ITS TAH FOR THE GOOD TIMES TOBY
TOTTENHAM have been scouting Bayer Leverkusen’s Jonathan Tah – as an insurance policy if Toby Alderweireld goes. The north Londoners have been present at several of the £35million-rated defender’s (below) recent games, ever since the problems surfaced with their Belgium international. It is understood Spurs will off-load Alderweireld in the summer after the club’s failure to agree a new contract with him. The former Southampton man will have plenty of takers at the end of the season as his career in north London has hit the buffers. Davinson Sanchez was drafted in from Ajax as competition but has found himself as first choice and Spurs will seek to go again with the majority of the money they take for the 29-year-old. MANCHESTER CITY are joining the race for Fulham whizz-kid Ryan Sessegnon.
Spurs and Manchester United have done most of the running for the 17-year-old (above), who operates all down the left.
But now City are showing an interest and the Cottagers are bracing themselves for offers this summer whether they win promotion to the Premier League or not.
European giants Real Madrid and Bayern Munich have also monitored his progress and are keeping tabs on him. CASEY STONEY always knew Phil Neville was the right man for England.
The former Lionesses skipper had no hesitation in joining Neville’s backroom team when she got the call before his stormy appointment in January.
Neville may have no experience of the women’s game but bringing in the legendary defender was a masterstroke which is already paying dividends.
England thumped France 4-1 in their first match of the SheBelieves Cup and take on Germany here today full of confidence.
Stoney, 35, (below), who won 130 caps before retiring last month, said: “I never had doubts, not for one second. Why? It came from speaking to him, from hearing his vision. His drive, his passion, his capacity to want to learn. He wants to get to know every single player, their background, their families. What they are as a person. I don’t care where you work, who you are or what your industry is. It’s your people that matter.
“Everything he was talking about, I thought to myself ‘this team needs this right now’.”
Neville has been at pains to introduce a more attacking philosophy than sacked former boss Mark Sampson used and hopes it will help land World Cup glory in France next summer.
“He is technical and tactical on the pitch and that is what we were craving, “added Stoney.
“There is a missing link. Mark was fantastic but there was a missing link in that area. When I was reading the criticism, I think there was a lot of uninformed opinions if I am honest.” Stoney has been around the women’s game for two decades but reckons she’s seen nothing like the arrival of the former Manchester United man.
The ex-Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool stopper admitted: “I knew it was going to be different because it is Phil Neville. He raises the profile of our game tenfold – and that’s another reason why it is a great appointment. But I was there that day to learn.
“I have never seen anything like it, not in our game. And the brutality of it! I was like “wow!” Do you know what, I walked away thinking “well done”. I just thought he handled himself magnificently.
“He also doesn’t see pressure. I think that is a really, really good thing because that is what you are going to get as an international manager – especially him. I think people want him to fail. I do. But he’s not going to. He’s not the type of person who will allow that.”
Of her own aims, Stoney recalls: “I remember an interview. I hadn’t even got my first senior cap, I’d only just got called up by the England’s Under-16s.
“They asked me what my aspirations were and they were to take Hope Powell’s job. I always think the pinnacle of football is being England manager. I don’t think there is anything better than that. To take your country to major success would be the best thing in the world.”
Meanwhile, Neville has had the early disappointment of losing Chelsea defender Anita Asante, who was poised to make her first England appearance since 2015 after being axed by Sampson. Neville confirmed that she has flown home with a ‘long term’ knee injury.