the times | Wednesday May 25 2022 2GM 63
Sport
continuum we work on.” Among the
tools Snape uses to help athletes to
overcome failure is looking far
beyond sport. “We talk about
investing in other identities;
about being a father or
husband, brother or
son, team-mate or
mentor. Being a
footballer is just one
of those.”
To see Karius’s
Instagram page is
to be unclear
whether he is a
goalkeeper or fashion
model. He did try to
resume his career with a
two-year loan at Besiktas
from August 2018 but a couple of
errors in the Europa League drew
unwanted attention. The loan was cut
short following a pay dispute and
Karius joined Union Berlin but played
only four Bundesliga games.
With a year left on his contract he
returned to Merseyside but, while
there was interest last summer,
Liverpool were unwilling to subsidise
his wages to help him play elsewhere.
All season Karius, who turns 29 next
month, has turned up for
training knowing he is at
the bottom of a list
topped by the
exceptional Alisson,
who joined
Liverpool for
£66.8 million from
Roma soon after
the Kyiv final and
represents the most
significant upgrade
from the 2018 contest.
John Achterberg, the
goalkeeping coach, has
kept Karius involved but one
source described the German as
“like an island” — even more alone
than usual for a goalkeeper — as he
has seen out the final weeks of a
Liverpool career which effectively
ended four years ago. As Klopp’s men
seek revenge against Real, Karius will
have to pursue his redemption
elsewhere.alk about
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John
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source described
“like an island” evSIMON STACPOOLE/OFFSIDE/GETTY IMAGESKarius saw Benzema intercept his throw in the 2018 Champions League final,
leading to the first goal, above, then let Bale’s shot slip through his grasp, below
Tottenham Hotspur have made a re-
sounding statement that they will back
Antonio Conte, their head coach, in the
transfer market after £150 million was
injected into the club by its majority
shareholder, ENIC Sports.
Conte has threatened to walk out this
summer unless the club match his
ambitions. The Italian feels that he is in
a stronger position to get what he wants
after securing Champions League foot-
ball next season. He has been
concerned by Tottenham’s long-term
strategy and philosophy and will speak
to the club in the next week.
Tottenham said that the £150 million
in funding will be used to invest on and
off the field and could be taken in tran-
ches until the end of the year. Whether
that is enough to pay for Conte’s target
list is debatable.
In the short term Tottenham are
committed to turning loans for Dejan
Kulusevski and Cristian Romero into
permanent deals at a combined cost of
£67.5 million. Conte wants at least six
signings this summer to help the side to
challenge for silverware next season,
which might cost more than £150 mil-
lion in combined outlay.
His main targets include Alessandro
Bastoni, a left-sided centre back who
has been valued at £54 million by Inter
Milan. Bastoni, 23, has credited Conte
with shaping his career and helpingErling Haaland has touched down
in England to begin his spell as a
Manchester City player.
City announced two weeks ago that
they had “reached an agreement in
principle” to sign the forward from
Borussia Dortmund after they trig-
gered his £51 million release clause.
Haaland landed in Manchester
shortly after 3.30pm yesterday. He
travelled from Barcelona, where he was
examined by Ramon Cugat, the world-
renowned doctor who is often trusted
with the care of City players. Cugat has
worked closely with Pep Guardiola
since the City manager’s playing days.
Guardiola wanted Cugat to check on
Haaland’s fitness because the 21-year-
old Norway striker had suffered a groin
injury and a hip flexor problem in the
second half of the season. Haaland
missed eight of Dortmund’s final
20 games of the campaign.
Haaland has agreed a five-year
contract worth about £400,000 a week,
which makes him one of the club’s top
earners. He scored 86 goals in 87
matches for Dortmund after joining
from RB Salzburg for £17.1 million inLongstaff set to sign
new deal at Newcastle
Sean Longstaff is set to sign a new
contract at Newcastle United that
will keep him at the club until
2026 (Martin Hardy writes).
Longstaff’s present deal expires
this summer after talks broke
down 22 months ago, when Steve
Bruce was the head coach. Eddie
Howe, however, has been eager to
keep the midfielder and
negotiations over a new, long-term
deal have been taking place.
Longstaff, 24, was a starter in
four of Newcastle’s final five games
of the season as they finished 11th.Johnstone a free agent
after leaving West Brom
The England goalkeeper Sam
Johnstone has been released by
West Bromwich Albion after his
contract expired, leaving him able
to join a new club as a free agent.
