KDB will wait and see over new deal EXCLUSIVE
...HUDSON-ODOI IS SENT ON AS A SUB ...BOSS FORCED TO GIVE HIM HOOK
KEVIN DE BRUYNE will delay committing himself to a new deal at Manchester City until after the summer.
Talks between the club and their outstanding Belgium midfielder, 29, are under way.
So far, though, there has been no agreement with De Bruyne keen to see what deals will be on the table for the club’s top transfer targets in the next window.
Barcelona ace Lionel Messi (below) is on City’s radar as is Borussia Dortmund prolific hitman Erling Haaland.
Both those players will be making huge wage demands and De Bruyne is a more than interested observer.
At the moment, he is the club’s highest earner on a basic
£290,000 per week with add-ons taking that closer to
£310,000. However, the best City have
come up with regarding new terms is a drop in those weekly wages to £250,000 with a significantly improved bonus scheme that could net him another £70,000 every seven days.
That contract would be for five years with the option to extend it by a further 12 months.
De Bruyne is in no rush to sign as his present deal has another two seasons to run after this one. He may well decide he warrants a better package if Messi and/or Haaland arrive in the close season.
Argentina striker Messi,
33, is likely to get
£500,000 a week if he joins while Haaland, 20, wants £300,000 a week before any bonuses.
MAURICIO POCHETTINO wants Harry Kane at Paris Saint-Germain.
But any move for the £150m-rated
CHELSEA chief Thomas Tuchel humiliated Callum Hudson-Odoi at Southampton – by subbing him just 30 minutes after bringing him on. The England winger was visibly upset when hooked in the 75th minute of yesterday’s 1-1 draw against the Saints. But German coach Tuchel made no apologies. The Bridge boss said: “It was not injury-related. You need to be sharp to counter-press but he wasn’t on his game.
“It’s not a problem if he makes a mistake or has a bad game but you can’t lack energy by 5 or 10 per cent. He knows what I demand but did not reach that level.”
IT took 21 years and five months yet it will have felt like a lifetime for Everton fans. But finally they can celebrate a win at Anfield.
Kevin Campbell was the last man to score a winner here for the Toffees back in 1999. Now, at the 24th attempt, they won here again thanks to a third-minute strike from Richarlison and a second-half penalty from the ever-reliable Gylfi Sigurdsson.
Boss Carlo Ancelotti said his assistant, former Goodison Park favourite Duncan Ferguson was particularly pleased. He said:
“I think the happiest man in the team was Duncan.
“I am very pleased for the club and the supporters. I hope for sure that they are going to celebrate. It was a good performance. A lot of fight and spirit. I am really happy.
“We have to find more consistency at home and we are working on this. We are fighting for Europe and now we are in a good position. This kind of performance helps to improve the belief of the team.”
At last, the blue half of Merseyside can enjoy the bragging rights as they grabbed their first derby win home or away since 2010.
When Campbell fired home back in September 1999 he could see Blues fans celebrating on the Kop.
It’s just a shame for Toffees fans they couldn’t be in the ground to witness it after many miserable short trips across Stanley Park.
Liverpool supporters will be glad they missed it. The defending champions have lost four in a row at home and are yet to taste victory here this year. Unbelievable considering
until January the Reds had an unbeaten run for three-and-a-half years on their own patch.
Now, Ancelotti’s men are level on points with their bitter rivals in the race for European qualification – and even have a game in hand!
To add to Liverpool’s woes skipper Jordan Henderson joined their lengthy list of injured stars.
It was a flying start for Everton who went ahead in the third minute. A cute pass from James Rodriguez put Richarlison in and he found the bottom corner. The Brazilian outpaced Ozan Kabak easily and it was clear the Toffees would continue to attack the January loan signing. The hosts looked to respond and Henderson forced Jordan Pickford to tip wide a volley as Virgil van Dijk watched from behind the home dugout.
The Dutchman was sitting out after a lunge by the England keeper wrecked his knee when these sides met in October at Goodison Park.
Liverpool have suffered further defensive injuries since then to Joe Gomez and Joel Matip. And stand-in centreback Henderson was forced off before the half-hour mark with a groin or hamstring issue.
Nat Phillips replaced him to make it Liverpool’s 18th central defensive partnership of the campaign with Kabak.
At the other end, Sadio Mane will have expected to do better with two headed chances which came his way.
