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Tottenham Hotspur have completed a rather impressive turnaround under Jose Mourinho.

When the controversial Portuguese manager was appointed in November, the 2018/19 Champions League runners-up were languishing in 14th position but Spurs ended the campaign in sixth place and will compete in the Europa League next term.

Whilst he’ll still have his doubters due to his pragmatic nature, Mourinho does indeed deserve praise for what he’s just accomplished and it should after all be merely a solid foundation to life in north London.

It’s clear that some sort of overhaul or turnaround in players is required. That much is already known with the club reportedly seeking both Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg and Max Aarons as their top targets this summer, as per The Athletic.

However, Sunday’s drab draw at Crystal Palace should have given Mourinho plenty more food for thought, particularly at left-back after Ben Davies dropped a clanger.

Per SofaScore, the 27-year-old won just two of his 12 duels (17%), recorded zero tackles, lost possession 21 times and also committed three fouls. It was quite a disastrous display all-round.

And it’s not like the Welshman has pulled up any trees throughout the course of the season – in fact, he’s been distinctly average, which is summed up by his WhoScored rating of just 6.77.

He’s gone missing in big occasions too – against the likes of arch-rivals Arsenal, Man Utd, Wolves and Chelsea, he’s struggled to surpass the 6.66 mark.

Spurs’ attacking output from the left flank also ranks as the worst in the division at just 35% and given Heung-min Son has bagged ten goals from that side this season, the brunt of the blame falls with Davies.

As much as Mourinho could probably do with a defensive lynchpin now that Eric Dier has cemented his place in the backline – something Hojbjerg certainly would bring having averaged 2.4 tackles and 1.5 clearances per game – it’s clear to see that left-back spot is one of the weakest spots in the team.

Whether young starlet Ryan Sessegnon or a mooted target such as Ben Chilwell can fill that attacking void very much remains to be seen.

But if the two-time UCL winner is to bring what Mauricio Pochettino couldn’t to north London, then he ought to find his next Ashley Cole or Cristian Chivu before bolstering elsewhere.

AND in other news, Mourinho eyeing timely transfer reunion with ex-Spurs man…

Tottenham are holding talks with Southampton to sign Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg in the summer. 

Jose Mourinho has identified Hojbjerg as his top target to transform the side that he inherited from Mauricio Pochettino.

Hojbjerg has made it clear he wants to leave Southampton as he is looking for a new challenge. He will be out of contract next year and this summer could be the last chance for Ralph Hasenhuttl to cash in on his former captain.

According to Football Insider, Spurs are negotiating with the Saints over a possible move, with Tottenham confident that they can complete a deal for the Dane this summer. The Saints were demanding £35m for the ex-Bayern Munich ace but he could be available for a cut-price deal worth £20m as they are eager to get rid of him as soon as possible.

Although Daniel Levy is infamously tight-fisted, the club believe that they will be able to reach an agreement with Southampton in a matter of weeks.

Hojbjerg was stripped of the captain’s armband after refusing to sign a new deal with the Saints and a move is surely in the interests of both parties involved.

Spurs have borrowed a huge sum of money from the Bank of England, as Levy has taken out a £175m loan to cover the costs of these uncertain times. However, the club have held early discussions with his agent Pini Zahavi to sort out conditions of the contract.

Everything seems to be working in Tottenham’s favour, as Zahavi has a strong relationship with Mourinho, which should in theory smooth things over.

As it stands, Spurs should easily be able to afford the asking price, as they splashed the cash to sign Tanguy Ndombele last year. However, clubs are working under extreme conditions, so fans will have to wait and see what deals can be made before the transfer window closes.

Tottenham fans, should Daniel Levy sign Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg in the summer? Let us know down below!

Having signed Wesley for a club-record fee of around £22m from Belgian side Club Brugge, Aston Villa were no doubt hoping that the Brazilian could be the man to fire the club to Premier League safety.

Whilst Dean Smith’s side managed to avoid relegation on the final day of the season, it wasn’t down to Wesley’s efforts. The 23-year-old endured a difficult debut campaign in English football, managing just five goals in the top-flight.

Best of the Decade: Top scorers & creators – Can you name them?

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Then to really make matters worse, he suffered a cruciate ligament rupture in early January, an injury that has kept him out of action ever since. Now, Italian publication Corriere dello Sport (via Sport Witness) claim that Wesley’s time at Villa Park may already be up.

The report suggests Serie A giants Lazio are interested in signing him this summer, with their sporting director supposedly a big fan of the striker.

And after hearing about the rumours surrounding their number nine, Villa fans took to Twitter to share their reactions.

One Villa fan suggested that giving Wesley another chance would simply be a dran on their wage bill, and that they would just end up with an even bigger loss on their finances.

