Sports
Tottenham Emerges As Coutinho’s Only Option
Philippe Coutinho’s situation at Barcelona has reached a critical stage.
Ready to offload the Brazilian midfielder, the Catalan side believes only Premier League clubs will be able to afford him this summer, but time is running out as the transfer window in England closes tomorrow.
A return to Liverpool has been touted in the press as a possibility, but coach Jurgen Klopp has already ruled out any chance of the Reds moving for him.
“I think he’s a fantastic footballer and all that stuff, but it would be a big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big-money signing and it’s not our year for that,” Klopp said in July.
“It’s just not possible. As I said, having him would make each team better, us included, but I really hope that he finds his luck at Barcelona.”
After Coutinho ruled out going back to the North West to join Manchester United and his agent, Kia Joorabchian, admitted it would be “hard” for him to join another team in the Premier League, it would seem the path to England is blocked.
However, there is one road open to the 27-year-old and it leads to London.
Arsenal had considered swooping for Coutinho after it emerged that Barca were open to letting him go, but with Mesut Ozil still in the side and defensive reinforcements their priority in the closing days of the window, they are in no rush to spend big on the former Inter star.
Instead, the more likely destination would be Tottenham, who are looking at Coutinho in case they lose Christian Eriksen.
In the last year of his contract with Spurs, the Denmark international is waiting to decide his long-term future, which could depend on what happens with Paul Pogba.
The French midfielder is “in the process” of negotiating his exit from Manchester United, according to agent Mino Raiola, and it is Real Madrid who have been closely associated with him.
If Pogba stays at Old Trafford, Madrid is expected to turn their attention to Eriksen to strengthen their midfield. On the other hand, United has reportedly contacted Spurs about signing him as Pogba’s replacement.
Either way, selling Eriksen this year would give Tottenham the financial strength to move for Coutinho.
Barca is working against the clock to move Coutinho on. If he ends up leaving, it can only be to the Premier League and would imply that Neymar’s alleged return from Paris Saint-Germain may be closer than ever.
England captain Harry Kane netted a hat-trick to guide Bayern Munich to an impressive victory against Stuttgart.
Kane’s goals, plus one from Kingsley Coman, helped Bayern end a three-game winless run in all competitions.
They faced a tough task against a Stuttgart side who sat back and limited their chances, leading Vincent Kompany’s side to enter the break frustrated and with the deadlock unbroken.
Bayern eventually found a way past Stuttgart’s steely defence when Kane drilled a low effort into the bottom corner from around 30 yards out after Joshua Kimmich overturned possession.
Former Nigeria goalkeeper, Dosu Joseph, is full of thanks to God after he miraculously survived another life-threatening automobile accident recent at Kara, along the Lagos-Ibadan Express Way, where a heavy-duty truck ran into his SUV.
Narrating his ordeal, the 51-year-old, who guided Nigeria to gold in the Men’s Football Tournament of the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, broke the news in a statement on his social media handles on Friday.
“To God be the glory, another death escaped by Grace and Mercy of God. Me and my friend SM were at Enyo Filling Station after Ojodu Berger bus stop to get fuel on Wednesday, October 2, 2024, around 6 p.m. when this MACK truck fully loaded with iron, with registration number LND 470 XX, left the road and crushed my car beyond repairs. Thank God for life,” he stated.
This is the second time the soft-spoken club proprietor will cheat death by a whisker, having been involved in an accident in 1997 that ended his career at 23 and left his spinal cord in bad shape.
He helped Julius Berger win the Nigeria FA Cup in November 1997 shortly a memorable Olympic outing by keeping a clean sheet in the finals against Katsina United. The following year, he was involved in the auto along Ikorodu Road, Lagos, which not only cut his career short but also left him almost paralysed, ending his spell at Serie A club Reggiana.
The former Nigeria international, who also kept goal for Julius Berger FC, said the case has been reported to Isheri Police Station, Ogun State, where the driver is currently detained and the truck also seized.
According to him, the owner of the truck said he can’t fix the badly damaged SUV until after a year.
Ex – Super Eagles of Nigeria, Okwuchukwu Waobikeze has observed that sports development in Nigeria is going down.
According to him, grassroots sports is very important, without it, the administrators cannot get it right. So everybody should key into grassroots sports development, he said.
Waobikeze said this last Wednesday in an interview with sports journalists shortly after the Port Harcourt All Stars Independence football festival (OCTOBERFEST) at the Port Harcourt club, Rivers State.
He explained that for sports administrators to get it right, grassroots development is key. “They should be organising competition at the grassroots level to fish out the young ones for different sporting activities.
“Grassroots sports is very important so the administrators have to go back to the grassroots.
” Sports Development in Nigeria is going down we need to go back to the basics.
“Look at the just concluded Paris Olympics, Nigeria did not win any medal.
” Our football team did not even qualify for the Olympics. We are going down.
” If they should go back to the grassroots, they will get young ones in the games and talents will be developed.
” I started from school games, to youth games before playing for the national team. Now everybody wants to fly board to play professional football and a lot do not know the basics of the game.
” A lot of people did not know the little things about the game, they just want to play. It is not done so,” Waobikeze stated.
Kiadum Edookor
