Soccer
Tuesday’s briefing: De Zerbi deal close and Tuchel plays down Arsenal withdrawals
Roberto De Zerbi is poised to take charge of Tottenham, Thomas Tuchel rejects suspicions over Arsenal withdrawals and Cardiff’s negligence claim against Nantes is dismissed.
Tottenham close in on Roberto De Zerbi
Roberto De Zerbi is set to take on the sizeable task of keeping Tottenham in the Premier League after talks between the parties reached an advanced stage, the Press Association understands.
Spurs turned attention back to De Zerbi after Igor Tudor’s departure on Sunday and, although PA understands the former Brighton boss initially preferred to wait until the summer to assess his options, he looks set to perform a U-turn and take over immediately.
Reports in De Zerbi’s homeland of Italy on Monday morning stated he was now willing to listen to Tottenham’s advances and had a five-year contract offer on the table, which would make the 46-year-old the club’s fourth head coach in the last 10 months.
Tudor’s shambolic 44-day reign produced five defeats in seven matches alongside a catalogue of questionable tactical choices and only increased the realistic threat of a first relegation since 1977.
Tuchel: Rice and Saka wanted to face Japan
Thomas Tuchel has defended the withdrawal of Declan Rice and Bukayo Saka from his England squad amid a spate of Arsenal pullouts.
The German coach picked an expanded 35-man squad for the final camp before he makes his World Cup selection, with the first wave of players joined by 11 established names on Friday.
Rice and Saka were among those arrivals and surprisingly left the following day, as did Arsenal team-mate Noni Madueke after he suffered an injury in the 1-1 friendly draw against Uruguay.
The fact 10 of the Premier League leaders’ players have left their respective national teams has raised suspicions of club matters taking precedence over country, but Tuchel dismissed such talk.
“They joined, had a medical assessment, wanted desperately to play, to just get the narrative straight,” he said ahead of Tuesday’s friendly against Japan.
“But it made just no sense to take this risk. If it would have been maybe a last game of the season, we would have kept them and tried everything. But in this moment of the season, it did not make sense.”
Court dismisses Cardiff’s negligence claim
Cardiff’s negligence claim for damages against Nantes in relation to the death of Emiliano Sala has been dismissed by a French court.
The Welsh club were seeking damages of more than £100million, covering Sala’s transfer fee but also losses of other potential earnings.
Sala died in January 2019 when the light aircraft he was travelling in from France to link up with Cardiff crashed into the English Channel. Pilot David Ibbotson, 59, also died in the crash.
Cardiff’s contention was that Nantes were responsible because the flight was organised by an agent, Willie McKay, enlisted by the French club.
However, the tribunal of Nantes dismissed the claim on Monday, and ordered Cardiff to pay more than £400,000 to the French club.
What’s on today?
England host Japan at Wembley, Scotland visit the Hill Dickinson Stadium to face the Ivory Coast, the Republic of Ireland take on North Macedonia at the Aviva Stadium and Wales meet Northern Ireland in Cardiff. All four games are friendlies.
