fans won’t want to hear that but it’s a compliment to him as a player that I think the league leaders should have a look at him.’

Tottenham have struggled to cope with their long injury list in recent weeks but beat Manchester United 1-0 thanks to James Maddison’s first-half goal.

Van Dijk and Liverpool were also in action on Sunday, beating Wolves 2-1 to move seven points above Premier League title rivals Arsenal, who won earlier in the weekend.

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Arrow MORE: Ruben Amorim responds to sack threat after latest Man Utd defeat at Tottenham

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Ruben Amorim insists he is not worried about his job despite Manchester United’s woeful form continuing with defeat at Tottenham on Sunday.

James Maddison scored the only goal of the game as Spurs beat the Red Devils 1-0 in the Premier League clash in north London.

The victory took Tottenham up to 12th in the top flight while United remained 15th as they suffered their 12th defeat in 25 league matches.

Amorim only arrived from Sporting in November but such has their been abysmal form and level of performance that he is already under pressure.

It seems very unlikely that the Portuguese would be dismissed before the end of the season but results mean that he is being asked about his future.

‘I am not worried,’ Amorim told the BBC. ‘I understand our fans, what the media think about it. I hate to lose, that feeling is the worst.

‘The rest I am not thinking about. I am here to help my players. I understand my situation, my job, I am confident on my work and I just want to win games.

‘The place in the table is my worry, I am not worried about me.’

Manchester United were poor, once again, but did create some chances, with the likes of Alejandro Garnacho and Joshua Zirkzee spurning opportunities.

‘It was the difference of the game, they scored and we didn’t,’ said the manager. ‘We had the opportunities. We had situations in transitions, trying to get a result, but in the end they scored and we didn’t.

‘We want to recover the players, I think we can recover some players for the next game. We have to be together to finish the season and start over.’

Speaking before the game at Tottenham, Amorim admitted that the struggles are proving exhausting, not just for him but everyone at the club.

‘It’s ups and downs. It’s a fight every day, with everything – with a lot of media – then you have to cope with a lot of games,’ he told Sky Sports.

‘Then when you are in this club – in any club – but in this club, if you cannot push for a lot of wins in a row, you are always fighting. That can be exhausting not just for me, for everybody in the club, and for the players.

‘We need to keep fighting and focus just on the small things, and for me the small thing is the next game.’

United’s next outing is at in-form Everton in the Premier League on Saturday.

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Manchester United have been rocked by an injury nightmare ahead of their Premier League clash with Tottenham this afternoon.

With Lisandro Martinez already sidelined for the rest of the season, Amad Diallo is now facing a significant period out with an ankle injury.

The Ivory Coast international, United’s best player under Ruben Amorim, could even miss the rest of the season.

The problems don’t stop there – United will be without three midfield options in Kobbie Mainoo, Manuel Ugarte and Toby Collyer this afternoon after picking up injuries in training this week.

Mainoo is facing a number of weeks on the sidelines with Ugarte and Collyer’s issues thought to be more short-term.

It leaves Amorim with the midfield options of Christian Eriksen and Casemiro, two players who have struggled for gametime since their last start against Newcastle United on 30 December.

With Johnny Evans, Luke Shaw and Mason Mount all still unavailable,a number of youth team players have been drafted in to bolster the numbers.

Chido Obi, Sekou Kone, Jack Moorhouse, Harry Amass and Elyh Harrison have all made the journey down south with Kone and Moorhouse two options in central midfield.

Tottenham will have little sympathy for United given their own injury woes.

Ange Postecoglou passionately defended his side after the FA Cup defeat against Aston Villa last Sunday having been left to manage a staggering injury crisis over the last 10 weeks.

Brennan Johnson, Timo Werner and Wilson Odobert also returned to training as they near their returns.

Dominic Solanke not thought to be far behind but the former Bournemouth striker, who picked up a knee injury in mid-January, will not be involved today.

Micky van de Ven and Cristian Romero have both endured injury-hit seasons and remained sidelined.

Van de Ven made his return from a hamstring problem last month, playing 45 minutes in the Europa League victory over Elfsborg but has not featured in the squad since.

Romero meanwhile has not featured since his brief comeback against Chelsea in December with Spurs exercising extreme caution over the pair. Radu Dragusin meanwhile is out for the season with a serious knee injury.

Mathys Tel scored his first goal for the club against Villa on Sunday. United were interested in signing the forward in January before talks with Bayern Munich collapsed. He can show them exactly what they might be missing up top on Sunday.

