The Sun

MANCHESTER UNITED are set to welcome back Harry Maguire to ease their defensive crisis.

Maguire has not played since he sustained a thigh injury in the 2-2 draw with Tottenham on November 8.

The 32-year-old has missed United’s last five games and Ruben Amorim’s side have conceded eight goals during that run.

United have not rushed back Maguire ahead of the start of the Africa Cup of Nations on Sunday now that they are without Noussair Mazraoui.

Amorim admitted last week that Maguire “sometimes has an issue” and the club have afforded him more recovery time.

Maguire missed 14 games through injury last season and a calf strain ruled him out of the European Championship 18 months ago.

The club’s approach to fitness issues under Amorim is in stark contrast to predecessor Erik ten Hag, who drew criticism for rushing back players from injury.

Amorim has substituted one centre back for another centre back 20 times this season to manage their workloads.

Only the bottom four Premier League clubs and Bournemouth have shipped more goals than United this season.

Mazraoui, who started at centre back in the draw with West Ham and win at Wolves, missed the 4-4 draw with Bournemouth on Monday night to link up with his Morocco teammates ahead of their AFCON curtain-raiser against Comoros on Sunday.

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Centre half Matthijs de Ligt has been absent for United’s last three matches due to a back problem and Amorim has turned to 19-year-old Ayden Heaven to start in the middle of the back three.

However, Heaven struggled in the stalemate with West Ham – when he was substituted at half-time – and in the thrilling draw with Bournemouth.

Lisandro Martinez is back after a ten-month absence with a knee injury but has not started a game since February 2.

Amorim was forced to name rookie defender Tyler Fredricson – who has not played since being hauled off at half-time of the Grimsby debacle in August – on the bench against Bournemouth.

United head to Aston Villa on Sunday and host Newcastle on Boxing Day before their final match of the calendar year at home to Wolves on December 30.

Manchester United and Manchester City are firmly in the race to sign Bournemouth star Antoine Semenyo in January.

Sky Sports is reporting that Spurs are also chasing the 25-year-old, but Pep Guardiola‘s City are considered the front runners by some.

Semenyo has a £65 million release clause in his contract, which becomes active on January 1.

Liverpool are also said to be in the ‘background’ with an interest in the Ghana international. Mohamed Salah‘s situation at the club may influence their thinking.

Semenyo has scored seven goals in 15 games this season including a strike against Man United on Monday night.

Sky Sports reports that United have held a long-time interest in Semenyo, and news of his release clause has caused them to genuinely consider making a move.

The club hadn’t planned to spend big in January, and money, as with all Premier League clubs these days, is a factor.

They are not currently at risk of breaching the PSR regulations, spending £65m, particularly if it’s a flat fee, could have serious repercussions on what they can afford to spend in the summer, where strengthening their midfield is the absolute priority.

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Man United’s attacking options did improve last summer after they spent £71m on Bryan Mbeumo and £62.5m on Matheus Cunha.

Both men have made an impact at Old Trafford, but Semenyo could bring the added dynamism that Ruben Amorim seeks.

Still, with Casemiro 34 in February, Man United know they need to find a top-level defensive midfielder with Carlos Baleba and Adam Wharton on their shortlist – and they will cost.

For City, Jeremy Doku and Phil Foden have been playing wide for the majority of this season with Rayan Cherki making progress recently.

Savinho – who nearly moved to Spurs last August – Oscar Bobb and Omar Marmoush have mostly been on the outside looking in.

Semenyo would offer any prospective suitor pace, skill and power from the wide areas with a proven eye for goal.

When considering his age and statistics, £65m is good market value in this day and age – as crazy as that sounds.

Bournemouth made around £208m in player sales this summer and only spent £100m. Raking in another £65m would be great, but it would surely leave them needing to do some business to replace Semenyo.

They sit 13th in the Premier League table.

MICKY VAN DE VEN has revealed that he and his teammates had to convince former boss Ange Postecoglou to change his tactics at Tottenham – and it led to silverware.

Spurs ended a 17-year wait to add to their trophy cabinet when they beat Manchester United in the Europa League Final in May.

But it was not enough to save Postecoglou’s job because he was sacked a matter of weeks later.

And lightning-quick centre-back Van de Ven, 24, has admitted that members of the Tottenham dressing room were forced to intervene when rivals had worked out how to get the better of them.

