Spurs lifted by academy trio in Europa League | Arsenal to bid again for Watkins? | Rooney and Keane’s message to Rashford`
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Welcome to Back Pages, bringing you everything you need to know about the biggest sports stories making the headlines in the morning's newspapers. I'm David Garrido and joining me are Jonathan Youth from The Guardian and Riaf Al Samraei from The Daily Mail. Welcome along to you both.

Right, we've got to talk Europa League, haven't we? Because it's been a fantastic night for the British sides involved on the final matchday of the league phase of the competition. Obviously, UEFA expanding the Champions League and UEFA Europa League this season to 36 teams in this big old league table and...

Manchester United, Tottenham and Rangers have all finished in the top eight, which is exactly what you want, isn't it? Let's start off with Tottenham. Now, we know that there have been issues for Ange Postakoglu domestically, but in the end they finished fourth overall.

in the league table this time around, courtesy of a 3-0 win over Elfsborg. Look, it's a match, Riyadh, that they should have won. They should always win against this kind of calibre of opponent. But how significant the goal scorers, Dane Scarlett, 20, Damoda Ajayi, 19, Mikey Moore, 17. That's a shot in the arm for Spurs fans at Ange Postacoglu, isn't it? Look, it's taken me...

three attempts to do the maths so I apologise if I'm still wrong but I made that 56 years old between them so that's obviously very nice thank you look I think I think you kind of you have to kind of contextualise everything with Tottenham and that a win is a win and that obviously counts for the spot for Antrim across

We're talking about opposition that aren't even in their regular season yet. It was a bit of a slog for the first half. Great chances not punching through, but they've managed to get a win. And I think with these kind of scenarios, it always seems to count double if it's an academy player. They seem to have a restorative effect. You know, you can always keep morale up to some extent, even if you're Tottenham and every other type of ventilating.

if you are bringing young players on, it's a symptom of the kind of mess that they're in, that they do need to be relying on so many young players. But look, they finished the game with three of them up front. They've got Bergwijn behind them. You know, it is very uplifting. They do have quite a nasty run of fixtures coming up. So I'd say we're quite a long way from seeing Tottenham out of the woods.

What do you make of tonight, Jonathan? I mean, looking at the times United and Spurs cruise through, we see the picture of Jay celebrating his first Spurs goal. I believe it might have been his debut tonight for Spurs, Jay. And also, well, Mikey Moore, we know that he's been genuinely, generally just included in a few more games, a few more matchday squads.

and that Ange Postakoglu absolutely rates the teenager. But, you know, they have come to Spurs rescue with all of the injuries that they've had. You know, it's been a rocky old time the last few months, and yet they've done the job that they set out to do in this Europa League phase, which is to make that top eight.

and avoid the two-legged playoff next month. I think that was the main thing that Spurs wanted to do. The weird thing, you know, we've all seen Spurs' league form this season and the way it's kind of juddered and gone up and down

In the Europa League, they've really been quite consistent. I mean, they've actually... They've been okay. They've managed to basically keep their heads together. They obviously lost against Galatasaray. They had a man sent off there. They were bad against the Rangers, but managed to scrape a draw. It's basically been an okay campaign for them. And this is...

you know, looking at the league position, their only route into the Champions League next season. So I think this is a competition that Spurs are going to have to take increasingly seriously as the season goes on. And of course, the fact that it's three young players. Yeah, Mikey Moore is a serious player. He's had some injuries this season. I think he probably would have got more opportunities earlier this season, but

but he has been injured. And then, obviously, you have a J.E. and Dave Scarlett. You have Daniel Levy. He was on TV watching from the stands, probably watching and thinking they probably don't need too many new signings. They've got everything they need right there. That said...

Matisse Tell is a man that they want. Spurs fans do want a striker. Do you think that this is still an absolute necessity? They're in talks and they want to bring him in with the fee of around £50m. How do you see the situation at Spurs right now, Riyadh, in terms of what they need to do really short term to ease the situation for Ange Postakoglu versus the future long term looking quite bright as we've seen tonight?