United and Spurs are marooned in 13th and 14th respectively with two points separating the two ahead of kick-off.

Predicted Tottenham XI to face Man Utd

Kinsky, Porro, Danso, Gray, Spence, Bergvall, Bentancur, Moore, Kulusevski, Song, Tel

Predicted Man XI to face Tottenham

Onana, de Ligt, Maguire, Yoro, Dalot, Fernandes, Casemiro, Dorgu, Zirkzee, Garnacho, Hojlund

Where to watch Tottenham vs Man Utd? Kick-off time and TV channel

Tottenham vs Man Utd kicks off at 4:30pm on Sunday 16 February.

Live coverage is available on Sky Sports Premier League and Sky Sports Main Event with a live stream available on the Sky Go app and NOW TV.

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If Tottenham fans were looking for a permanent escape from the misery of supporting their club, relocating to North Korea might not be the worst option.

Ange Postecoglou’s side have endured a terrible run of form which culminated in last weekend’s FA Cup fourth round defeat against Aston Villa.

Spurs had exited the Carabao Cup at the semi-final stage just three days earlier after they were pilloried for capitulating against Liverpool, surrendering a one-goal advantage from the first leg and limping to a 4-0 defeat.

Hopes of a top four finish and a return to Europe’s top tier competition evaporated long before the turn of the year and with Spurs currently languishing in 14th place there is little left to play for on the domestic front.

The grim details of the club’s decline would be hard to track down for any fan located in North Korea, with dictator Kim Jong-un having banned coverage of the north London club along with their Premier League counterparts Wolves and Brentford.

The despot’s regime insists no games involving teams with players from his hated neighbours are broadcast there.

South Korea currently boasts three players in the Premier League with Spurs skipper Son Heung-min the most high-profile of the trio.

Hwang Hee-chan, meanwhile, has been with Wolves since signing from RB Leipzig three years ago and Kim Ji-soo has made two top flight appearances for Brentford this season.

Premier League football is shown in North Korea, but coverage is restricted to 60 minutes and, according to a report, airs before early evening news bulletins but, bizarrely, four months after matches have been played.

The findings come in a report by the independent US think tank Stimson Center’s probe into North Korea.

State TV is a major vehicle for propaganda but sport is ‘one of the few moments each day when state TV is not trying to send an overt or underlying message to its viewers,’ analysis found.

The Center’s Martyn Williams said: ‘We thought it was interesting.

‘We just saw a lot of football on KCTV. It’s the main international sport they broadcast.’

Tottenham, meanwhile, are set to be boosted by the return of several key figures for Sunday’s visit of Manchester United, Kim’s favourite team.

Spurs were without 11 players for last weekend’s FA Cup defeat at Villa Park, but boss Postecoglou has worked with Guglielmo Vicario, Destiny Udogie, James Maddison, Wilson Odobert and Brennan Johnson in training this week.

Italy international Vicario has not featured since he fractured his ankle in the 4-0 win at Manchester City on November 23 and Postecoglou has used three different goalkeepers during the ensuing three-month period.

‘It’s been a good week, fair to say, in terms of the health and well-being of the group of young men I look after,’ Postecoglou smiled.

‘The guys who have been playing have benefited from a couple of days off.

‘On the injury front, good to have some significant players back for training purposes to start with because it raises the quality and level of our training, but in terms of helping us Vicario, yes trained really well and good to go.

‘Madders is good to go. Then we’ve had Destiny, Wilson and Brennan training with the group and they’re in a good space as well, so it’s been a good training week.’

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Gary Neville and Roy Keane have made their predictions for Sunday’s Premier League clash between Tottenham and Manchester United.

Both sides head into Sunday’s clash in need of a positive result as they look to make up ground on the rest of the league after disappointing starts to their campaign.

Tottenham recorded an impressive 2-0 away victory against Brentford last time out in the league but since then have recorded back-to-back defeats as they continue to deal with an injury crisis to several key players.

Ange Postecoglou’s side had a one-goal advantage heading into their Carabao Cup semi-final second leg with Liverpool but were handsomely beaten 4-0 at Anfield.

Spurs were then dumped out of the FA Cup last weekend after a 2-1 away defeat to Aston Villa.

The north London club sit 14th in the table and have won just one of their last eight games in the league.

United, meanwhile, have won four of their last five games in all competitions but still remain unconvincing under new manager Ruben Amorim.

