Tag: Tottenham Hotspur

Tottenham are reportedly trying to land Mehdi Taremi from Porto

By RYAN TAYLOR – The Daily Express
UPDATED: 16:44, Sat, Aug 5, 2023

Tottenham are reportedly trying to land Mehdi Taremi from Porto
Super-agent Jorge Mendes is ‘on the ground’ negotiating the potential transfer of Porto striker Mehdi Taremi to Tottenham, according to reports in Portugal. The Iranian is the subject of shock talks with Spurs and that would suggest Daniel Levy is exploring the prospect of adding attacking reinforcements to Ange Postecoglou’s squad as the uncertainty surrounding Harry Kane’s future threatens to rumble on.

But there has now been a surprise twist after it emerged Tottenham were looking into a surprise swoop for 31-year-old Taremi.

According to Record in Portugal, Mendes is working on bringing the Iran international to north London for Levy and Co.

Tottenham are reportedly prepared to pay £21m for Taremi and hopes they can shake off competition from the likes of AC Milan for the player.

Porto are looking for at least £26m, however, and even still are reluctant to lose their star man so close to the start of a new season.

Taremi is mindful that this could be his last chance to play in the Premier League as he approaches the latter stages of his career.
There has already been interest from England this summer from Sean Dyche’s Everton.

However, the offer was of little interest to Taremi, who recently told Varzesh3: “Now there is an opportunity, but even now, for example, Everton’s offer doesn’t interest me.”

He also claims he had the chance to join Newcastle back in 2021 but he instead opted to play Champions League football with Porto.

Taremi continued: “I have had an offer from Newcastle but I rejected their offer because we were in the Champions League and I could play against teams like Liverpool, AC Milan, and Atletico Madrid.

“I preferred to stay at Porto because Newcastle were fighting to remain in the Premier League and I didn’t think they could qualify for the UCL after their bad season.”

Spurs chairman Levy has now reportedly flown to the USA for a two-week holiday, which could scupper Bayern’s chances of landing Kane.

It has been suggested that the striker would favour staying in north London if a move hasn’t been resolved by the start of the new season next weekend.


The Koreans are desperate for a win against Team Melli

Paulo Bento, The Portuguese coach of South Korea who led his team to a 1-0 win against Australia, is determined to lead the team to victory against Iran too.

South Korea, ranked 37th in the FIFA rankings, has been out-ranked 9th, 8th and 13th spots lower against the 21st ranked Iran, who are also the top ranking team in the Asian Football Confederation (AFC).

In the last five matches, Korea never won against the Iranians managing only one draw and four losses.

Bento in his pre-match press conference at the PFC NFC (Training Center for Football) on October 10, said

“We will continue to maintain the framework and style of our team even if we play an experimental team versus Iran,” he said. “We are now building a team to make the right choices in the World Cup qualifiers.”

Bento said, “We will consider the technical and mental aspects of the players,” “We will stick with our style of play and bring in the players we need.”
Bento is looking forward to the success of his aces Son hung min and Hwang Joon-jo.

How much is too much for Son Heung-min?

Son Heung-min has played a lot of soccer over the last 12 months, with minutes on the field seemingly outranked only by air miles.

It has some South Koreans wondering how much is too much.

The recently completed season with Tottenham Hotspur was intense enough, with almost 50 appearances as the club placed fourth place in the Premier League and progressed to the Champions League final before losing 1-0 against Liverpool in Madrid.

Through it all, he maintained a taxing schedule with South Korea’s national team that included trips to the World Cup in Russia, the Asian Games in Indonesia and the Asian Cup in the United Arab Emirates. And international friendlies on top, too.

Despite all that, the 26-year-old Son was called once again by South Korea coach Paulo Bento to fly from Europe to play 90 minutes in a low-key friendly against Australia last Friday and prepare for another exhibition against Iran in Seoul on Tuesday. There have been calls for the player to be given a break but that is unlikely to happen.

Wilmots advocating an offensive strategy

Iran national football team head coach Marc Wilmots said Monday his side will play attacking football with high-pressing tactics to beat South Korea in their upcoming friendly match.

Iran and South Korea will go head-to-head at Seoul World Cup Stadium in Seoul on Tuesday. Wilmots, who took over Iran’s helm last month, said Team Melli will not sit back against the Taeguk Warriors, who have yet to suffer a defeat at home under their head coach Paulo Bento.

“The best defense is a good offense,” Wilmots said at a pre-match press conference. “We will try to create many chances with a high-intensity pressing game.”

Iran national football team head coach Marc Wilmots speaks at a press conference at Seoul World Cup Stadium in Seoul on June 10, 2019, one day ahead of his team's friendly football match against South Korea. (Yonhap)

“Since 2014, Son has grown a lot with experience from big tournaments like the UEFA Champions League,” he said of the Tottenham Hotspur star. “Son is showing his best performance these days using his technique and experience.”

Iran, ranked 21st in the latest FIFA rankings, have been one of the top nemeses to South Korea, currently No. 37 in the world. Iran have not suffered a defeat against South Korea since 2011. They collected four consecutive 1-0 wins before taking a scoreless draw in a World Cup qualifying match in August 2017.

Wilmots, 50, said he wants to maintain Iran’s undefeated streak against South Korea.

“Iran and South Korea are rivals that motivate each other,” he said. “But what I hate the most is losing. Many fans will root for South Korea tomorrow, but we’ll try our best.”