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Alan 1:07 Sun Apr 18
Sunday newspapers (includes West Ham)

BBC

There is "a growing belief" at Tottenham that manager Jose Mourinho will not be at the club next season, with Spurs struggling to secure a Champions League place for the 2021-22 campaign. (Football London)

France midfielder Paul Pogba wants £500,000-a-week to sign a new deal with Manchester United, while Real Madrid, Paris St-Germain and Juventus have also been told of the 28-year-old's wage requirements if they want to sign him. (Star on Sunday)

Chelsea will compete with Manchester United for the signing of Real Madrid and France centre-back Raphael Varane, 27. (Bild journalist Christian Falk on Twitter)

Manchester City forward Raheem Sterling, 26, is again attracting interest from Real Madrid, with the England international having struggled for first-team football in recent weeks. (Star on Sunday)

Wolves want to offload Spain winger Adama Traore to help raise funds for new signings and £30m could be enough for a club to sign the 25-year-old. (Football Insider)

Tottenham continue to monitor 22-year-old Brazil right-back Emerson, who is on loan at Real Betis from Barcelona. (Mundo Deportivo - in Spanish)

Liverpool midfielder Georginio Wijnaldum, 30, plans to join Barcelona in the summer because he wants to play alongside Lionel Messi and Netherlands team-mate Memphis Depay. (Sunday Mirror)

England striker Tammy Abraham's future at Chelsea is in doubt after manager Thomas Tuchel left the 23-year-old out of the squad for their FA Cup semi-final win against Manchester City. (Mail on Sunday)

AC Milan have made it clear to Chelsea they plan to take up the option to turn 23-year-old England defender Fikayo Tomori's loan into a permanent move. (Football Insider)

Aston Villa and Crystal Palace are interested in signing 25-year-old Chelsea and England midfielder Ruben Loftus-Cheek, who is on loan at Fulham. (Teamtalk)

Leeds United are targeting a move for 28-year-old Argentina left-back Nicolas Tagliafico, whose contract with Ajax runs until 2023. (Sunday Mirror)

Leeds will also try for a third time to sign Rangers' English winger Ryan Kent, 24, and will offer £15m. (Sun on Sunday)

West Ham are stepping up their pursuit of Sparta Prague striker Adam Hlozek, with the 18-year-old Czech Republic international also attracting interest from other clubs. (90 Min)

France forward Alassane Plea is ready to leave Borussia Monchengladbach, with Arsenal, Leicester and West Ham having previously shown interest in the 28-year-old. (Mail on Sunday)

Newcastle United manager Steve Bruce says he would "love" to keep 21-year-old English midfielder Joe Willock, who is on loan from Arsenal. (Metro)

Manchester United lead the chase for 18-year-old Metz and Senegal midfielder Pape Sarr, but other top European clubs are interested. (Sun on Sunday)

Norwich's 24-year-old Argentine playmaker Emiliano Buendia, who was linked with Arsenal, says he had the chance to leave the Canaries in January but opted to stay and help the Carrow Road club return to the Premier League. (Metro)









Guardian

Joe Willock heads in Newcastle winner to foil 10-man West Ham’s fightback

Louise Taylor at St James' Park

This month Allan Saint-Maximin donated more than 60 care packages filled with luxury French chocolates and high street shopping vouchers to NHS staff on Tyneside.

Starting a match for the first time since February on Saturday, the former Nice winger seemed laden with on-pitch gifts for teammates, creating counterattacking chances virtually every time he dribbled at West Ham’s increasingly panic-stricken defence.

Indeed Saint-Maximin did more than anyone wearing black and white stripes to dent David Moyes’s hopes of leading the east London side into the Champions League next season while also helping Newcastle open up a nine-point advantage over their most feared relegation rivals, Fulham.

While Steve Bruce’s team survived a highly self-destructive second half spell to rise to 15th, and 35 points, West Ham remain fourth.

Ironically Moyes’s side only started convincing after their reduction to 10 men following Craig Dawson’s 37th-minute dismissal. Their manager will now be acutely conscious that with Chelsea and Liverpool, and to a slightly lesser extent, Tottenham and Everton, breathing down his team’s neck, this is not the time to tread water.

Afterwards Moyes looked very much like a man who fears a long planned grand tour of Europe is about to be replaced by a rainy staycation. “It was a chance lost today,” he admitted. “The most disappointing thing is to have got back to 2-2 from 2-0 down and thrown it away again.

“My players know they’ve made mistakes but this was tough. Newcastle have just found some form and hope but we gave them a real lift by the way we gifted them the first two goals.”