Another supporter suggested that Villa fans’ appreciation of Wesley seemed to be living off one game against Burnley when he scored in a 2-1 win at Turf Moor.

Whilst Wesley may not have set the Premier League alight in his first campaign with the club, Villa fans shouldn’t be took quick to judge the Brazilian.

After all, you’ve only got to look at the likes of Adama Traore and Idrissa Gueye, who were both at Villa few years ago, but now find themselves starring for the likes of Wolves and PSG respectively.

Wesley leaving for Lazio could see another player prove that with a bit of time and patience, he could have been more than good enough for Villa too.

The EFL and Leeds United agree that the season should be played to completion when it is possible to do so, but time is running out and doubts are rising.Phil Hay made an interesting claim earlier today when responding to one fan’s question about whether the Championship season would resume.

Are you a Championship expert? How much did each of these big-money signings cost?

The Athletic journalist believes that Leagues One and Two won’t be finished, and the second flight has a better chance of doing so, but he has ‘real doubts’ over that happening.

He said:

It comes after Rick Parry, the chairman of the EFL, said he hopes the campaign can be completed on all 71 grounds. However, he also revealed a deadline of July 31st, so time is rapidly expiring.

The longer this goes on, the less likely that a ball will be kicked again at Elland Road, you’d imagine. Then it would come down to the wider issue on whether or not Leeds have done enough to warrant a promotion to the Premier League.

Which will be murky waters as the big wigs will ultimately have the final say.

AND in other news,ÂLeeds fans want one man as their new number one…

According to Deportes, Real Madrid could offer James Rodriguez to Tottenham in a potential deal to sign Harry Kane.

What’s the word?

Kane’s future with the Lilywhites is in doubt, with the England international recently admitting that he could be open to an exit from Spurs if they don’t match his ambition to win trophies.

And now, Deportes claim that La Liga giants Madrid’s interest in the forward, could lead to Rodriguez being involved as part of a player-plus-cash deal to lure Kane away from north London.

Best of the Decade: Top scorers & creators – Can you name them?

World Class score: 95% | Expert score: 80% | Veteran score: 65% | Intermediate score: 45% | Amateur score: 30% | Try Again: 5%

The report adds that Christian Eriksen’s departure back in January has left a gap in the number ten role for Spurs, and that Rodriguez could be the man to fill that void and help Spurs back to competing for the European places again.

Softening the blow

Make no mistake about it, a summer in which Kane leaves Spurs would be a hammer blow to Jose Mourinho’s side.

But at the moment it does feel like a possibility that could happen, and as such, the north Londoners would do well to draw up some contingency plans.

And accepting a proposal in which they get James Rodriguez plus some money in return, would go a long way to softening the pain of losing their talisman. The Colombian remains a superb technician who can really flourish when given the freedom to orchestrate attacks – as per Whoscored, he has an impressive career average of 2.3 key passes per game.

It says a lot about Spurs’ creative struggles, that even despite leaving in January, Eriksen is joint-third on the list of Spurs players to have averaged the most key passes per match with a measly 1.2. The £36m-rated Rodriguez could solve that issue immediately, and offer a source of imagination from that number ten role.

Strikers are only as good as the service that is given to them. Rodriguez could ensure that even if Kane isn’t there, someone else will actually get opportunities in front of goal to stick them away.

Meanwhile, Spurs fans discuss their club’s interest in this Ligue 1 ace.

Liverpool’s remarkable start to their 2019/20 Premier League campaign continued on Saturday afternoon as they recorded a 2-1 win at Crystal Palace.

Wilfried Zaha looked to have snatched a point for Palace having levelled the scores in the 82nd minute, but Roberto Firmino scored a second for the Reds shortly after.

Jurgen Klopp’s side have now won 12 and drawn one of their 13 Premier League matches this season, leaving them eight clear at the summit with 37 points.

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Virgil van Dijk has not missed a single minute of the team’s league campaign to date and was again impressive against Palace at the weekend.

According to WhoScored, the Netherlands international had a pass success rate of 93%, whilst he won five aerial duels against Roy Hodgson’s side.

And the central defender’s towering display in the English capital brought an overwhelmingly positive reaction from the Liverpool fans on social media.

A selection of the Twitter comments can be seen below:

Think you know Sir Alex Ferguson? You may well find yourself thinking again by the end of this ultimate 25-question quiz on the legendary manager!

Fergie started out as a moderately successful footballer bouncing around the various professional divisions in Scotland during a 16-year career and earning international recognition, somewhat, with the Scottish national team.

As he dove straight into management after the end of his playing days, nothing overly spectacular was expected from the 32-year-old Glaswegian.

What would follow was perhaps the greatest football management career of all time.

The maverick was quickly able to work his way to the top of Scottish football in charge of Aberdeen, with whom he was able to complete the spectacular achievement of European success.

