Redknapp tips Tottenham Hotspur to beat Juventus

Tottenham Hotspur were handed the toughest group in the early stages of the Champions League, and they were unlucky once again in the last-16 draw.

Mauricio Pochettino’s men will have to beat Juventus across two legs in order to reach the quarter-finals of the competition.

Aside from Chelsea, who were drawn against Barcelona, Spurs’ Premier League rivals were handed relatively decent ties.

Liverpool will face Porto, Manchester United have to get past Sevilla, and Manchester City will go head to head with Basel.

Tottenham may have been unfortunate in the last-16 draw, but they have proven that they can cut it on the elite stage.

Pochettino’s men had to contend with reigning champions Real Madrid, as well as Borussia Dortmund, but they managed to top the group.

Spurs earned a draw and victory in contests against the Spanish giants, and former midfielder Jamie Redknapp thinks that the team can overcome Juve as well.

For the Daily Mail, the pundit wrote:

“Tottenham get turned on by these huge games. They have excelled at Wembley against Liverpool and Real Madrid — teams who have gone at them. It will be a fascinating tactical contest between Mauricio Pochettino and Massimiliano Allegri. The second leg at Wembley will be a great game.”

Ex-Tottenham Hotspur defender describes Kane as a ‘genius’

The shine on Tottenham Hotspur’s season so far has faded over the last few weeks.The club’s chances of winning the Premier League title have dwindled due to falling 15 points adrift of leaders Manchester City.The gap could raise to 18 if Pep Guardiola’s side defeat neighbours Manchester United at Old Trafford later this afternoon.Tottenham’s biggest hopes of silverware this season are the FA Cup and Champions League, in which they surprised the football world by topping the group ahead of holders Real Madrid.A winless run of four games in the league may have left some fans feeling nervous for Saturday’s match against Stoke City at Wembley.However, Spurs managed to get back to winning ways with a 5-1 thumping over Mark Hughes’s team.Harry Kane nabbed two goals, while Christian Eriksen and Son Heung-min also got on the scoresheet.So far this season, Kane has found the back of the net 18 times in 20 appearances in all competitions.After the match, former Tottenham defender Graham Roberts took to Twitter to shower Spurs’ star man with praise after reading through the striker’s impressive statistics for 2017.

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Martial and Rashford could be heading towards Manchester United exits as Lozano bid emerges

Manchester United are preparing to table a £35.3m offer for PSV Eindhoven winger Hirving Lozano, according to Tuttomercatoweb.

What’s the word?

Many were wondering who would be the breakout star of the World Cup, and even though he did not score a wonder goal like Colombia’s James Rodriguez four years ago, Lozano certainly made an impact for Mexico.

The PSV winger scored one goal and created one assist in four matches as part of an exciting counter-attacking team.

Now, according to Tuttomercatoweb, United are keen to see the Mexican light up their team and are preparing to offer PSV around £35.3m.

Not only did Lozano impress on the global stage in Russia, he also had a great 2017-18 campaign for PSV, scoring 17 goals in 29 Eredivisie appearances.

At the age of 22, the winger, who has already win two titles in his career, still has room to grow.

He predominantly plays on the left wing, but if he were to join United, manager Jose Mourinho could also position him on the right, or behind Romelu Lukaku.

What does this mean for Martial and Rashford?

Last season, the left side of attack was shared between Martial and Rashford, with neither cementing the position.

As a result, questions have been raised over their long-term futures, particularly Martial, who has been linked to Tottenham Hotspur and Juventus.

The former Monaco star was left out of France’s World Cup squad, who are just two wins away from winning the tournament, while Rashford is playing second fiddle for England in Russia.

Neither of the pair’s international prospects are going to improve unless they play regularly, but that is unlikely to happen at United if Lozano joins the Red Devils.

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Majority of Spurs fans want to replace Danny Rose with Alex Grimaldo

Tottenham Hotspur are interested in signing left-back Alex Grimaldo from Benfica according to Naples radio station Naples CRC and as reported in Gonfialarete.

The 22-year-old was a member of Barcelona’s famous youth academy before he was signed by Benfica in 2016.

His form has attracted interest abroad, and according to the report, Spurs are in the driving seat to sign the hot prospect after making a bid, with Napoli and Borussia Dortmund waiting in the wings for the youngster who is valued at £18million on Transfermarkt.

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With rumours linking current Spurs left-back Danny Rose with a move to Manchester United, it’s likely that the north London club will want to provide cover for Ben Davies and Grimaldo seems like a popular option.