Speaking on The Overlap, sponsored bySky Bet, the Dutchman said: “At the beginning of the season [the first under Postecoglou] everything was new, so no team was used to playing against our system at that point.

“We were playing unbelievable football but then the injuries came and suspensions came, which changed things, but before we were flying.

“Managers these days analyse everything – they have four or five people around them who analyse everything about the opponent.

“And at that point people knew what we were doing and sometimes we didn’t really have a plan B, so we were getting exposed without having solutions.

“At one point, we spoke with the manager and said that sometimes we need to change some things because we were getting too exposed.

“Of course, we won the Europa League and knew that this was a big opportunity for us to bring silverware to Tottenham, but we needed to change things.

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“In games where we were 1-0 up, we can’t keep playing our football, sometimes we needed to sit back and make sure that nothing was coming through us.

“And that helped us at the end to, of course, win the Europa League.”

Postecoglou, 60, had a torrid 39-day spell in charge of Nottingham Forest after being shown the door by Spurs.

But Tottenham have still been inconsistent since Thomas Frank was appointed as his successor.

The North Londoners suffered a 3-0 defeat to Forest on Sunday and are already six points adrift of the Premier League’s top four.

THOMAS FRANK is a good man – he is intelligent and sparky, loves football and wants to do something special at Tottenham.

He is a manager who was desperate for the chance to prove himself on a bigger stage than Brentford’s Gtech Community Stadium.

But with every passing week, it is harder and harder to shake the feeling that Spurs might just be too big a club for the Dane.

That he cannot quite grasp the scale, the scrutiny, the depth of longing inside the fanbase, the sense of frustration that permeates every pore.

The reality, obvious as it might seem, is that Spurs aren’t Brentford, where building a genuine rapport with the fans meant so much, where expectations and ambitions were always limited.

However, in N17, legitimately or otherwise, that is simply not the case.

If you have the best stadium in the Premier League, an income stream that guarantees more than half a billion pounds through the books every season, and a rich seam of history that fans always want to mine, finishing in the top half is not even close to enough.

Let alone the dreaded prospect of another campaign in which, while Spurs do not actually flirt with the danger of the drop, it is close enough to haunt minds.

Under Frank, so far, every forward step has been followed by one in the opposite direction.

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Spurs have had one genuinely decent month this season, a seven-match unbeaten run from the start of September.

But as we approach the Christmas carnage, they have still not won more than two matches in a row at any point in the campaign.

Just two home wins in the Prem is pretty much relegation form, previously balanced by away performances.

Yet what the fans who travelled to the City Ground on Sunday witnessed was the sort of gutless, guileless and hopeless display that drains faith, no matter how much Frank might urge patience and time.

Two wins in a week against old club Brentford and a decidedly limited Slavia Prague had raised the bar, not lowered it.

Frank had put a few coppers back into repaying the debt many supporters feel he owes them for the miserable displays they have already witnessed against Bournemouth, Wolves, Chelsea, Arsenal and Fulham.

But Spurs didn’t merely knock that bar off at Forest. They didn’t even attempt to jump.

Frank’s overdraft facility with the Spurs fans feels exhausted already.

There is little or no good will, either, not since he publicly dug them out over their treatment of Guglielmo Vicario after the Fulham debacle.

If the invertebrates XI turn up again when Liverpool – who smashed Ange Postecoglou’s Spurs 6-3 in the corresponding game last term – come calling on Saturday, the mood inside the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium will be beyond mutinous.

Frank was supposed to be the antidote to the one- dimensional Aussie, whose sacking was deserved — even if he delivered on that seemingly bonkers trophy vow.

Yet it feels that administering the dose has only uncovered the spread of the illness.

Even a few weeks ago, Frank could respond to criticisms of his side’s lack of attacking endeavour by pointing to the huge improvement in Spurs’ defending.

But even accounting for last week’s two clean sheets, they have still conceded 16 in the last seven games — and far too many of them have been self-inflicted wounds.

Vicario’s error count shows no sign of stabilising, Djed Spence became the latest to make a public show of disrespect, Pedro Porro is increasingly being questioned, as are Joao Palhinha and Rodrigo Bentancur.

To be fair, Frank has been without his two best attacking players all season – with no indication when Dejan Kulusevski or James Maddison might ever be spotted on the pitch again – while striker Dominic Solanke has also been sidelined for virtually the entire campaign.

Of course, Frank could still turn it around. Tottenham’s two greatest managers did, as, to a degree, did the best of the Premier League era.

