Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
DUTCH & NO
United beat Spurs, Bayern and Real to land £49M Holland star Van de Beek on five year deal La Liga delivers a brutal blow to Pep as they rule City must pay Messi’s
MANCHESTER UNITED have won the race to sign Ajax’s Donny van de Beek after Tottenham failed with an 11th-hour bid to snatch the Dutch midfielder.
Van de Beek, 23, will arrive at Old Trafford for £40million in the coming days after Ole Gunnar Solskjaer launched a charm offensive to land a player who was also a target for
MATT DOHERTY claims it was a “no-brainer” to sign for Tottenham.
The 28-year-old defender reckons Spurs have the best stadium in the world, as well as the best training ground, and insists he was desperate to work with Jose Mourinho.
It looks like a snip for Tottenham at £15million for the Wolves right-back – even if old tweets have emerged suggesting he is a lifelong Arsenal fan!
Republic of Ireland defender Doherty has deleted them now after his remarkable rise to the top which saw him join Wolves, from Irish side Bohemians, and spend 10 years at Molineux during which time he became one of the best wingbacks in the Premier League.
Doherty said: “I’m very proud to be joining such a big club. We’ve got the best stadium in the world and possibly the best training ground from what I’ve seen – and of course we’ve got the manager...
“Once I knew there was interest from Spurs it was a no-brainer for me to get myself down to London.
“At Wolves I had all the experiences – disappointment and then obviously getting promoted and stuff like that, and then getting into Europe.
“It made me stay quite level-headed throughout my time there, but now I just feel that coming here is going to take my game and my career to the next level.
“I think it would have been tough to leave Wolves if I was going backwards or sideways but at Tottenham, given the facilities and the manager, I feel that I’m really taking a big step forward.
“It’s a new challenge now and it’s really a challenge that I feel like I need at this time.”
Doherty (in scoring action for Wolves against Spurs last season, right) insists his fitness levels mean he can cope with the demanding Europa League fixture list coupled with domestic games and internationals, and he says he relishes the challenge of playing in different positions.
“I can play in a back three in terms of being the wing-back in midfield, I can play in a flat four at the back – there are many, many things that I can do and I’ll give absolutely everything I can for this club,” he said.
Doherty, who goes straight off on international duty, says he is well aware of Tottenham’s strong links with the Republic of Ireland thanks to the likes of Joe Kinnear,
Chris Hughton, Stephen Carr, Tony Galvin and Robbie Keane. He added: “I actually saw Robbie Keane last week. I was back in Ireland and I walked into a restaurant and he was at the table beside me.
“He has messaged me and said ‘congrats, all the best’ and said if I ever need any help around the area sorting things out, just to drop him a line.
“And, yes, I know the fanbase in Ireland is quite big . If you go on to my messages, I’m getting a lot of well-wishes from Ireland so it’s all positive and I’m over the moon to be here.”