We asked Tottenham fans if they wanted to replace Danny Rose and Grimaldo and 71 per cent of those polled said they preferred the Spanish star.

It remains to be seen if Rose does indeed depart the club this summer but clearly these Spurs fans have their mind up that it’s time to replace the England international.

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Recently released Emmanuel Emenike is worth a punt for Leeds United

Leeds United’s search for a new centre-forward has been a consistent theme of the club’s rumoured transfer activity so far this summer, but as of yet they seem no closer to securing the signature of a lethal centre-forward. 

The likes of Jeremy Mbakogu, Abel Hernandez and Matej Vydra have been heavily linked with transfers to Elland Road this summer among a host of other names, but Bielsa is yet to secure the signature of a new striker.

With Leeds hoping to launch a promotion bid next season the supporters are desperately hoping to see a new striker arrive at the club in the coming weeks to spearhead a new-look attack under Bielsa.

Naturally, proven goalscorers are like gold-dust in the transfer market and don’t come at anything less than a premium price, so it’s no wonder that Leeds’ hunt is proving to be a drawn-out, tedious process.

However a solution could yet be on the horizon in the shape of a free-agent with an intriguing track record in European football, namely Emmanuel Emenike.

The Nigeria international is renowned for his blistering pace and will be familiar with both FIFA and Football Manager enthusiasts, but his impressive career has taken a dip somewhat in the past twelve months.

After struggling to break into the first-team at Olympiacos, Emenike embarked on a loan move to Las Palmas last season in La Liga where he failed to make a single appearances for the club, although his absence was largely due to a nasty injury he sustained shortly after arriving in Spain.

The 2017/18 season was essentially a write off and ultimately resulted in Olympiacos terminating his contract with a year left to run, as recently confirmed by Gunes.

There’s no doubt that his recent season makes for sceptical reading for Leeds supporters, but considering he is available on a free transfer Andre Radrizzani has almost nothing to lose by offering him a contract; a pay as you play deal could even be in the offing on the basis of his recent injury problem.

The fact that, during his career, the 31-year-old has bagged 21 from 42 in Russia’s top-flight and 34 from 94 in the Turkish top-flight suggests he is well worth a gamble this summer.

Leeds fans – thoughts? Let us know below!

2018/19 Premier League Away Shirt Power Rankings

Everyone loves a kit release – it’s one of the most anticipated announcements of the summer for most football fans.

Earlier this week we ranked every Premier League home shirt ahead of the 2018/19 season, and it’s now the away shirts’ turn to go under the microscope here at Football FanCast.

The results you’ll find here aren’t the work of just me and me alone though, it’s the work of the entire team at Football FanCast – so don’t blame me if you disagree with them.

Everyone ranked each shirt from one to 20 and then, using a unique scoring system, I tallied all the votes up to conclude the results of our very first Premier League Away Shirt Power Rankings.

Can Wolves deliver again? Have Tottenham improved on their woeful looking home strip? What state will Liverpool’s away shirt be in this year? Can Manchester United redeem themselves?

Let’s take a look…

Oh Liverpool, what have you done?

This shouldn’t really come as a surprise because the Reds have a habit of making awful away shirts with either weird designs or dodgy colours.

They’ve gone for the latter this year with a bold purple number, and everyone here absolutely hates it.

Is this a leaked version of Watford’s away shirt? Perhaps so – it’s a rubbish shade of green so we hope that it isn’t the real deal.

That’s why it’s been ranked so low and Watford fans will be hoping this isn’t what they should expect to see being released.

I’m not sure what’s going on here because while this is only a concept design of Burnley’s away shirt – it hasn’t been leaked or released yet – it’s actually quite nice.

My colleagues clearly don’t agree, though, and it’s been given a relegation spot as a result.

Brighton’s home shirt is incredibly dull, and their away one isn’t much better.

Come on Brighton, you need to do better here – you’re a Premier League club now. Your fans don’t deserve such mediocrity.

We’ve come to expect the odd yellow strip from Southampton and this one, despite it’s 16th-placed ranking, isn’t too bad.

The collar is pretty decent, as is the sleeve design. But it’s just yellow kits that we can’t quite get on board with, especially this shade of yellow.

I love a pink kit, but clearly my colleagues aren’t quite as keen.

I’d have perhaps gone with black adidas stripes instead of a darker shade of pink, but it’s not quite as bad as everyone thinks.

Unfortunately my influence couldn’t get this shirt higher in the rankings.

A nod to the 1996 strip is a classy touch from the Toon Army, and it’s another shirt that deserves a higher rank.

It’s in a 14th though, which isn’t the worst. The colour combination isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, admittedly, but the general style of the strip is pretty smart.

