Tottenham round-up: Winger wanted by Milan; Kane’s dressing-room revelation

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Despite limited movement to and from White Hart Lane over the January transfer window, rumours have surfaced that £30million club-record signing Moussa Sissoko could be set to move to AC Milan over the summer, according to the Sun. 

The 27-year-old French midfielder was a mainstay in the France side that reached the final of Euro 2016 and was a regular in the Premier League for former club Newcastle United, who snapped him up for just £2million from Toulouse back in 2013. He hasn’t quite been as big a hit in North London however, with just six Premier League starts and ten substitute appearances for Mauricio Pochettino’s side. He also featured in the Spurs side that slumped to defeat in Belgium on Europa League duty against Gent last week.

The Frenchman looked to have turned a corner heading towards the turn of the year but saw his brief purple patch cut short by a three-match retrospective ban following an elbow on Bournemouth’s Harry Arter.

It is interesting that Pochettino is sticking to his guns and being reluctant to play his own record-signing in spite of the hefty transfer fee, which may be a marker that the player is not doing enough on the training pitch, rather than a lack of impact during games, given his low tally of appearances. Nevertheless, the reckoning at the Sun is that Milan are just one of several interested parties, and it will be interesting to see whether the North London club are prepared to part ways with the Frenchman after one season, and how much of their £30million investment they might look to recoup on him.

Meanwhile, Spurs also expect to round-off a £16m deal which will see their Algerian midfielder Nabil Bentaleb move to Bundesliga club Schalke, according to the Daily Mirror.

The 22-year-old featured more prominently under former Spurs boss André Villas-Boas but has found opportunities harder to come by under Pochettino, and having enjoyed a fruitful spell on loan in Germany his latest appearance in the Bundesliga triggered a loan clause which could see the youngster make a permanent move to Gelsenkirchen.

Despite Mauricio Pochettino’s philosophy of bringing through youngsters at Spurs, the Bentaleb move would be another sign of how cutthroat the Argentine can still be with some of the club’s younger talents, having already let Tom Carroll and Nathan Oduwa depart for Swansea and Olimpija Ljubljana respectively during the transfer window.

Finally, Harry Kane has revealed to the Daily Mail that a series of dressing-room meetings has been behind their return to form at Fulham in the FA Cup, following their dour run of form.

Having experienced a setback in the title race after defeat at Anfield, Spurs’ week was confounded further with a potentially damaging Europa League first-leg defeat away to Gent, but Kane, who netted a hat-trick at Craven Cottage on Sunday, insisted that an internal inquest amongst the players has re-ignited their desire to win.

‘It was just about bringing the desire back to the team, bringing that hunger back to the team, chasing balls down, running in behind,’ said Kane.

‘I think we did that well (against Fulham). So sometimes we need that, we need a reminder of who we are and what we are about.

‘Yes, we had a couple of meetings between us and we were glad to go out and put it right. We have had a difficult week with a difficult couple of games so we wanted to put that right.

‘There were a few shocks (in the FA Cup) so we didn’t want to be part of that weekend,’ Kane added.

As well as showing that Spurs can return to form and maintain their hard-work ethic, the lift in morale having avoided what could have proven a second banana-skin will undoubtedly have been vital as Spurs prepare for their attempt to overhaul their surprise first-leg deficit in Europe, and will surely be beneficial in maintaining form as they continue their attempts to chase down Premier League leaders Chelsea.

‘We have got an important game on Thursday at home to Gent – we feel we can turn that one around and we knew if we won this one it would give us more confidence. It was important (winning at Fulham)’, Kane insisted.

Having now reached the last eight of the FA Cup, it will be equally interesting to see whether Spurs’ experience of playing at Wembley will benefit them going into a domestic final. Logic would suggest so, but after their struggles at Wembley in European competition this year, the task may yet be far from straightforward, and the same goes for their impending Europa League return clash with Gent.

Featured Image: All Rights Reserved by Craig Ballantyne.