New Larne recruit on why he's ready to impress after his long road to the top flight
The 22-year-old attacking midfielder joined the Invermen in January along with his H&W Welders team-mate Tiarnan O'Connor and while the striker linked up with the European history makers, Kee remained at the Blanchflower Stadium on loan until the campaign ended.
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Metro
35 minutes ago
- Metro
PSG urged to sign £65m Arsenal star and Liverpool transfer flop
PSG have been told to raid Arsenal and Liverpool to strengthen a squad that just lifted the Champions League trophy. Paris Saint-German enjoyed a spectacular season under Luis Enrique, finally succeeding in their quest to become European champions while continuing to dominate in Ligue 1. Given PSG's young and incredibly dynamic squad, areas of improvement are not obvious but Marcel Desailly has named two players he would 'like' to see arrive at the Parc des Princes this summer. Football icon Desailly somewhat surprisingly believes Arsenal forward Kai Havertz should be PSG's No. 1 transfer target, citing his versatility as the main reason he would be of use to Enrique. Signed from Chelsea for £65m in 2023, Havertz has endured a mixed spell at the Emirates Stadium but was badly missed last season as Mikel Arteta had to deal with an injury crisis. Wake up to find news on your club in your inbox every morning with Metro's Football Newsletter. Sign up to our newsletter and then select your team in the link we'll send you so we can get football news tailored to you. Havertz's status as Arsenal's first-choice striker looks set to end this summer as Arteta targets a new No. 9 with Benjamin Sesko and Viktor Gyokeres heavily linked with moves to north London. Desailly believes Havertz would be the 'best transfer option' for PSG and has also urged the Champions League holders to rescue Darwin Nunez from Liverpool. The Uruguayan is expected to move on this summer following a largely underwhelming spell at Anfield and Desailly reckons he can revive his career in Paris. Like Arsenal, Liverpool are also interested in signing a new striker to strengthen Arne Slot's Premier League champions and are open to offers for Nunez. 'There are two players I'd like to see at PSG and one is Kai Havertz from Arsenal,' France World Cup winner Desailly told Oddspedia. 'Havertz is the best option because he can play as a midfielder but also as a point of reference up front as a striker. 'For me Havertz would be the best signing for PSG and the other is Darwin Nunez from Liverpool. 'Nunez is a point of reference and has great movement, he has been unlucky in front of goal but I think he'd do well in a back-up role for PSG. 'Those are the two players I'd like to see join PSG this summer.' While PSG look to strengthen Enrique's squad, a number of players have been linked with moves away from the French capital. More Trending Manchester United have reportedly been offered the chance to sign Portugal striker Goncalo Ramos while Gianluigi Donnarumma has also emerged as a target for the Red Devils. PSG beat United to the signing of Ramos two years ago but the 23-year-old has struggled for starts since arriving from Benfica. Donnarumma, meanwhile, has entered the final 12 months of his contract with Paris Saint-Germain and is believed to be interested in a move to the Premier League. The 26-year-old Italian reminded fans why he is rated as one of the best goalkeepers in the world during PSG's brilliant Champions League run. For more stories like this, check our sport page. Follow Metro Sport for the latest news on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. MORE: Frustrated Liverpool star fires warning to Arne Slot over his future MORE: Viktor Gyokeres headache for Man Utd, Liverpool and Arsenal as new rivals enter race MORE: Iconic Premier League referee Uriah Rennie dies aged 65
Scotsman
2 hours ago
- Scotsman
Scotland seek answers in Liechtenstein: Steve Clarke's changes, 'shouldn't be panic' and chance-taker
In last match before World Cup qualifiers, Clarke and co require a response Sign up to our Football newsletter Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... The tranquil setting of Vaduz on the banks of the Rhine should not be a place where further pressure is put on a football manager. Flanked by mountains, visitors usually return refreshed and happy. The small nation of Liechtenstein is currently ranked 202 in the FIFA World rankings. Only Hong Kong have suffered defeat to them in the past five years. Their 'golden' era of most-capped keeper Peter Jehle and star striker Mario Frick are long gone. Konrad Fünfstück's are usually deemed as easy prey for opponents of any meaningful repute. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Scotland fall into that category as they arrive at the Rheinpark Stadion on the Swiss border. This is down as an away win, with odds of 1/12 from most bookmakers. San Marino scored three times when they rocked up here in November. It was an evening of anguish for Scotland against Iceland last time out. | SNS Group History with Liechtenstein won't ease any queasiness, mind you. On Scotland's only previous sojourn to Vaduz in 2011, they narrowly prevailed 1-0 thanks to a goal from Craig Mackail-Smith. That came a year on from an almost catastrophic first meeting with Liechtenstein, when Stephen McManus' 97th-minute header earned a 2-1 win at Hampden. The last match of a long season, many in the Scotland squad are entitled to feel jaded. There have been title wins, cup successes and long European runs. This probably isn't their idea of an Alpine retreat. Nevertheless, Scotland need to tool up for one final job ahead of the holidays. A meek 3-1 defeat by Iceland on Friday night and the lacklustre nature of the performance requires a response. This is the last time head coach Steve Clarke will have his squad together before the World Cup qualification campaign kicks off in September against Denmark. The Parken Stadion will be a world away from the docile 7,584 arena they play in on Monday evening. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Scotland 'need to win their next game' Scotland will want to bounce into the autumn matches, of that there is no doubt. Their recent record in friendlies is poor and Clarke wanted to address that in this double-header. Iceland has come and gone, now it's about doing a number on Liechtenstein. "We need to win our next game on Monday night," was the blunt assessment of midfielder Lewis Ferguson after Iceland. "We need to go and put on a good performance and win the game. Winning games is what breeds confidence. We need to get back to that." Clarke himself admits he is not the most adventurous when it comes to mixing it up with team selection. The manager may have been wrestling with whether to give his main men a chance to atone for Friday and get a much-needed triumph under their belt in Scotland colours, or blood some of the uncapped players in his current group. As it is, injury and fatigue may play a part, with Clarke accepting he may make more alterations than usual. The likes of Josh Doig, Andy Irving and Kieron Bowie will be desperate for game-time and their international debuts. A maiden appearance may come between the sticks after Cieran Slicker was unceremoniously thrown in at the deep end for his first senior appearance for club or country against Iceland after Angus Gunn's second-minute injury and was at fault for all three goals. Celtic-bound keeper Ross Doohan has been summoned from his holidays to join the squad. Doohan has made 20 appearances for Aberdeen this season and seems likely to make his debut, having been solid at Pittodrie all season. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad One may ask why he wasn't in the squad ahead of others. One may also ask why Clarke reverted back to a back-three against Iceland when the back-four had been a reasonable success in the Nations League A campaign against more glamourous opposition. Kieran Tierney's injury may force a formation change. Scott McTominay, the poster boy after Serie A success with Napoli, will also be absent due to a niggle. That means Clarke doesn't need to find the best way to shoe-horn all of his top-level midfielders into one team. It is hard to get Ferguson, John McGinn, Billy Gilmour and McTominay effectively on the pitch at the same time. Craig Mackail-Smith scores the winner against Liechtenstein for Scotland back in 2011. | SNS Group 0141 221 3602 And then there are the strikers. Che Adams has not scored for Scotland in a year, and the Torino hitman must sense an opportunity against Liechtenstein. They are rarely scudded, but Adams will surely get chances if selected ahead of George Hirst as Clarke's No 9. He needs to take them. Within the squad, there is awareness of the talent at Scotland's disposal. "There shouldn't be any panic," Ferguson advised. "We've good strong squad, with plenty of quality and experience. But we do recognise that we need to get back to winning ways and get back to performing at the levels we know we're capable of." Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad
Daily Record
2 hours ago
- Daily Record
Steve Clarke owes Scotland only one thing and if he can't guarantee it then he should walk away
It doesn't mention it in the manual and they don't hand it out with the coaching badges either. But, somewhere along the line, in order to even want to be a manager these days, it seems as if nursing masochistic tendencies is almost a prerequisite. Really, why else would they put themselves through it? Why would Russell Martin, for example, have stalled for so long on taking an easy life at Leicester City in order to throw himself into the lion's den at Ibrox? Martin hasn't even clocked into Auchenhowie for his first day in the office but he is well aware already there are Rangers supporters out there who would prefer that he didn't bother. The same goes for Steven Pressley at Dundee even though he's currently celebrating his 25th wedding anniversary in Vietnam and has still to set foot back in the city he once called home. He's about to discover a far more arduous marriage awaits. Barry Ferguson, meanwhile, is relaxing with the family in the Greek sunshine but probably still simmering a little inside at the manner with which he was waved off to the airport by Kevin Thelwell and Gretar Steinsson. Ange Postecoglu will be hitting a beach