No thrills from Cardiff with this one. Grey doesn’t really do football shirts the justice they deserve and that’s evident here.

They’ve gone with the round neck collar, which is nice and goes well with the design, but overall it’s not really trying hard enough.

If you ever want to look a little bit like Bournemouth, then design your kit like this. That’s what Huddersfield have done, and they’ve done it well.

Would’ve been nicer if they’d tried to be a little more creative though. Be yourselves, Huddersfield, don’t be shy.

Not a bad effort from the Blues, even if it’s another dodgy shade of yellow.

We’ve overlooked the colour here and decided to give a complimentary nod to the simple and classy shirt design. Thumbs up.

Now this away shirt from Leicester City is a really nice little number. As I’ve said before, grey doesn’t really do football shirts justice, but the addition of gold stripes and a gold crest really adds a bit of sexiness to this one.

Fair play to the Foxes, they’ve produced a real gem here.

You’d be mistaken for thinking Phil Foden is modelling Man City’s new training kit but he’s not – it’s the away strip.

It’s an interesting design with a fine looking collar, and the luminous socks are a nice touch to what is a pretty discreet kit. Wonderful.

Puma have delivered here with Arsenal’s away strip. I’ve noticed a lot of criticism towards the Gunners’ home design, but this one seems to have earned the praise it deserves.

The red design/hoop gives it some va-va-voom, which I’m sure is to keep Thierry Henry and Arsene Wenger’s legends alive.

Fulham’s home kit this season is a real gem and they’ve delivered with the away kit as well.

The fact Ryan Sessegnon is modelling it will give Cottagers fans hope he’ll still be there come the end of the transfer window.

If they can play with as much class and pizzazz as their kits this season, they’ll be fine.

For Crystal Palace fans seeing Wilfried Zaha modelling the away kit is the best news of the summer.

Other than that, I’m not quite sure how this shirt made it in to the top six. I’m no fan of the sash but for some reason everyone here seems to like it.

Zaha doesn’t though, judging by his face!

Here at FFC Towers, we found Everton’s home kit to be rather boring, but by simply changing the colours, it’s a hit!

Still unsure on the Angry Birds sponsor, but so are Everton fans.

Bournemouth have a lovely, simple and classy away strip here.

The white body with subtle orange trim gives it a real sophisticated feel. The design and colour choices ensure the sponsor isn’t too imposing either, which is a real bonus.

Spurs’ away shirt is infinitely better than their home one, but they should feel pretty cheated by Nike.

Turns out its the exact same design as Barcelona’s training kit – the absolute cheek of Nike to go ahead with that!

This away shirt weirdly works wonders for the Hammers.

They’re spending big in the transfer market at the moment and if they can be as classy as their away strip on the road this season then it’ll be money well spent.

Of course, it’s Wolves.

They’ve returned to the Premier League with two absolutely outstanding shirts. Their home strip is a stroke of genius and this away one is just as good.

Sensational efforts, absolutely sensational efforts!

West Ham United fans debate potential move for Lemina

West Ham United manager Manuel Pellegrini has certainly got stuck into the transfer market following his appointment at the London Stadium.

Seven new signings, including Felipe Anderson and Jack Wilshere, have arrived at the club, and it looks as though business is not over yet.

According to Sky Sports News, the Hammers are in talks with Sampdoria discussing the sale of Pedro Obiang.

It is believed that a fee of around £8.9m is on the table, and if a figure is agreed then it will be up to the midfielder on what happens next.

The report claims that if Obiang opts to leave the London Stadium, then Southampton’s Mario Lemina will be targeted as a replacement.

The midfielder has spent just one year in the Premier League following his switch from Juventus last year.

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The Gabon international, who won the Serie A title twice with Juve, made 25 appearances in the top flight.

Obiang has had 67 league outings for West Ham since moving to the club from Sampdoria in 2015.

On Reddit, fans have been discussing whether Lemina would be a decent replacement.

Comment from discussion If Obiang is sold, we will look to replace him with Mario Lemina from Southampton..Comment from discussion If Obiang is sold, we will look to replace him with Mario Lemina from Southampton..Comment from discussion If Obiang is sold, we will look to replace him with Mario Lemina from Southampton..Comment from discussion If Obiang is sold, we will look to replace him with Mario Lemina from Southampton..Comment from discussion If Obiang is sold, we will look to replace him with Mario Lemina from Southampton..Comment from discussion If Obiang is sold, we will look to replace him with Mario Lemina from Southampton..