Having lost 2-0 at home to Crystal Palace last time out in the league, United bounced back in the FA Cup with a 2-1 win against Leicester albeit courtesy of a controversial late winner from Harry Maguire.

Now facing the out-of-form Spurs, United will be after a spot of revenge having been thrashed 3-0 at Old Trafford in the reverse fixture earlier in the season.

And given Tottenham’s current form, both Neville and Keane were confident in predicting an away win for their former side.

‘I think United win. 2-1 United,’ Neville said on The Overlap with Sky Bet.

Keane followed up with a quip about the home side’s injury situation, joking: ‘Have Spurs got their players back? Is (James) Maddison back?’

But the former United captain eventually also settled on an away win.

‘I’m going to go United. 3-1 United,’ he said.

Having endured a relentless schedule, Postecoglou’s side will be grateful for a week in training to prepare for Sunday’s clash.

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However, Keane was not convinced that the added rest will suddenly turn around Tottenham’s form.

‘My only thing with Ange is he mentioned they have no midweek games for a couple of weeks,’ he said.

‘But it’s not like you can just get a magic wand out on the training pitch and all of a sudden they make the players better.

‘What happens if United go and beat them next week when they’ve a full week of and players back? Then they will definitely be looking at the manager.’

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Tottenham could be handed an overdue injury boost in time for their Premier League clash with Manchester United this weekend.

Ange Postecoglou passionately defended his side after the FA Cup defeat against Aston Villa last Sunday having been left to manage a staggering injury crisis over the last 10 weeks.

Brennan Johnson, Timo Werner and Wilson Odobert are also close to rejoining the group while Dominic Solanke is not thought to be far behind. The former Bournemouth striker picked up a knee injury in mid-January.

Micky van de Ven and Cristian Romero have both endured injury-hit seasons with Poestecoglou set to provide an update on the pair and the rest of his squad on Friday.

Van de Ven made his return from a hamstring problem last month, playing 45 minutes in the Europa League victory over Elfsborg but has not featured in the squad since.

Romero meanwhile has not featured since his brief comeback against Chelsea in December with Spurs exercising extreme caution over the pair. Radu Dragusin meanwhile is out for the season with a serious knee injury.

Mathys Tel scored his first goal for the club against Villa on Sunday. United were interested in signing the forward in January before talks with Bayern Munich collapsed. He can show them exactly what they might be missing up top on Sunday.

United’s injury woes have cleared up in recent weeks but their problems remain, just about scraping through to the FA Cup fifth round against Leicester last Friday.

Patrick Dorgu made his debut that evening, playing 45 minutes on the right. Rasmus Hojlund endured another woeful evening up top but Joshua Zirkzee strengthened his case after coming off the bench, scoring his side’s equaliser.

Alejandro Garnacho also emerged off the bench that evening, lifting his side with an impressive second-half performance that will surely earn him a starting spot in north London.

Kobbie Mainoo’s under-par season continued last week with Manuel Ugarte and Bruno Fernandes looking like Amorim’s first choice midfield pairing.

United and Spurs are marooned in 13th and 14th respectively with two points separating the two ahead of kick-off.

Predicted Tottenham XI to face Man Utd

Kinsky, Porro, Danso, Gray, Spence, Bergvall, Bentancur, Moore, Kulusevski, Song, Tel

Predicted Man XI to face Tottenham

Onana, de Ligt, Maguire, Yoro, Dalot, Fernandes, Ugarte, Dorgu, Diallo, Garnacho, Zirkzee

Where to watch Tottenham vs Man Utd? Kick-off time and TV channel

Tottenham vs Man Utd kicks off at 4:30pm on Sunday 16 February.

Live coverage is available on Sky Sports Premier League and Sky Sports Main Event with a live stream available on the Sky Go app and NOW TV.

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Louis Saha has tipped a Premier League manager to replace Ange Postecoglou if he does lose his job at Tottenham.

The 59-year-old Australian is still clinging on despite Spurs being knocked out of both the Carabao Cup and FA Cup in the space of four days.

Tottenham’s dismal Premier League form – they are just 14th in the table with only eight wins from 24 games – would be enough for many owners to pull the plug on their manager.

But the Spurs hierarchy have decided to stick by Postecoglou, who essentially promised to win a trophy this season before Tottenham were eliminated from both domestic cup competitions.

The north London club still have aspirations of winning the Europa League but it is hard to imagine such an outcome given Tottenham’s form and current injury crisis.