Bill Nicholson started with a 10-4 victory over Everton but then won just two of his next 12 games.

Keith Burkinshaw took Spurs DOWN in his first season.

Mauricio Pochettino feared he might be sacked when his side were 11th at the end of October 2014.

Beat Liverpool on Saturday and it could be Frank’s turning point.

Lose again, without putting up a fight, and it will feel terminal.

FORMER Tottenham owner Lord Alan Sugar called on the North London club to hire Jurgen Klopp as manager.

Spurs are 11th in the Premier League after Sunday’s 3-0 defeat to Nottingham Forest.

Current boss Thomas Frank is under pressure after just one win in his last seven league games.

Lord Sugar, who owned Tottenham from 1991 to 2001, wrote on X: “With the massive fortune of the Lewis family it would be a win win situation if they hired Jurgen Klopp in January.

“Loads of money for players and a great manager. Who agrees #coys“

Klopp publicly announced his retirement from management after leavingLiverpool in July 2024

He became Red Bull’s new Global Head of Football in January.

It has been widely reported that Klopp has an exit clause in his Red Bull contract that allows him to apply for the German national team job if it becomes vacant.

It remains unclear if a similar clause exists for a domestic club role.

Klopp won the Bundesliga twice with Borussia Dortmund, before lifting the Premier League and Champions League trophies with Liverpool.

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When Lord Sugar took over in 1991, Spurs were close to bankruptcy.

Now, the North London side are owned by the investment group ENIC, who are 86% majority owners, controlled by the Lewis family trust.

The owners invested in their new stadium, which opened in 2019 and cost about £1bn.

THOMAS FRANK gave his players two days off this week – and Spurs ended up looking like a team that had not kicked a ball in ages.

Tottenham were back to stinking the place out, in spite of their recent revival, as former transfer target Callum Hudson-Odoi took full advantage.

The winger netted after Ibrahim Sangare exploited a cock-up between Archie Gray and Guglielmo Vicario, before adding a second through a cross that went all the way in.

Hudson-Odoi, whom Spurs considered signing a few years ago, then teed up a stunner for Sangare to cap Spurs’ humiliation.

It made for painful watching for Frank, especially after he had rewarded his weary players with Wednesday and Thursday off this week following back-to-back home wins over Brentford and Slavia Prague.

The Dane was even forced to endure chants of ‘You’re getting sacked in the morning’ from the unsympathetic Forest supporters as he presided over a sixth defeat in 16 league games – the same amount as he has won – and possibly his most emphatic yet.

While close pal Sean Dyche enjoyed his best home victory of his tenure to move Forest further clear of the drop zone.

This fixture had been earmarked in the calendar as one to watch when Ange Postecoglou took the Forest job on September 9.

It would have been the first time the Aussie had faced Spurs since being sacked just over a fortnight on from ending their 17-year trophy curse with Europa League glory.

But Big Ange proved to be a big disaster at the City Ground and lasted only 39 days before he was fired and replaced by Dyche.

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Forest were missing one of their key players here with Matz Sels failing his race to be fit due to a groin issue, meaning the brilliantly-named Brazilian John Victor made his Prem debut between the sticks.

References for the 29-year-old, based on his shaky displays in the Europa League, are not exactly glowing in these parts – and yet he was put under next to no pressure.

Sangare came within a whisker of giving the hosts the lead inside three minutes when he planted a header from Nicolo Savona’s cross onto the foot of the post.

It bounced out for Morgan Gibbs-White – whom Spurs famously tried and failed to sign in the summer – and he had a shot blocked, before Vicario’s impressive reflexes repelled Neco Williams’ follow-up.

If the early save showed the good of Vicario, then the opening goal demonstrated the bad.

The Italian had the whole game in front of him, so he knew Gray had Sangare right on his tail, yet passed the ball to the youngster anyway.

It looked a bad call, but the major mistake for the goal, from Spurs’ perspective, was what Gray did next.

The teenager should have passed it first time out wide to Pedro Porro but instead took a heavy touch, which allowed the eager Sangare to pick his pocket.

Ex-PSV Eindhoven man Sangare had the wherewithal to square the ball just before Vicario intercepted, allowing former Spurs target Hudson-Odoi to fire into an empty net.

Gray, to his credit, showed a positive response and drew a solid – if rare – save from Victor with a blast from the edge of the box.