Well, the situation in short is what we've been saying. It's dire. It's been dire for a long time. I think the transfer situation...

has been embarrassing for the club. I think we've all sort of taken note to some extent of this Deloitte Money League audit last week showing 42% of this massive turnover is being spent on wages. It's a mile beneath the proportion that competitive clubs in the league are spending. And so I think if they want to satisfy the fans, that's an area they really need to address. Obviously, transfer fees,

Daniel Levy, to his credit, he has spent money, but they do need to be investing that in wages to attract the top player. Mattel looks like a promising player

promising player. He's not had a tremendous amount of starts at Bayern Munich, but he's got some quite considerable competition there. He's not going to have that at Tottenham. It looks like they've got competition from three or four clubs in the Premier League alone. That's a tough one to get over the line. But if you're a Tottenham fan watching them right now, you

People are screaming, imploring, protesting against Levy, saying that he needs to go out and make a statement. He's obviously got to try and keep a calm head within that. But the middle ground is he can't just keep relying on young players. It can't just be this notional idea that we will constantly be pitching at some undesignated stage in the future. Football doesn't work like that. Football fans, not all of us are terribly reasonable people.

So this unhappiness is going to linger until he makes a statement. And even if they do get tell, you're still looking at a transfer window where you've brought in one senior outfield player and a goalkeeper. As it stands, this has been a...

woeful transfer window for Spurs. How much of a difference would it make, Jonathan, when we look at the back page of the mail, Spurs lead seven club battle for £50m tell. I mean, you know, being able to beat all of those other clubs, the likes of Chelsea, Aston Villa, Manchester United, all interested, Arsenal even as well, you know,

In terms of just easing the malaise amongst the fans, the feeling that this is a club that still has ambition, that can sign players for these kind of fees, a very talented teenager as well. How much of a difference do you think the signing of Mathieu Stel should it happen? How much would it make? So on Stel himself, I think...

He's obviously a huge talent. I mean, I think potential is the word there. This is a player with a huge amount of ceiling. He has goal-scoring potential. He has creative potential.

But there is still so much we don't know about it. He is basically an unknown. I've seen a bit of him playing for Bayern, and that's all anyone has seen of him. He's played, I think, 250 minutes all year. Can he track up and down? Can he do his defensive work for 90 minutes? Nobody really knows. He's barely played 90 minutes. Can he sustain his attacking threat over a whole season? Nobody knows. He barely had a whole season. So some of the fees that have been quoted here for a player that is basically –

A theoretical talent at this stage is quite something, really. It says a lot about where the market is at. And I think for a lot of the other clubs that are in for him, I don't see the immediate logic in buying him unless it's as a trading purchase, where you buy him now and if it doesn't work out, there's still some residual value to him. Spurs are actually the only club where I think he fulfills, he is a solution to a problem they have right now.

i.e. they have no players. They are certainly lacking legs and energy and fresh impetus in the final third. And it's a risk, obviously, because buying any sort of player at that age for this fee is a risk. But I think the position Spurs are in now, it's kind of a risk they need to take. Yeah, especially as you mentioned, the fixtures really coming up thick and fast.

The next three are all away from home, by the way. Brentford in the Premier League, Liverpool in that Carabao Cup semi-final second leg, and Aston Villa in the FA Cup as well, before they play Manchester United at home. Manchester United, who also make that top eight, Riyadh, after a 2-0 win away at FCSB, Formula 1 Stade Bucharest in Romania. And for Manchester United, I mean, you know, again, I suppose similarly to Spurs and what Jonathan was saying,

Remarkably consistent, five wins on the spin taking them to third in the table including this performance here where two goals in the space of eight minutes did the job for Ruben Amorim.

With Manchester United, we do like to get overly excited or overly furious about changes in the wind and direction. They're on three wins in a row now. It's looking nice. I think that first half was pretty turgid. Turns around after the break, I think as a kind of theme for the game, we seem to be having this

ongoing conversation about Amarim's 3-4-3 and can players be suited to that style I think sometimes we kind of overlook the possibility that players can also adapt and learn I think looking at it particularly second half when Garnaccio came on he was very good there behind Zulpoilin and Mainu was the best player on the pitch for Maimonian and

It's been a bit of an unusual one for him. He's not been given games really in that kind of attacking midfield sort of position. He's got golden assists tonight. Possibly could have had a couple of others as well. I thought he played very well. I'd like to see him get another chance there. But again, it's the issue of who's up front for United. What are they going to do about that? Because I still...