Appropriately, Saint-Maximin conjured the opener. When Dawson felled Joelinton on the halfway line, the referee, Kevin Friend, played an excellent advantage, allowing the Frenchman to pounce on the loose ball and accelerate into the area before unleashing a low shot. Although Lukasz Fabianski stretched a hand towards it, Issa Diop was in the way and the ball rebounded off the defender’s leg before crossing the line.

As Newcastle celebrated, Dawson, already on a yellow card, was sent off and it was not long before his side conceded again. This time Fabianski fumbled what should have been a routine save from a corner and Joelinton swivelled sharply before tapping home from point-blank range.

Although Moyes’s side enjoyed a decent amount of first-half possession they had done precious little with it as Bruce’s defence delighted in negating the danger from the visiting set-piece routines before Saint-Maximin, Miguel Almirón and friends broke with alacrity and incision.

Even before Dawson’s sending off it was difficult to dispute Jonjo Shelvey’s pre-match assertion that Newcastle’s squad was “just as good as West Ham’s”. Indeed judging by the way Moyes’s players failed to capitalise on the handful of occasions when Shelvey’s lost concentration and passed to opponents, the home midfielder had arguably been a bit generous.

Down to 10 men though, West Ham improved significantly during a second half in which Newcastle were worryingly slapdash and dropped far too deep.

Given this collective loss of focus it was no real surprise when an unmarked Diop was able to connect with a cross, direct a downward header into the ground and watch its bounce deceive Martin Dubravka en route to the net.

If neither Federico Fernández nor Dubravka will relish viewing replays, Newcastle’s goalkeeper was powerless to stop West Ham’s equaliser. When Ciaran Clark diverted a long throw with his forearm, a VAR check confirmed handball and the previously strangely subdued Jesse Lingard gleefully whipped an unstoppable penalty beyond the Slovakian.

Belatedly, Bruce’s players woke up. Jacob Murphy’s goalbound effort was blocked by Ben Johnson and then, seconds after stepping off the home bench, the Arsenal loanee turned Newcastle super-sub Joe Willock sent a superb header crashing beyond Fabianski after stealing in front of Johnson and meeting Matt Ritchie’s stellar cross.

As Moyes’s European horizons contracted, relief was writ large across Bruce’s face. “This job should come with a government health warning,” he said. “But I always said we’d be OK when Allan [Saint-Maximin] returned from injury.”






Telegraph

Joe Willock Newcastle's hero with West Ham involved in another five-goal thriller

By Luke Edwards,

Newcastle threw away a two-goal lead in abject fashion against 10 men but still managed to beat West Ham thanks to Joe Willock’s brilliant header.

If West Ham fail to qualify for the Champions League at the end of an otherwise sensational season, this is the game that will haunt them.

They were outplayed in the first half, magnificent with 10 men in the second, but, having equalised with 10 minutes to play, were steamrollered by Newcastle in the closing stages.

When the emotions that accompanied the drama had settled, this was a crucial and impressive win for Newcastle. They have had a poor season overall, but have found form under intense pressure at the business end of the campaign. With fans adamant Steve Bruce should be sacked, the club held their nerve, mindful of the fact they have been relegated twice having replaced the manager at a similar stage of the season. With the benefit of hindsight, it looks the correct one.

Newcastle have lost just one game in seven and back-to-back wins have lifted them well clear of the relegation zone.

“I thought the boys played well but sat too deep in the second half,” said Willock. “My first touch was rusty, but my second was a goal and I’ve been working on my heading.

“We are getting involved more in games, we are creating more opportunities and if we continue to do that we will be safe. Everyone is buying into what the manager is trying to do and we are pushing each other. Collectively we have grown during the hard times.”

Newcastle were superb in the first half but dismal in the second as they tossed away a two-goal lead.

When the visitors pulled a goal back through Issa Diop with 17 minutes remaining it unravelled in agonising fashion as West Ham were awarded a penalty, after a Var check for handball against Ciaran Clark. Jesse Lingard, who had been strangely subdued throughout, thumped in the equaliser before going off with cramp late on.

It was the sort of spectacular implosion that paves so many paths to relegation. Newcastle had stopped doing all the things that troubled West Ham in the first half. They were passive to the point of laziness. They deserved to be punished. But Newcastle burst back into life, pouring forward with manic intensity. Jacob Murphy had a shot cleared off the line and seconds later substitute Willock planted a thumping header in off the crossbar.

It must have been crushing for West Ham. “We are proud of the character we showed with 10 men in the second half,” said manager David Moyes. “We gave away two really soft goals, but there is no frustration, not at all, the opposite. There is no drama after this. The players are doing brilliantly… while the result is not the one we wanted, the players are doing really well and we’re having an excellent season.”