If Spurs do sack Postecoglou, former Premier League striker Saha believes Tottenham will try to poach Marco Silva from Fulham, though he hopes the Portuguese boss remains at Craven Cottage.

Silva, 47, has spent five successful seasons at Fulham, taking the west London club not just back into the Premier League but into the top-half of the table.

Saha, who played for both Fulham and Tottenham, believes Silva can ‘build something special’ at Craven Cottage but fears he could be tempted by an offer from Spurs.

‘Marco Silva has been brilliant for Fulham, and he’s one of those managers that has improved in the Premier League,’ the ex-France international told Paddy Power.

‘He wasn’t getting results like this at his previous clubs, but he’s kept his style and managed to bring in players at Fulham and make them better, which is a huge achievement for him.

‘I can see the attraction of him joining a bigger club like Tottenham if they do replace their manager, but I do wish the best for Marco because he’s done well.

‘I don’t want him to go because I like Fulham playing the way they play. He can bring them into Europe and onto a bigger stage – he can build something special.

‘The atmosphere around the club is brilliant, and they can still improve by bringing in some world-class players and building even bigger.’

Following back-to-back cup defeats – to Liverpool and Aston Villa – Tottenham will be desperate to get back to winning ways on Sunday when they play host to Manchester United.

‘We have a couple of weeks now where we don’t have midweek games,’ Postecoglou said after his side’s FA Cup exit.

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‘This group has done an unbelievable job for two and a half months. I can’t praise them enough, playing twice a week since November. They’ll get the chance to reset now and finish the season strong.

‘Europe is still very important to us, we’re still in a great spot there, and we’ll hope to get some players back over the next two weeks.

‘We’ll get players back which will help. We had 11 first-team players out today. Take that out of any team for one game and they would struggle – we’ve been doing that for two and a half months.

‘The players are going out there and giving everything they can. It would be a lot better if they had some help.’

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Moise Kean is in fine form in Serie A this season and has attracted the attention of Arsenal and Tottenham as a result.

The 24-year-old moved to Fiorentina over the summer from Juventus in a move which was worth just £10.8m initially, although with potential add-ons.

After failing to score a single goal in 19 Serie A outings last season, it was no surprise that Juventus were willing to let him go, but he has burst back into life this campaign.

The summer signing is proving to be an absolute bargain as Kean has netted 19 times in 28 appearances in all competitions.

The Italy international scored twice on his last outing as Fiorentina secured an impressive 3-0 win over Inter Milan.

He is now second on the top-scorers chart in Italy, only second to Atalanta’s Mateo Retegui.

Unsurprisingly, his goal-scoring exploits have attracted the attention of Premier League clubs, with TuttoSport reporting that both Arsenal and Tottenham are considering a summer move for the in-form forward.

Kean has had a crack at the Premier League already in a forgettable stint on loan at Everton from Juventus from 2019-20.

It appeared to be a big coup for the Toffees at the time as they signed the then 19-year-old for £25.1m after he made an initial breakthrough at Juve.

The Italian played just 39 games for Everton in all competitions, scoring four goals, heading out to PSG on loan and then making a permanent return to Juventus.

Still just 24 years old, the 19-cap Italy international has had an eventful career already but now appears to be in the form of his life.

Fiorentina boss Raffaele Palladino said of the striker in December: ‘Moise is doing a great job for the team; he’s our striker and a leader, not just in possession.

‘He needs to keep going like this because he can still grow. Together with the club, we’ve given him a lot of trust and love, and he’s done well to repay it.

‘I’ve been calling him for two years, I tried, and I was very persuasive this year. Credit also goes to the club because Fiorentina have excellent management. I’m happy with Moise Kean and the entire team.’

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The pressure continues to mount on Tottenham manager Ange Postecoglou, but the bookmakers are unsure who his replacement would be if he does get the sack.

Spurs were dumped out of the FA Cup by Aston Villa on Sunday evening, losing 2-1 at Villa Park.

The loss came in the same week a 4-0 defeat at Liverpool saw Tottenham’s hopes of winning the Carabao Cup also ended.

Postecoglou’s side are 14th in the Premier League so any chance of anything resembling success in the top flight appear to be over, leaving the Australian just the Europa League to save the season.

Tottenham are back in Premier League action this weekend, taking on Manchester United on Sunday afternoon in what will be another high-pressure occasion for the Spurs boss.

