Inside Futbol

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Leyton Orient boss Richie Wellens has revealed that he wants in-form Tottenham Hotspur loanee Josh Keeley to stay professional and keep his feet on the ground.

The Irish Under-21 international joined the north Londoners two years ago and currently, he is on loan at League One side Leyton Orient for the rest of the season.

The stint is his second loan spell away from Spurs and Keeley has featured 15 times for the Os this term already, keeping nine clean sheets.

The Leyton Orient boss has been impressed with the young Spurs goalkeeper and he wants him to keep his good form up.

Wellens also made it clear that he does not want Keeley to take too many risks and he advised him to stay professional.

“I have realised that he cannot play a diag [diagonal ball]”, Wellens told Leyton Orient’s media when he was asked about a particular event involving Keeley in the 2-0 victory against Cambridge United.

“No, I do not have a problem with the way that he took it down and brought it out a little bit.

“I would like him just to play down the near side, which if you give it [the ball] away, gives him time to recover

“But I do not want to get him too high because he is playing really well at this moment.

“I just want him to stay focused, stay professional and keep on this form he is on.”

Leyton Orient sit in tenth spot in League One after a good run of form and are now just six points off a playoff spot.

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Tottenham Hotspur ‘have no intention’ of selling one of their key men in the January transfer window, despite him having been linked with one of Europe’s biggest clubs.

Spurs boss Ange Postecoglou has had pressure heaped on him due to a series of poor results which have left the club in the bottom half of the Premier League table.

The Australian has been left with bad luck on the injury front and his defensive set-up has been hurt by the absences of goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario and defenders Cristian Romero, Ben Davies and Micky van de Ven.

He could even have to deal with an offer coming in for speedy defender Van de Ven as Real Madrid are claimed to hold an interest in securing him.

However, according to journalist Ben Jacobs, Tottenham have no intention of cashing in on the Dutchman.

They have him under contract until the summer of 2029 and, with the defender happy at the club, are under no pressure to sell.

There is also no release clause in Van de Ven’s deal.

Spurs forked out in the region of €50m to sign the 23-year-old from Bundesliga club Wolfsburg in the summer of 2023.

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Former Tottenham Hotspur defender Ramon Vega has pointed to ex-Spurs boss Nuno to point out that sacking Ange Postecoglou will not address the deeper problems in north London.

Spurs’ poor recent form continued on Sunday with a 2-2 draw at home to strugglers Wolves.

The result means Spurs have now not managed to win for their last three league games and sit in the bottom half of the Premier League table, in eleventh, having lost nine of their 19 games.

While Spurs are struggling, their former boss Nuno has Nottingham Forest sitting a superb second in the league standings, with 37 points from their 19 games.

Nuno was shown the door by Spurs and Vega feels that how he is doing at Forest shows that the problems in north London are deep, with sacking Postecoglou not enough to solve them.

The former defender wrote on X: “Was he [Nuno] not once the manager of Spurs?

“Do you truly believe that sacking Ange will lead to any significant change?

“The problems run much deeper than just the managerial position.”

Vega thinks that Tottenham have been operating with a squad that is too small and the club must enter the market in the winter window.

“Unfortunately for Ange, his squad is too small; even a Big club dealing with multiple injuries would likely struggle.

“I’m not a great fan of the January windows but the Club is forced to do something”, he added.

Spurs are now preparing for their first game of 2025, which will come at home against Newcastle United next weekend.

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Fixture: Tottenham Hotspur vs Wolverhampton Wanderers

Competition: Premier League

Kick-off: 15:00 UK time

Tottenham Hotspur have officially confirmed their team and substitutes to play host to Wolves in a Premier League encounter this afternoon.

Spurs currently sit in 12th place in the league standings and have lost nine of their 18 matches, increasing the pressure on Ange Postecoglou.

Postecoglou is continuing to battle against an injury crisis which has severely depleted his defensive options, while another blow is that Djed Spence is suspended today.

Wolves, under new boss Vitor Pereira, have now won their last two games, beating Leicester City and Manchester United.

Fraser Forster is in goal for Spurs today, while at the back Postecoglou picks Pedro Porro, Radu Dragusin, Archie Gray and Destiny Udogie.

In midfield, Spurs go with Yves Bissouma and Rodrigo Bentancur, while Dejan Kulusevski, Brennan Johnson, Dominic Solanke and Heung-Min Son lead the goal threat.

If Postecoglou wants to make changes then there are options he can call for from the bench and they include Timo Werner and James Maddison.

Tottenham Hotspur Team vs Wolverhampton Wanderers

Forster, Porro, Dragusin, Gray, Udogie, Bissouma, Bentancur, Kulusevski, Johnson, Solanke, Son

Substitutes: Austin, Reguilon, Dorrington, Sarr, Bergvall, Maddison, Olusesi, Werner, Lankshear

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Intermediaries have spoken to Newcastle United about the possibility of the club signing a defender who has also been linked with Tottenham Hotspur, according to Chronicle Live.

Eddie Howe missed out on landing Marc Guehi in the summer transfer window, while winger Anthony Elanga was also targeted but not signed.

Now the winter transfer window is at hand and Newcastle are suggested to be keen to bring in another defender in the shape of Lens’ centre-back Abdukodir Khusanov.

The promising Uzbek defender has been mooted as a target for Tottenham, who are undergoing an injury crisis in central defence and are expected to enter the market.

Now Newcastle have been spoken to by intermediaries about signing Khusanov from Lens in the window.

Lens are fully prepared to let the 20-year-old move on and have tasked super agent Jorge Mendes with sourcing an acceptable deal.

It is suggested that Newcastle, who have been monitoring the defender’s development, could prefer to wait until the summer transfer window to do a deal for him.