In truth, Moyes’s side were beaten in the first half. West Ham were sloppy far too often. Newcastle were focused, sharp and dangerous. Both Newcastle goals came via mistakes, but the visitors had been constantly rattled by Newcastle’s counter-attacks and tortured by Allan Saint-Maximin.

Craig Dawson, having been booked for cynically scything down Joelinton, after a poor pass on the halfway line by Jarrod Bowen had left the centre-back dangerously isolated, was sent off after his poor touch and subsequent lunge had clattered into the Brazilian.

The fact that Newcastle went on to score, an excellent advantage by referee Kevin Friend, made it even worse. Saint-Maximin’s clipped shot was beating Lukasz Fabianski but covered by Diop, only for the defender to get into a tangle and put the ball into his own net.

West Ham were two down before the break after a howler from Fabianski, who dropped a cross, allowing Joelinton to hook the ball in from close range.

Newcastle fully deserved their lead. Saint-Maximin’s emergence from the bench had turned the game against Burnley in their favour the previous weekend, with the Frenchman creating their first goal and scoring the second. He was electric again here before tiring in the second half, which facilitated West Ham’s unlikely and ultimately failed comeback.

Some facts

Newcastle became the eighth side to hit the 800-goal milestone at home in the Premier League (801 goals).
West Ham lost for the first time in their 23 Premier League encounters with teams in the bottom half of the table since David Moyes returned to the club (W14 D8).
Newcastle enjoyed their fifth Premier League double over West Ham (also 1993-94, 1994-95, 2010-11 and 2017-18), something they’ve only done as many times in the competition against Spurs.
West Ham have scored four own-goals in the Premier League this season, more than any other side and the Hammers’ joint-most ever in a single campaign in the competition (also 4 in 2000-01).
West Ham’s Craig Dawson was sent off for the first time ever in his 345th appearance in English league football.




90 MIn

West Ham step up interest in highly-rated teenager Adam Hlozek

Exclusive - West Ham have stepped up their pursuit of highly-rated teenage striker Adam Hlozek, amid significant interest from some of Europe's biggest clubs.


Hlozek in action for the Czech Republic | VLADIMIR SIMICEK/Getty Images

The 18-year-old is fast becoming one of the most sought after young players in Europe, and is an outside bet to feature at this summer's delayed Euro 2020 having already made his full international debut for the Czech Republic.

90min first revealed in January that West Ham were considering a bid for Hlozek, and their interest has further intensified as the club look to strengthen their attacking options ahead of a potential European adventure next season.

One stumbling block is that the Hammers are not alone in their pursuit of Hlozek, with strong interest being shown from a number of continental giants. Bayern Munich and Juventus are admirers, while Borussia Dortmund have also been monitoring Hlozek's situation and consider him a potential long-term replacement for Erling Haaland.

West Ham do have one significant advantage in the race to sign Hlozek, though, as he's a good friend of midfielder Tomas Soucek. The pair share the same agent, while fellow Czech international Vladimir Coufal is also on the books at the London Stadium and is widely regarded as one of the best Premier League signings of the 2020/21 season.

The fact that West Ham are on course to secure European football is understood to be key in Hlozek’s thinking, and a source has told 90min that he regards David Moyes' side as a viable option because he wants to join a club where he will be playing regularly.

That's not likely to be possible at Bayern or Juventus - who could even look to loan Hlozek out rather than letting him sit on the bench - while Dortmund are adamant that they won't allow Haaland, their undisputed first choice striker, to leave this summer despite a raft of interest from Europe's heaviest hitters.

In terms of Sparta's asking price, the current financial issues within football - especially in Europe - have seen Hlozek's valuation drop below €30m, which on the surface still seems like a significant amount of money to pay.

But his growing number of admirers from across Europe point to his high potential, and a possible arrival in east London would align with Moyes' desire to target young, hungry players who have significant time to develop and improve.

whu4eva 4:29 Mon Apr 19
Re: Sunday newspapers (includes West Ham)

Get Adama Traore in and turn him into Antonio Mk II

Him and Lingard turning the cogs and burning pace could be huge

With Kind Regards 1:27 Sun Apr 18
Re: Sunday newspapers (includes West Ham)

ted fenton 1:14 Sun Apr 18

ted fenton 1:14 Sun Apr 18
Re: Sunday newspapers (includes West Ham)

Thanks Alan 1:08 Sun Apr 18

Thanks Alan 1:08 Sun Apr 18
Re: Sunday newspapers (includes West Ham)

Thanks Alan