When I look at Hoyland, I've yet to be convinced from the days he's arrived until now that he is a quote-unquote Manchester United striker, whatever that's supposed to mean, in 2025. When you look, Jonathan, at United's form, just going to your paper, The Guardian, United East, the top eight Europa finish, and the picture there of Alejandro Garnaccio and Kobi Meynou, who were the players who combined for the second goal.

They suffered four defeats in a row, Manchester United. And then after that, that 2-2 draw at Anfield, and then the win on penalties in the FA Cup at Arsenal, then three more wins out of four. And the one slip-up was that home defeat against Brighton, where Ruben Amin really called out the team. Does this now feel, especially with three wins on the bounce, does it now feel like this is consistency? Or are the results saying that, but the performance is not really saying that?

No, I don't think it is. I don't think it's probably too soon to say that because, you know, you just reeled off the list of results. If you take it, you know, as if you zoom out a little bit, this is still an inconsistent team. You know, they're liable to win a few in a row. They're liable to lose a few in a row. We know this. We actually, we all know this about United. This is not...

It's not been a new fact about United for quite some time. So I think this is one of those junctures where everyone gets a little bit excited. Everyone thinks, OK, it's all clicking, it's all working. And then they have another couple of defeats and suddenly they lurch into crisis again. And so, you know, the narrative takes another swing. I think we just need to be a little bit... I know this is the word that's been bandied around. We need to be a little bit patient with this team because we all know that they're not very good. They haven't been very good for a long time. The league table doesn't lie anymore.

The recent history of the club doesn't lie. We have a manager trying to impose a new system. I think

you know, a lot of United fans out there are going to be tearing their hair out and thinking, you know, these, you know, why can't we, why can't we sign someone? Why can't we, you know, see, see more progress quicker. Um, and then I think there are going to be others that are going to be urging a little bit of patience. Uh, we, we saw some, some really good things for them tonight. I mean, I would just, I just want to pick out Kobi Mainu because obviously everyone's going to be raving about Kobi Mainu tonight. He's still 19 years old. He played really well in the number 10 tonight. Uh,

At his age, Paul Scolston still hadn't made his debut for United. He still hadn't played a senior game for them. If you think about all the judgment that has gone into Mainu's career already, all the different positions he's been played in, all the opinions that have been shared on him, people have been rewriting him, people are anointing him as the next saviour, whatever. At the same age, Scolston had never played a game. I just want to see a lot of these players...

find their game and make their way into this sport and just settle and find themselves a little bit. Right, let's talk about the ongoing travails of Marcus Rashford at Manchester United. It is the gifts that keeps on giving. Obviously not been in the matchday squad for Manchester United for quite some time. Let's have a look at the back page of the Mirror.

The message is pretty clear there, isn't it? You have to go. Roo, first teammate exile is embarrassing. I've told Marcus he must leave.

Given that this is coming from a former United teammate in Wayne Rooney, does it add much more gravitas that it comes from someone who knows the situation that this player is in? He knows the club he's currently playing at to kind of convince the powers that be to make his exit happen before February the 3rd?

I don't think there's any kind of lack of trying necessarily on United's side. I think the problem now is the problem they've had for weeks ever since he gave the

interview to Henry Winter and quite possibly even before then who's going to take him who can afford to who can afford to subsidize a minimum of half of wages that come to upwards of 320 grand a week I think you know yes of course there's gravitas to it it's it's it's Wayne Rooney talking but with Marcus Rashford I just keep thinking of that

sort of Simpson's thing with Milhouse, stop hitting him, he's already dead. I mean, we keep going over this day in, day out, and Rashford's situation clearly isn't getting better. You know, he's not in the squad, he's behind the goalkeeping coach in the pecking order. We all know that he's finished at United, I think.

Obviously, a lot of the talk recently has been about Barcelona, their skin. I can't see how that move materialises. Someone's going to have to make a sacrifice on the money side. Rashford might have to modify his own expectations because there isn't the frenzy for him that he perhaps needs.

assume there would be and that of itself is quite strange given how many clubs are in the market for an attacking player in this window but no it's groundhog day for him and you know I hope for his sake he gets a move before the end of the window because really he's you know the prospect of him just rotting between now and the end of the season is really quite unsatisfactory

Jonathan, that page of the Sun has the, again, very stark headline, not you have to go, but you should be ashamed. And this has come not just from Wayne Rooney, but Roy Keane as well, who also knows Manchester United incredibly well, said that he must be ashamed. I still can't understand it at any level.