The 19-year-old was coming up against his former Young Lions team-mate in Elliot Anderson, who played ahead of Gray at last summer’s Under-21 Euros.

Anderson has kicked on massively since then, looking like a shoo-in to start for Thomas Tuchel’s seniors at No.6 at the World Cup in the summer, barring injury and loss of form.

Anderson, in fairness, is three years older than Gray, with far more experience playing regularly in midfield in the Premier League.

Given time, the younger Spurs man, whose grandad Frank won the European Cup with Forest in 1980, could.

But if ever there was an action that summed up where the two are in their respective trajectories, it came here towards the end of the first half.

Anderson put an end to a dangerous Mohammed Kudus dribble with an inch-perfect tackle.

Gray then tried the same thing on Williams as the Welshman picked up the loose ball, but his challenge was poor and he was booked.

Tempers flared between Anderson and Pedro Porro just before the break, and the barney seemed to spread into the opposition dugouts, with coaches Matt Wells and Steve Stone both receiving cautions for dissent.

It could well have been the last meaningful action at Spurs for 37-year-old assistant Wells, who is in talks over becoming the new manager of MLS side Colorado Rapids.

Forest became even more dominant after the interval and instantly went further ahead through Hudson-Odoi once again.

The ex-Chelsea winger looked almost sheepish as his cross somehow evaded Vicario’s grasp and curled into the far corner with 50 minutes on the clock.

It could have been worse with Igor Jesus – whom the Forest fans amusingly declared can ‘walk on the Trent’ – and Omari Hutchinson fired narrowly wide.

Frank had attackers Wilson Odobert, Mathys Tel and Brennan Johnson – formerly of this parish – on the bench.

And yet the Dane turned to Ben Davies, Joao Palhinha and Lucas Bergvall instead to transform his team’s fortunes, to no effect.

Forest’s fantastic day was complete when Hudson-Odoi laid off to Sangare, who belted the ball in off the post from 25 yards.

While Frank suffered the ignominy of those ‘sacked in the morning chants’ – with his players unlikely to receive an extra day off again any time soon.

VICARIO has found himself in the Tottenham firing line once again after conceding the ‘Spursiest goal ever’.

The 29-year-old didn’t cover himself in glory as he played a ball out to team-mate Archie Gray under increased pressure.

Nottingham Forest pounced on the ball that started from the Italian to his young colleague.

Gray had his back to the action and Ibrahim Sangare pickpocket him before knocking the ball beyond a diving Vicario to set-up team-mate Callum Hudson-Odio for the simplest of tap-ins for Sean Dyche’s side.

It was a real moment to forget for the Spurs No1 and the 19-year-old as Thomas Frank’s men fell behind at the City Ground.

Fans online were also left in disbelief as they reacted to the first half talking point.

One fan wrote: “Surely no club in the league does this s*** as much as Spurs?”

Another posted: “We need to sell Vicario and bring in a new keeper.

“How many more mistakes do we sit and tolerate because it’s Vicario? As much as he saves us at times he costs us points just as many times.”

A fellow punter agreed, saying: “Vicario needs to go. Poor from Gray as well, but that pass should never have been made.”

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Football fans of other clubs also got in on the discussion with one simply branding it “Spursy.”

Vicario’s afternoon only went from bad to worse as he was caught out once again for Forest’s second of the contest.

Hudson-Odoi’s cross into the box missed everyone but it sailed over the head of the keeper and into the back of the net.

Spurs have been out of form in the Premier League in recent weeks with just one win in the last six outings going into this one.

That came against Frank’s old club Brentford with the North London side suffering defeats to Chelsea, Arsenal and Fulham.

In that run they also drew with both Manchester United and Newcastle United.

THE Premier League returns for another Super Sunday with FIVE blockbuster matches taking place today!

Sunderland and Newcastle face off in a long-overdue Tyne-Wear derby at the same time that Aston Villa travel to West Ham.

Manchester City will be hoping to close the gap on league leader Arsenal during their tough test against Crystal Palace, while Tottenham make the trip to the Midlands, where Nottingham Forest awaits.

Then Sunday’s footballing action will be wrapped up in London when Leeds head to Brentford.

Kick-off times: 2pm / 4:30pm GMT

Live stream: NOW TV / Sky Sports +

TV channel: Sky Sports Main Event / Sky Sports Premier League

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PREMIER League ace Yves Bissouma has told how he took hippy crack in the wake of a series of terrifying burglaries during which he lost £1 million.

