AYEW EAGER TO PROTECT HIS YOUNG SWANS
Smith: Grealish is one hell of a player.. just like Alli
ARSENAL will have to get creative in the next transfer window without much cash to spend.
But keep an eye on Bournemouth’s Ryan Fraser (right) who is a free agent in the summer, and has impressive stats for assists and making chances.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang seems likely to go as he will have one year left, Alexandre Lacazette wants Champions League football, and a reshuffle could raise funds rather than selling keeper Bernd Leno, who is attracting big interest. Matteo Guendouzi is not an established first pick and could be sold.
JADON SANCHO has become a £120million superstar and one of Europe’s most sought-after players during a wonderful time at Borussia Dortmund. The German club deserve huge credit for the way they bring through young players and part of that process is
keeping their feet on the ground.
Maybe that explains why Sancho, 19, was ticked off by Dortmund’s hierarchy for taking a cameraman on a private jet to film his winter break in Dubai, which included a visit to the zoo, the desert and eating a golden steak.
NORWICH striker Teemu Pukki faces Liverpool tomorrow with a new closelycropped haircut – and it’s all thanks to defender Grant Hanley.
Hanley (left) was happy to get his clippers out to save Pukki paying for a barber but the Scotsman jokingly accused the top scorer of being slow to the bar.
JACK GREALISH has the same “star quality” as Dele Alli, according to Aston Villa boss Dean Smith.
Smith recalls how he saw Alli play in 2014 when the youngster broke through at MK Dons in League One.
Alli, 23, has gone on to win 37 England caps, with 49 goals and 32 assists in 149 league games for Spurs.
But Smith rates Villa captain Grealish just as highly, with both in form for Tottenham’s visit on Sunday.
Uncapped Grealish – who has seven goals and five assists this season and is attracting interest from Manchester United – is in line for an England debut next month.
Smith said:
v“I remember 7.45pm
ANDRE AYEW wants Swansea fans to lay off the club’s young stars.
The Welsh side’s supporters booed their team after Tuesday’s goalless draw with QPR when they failed to register a shot on target.
Swansea have former England Under-17 World Cup winners Rhian Brewster, Conor Gallagher and Marc Guehi all on loan at the Liberty Stadium. Ayew (right), 30, first coming up against Dele Alli when I was manager at Walsall and he was at MK Dons.
“The ability he had at such a young age meant he went straight into a Premier League team and hit the ground running. He showed incredible potential, which has continued.
“We believe Jack Grealish has that star quality as well. Jack’s ability is there for all to see.
“It’s his first full season in the Premier League this year and he’s hit the ground running. He has carried the responsibility of being captain and an Aston Villa fan forward.
“He looks one hell of a player to everyone right now.”
With the Carabao Cup Final and a relegation battle for top-flight survival to come in the next three months, Smith is glad of one thing: “Thankfully the window is shut.”
Grealish and the squad returned to training this week from a five-day winter break following the 2-1 defeat at Bournemouth.
It left Villa 17th, one place
23 Games played 23 Games started 2,064 Minutes played 7 Goals 5 Assists 63 Chances created 55 Chances created from open play 940 Passes
85.2% Passing accuracy 59.1% Dribbles success rate
111 Fouls won said: “We need the fans to help the boys and build their confidence. The only thing I can say as one of the senior players is we have a lot of young players in the squad.
“They need to be encouraged and pushed. They are going to make mistakes. Some are learning and for some it’s a first season in the Championship. We have a few guys who are 19 or 20.
“We senior players are the ones who take more responsibility. If the
Premier League 2019-20 above the drop zone but Smith is encouraged ahead of their remaining 13 games.
He added: “We’ve a third of the season left and we’re going to battle and scrap for every point.
“If somebody had said to me at the start of the season that with 13 games to go we would be out of the relegation zone, we would be in a cup final and would have more wins than Arsenal, then I’d have chopped their hands off.
“I feel we’ve just started to build that consistency.
“We’ve had a big turnaround in the squad as everybody knows in the summer and they’re starting to gel.
“I’m seeing real green shoots of recovery. I think we’ll finish the season well.” 18 17 1,487 7
3 20 20 650 76.6% 45% 23 fans are angry they should look at us more than the younger ones.”
Tonight Swansea visit Hull, whose midfielder George Honeyman is confident of a big finish to their stuttering season.
The mid-table Tigers are hungry to end a seven-match winless run. “We have got more than a quarter of the season left,” said Honeyman.
“There is such a long way to go in the season, it’s exciting.”