Johnstone, 29, is a former
Manchester United academy
graduate and was linked with a
return to the club last year.
He spent four years at West
Brom, where he made 167
appearances, and is one of three
senior players leaving the club
along with the midfielder Romaine
Sawyers and striker Andy Carroll.Haaland arrives in Manchester
after seeing Spanish specialist
January 2020. He will hope to continue
that prolific form under Guardiola, who
was described yesterday as an “inspira-
tion” by Erik ten Hag, the new manager
of Manchester United.
Ten Hag became Bayern Munich’s
reserve team manager in 2013 when
Guardiola was in charge of the first
team and spent two years at the Ger-
man club. “I look forward [to facing
him] and I admire him for the way he
wants to play,” Ten Hag, 52, said. “He
has inspired me by the way he wins ti-
tles. But I look forward to battling him.”
United finished the season with 58
points, their lowest tally in Premier
League history. They ended the cam-
paign in sixth, 35 points behind City,
who have won four of the past five
Premier League titles.
Ten Hag, who is renowned for his
analytical eye and work ethic, is ready
to be ruthless in order to bring the good
times back to Old Trafford.
“I’m happy that I am here and I will
give my best and I hope and I expect
that I can make them proud again, that
we restore Man United [to] where they
belong,” he said. “I will give my best
and I will take the decisions necessary
to get there.”Pol Ballús, Paul HirstConte gets his way as Spurs
promise £150m investment
Gary Jacob him become an Italy international.
Conte also wants two wing backs, a
central midfielder and a forward who
can play across the line.
As creative options Tottenham have
been monitoring Christian Eriksen,
their former attacking midfielder
whose short-term contract at Brent-
ford will expire next month, and Youri
Tielemans, the Leicester City midfield-
er. Fraser Forster, the goalkeeper, will
undergo a medical to complete a free
transfer from Southampton.Conte is on holiday in Italy where he
is expected to meet Fabio Paratici, the
club’s managing director, at the end of
the week. Although Tottenham believe
the promise of being able to strengthen
the squad will persuade Conte to stay,
he has carried through with threats to
leave in the past. He guided Inter Milan
to the title last season before he left by
mutual consent when they had to sell
players and cut costs.
He steered Juventus to a third con-
secutive title in 2014 before his contract
was terminated by mutual consent a
day after the start of pre-season train-Conte has asked
the club to match
his ambitionsing; he had hinted he could quit if they
failed to invest in players.
Tottenham returned to the
Champions League for the first time in
three seasons after a 5-0 win away to
Norwich City last Sunday ensured they
finished in fourth place, two
points ahead of rivals Arsenal. But they
will face competition for signings
from the other top five clubs, as well as
Newcastle United.
Tottenham will not pay interest on
the capital pledged by ENIC Sports,
which is owned by the billionaire Joe
Lewis and Daniel Levy, the chairman,
having hinted they need the money
quickly and it was faster to raise it from
ENIC than try to borrow money from a
bank. “Additional capital from ENIC
will enable further investment in the
club at an important time,” Levy said.
A Tottenham statement read: “The
club’s independent directors have bene-
fited from its majority shareholder’s
ability to invest swiftly and without the
extensive due diligence and documen-
tation involved in third-party funding.”
Tottenham will play Sevilla in Suwon
in the second match of their tour of
South Korea on July 16. They will kick
off the tour against a K-League all-star
team in Seoul on July 13.inside today
‘I swear I’ll kill it.’ West Ham’s Kurt
Zouma pleads guilty to kicking cat
News, page 15Klopp picks up manager of year award
Jürgen Klopp claimed that his Liver-
pool side were “already over” their
narrow defeat by Manchester City in
the title race as he collected the League
Managers’ Association Premier League
manager of the year award for a second
time last night.
The German, 54, who was joined by
his coaching team in London, spoke of
an “insane season” in which Liverpool
won the Carabao Cup and FA Cup,
beating Chelsea in penalty shoot-outs
on each occasion, only to be pipped to
the league title by a point. Liverpool willfinish their season with the Champions
League final against Real Madrid in
Paris on Saturday.
Klopp, who first won the award in
2020, said: “It is a great honour and it
was an insane season. It was not the
best outcome for us, but we are already
over it. I am here with all of my coach-
ing staff and they know how much I
appreciate them.”
Emma Hayes won the Women’s
Super League manager of the year
award after guiding Chelsea to a league
Klopp has now won the award twice and cup double.