Celtic should quickly move for Liverpool’s Sheyi Ojo to add more wide quality

Celtic go into the new campaign on the back of winning the double treble, an incredible achievement for the team and Brendan Rodgers. 

The Hoops have played some brilliant football over the last few seasons and manager Brendan Rodgers will be looking to make sure that happens again this campaign. There have been a number of players that have contributed to their domestic dominance, including loan start Patrick Roberts, who has now returned to his parent club Manchester City. In reply to the Englishman leaving, Celtic should look at bringing Sheyi Ojo, (who is valued at £2.2 million on Transfermarkt) to the club.

The exciting 21-year-old Liverpool winger has been moving from club to club on-loan over the last few campaign’s desperate to make his mark with one of them to either force a permanent move or impress the Reds enough to be in contention for the first team.

Last season, the versatile forward played 22 games for Fulham and went on to score four times in the Championship, a record that proves he was good but didn’t exactly set the league on fire. Nevertheless, Ojo contributed towards Fulham gaining promotion but with a move to Scotland and Celtic, Ojo could really find his top form and recreate his brilliant pre-season performances with Liverpool and turn them into weekly showings for Celtic.

Ojo can play on either side, as an attacking midfielder or as a striker, the choice is Brendan Rodgers’ and with this kind of versatility, Ojo could transform the look of Celtic’s attack and allow European success to be achievable.

Do you agree that Ojo would be a great signing for Celtic… Let us know!

Aston Villa want to bring Abraham to club

According to the Birmingham Mail, Aston Villa are interested in signing Chelsea forward Tammy Abraham on loan for the 2018-19 campaign.

What’s the story?

Villa have endured a difficult summer, but new investment has left the club in a much better financial position from the one that ended the 2018-19 campaign.

The Championship outfit are now in a position to sign new players, and are also hopeful of keeping hold of a number of their in-demand stars.

According to the Birmingham Mail, one player on the club’s wishlist is Chelsea forward Abraham, who is expected to be available on loan once again this summer.

The two-time England international signed a new five-year contract with Chelsea last summer before joining Swansea City on loan for the 2017-18 campaign.

Abraham, who has also been linked with Rangers, managed five Premier League goals for the Swans last term, but is now back with his parent club preparing for the new season.

Would Abraham be a good signing for Villa?

Abraham is highly rated at Chelsea, but it is unlikely that he will be first choice under Maurizio Sarri next season, and another loan move certainly makes sense.

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The 20-year-old had a mixed year at Swansea, although it was a difficult campaign for the Welsh outfit as a whole, and he did well under the circumstances.

Abraham showed at Bristol City, however, that he is a serious force in the Championship – scoring 23 league goals for the Robins during the 2016-17 season.

Villa are in the market for a new centre-forward this summer, and Abraham would be a terrific signing for the former Premier League club.

Standing at 6ft 3in and with an incredible turn of speed, Abraham is a very gifted young forward, and another year back in the Championship would do him the world of good.

It has been a frustrating few years for Villa, but the arrival of Abraham this summer would be wonderful business.

Michy Batshuayi should be of keen interest to Tottenham Hotspur

Tottenham are the only team in the Premier League not to make a signing this summer.

Mauricio Pochettino is yet to open his chequebook this summer which has got some Spurs fan worried. With their main rivals strengthening significantly, Tottenham are in danger of being left behind with just a day remaining in the transfer window. The Lilywhites kick off their Premier League campaign on Saturday with a trip to Newcastle United.

Reports suggest Pochettino will make Aston Villa winger, Jack Grealish, his first signing of the summer. Landing a new striker should be a priority with Fernando Llorente considering a move away following a lack of game time. With Vincent Janssen failing to impress, Spurs should target a top forward to provide competition to Harry Kane.

The perfect signing could be Chelsea outcast – Michy Batshuayi. Valued at £36m by Transfermarkt, the Belgian joined the Blues back in 2016 for £35m after impressing for Marseille in Ligue 1. He failed to break into the first-team at Stamford Bridge and was subsequently loaned to Borussia Dortmund back in January.

In the Bundesliga – Batshuayi was excellent – he scored seven goals in just ten Bundesliga appearances as well as netting two in four in the Europa League. His time in Germany showed what the Belgium international is capable of when given a chance to impress. Only 24-years-old, Batshuayi is still developing and could become even better under Pochettino’s guidance. A quick, intelligent forward, Tottenham would finally have a quality option to partner Kane in the attack.

Chelsea have paid the price in the past for allowing quality players to leave, look at Mohamed Salah and Kevin De Bruyne; their loss can be Tottenham’s gain this summer.

Tottenham fans, thoughts?

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