Good evening, Spurs fans. Here are your evening headlines for Thursday, August 20.
Mourinho wants Maitland-Niles
Tottenham are planning to bid for Arsenal full-back Ainsley Maitland-Niles, according to The Daily Mail.
With Serge Aurier on his way out of the club, Jose Mourinho has his eye on Maitland-Niles and Spurs have made him one of their top transfer targets.
Though Maitland-Niles sees himself as a central midfielder, he has been deployed at right-back or right wing-back over the last few seasons. Tottenham’s recruitment team views his versatility as a major asset.
While Maitland-Niles has racked up plenty of minutes at Arsenal, he hasn’t been able to nail down a regular starting spot and has Hector Bellerin in front of him at right-back.
Arsenal, meanwhile, are looking to sell players to fund their summer transfer business. They will reportedly listen to offers for Maitland-Niles in the region of £20million.
Milan still chasing Aurier
Though reports in the Italian press earlier this week suggested that AC Milan were reluctant to meet Spurs’ £23million valuation of Aurier, it looks like a move to Italy is still on the cards.
According to La Gazzetta dello Sport, via SportWitness, Milan have plans in place to finance the deal.
Having scouted Aurier for an extended period, Milan are satisfied that they have all the background they need to sign off on a transfer.
The deciding factor now appears to be whether or not Aurier can agree personal terms with the Rossoneri.
Fixture list reveals nightmare run for Spurs
With the Premier League fixture list released on Thursday, Mourinho now has a sense of how the new season will shape up.
Despite a relatively gentle start to the campaign, he will have to navigate a tough run of games from November onwards.
Following the November international break, Spurs have to play Manchester City, Chelsea and Arsenal back-to-back. Following a brief respite against Crystal Palace, they then face Liverpool, Leicester and Wolves.
It doesn’t get much more intense than that, especially given that Spurs could also play three Europa League games in that period.
At first glance, that run looks like it could define Spurs’ 2020/21 campaign.
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