The Magpies though could have their hands forced if another side look like making progress in the hunt for Khusanov in the coming weeks.

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Tottenham Hotspur will have to wait until the summer if they want to try to land Real Betis attacker Vitor Roque, whose agent has just knocked back Palmeiras.

Spurs are not having the best of seasons as they have been regularly inconsistent in the Premier League and there is pressure on Ange Postecoglou.

The club are expected to back Postecoglou in the winter transfer window and another attacker could be on the agenda, with Brazilian star Roque linked.

However, according to journalist Jorge Nicola, Roque will not leave Betis in the winter transfer window.

His agent has just been contacted by Brazilian side Palmeiras, but the message has been that he is not available.

The 19-year-old is currently on loan at Betis from Barcelona, having joined the club in 2024 and the loan agreement contains an option for a further year.

Roque is focused on completing the campaign at Betis, rather than moving now.

Whether the situation might change in the coming weeks remains to be seen, especially if Spurs make a firm move for his signature.

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Leyton Orient boss Richie Wellens has revealed that Tottenham Hotspur loan star Jamie Donley is developing into a man from a boy and praised several aspects of his game.

The 19-year-old attacking midfielder is considered a player for the future at Spurs and he has featured in four senior games for the north Londoners.

In the summer, he was sent on his first loan spell to League One side Leyton Orient and he has already clocked more than 1,200 minutes of action under Wellens.

Wellens has made no secret that he is a fan of Donley’s passing, decision-making and his ability to drive with the ball.

The Os boss is of the view the Spurs loanee is turning into a man with the way he has carried himself on and off the pitch during his time at Brisbane Road.

“I am a big believer in watching people and their mannerisms and I look at Jamie Donley now, he is just growing, he is turning from a young boy developing into a man”, Wellens told Leyton Orient’s in-house media.

“I have to say, his performances in recent weeks, forget the passing and I spoke about this to Jamie, I have watched him in the Under-21s and I have seen him play, slide with balls, I have seen him get goals, I have seen him get countless assists.

“His position on the pitch, his second balls, when to hook it, when to head it, when to bring it down, when to play one and two touches and his decision-making is also coming on.

Donley has registered four direct goal contributions so far and he will be looking to continue performing under Wellens to impress his parent club for the rest of this season.

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Leeds United have put in an offer for a Ligue 1 star who has been tracked by Newcastle United and Tottenham Hotspur and the Championship club are expected to open discussions with the French club as well.

The Whites are considered one of the favourites to gain promotion back to the Premier League and they are at the top of the league table in the Championship.

They are expected to strengthen the squad with fresh faces in January and they have already taken important steps for Lens defender Abdukodir Khusanov.

The Ligue 1 defender is subject to interest from Newcastle and north London club Tottenham are also interested.

According to French outlet Top Mercato, Leeds have sent in a €20m offer for the highly-rated Uzbek defender as they ‘take action’ to try to sign him.

Even though Lens have an asking price of €25m to €30m for the defender, the opening bid is expected to create a base for further discussions.

His agent, Jorge Mendes has an ‘exclusive mandate’ when Khusanov moves, is trying to push a move to the Premier League for better capital gain.

Lens are happy to sell if their price is met as they look to bring in cash.

Now it remains to be seen where Khusanov’s future lies amid genuine interest from multiple Premier League clubs and Leeds United’s opening offer.

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Tottenham Hotspur manager Ange Postecoglou has struck a sceptical note over using one of his midfielders at centre-back, amid the crisis in the position worsening.

Spurs Tottenham are already without the services of key defenders Micky van de Ven and Cristian Romero through injury and that crisis deepened after yet another specialised player for that area, Radu Dragusin, was forced off in the loss to Nottingham Forest.

Bissouma filled his shoes and kept Nottingham Forest from scoring any more goals for the remaining minutes of the game.

Ahead of the final match before the January transfer window opens, Postecoglou might have to seek the help of Bissouma yet again to fill the role.

However, the Tottenham manager insists that he is not sure about that option and will wait and see how to go about it.

“I don’t know. I mean Yves has never played there so I am not sure why I would put him there”, Postecoglou said at a press conference.

“I had to put him there last night because I had no one else, but we’ll see. We’ll see what happens.”

The manager also took time to give a medical update on injured defender Dragusin.

“Bit early to tell, he obviously tweaked his ankle and felt like he couldn’t continue, we’ll just have to wait and see.

“Wait until he gets in today and then assess it from there.”

Wolves, Tottenham’s opponents on Sunday, will visit the London Stadium with the confidence they have built from their last two wins against Leicester City and Manchester United.

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Nottingham Forest midfielder Elliot Anderson has revealed that he and his team-mates targeted Tottenham Hotspur for counter-attacks given the kind of pace they got down the wings and that worked perfectly for them.

Despite managing just 29 per cent of possession, the Tricky Trees were able to come away with a narrow 1-0 win over Ange Postecoglou’s team on Boxing Day.

The only goal of the match came from winger Anthony Elanga’s foot as Nuno Espirito Santo’s side hit the visitors on the break.

Responding to a question on whether they targeted counter-attacks against an attacking team, Anderson insisted that it was the case given how much pace they have there through Elanga and Callum Hudson-Odoi.

“Definitely [we targeted counter-attack]”, Anderson was quoted as saying by the BBC.

“We’ve got pace on the wings as you can see, especially with Ant [Elanga].

“We tend to go down that way, hold it deep and try and find Ant and Cal [Hudson-Odoi]. It works, so it is perfect.”

The loss was Tottenham’s fourth defeat in the last five league games and took them further away from a European spot, consolidating their position in the bottom half of the table.

It also helped further increase pressure on an already under-pressure manager Postecoglou.