What do you think the end game is for this one, Jonathan? Because we're running out of time now. And as Riyad rightly says, you know, it's not like United haven't tried to kind of find exit options for him. So what do you think is the likely outcome? Well, I think if there was a firm bid, if there was genuine interest, if there was like a real, you know, substantial lead with a few days to go left in the transfer window, I think we'd probably...

know about it by now. So I think we have to assume that United and Rashford, by extension, are still kind of fishing around for a buyer for him or certainly someone to take him off their hands. And as it stands, the likeliest scenario is probably that he does end up staying until the summer. And then at some point, Amarim has to try and repair his relationship with

with a player that he has disparaged repeatedly since he joined. And Rashford is going to have to knuckle down and get through whatever issues off the pitch that he has been going through. And clearly, you know, basically everyone says it. He's not been himself. He's not been himself for a while. And, you know, it's been quite a turbulent period

18 months for him, I think. Ever since the club awarded him that big new contract in the summer of 2023, it's just not gone well for him. Everyone can see that. I think getting out of the club is probably the best thing for him, but it's just making that happen. And I don't see the avenue for him to get out of Manchester United right now in this January window, which makes it all the more ridiculous in a way that United have basically been tanking his value for the last few weeks.

Let's move on to Telegraph. Riyadh, this one to you. Arsenal, obviously very interested in Ollie Watkins, but Aston Villa are selling John Duran to the Saudi Pro League. So,

Arsenal need to double Watkins' bid to tempt Villa. Will they even be tempted by that? So maybe around the £80m mark, maybe in excess of that. And that leaves them with no recognised senior strikers in that role. What do you think? Is there any chance that they would be tempted if Arsenal do go that far?

No, it seems absolutely inconceivable that they would lose Duran and Watkins in the same window. I just, I can't see that happening. But every factor in this sort of three-way tale is madness. The idea that Ollie Watkins at 29 years old

would be valued in excess of 80 million I find quite peculiar I think he's a really good striker I've not seen a sustained pattern of prolific scoring that would make me say yes this guy is worth that much outlay at that age in a PSR era then you've got Duran going to Saudi Arabia at the age of 21 years old there are many

avenues of madness in this entire tale. None of it makes a tremendous amount of sense to me, I'm afraid. We've just got a couple of minutes left to talk cricket. And in the back of the Times, Mumbai by £60 million oval stake. So this is the 100 franchises as the Mumbaian is owned by the Ambani family, the richest family in India, who've bought 49% share of Surrey's franchise, which is the Oval Invincibles.

And also we've had the Birmingham franchise sold for 49% of the state, sold for 40 million. Jonathan, could you give us briefly, if you can, what the significance of these few days has been in terms of the ever sort of shifting landscape of cricket at the moment, and particularly in this country with the 100?

Yeah. So obviously this sale is going on. The first two franchises sold today. I think the, the, the auction it's a, it's a kind of a secret auction continues into next week for the 800 franchises. I think the ECB are hoping to raise about half a billion pounds for this, which they say is going to be plowed back into the game. Um,

For me, I appreciate that lots of different people are going to have lots of different views on this. For me, this is basically the sale of English cricket. It is the sale of the soul of the English county game, the fabric upon which the appeal of the English game has been based for a long time. And it's being sold with no right of reply, with no response, with no comeback whatsoever.

These are assets that are gone forever. And we remember the birth of the hundred and the massive chunk that was taken out of the domestic summer in order to make it work, the sacrifices that were made. So, yeah, it's a massive windfall for English cricket. I think people will celebrate it. People will revel in the big sums that are being banded around. But that sum will be spent. It'll disappear into a million little sinkholes. And then English cricket will find itself right back at the start

with all that money spent in need of cash and with nothing left to sell. We've got about 30 seconds, Riyadh. Is English cricket selling its soul with this? I think it knows a lot more about this topic than I do. I think it comes down to the imperative for survival and how bleak the situation is at the moment, whether or not that necessitated this cash out that they've done. But I would agree with the premise. It does feel like it's passed through a little bit too easily.