And even when a stint in charge of his national team didn’t work out off the back of his Pittodrie exploits, bigger fish would be waiting to be fried at Manchester United.

Taking over from Ron Atkinson in 1986, Ferguson embarked on an incredible 26-year spell at Old Trafford, picking up a mind-boggling 38 trophies.

Premier Leagues, UEFA Champions Leagues, FA Cups, FIFA Club World Cups, you name it, he won it with the Red Devils, even signing off with an English top-flight title a few weeks before his retirement at the end of the 2012/2013 season.

If it was ever in doubt, a damning piece of evidence that displays just how important this pioneer was to the success of arguably the world’s biggest football club is how they’ve fared since he hung his suit up for good!

It’s all included in our quiz, from those early days in Scotland to his 1,500th and final match at the helm of United, a felicitous 5-5 draw with West Bromwich Albion.

Whether you’re a die-hard Red Devil or just a general Fergie or football fan, find out how knowledgable you are on one of the game’s most iconic figures!

This article is part of Football FanCast’s Pundit View series, which provides opinion and analysis on recent quotes from journalists, pundits, players and managers…

Speaking after Leicester City’s 2-0 win against Arsenal, Rob Tanner of The Athletic praised Demarai Gray’s impact off the bench.

What did he say?

Gray, who is rated at £18m on Transfermarkt, replaced Ayoze Perez on the hour mark, with the score still remaining 0-0.

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The 23-year-old had a hand in the opening goal of the game that came just eight minutes after he was brought off the bench. He made a run behind Rob Holding and held the Arsenal defender off to make Ricardo Pereira’s through ball, before playing it back to the Portuguese full-back.

This may seem simple, but it was intelligent play that opened up space for Pereira to exploit, as five passes later Jamie Vardy was sending the ball towards the back of the net.

When someone in The Athletic’s Q&A mentioned Leicester’s disappointing first half, and the performance in the second period that won them the game, Tanner replied: “They were just stuttering in the final third in the first half. Gray made a difference. Another good impact from the bench.”

Super-sub

This is the second game in a row Gray has made a difference after coming off the bench for the Foxes, as he did the same against Crystal Palace.

At Selhurst Park, having come on for the final 16 minutes, Gray made a dummy which let the ball run through to Vardy, before playing a one-two that ended up with the clinical striker scoring to make the result 2-0.

Gray has only started one league game this season, coming off the bench on seven occasions, which can be seen as the Englishman being cast to the side.

However, he has still displayed that he can make an impact for Brendan Rodgers, averaging 0.8 key passes and 0.5 dribbles per game, while maintaining a pass success rate of 89.9%.

The attitude Gray has shown towards the role he is fulfilling has not gone unnoticed by his manager, as in September Rodgers was quoted in The Leicester Mercury as saying:

“Some players can sulk and fall out with themselves, but he has worked very, very hard and he made a great impact in the game [against AFC Bournemouth].”

This indicates that while Gray has not been starting games for Leicester, his contributions are still seen as important for the club.

A number of Liverpool fans have taken to social media to hail Trent Alexander-Arnold as the academy product continues to go from strength to strength.

The 21-year-old made his 16th club appearance of the season against Genk on Tuesday night as the Reds recorded a 2-1 win at Anfield.

Alexander-Arnold has contributed four assists and one goal in 16 outings this term, whilst he has not missed a minute of the club’s Premier League campaign to date.

His consistency when it comes to availability is impressive in itself, but the Englishman’s ability was once again on display earlier this week.

Against Genk, the right-back had two shots, made three tackles and had a pass success rate of 84%, according to the statistics provided by WhoScored.

Alexander-Arnold has become an incredible outlet down the right for Jurgen Klopp’s side, and a whole host of Liverpool supporters have been keen to hail him on social media:

Yesterday was a very special day for Leeds United.

It marked the 100th anniversary of the club and there were a number of events going on to commemorate it.

Part of the celebrations includes a gathering of former players in the Centenary Pavilion to kick things off this Saturday ahead of the club’s ‘Centenary Game’ against Birmingham City.

And the reunion of players means only one thing, plenty of opportunities for the stars of old to get pictures with one another, although two men decided to kick things off a little early.

When the players in question are of this high a magnitude in Leeds’ history, it was always going to get a response from the fans.

Tony Yeboah and Lucas Radebe shared a picture of the two of them making their way to the event, and to say Leeds supporters couldn’t contain themselves would be a little bit of an understatement.

The former featured on 54 occasions for the Whites, registering 28 goals while Radebe played a massive 232 times for the club, per Transfermarkt.

In fact, there were a number of players who thought they’d be able to still do a job in the current team, although that may just be the rose-tinted glasses talking.