too with a big fat redundo cheque in the back pocket of his togs, after doing the impossible and winning a trophy for Spurs and getting sacked off by them for his trouble. And then there's the curious case of Steve Clarke - the man who ushered Scotland back in from the wilderness years - but who now stands accused of botching the job with the most talented group of players the country has assembled in decades. It all feels a little bit like touch and go right now for Clarke ahead of the friendly in Liechtenstein - on the back of a pride crushing defeat at home to Iceland on Friday night. Any more missteps at the Rheinpark Stadium and he'd be better off hiding out in Vaduz for the summer rather than returning to Glasgow Airport on Scotland's team charter, where only misery and malevolence will be waiting for him at arrivals. It won't happen, of course. No matter what side Clarke cobbles together - and even if the unfortunate Cieran Slicker remains in goal - Scotland will still have enough about them to get out of town with a win against the Lilliputians of the European game. And it will mean absolutely nothing in any case. Because there are Scotland fans out there who have decided that Clarke's time ought to be up. That he's taken this team just as far as he can. Perhaps, that some of the star performers in his team have outgrown him along the way. And, in all honesty, all of the above may well be correct. But here's the thing about Clarke. After leading Scotland to successive European Championships he owes us almost nothing at all. Nothing, that is, apart from complete and utter honesty. If deep down he truly believes he's still the man for the job and that these players of his are receptive to his messaging and instructions, then he has more than earned the right to have a crack at taking them to the next World Cup before bowing out from the position. If, however, he is experiencing any self doubt or feeling as if he's got little more to give, then he should walk away from it with his held high and with a nation's gratitude for the tournaments that he has delivered. It really is as simple as that where Clarke and Scotland are concerned. If he wants to continue in the job one last campaign then he should be allowed to do exactly that. But he has to be certain. And he must be honest to himself. Because the squad he has nurtured and brought to this point cannot be hindered or hamstrung by the man in charge nor can it have its growth stunted at this moment in time, when it feels as if it should be capable of trading blows with the giants. If Clarke is feeling jaded or fatigued by it all, after six years in charge, then he should step aside immediately and let someone else have a go while the likes of Kieran Tierney, Andy Robertson, Scott McTominay, Billy Gilmour, Lewis Ferguson and John McGinn are operating at the peak of their powers. These players deserve to be paraded on the biggest stage of all and it's not inconceivable that the likes of Postecoglou or even former Rangers interim Ferguson might connect with them and accelerate their collective development. But that's all down to how Clarke sees things. And rightly so. He gets to decide his own fate where this gig is concerned. Sadly, the same cannot be said for new Rangers boss Martin who is already a hostage to fortune in terms of his job security, even though he's not even started working with his players on the training ground yet. Martin is an articulate, highly intelligent and very likeable young manager. That he has such an ardent and clear view on how he wants the game to be played is another admirable trait. If it works, then he could have the kind of transformational impact on Rangers that Postecoglou had across the city at Parkhead. Let's not forget, a large section of Celtic's supporters were also completely underwhelmed by the big Aussie's appointment when he was rushed into the position after Eddie Howe had taken cold feet at the eleventh hour. But that's where the similarities end. Postecoglou had a track record of trophies and triumphs behind him before he arrived in Glasgow. Martin has the wreckage of a relegation season with Southampton still smouldering in his rear view mirror. All of which means the new man will start next season under the cosh with a support which already suspects the worst of him. Unlike Clarke and Scotland, Martin has deposited nothing whatsoever in the bank of goodwill so - in order to build up some early credit - he will have to be absolutely immaculate in the manner with which he goes about his work over the first few weeks and months of the season. And, given the woeful state of the squad he is inheriting, the chances of that happening seem remote at the very best. Martin must truly believe in himself, in his philosophy and in his staff, or else he wouldn't have touched this task with a bargepole. And that courage in his convictions is to be respected, especially considering the offer he had to slip back down into the quiet life of England's Championship at the King Power. Instead, he has chosen to step into a furnace. All of which just adds weight to the theory that you don't have to be a masochist to be a football manager. But it certainly seems to help.
