Spurs News Round Up: Kane, Sonny, Lucas and more
This is an unusual downtime to say the least but, while there is no football on the pitch, Spurs and their players are creating plenty of news stories during the lockdown. The club as a whole has been in the news while individual players have, as we will see, been keeping themselves busy.
THFC have not had an easy period with the press but thankfully, their decision to reverse an earlier take up of the government furlough scheme has turned things around to an extent. That particular story dominated the headlines for a while but of less interest to the media was the work done to aid the NHS in and around the new Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
NHS Move In
It had been previously reported that Spurs had allowed the local NHS authority to use the area around the stadium as food storage facilities. Now, the service has moved inside the building to provide care options during the Covid-19 crisis.
As an extension of the local North Middlesex Hospital, the club is providing vital help to the local authority and it’s interesting to keep up with developments – particularly as the wider media don’t seem as eager to pick up on this story.
Sonny Signs Up
A couple of years back we had the situation where Son Heung-Min was tasked with winning a gold medal for South Korea at the Asian Games or he would be enlisted for military service. Thankfully for Spurs, he achieved the aim on the pitch and was duly welcomed back into the squad.
During this downtime, Sonny has taken the opportunity to serve his country with a compulsory stint of national service. In South Korea, it is mandatory to enter into four weeks of training and that’s exactly what he’s doing. At least we can therefore assume that Sonny has overcome the injury that threatened to end his 2019/20 campaign prematurely.
Harry’s Future
Transfer gossip continues during this lockdown period and naturally, much of it revolves around Harry Kane. The striker’s recent comments served to stoke up speculation but the club moved quickly with reports claiming that Spurs would never sell Kane to Manchester United or a Premier League rival.
That was an interesting move on Tottenham’s part but all it did at the time was whip up talk of a switch to Real Madrid. With a reported fee in excess of 200 million Euros, some stories claimed that even the mighty Real would struggle to stump up the cash. Instead, it was suggested that the La Liga giants would offer both Gareth Bale and James Rodriguez plus some loose change in return for our striker.
Meanwhile, the claims regarding Manchester United being off the table seem to have been quickly forgotten. Links between Kane and the Old Trafford club continue to emerge and will carry on for as long as this quarantine period continues.
As we have mentioned before, our own feelings are that Kane will trial out this period with Jose Mourinho in charge. The questions over the conclusion of the 2019/20 season will remain but beyond that, it’s plausible that Harry will want to give Jose a full campaign to see if he can back up his promise to turn the player into a ‘winner’.
How Lucas Uses His Spare Time
The Spurs TV YouTube channel has been catching up with players and this week it was the turn of Lucas Moura to come into the spotlight. The Brazilian talked about spending time with family and he underlined the importance of players training on one screen which gives them the feeling of ‘togetherness.’
There are a number of these interviews around but this is a particularly interesting clip as it goes into greater detail in relation to the training regime at the club and what its players are up to during these strange days.
When will it End?
While it’s interesting to keep up with player activity during this closed period, we all want to know what will happen to the 2019/20 Premier League season. Is it likely that the campaign will come to a natural conclusion or will the organisers simply bring the curtain down and look to start again in 2020/21?
The answer to that remains far from clear but UEFA have now stepped in to have their say. The suggestion is that leagues around Europe should look to finish the 2019/20 season wherever possible although some will be given dispensation to call it a day now should the circumstances dictate.
Europe’s governing body had indicated that there might be penalties for those who ended their campaigns early but now it will listen to individual requests. The landscape is a mixed one and in Germany, where Coronavirus has largely been contained, there are hopes that the Bundesliga will resume in May.
As for the English Premier League, the stance remains in terms of a June resumption at the earliest. It’s all a confusing picture right now but with UEFA suggesting that leagues could finish by August at the latest, it seems that we’re far from done as far as 2019/20 is concerned.
