Mauricio Pochettino has guaranteed he will still be Tottenham Hotspur manager at the start of next season and insists there is no buy-out clause in his contract. Spurs have already secured a second-placed finish in the Premier League and sealed Champions League football for another year. Mauricio Pochettino says Tottenham win was perfect send-off Read more Pochettino has faced questions about his own future in recent weeks, amid interest from Barcelona and Internazionale, with some reports in Italy suggesting his contract includes a buy-out clause. The Argentinian, however, dismissed speculation he could leave Tottenham this summer. “No, no buy-out clause in my contract. I will stay here next season,” Pochettino said. “There are many rumours but I am committed to the club and have no reason to leave the club. I will stay here, don’t worry. On 3 July, for pre-season, I will be here, don’t worry.” Tottenham announced on Wednesday that Erik Lamela had undergone surgery on his right hip after having an operation on his left hip at the start of April. Lamela, who has not played since 25 October, is expected back for the start of next season and the club say the latest procedure will not affect his recovery time. “The Argentina international recently had an operation on his left hip and the latest surgery will not affect the overall recovery period,” read a statement on the club’s official website. Spurs are facing a shortage of full-backs when they visit Leicester on Thursday night after the club announced that Danny Rose underwent knee surgery on Tuesday and will miss the rest of the campaign. Kieran Trippier sustained concussion against Manchester United last weekend and is unavailable, while Kyle Walker has a minor ankle injury and will also miss out. Rose has been out since the end of January. Pochettino said: “I sent him a text yesterday [Tuesday] after the surgery and we exchanged some texts. Now it is a moment to give time to recover after yesterday and I will be here on Friday to check how he is. He will have all our supportAdvertisement Players and fans alike had been whipped into a feelgood frenzy by the World Cup and Lahm returned to what would become a decade of near omnipresence in the
http://www.authenticcoloradoavalanche.com/authentic-erik-johnson-jersey Bayern team. Although Bayern finished an almost unimaginable fourth in the Bundesliga in the 2006-07 season, they have gone on to dominate, winning the title in seven of the last 10 years. In Europe, however, success has not always been forthcoming. Lahm only tasted the glory of winning the Champions League after he had lost two finals: against José Mourinho’s impenetrable Inter side in 2010 and then the infinitely more bitter defeat against Chelsea in the ill-fated “finale dahoam” in Munich two years later. Lahm and Bayern bounced back from those heartaches in spectacular fashion. Now the captain of both club and country, he shouldered more responsibility and also developed as a player. By the start of the 2012-13 season, which would be his most decorated, he had clocked up just as many appearances on the right side of defence. Lahm had entered the second phase of his career as a roving right-back, almost a deep-lying right-sided playmaker, charged with more than simply overlapping and whipping in crosses. The Recap: sign up for the best of the Guardian's sport coverage Read more He was an ideal foil for Arjen Robben, with whom he formed a deadly duo on that flank. Robben’s
Adidas Francois Beauchemin Jersey now infamous left-foot inswingers win games and grab headlines, but more often than not Lahm’s pass or movement off the ball enabled the Dutchman to gain the extra half-yard required to make the incisive move infield. Lahm also chipped in with 11 assists in the 2012-13 season, becoming the first defender in the league’s history to hit double figures. His relationship with Robben was just one component in a season when everything came together and culminated in Beryn winning a glorious, record-breaking treble under Jupp Heynckes. Both Heynckes and Lahm had the good fortune of being part of a very special group, with players such as Bastian Schweinsteiger, Franck Ribéry, Thomas Müller, Jér?me Boateng, Manuel Neuer and Toni Kroos hitting top form alongside emerging talents such as David Alaba and Xherdan Shaqiri. Lahm played the entire treble-winning season at right-back, but things were about to change. Fresh from a year-long sabbatical, Pep Guardiola arrived in Munich in 2013 with big ideas and even bigger expectations. He walked into a dressing room of Champions League-winners with the aim of changing things for the better. The degree to which Guardiola was a success is a popular debate, but one specific tactical tweak certainly bore fruit. Bayern’s clash with Chelsea in the Uefa Super Cup early in his first season pitted him against Mourinho. Half an hour into the
http://www.authenticfloridapanthers.com/authentic-jakub-kindl-jersey game, Bayern were losing 1-0 and being suffocated by Chelsea. Guardiola was looking for a way out. Advertisement In his book Pep Confidential, Martí Perarnau reports that it was Guardiola’s assistant, Domenec Torrent, who suggested moving Lahm from right-back into a defensive midfield role, mid-game, to wrestle back control of the ball. This was not the first time Lahm had played in midfield. In an uninspiring friendly against England in 2007, Lahm had appeared as a No6 in a starting XI bereft of many of the previous summer’s heroes. Guardiola had seen enough of Lahm in training to know he was wasted as a full-back and could be more than a destroyer in midfield. In Lahm, Guardiola saw someone capable of anticipating passes, protecting the ball and instigating attacks. The game turned in Bayern’s favour and Guardiola suddenly had a new crux of his team, a new pivot. Guardiola has since called Lahm the most intelligent player he has coached. His latest metamorphosis was another blurring of the lines between defence and midfield. It made him the perfect player to adopt Guardiola’s intricate tactical plans, allowing other players such as David Alaba, Xabi Alonso and Rafinha to rotate and float between positions. Lahm is a master of receiving the ball and taking it forward in the same movement, his body often deliberately leaning forward. He glides over the field, not just shuttling up and down the right flank, but also drifting deliberately infield, penetrating crowded midfields from a deep right position. And, as his responsibilities were increasingly found in the centre of the pitch, he often took on the role of problem-solver
Adidas James Reimer Youth Jersey and pacesetter. Lahm’s ability to adopt ideas of what an inverted full-back should be may even have given Guardiola problems in his first season in Manchester; as good and experienced as Pablo Zabaleta, Bacary Sagna and Ga?l Clichy may be, they are not Lahm