Defeat to the Red Devils and there will be more calls from Tottenham fans for a replacement in the dugout.

A number of names would be seen as contenders to replace Postecoglou, with four current Premier League bosses seen as joint favourites by the bookmakers.

Next Tottenham manager odds

Bournemouth’s Andoni Iraola, Brentford boss Thomas Frank, Fulham’s Marco Silva and Ipswich Town manager Kieran McKenna are all priced up as joint 11/2 favourites by Betfair at the time of writing.

All four have done impressive work as Bournemouth, Brentford and Fulham all sit comfortably higher up the Premier League table than Spurs.

Ipswich is a different case, with the Tractor Boys 19th and in serious relegation trouble, but McKenna has done a fantastic job to bring the club into the top flight from League One.

Other names in contention are Edin Terzic (13/2), who is out of work after leaving Borussia Dortmund last year, and former Spurs boss Mauricio Pochettino (7/1), although he is very much in work with USA.

Longer shots include former Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag (10/1), ex-England boss Gareth Southgate (14/1) and Max Allegri (16/1).

Postecoglou spoke passionately in defence of his players after the 2-1 defeat to Aston Villa on Sunday, praising their efforts amid an injury crisis which has plagued Spurs this season.

‘I don’t care about me, people will judge me or whatever,’ he said in his post-match press conference.

‘But you can’t judge this group of players on what’s happened. They’ve given everything. Two 18-year-olds, a 17-year-old, a 19-year-old and a 21-year-old goalkeeper starting against one of the best teams in the country at home.

‘They [Villa] had a week off, they didn’t play on Thursday night against Liverpool. We did. Same group of players, not a change. You can’t measure this group of players on that and their performance. It’s too easy for people to be critical of them. I have huge admiration and respect for them.

‘There’s got to be a better appreciation for what a very small group of players have been doing for the last two and a half months.

‘It can’t be that people think that is an excuse. That’s just not anywhere near close to objective analysis. That’s just agenda-driven stuff.

‘If it’s to get rid of me that’s fine, good on you, go for it a million times. But in terms of this group of players, what they’ve given over the last two and a half months has been outstanding. It’s a credit to them, I can’t speak highly enough of them.’

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Under-fire Tottenham boss Ange Postecoglou has leapt to the defence of young stars and hit out at ‘agenda-driven stuff’ aimed at his side.

Three days on from their limp exit from the Carabao Cup at the semi-final stage against Liverpool, Spurs were dumped out of the FA Cup by Aston Villa on Sunday evening.

Tottenham found themselves a goal down after just one minute with goalkeeper Antonin Kinsky at fault, letting Jacob Ramsey’s effort past him all too easily.

Premier League legend Alan Shearer was critical of the 21-year-old after his ‘howler’, commenting ‘what on earth is he doing?’ while on commentary duty as Spurs suffered the worst possible start.

Postecoglou has been managing an almighty injury crisis over the last two months with Dominic Solanke, Brennan Johnson, Timo Werner, Guglielmo Vicario, Radu Dragusin, Destiny Udogie and James Maddison all still sidelined.

First-choice centre-half pairing Cristian Romero and Micky van de Ven have also endured injury-hit campaigns.

Postecoglou was without 11 first-team players in total on Sunday with the Australian passionately defending the group.

‘I don’t care about me, people will judge me or whatever,’ he said in his post-match press conference.

‘But you can’t judge this group of players on what’s happened. They’ve given everything. Two 18-year-olds, a 17-year-old, a 19-year-old and a 21-year-old goalkeeper starting against one of the best teams in the country at home.

‘They [Villa] had a week off, they didn’t play on Thursday night against Liverpool. We did. Same group of players, not a change. You can’t measure this group of players on that and their performance. It’s too easy for people to be critical of them. I have huge admiration and respect for them.’

Postecoglou demanded ‘better appreciation’ of the demands placed on the group of players who have been fit during a packed fixture schedule, taking a swipe at criticism that ‘is not anywhere near close to objective analysis’.

‘Whether people think I can do that or not is for others to judge but there’s got to be a better appreciation for what a very small group of players have been doing for the last two and a half months.

‘It can’t be that people think that is an excuse. That’s just not anywhere near close to objective analysis. That’s just agenda-driven stuff.

‘If it’s to get rid of me that’s fine, good on you, go for it a million times. But in terms of this group of players, what they’ve given over the last two and a half months has been outstanding. It’s a credit to them, I can’t speak highly enough of them.’

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