Mo Salah had been quiet but he got in behind the Everton defence with 20 minutes to go but Pickford pulled off a great save at point-blank range.
But the game was when an away counter attack ended with Trent Alexander-Arnold (left) upending Dominic Calvert-Lewin.
Fellow sub Sigurdsson stepped up to slot home the spot-kick.
Klopp said: “The penalty was late and wasn’t really decisive so we don’t have to talk about that too much.
“We could talk about this for an hour in detail and you would realise what you were talking about would be 90 per cent positive but 10 per cent was not and we have to change 10 per cent because it makes the difference result wise.
“We stand here having lost 2-0. I know how important it is. We feel it deep inside.
“But from tomorrow on I have to use all the good stuff.”
SAM ALLARDYCE admits West Brom must be more clinical to have any chance of pulling off a great escape.
Allardyce was delighted by the performance from his 10 men as the Baggies registered their first clean sheet under him at the 13th attempt.
But he was disappointed at having to settle for just a point for the second game running after they created enough chances to beat Burnley, leaving them 11 points adrift of safety.
“The performance deserved a win,” said Big Sam. “We didn’t do anything other than try to win the game, even when we went down to 10 men.
“We created the two best chances and we’re disappointed we didn’t convert at least one of those because they were gilt-edged chances.
“Defensively we’re getting better, attacking and creating we’re getting better, we just need to take our chances.
“We have two points from the last two games when we should have six.
“The games are ticking by and our points total to the team fourth from bottom is a large one.”
Allardyce was satisfied with referee Mike Dean showing Semi Ajayi a red card for handball to deny Burnley a goalscoring opportunity. “I don’t know if you can say from 50 or 60 metres away it’s stopping a goalscoring opportunity, but that’s the way the rules are and we have to accept them.”
This was Dean’s first Premier League game since receiving death threats and Sean Dyche also backed him over his refusal to give Burnley a penalty when the ball struck Kyle Bartley’s hand.
The Clarets boss said: “We’ve seen them given but on reflection it’s glanced off his thigh first and I presume that’s why he didn’t give it.
“I’m pleased with the outcome today because I thought we were miles off it, absolutely miles off it.
“But I have to be careful in what
I say because we’ve asked an awful lot of these players over the last few weeks.”
This game was never going to be one for the purists and the blustery conditions did not suit passing football. Burnley were also missing first-choice strikers Chris Wood and Ashley Barnes and Dyche paired Matej Vydra with Jay Rodriguez.
Rodriguez needs one more league goal to bring up the century and should have bagged it against the Baggies when he failed to get a firm enough head to Matt Lowton’s cross from the right.
Darnell Furlong went close with a couple of left-foot curlers for West Brom and Matheus Pereira then forced a smart save from Nick Pope as the England keeper dived and extended his Inspector Gadget-like left hand to touch away his low drive.
Then came Ajayi’s moment to forget. He instinctively put out his right hand to bat away the ball as Vydra attempted to go past him.
Dean dismissed him on the half-hour after being prompted by VAR Michael Oliver to review the incident on his pitchside monitor.
The extra man did not suit Burnley who were not
comfortable having more possession. Yet they might have had a penalty when Conor Townsend’s header hit Bartley on his right arm but neither Dean nor Oliver saw it that way.
Albion’s 10 men played the better football on the break and Ainsley Maitland-Niles went close when he cut inside and curled just wide.
Mbaye Diagne then beat James Tarkowski but shot against the top of the bar.
Tarkowski redeemed himself when he headed Pereira’s shot off the line with Burnley’s defence in disarray.
It was undoubtedly a moral victory for West Brom’s 10 men but they desperately need points rather than plaudits.
BURNLEY: Pope 8; Lowton 7, Tarkowski 6, Mee 6, Taylor; Brownhill 6, Cork 5, Westwood 6, McNeil 6; Vydra 6, Rodriguez 5 (Mumbongo 81st)
WEST BROM: Johnstone 6; Furlong 7, Bartley 6, Ajayi 5, Townsend 6; Yokuslu 6; Pereira 7, Gallagher 6, MaitlandNiles 7, Phillips 5 (O’Shea (32nd) 6); Diagne 7
STAR MAN: Nick Pope
REF: M Dean
Burnley’s next game: Spurs, Feb 28 (a)
WBA’s next game: Brighton,
Feb 27 (h)