Tottenham Hotspur’s £40million star was last week pictured in The Sun on Sunday inhaling the illegal drug.

Last night, he said: “I am sorry. This incident [latest break-in] broke something in me I didn’t even know I could break.

“I apologise to the fans. The trauma added to my life — fear, panic, depression and paranoia.”

After the break-in this summer, Bissouma filmed the ­aftermath and said: “Oh my god . . . Look what they did.”

The Mali international, who starred in Spurs’ Europa League triumph in May, was caught using the drug on a night out last month.

It is the second time the £50,000-a-week midfielder has been found using hippy crack. He was suspended by Spurs in August last year after the first incident.

Of the latest incident, he added: “I feel really bad about it. I have to apologise. When the picture came out it affected me and everyone, especially my family.

“When my Dad saw it, he was panicking because he didn’t feel good. I tried to make him understand that it’s a hard image, but not who I am.

“I know it’s not good for me, for my image, because I’m a professional football player.”

Robbers got away with luxury designer watches, jewellery and designer bags. Footage taken by the ace moments after the raid in July shows empty watch cases strewn on the floor.

Bissouma can be heard saying in disbelief: “Look what they did. They come (sic) and robbed me.

“My watches . . . they robbed my watches. They robbed my jewellery.

“Like, it’s actually crazy, like. What they did in my room is f*g . . . I can’t believe that.

“I just . . . oh my god.

“Look at all of my watches. They took everything. They took my ­jewellery. They took my bags as well, like, everything.”

Watches taken include a Rolex, an Audemars Piguet and a Patek Philippe — all of which can cost ­hundreds of thousands of pounds.

When my Dad saw it, he was panicking

Bissouma

Several pieces of jewellery were also taken.

The clip also shows walls of Louis Vuitton bags — each worth around £5,000.

As he pans the camera, Bissouma also reveals his £4,000 designer skateboard from the same brand.

In one room, there are shelves filled with expensive trainers each with their own individual display case.

Experts think the trainers alone could be worth more than £21,000 — with one yellow and gold pair of Nike X Off-White AIR Force 1 Trainer setting him back £3,106.

Look at all of my watches. They took everything. They took my ­jewellery. They took my bags as well, like, everything

Bissouma

The footballer said: “I’m a strong person. I’m a mentally and physically strong African man. I’ve faced battles and storms before, but these incidents . . . they broke something in me I didn’t even know could break.

“I’ve asked myself, ‘Why me?’, more times than I can count. I hate feeling like a victim, but what I lost wasn’t just material.

“It was what the trauma added to my life — fear, panic, depression, paranoia, sleepless nights and a constant loss of trust.

“I don’t want to talk about it (the balloon) anymore because it’s over. But to the fans, I am very sorry.”

After our damning photo of Bissouma drawing on a balloon last week, Spurs have launched an internal probe.

Furious boss Thomas Frank said it had become a disciplinary matter.

Hippy crack is not a performance enhancing drug, but it is illegal.

The talented midfielder, 29, has not featured under Frank since August.

He was dropped before the UEFA Super Cup in August due to repeated lateness, but has since been sidelined by multiple injuries.

The latest burglary, is the third time the footballer has been targeted — the first two incidents forced him to move house.

In June 2024, while in the south of France, he was also mugged and doused with pepper spray.

The most serious burglary happened on November 25 last year.

Masked thieves tried to hammer down his front door, forcing the star to flee out the back.

And just five months ago, two men again attempted to break into his new house.

To compound matters, he claims at the start of the year £1million was stolen off him by a pal. He is still going through lawyers to recoup the money.

To the fans, I am very sorry

Bissouma

Bissouma, who has a five-year-old son with his girlfriend Aline, is keen to speak openly about his mental health battles.

He hopes it will encourage other top sportsmen and women to feel comfortable talking about their experiences.

He said: “My mental health has been bad at times.

“It is not an excuse for what happened, but I hope people can maybe understand me a bit more because of this. Sometimes I was too scared to sleep at home so I slept in the training ground.

“I was speaking with a mental health therapist sometimes five times a week.

“It’s depression, yes. Was I crying to die? No. Sometimes in life you feel a bit down, but you have to try and refresh your mind and stay strong.

“I want to move on from my mistakes. I like playing for ­Tottenham. I’m just thinking about being fit again and trying to enjoy football.”