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Tottenham confirm signing of former Blackburn Rovers defender Ryan Nelsen
The New Zealander's agent announced that the centre-back had agreed a six-month deal, with a further one-year option, with Spurs on Wednesday after leaving Ewood Park
2 Feb 2012 10:23:00
By Oliver Platt
Tottenham have completed the signing of former Blackburn Rovers defender Ryan Nelsen.
The New Zealand international's contract at Ewood Park had been cancelled by mutual consent, paving the way for a move to White Hart Lane.
On Wednesday, Nelsen's agent Lyle Yorks confirmed that the player had agreed a six-month deal with a further one-year option with Spurs.
Nelsen, now 34, admitted that a last shot at silverware with Spurs was the main motivation behind his move, with a coaching role in the United States also on offer before Harry Redknapp made his move.
"Medals, trophies are things you strive for. Blackburn got to five semis and never made a final, so it's very exciting," he told New Zealand's 3News.
Despite facing competition from Ledley King, Michael Dawson, William Gallas and Younes Kaboul for a place in central defence and having faced extensive injury problems over the past two seasons, Nelsen insisted he was undaunted by the challenge on offer at Tottenham.
"It's different," he said. "[It] feels like you're going back to the first day of school, so yeah, everyone will be looking at you and judging you so I better clean my boots and comb my hair... it'll be fun.
"I kind of like when the odds are stacked against you, so we'll see. We'll get out there and give it everything."
The former DC United man takes the place of Sebastien Bassong in the Tottenham squad, with the 25-year-old centre-back joining Wolves on loan until the end of the season.
He made over 200 appearances in all competitions for Rovers, having joined the club from the MLS in January 2005.
The New Zealand international's contract at Ewood Park had been cancelled by mutual consent, paving the way for a move to White Hart Lane.
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On Wednesday, Nelsen's agent Lyle Yorks confirmed that the player had agreed a six-month deal with a further one-year option with Spurs.
Nelsen, now 34, admitted that a last shot at silverware with Spurs was the main motivation behind his move, with a coaching role in the United States also on offer before Harry Redknapp made his move.
"Medals, trophies are things you strive for. Blackburn got to five semis and never made a final, so it's very exciting," he told New Zealand's 3News.
Despite facing competition from Ledley King, Michael Dawson, William Gallas and Younes Kaboul for a place in central defence and having faced extensive injury problems over the past two seasons, Nelsen insisted he was undaunted by the challenge on offer at Tottenham.
"It's different," he said. "[It] feels like you're going back to the first day of school, so yeah, everyone will be looking at you and judging you so I better clean my boots and comb my hair... it'll be fun.
"I kind of like when the odds are stacked against you, so we'll see. We'll get out there and give it everything."
The former DC United man takes the place of Sebastien Bassong in the Tottenham squad, with the 25-year-old centre-back joining Wolves on loan until the end of the season.
He made over 200 appearances in all competitions for Rovers, having joined the club from the MLS in January 2005.
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Live!
England 1-0 Belgium, Netherlands 4-0 Northern Ireland - follow all the international action LIVE! ahead of Euro 2012
With countries across the continent gearing up for their final warm-up games ahead of Euro 2012, join us for all the action from Saturday's friendlies. Get in touch with us via Twitter with your reaction.
Hosted by Joe Doyle
Hosted by Joe Doyle
19:59 BST
Unfortunately for Northern Ireland, they are trailing the Netherlands 4-0 at half-time. Looks like that one's all sewn up then.
19:54 BST
We're still getting plenty of Hazard chat on Twitter. A few are now saying that he's not worth the hype, others saying he was brilliant(!?) and others (which I agree with), saying he created much of his own hype. What do you think? Get involved!
19:46 BST
Joe Hart has also been giving his thoughts after the Belgium game: "It was a really tough game, a good run out. I thought we played well, [but] we were a little bit bitty at times.
"But, we came through. Obviously there were a lot of changes so it's good to get the result.
"Belgium are a very, very strong side who are going to be really good in the future. Vincent [Kompany] told me about them and said that they were coming good and I totally agree with him."
"But, we came through. Obviously there were a lot of changes so it's good to get the result.
"Belgium are a very, very strong side who are going to be really good in the future. Vincent [Kompany] told me about them and said that they were coming good and I totally agree with him."
19:38 BST
Here's Roy Hodgson's reaction to the result and some injury chat: "I'm very pleased, it's been a hard week and we've used a lot of players. There was a lot of disruption in the second-half with substitutions – some forced upon us, some we wanted to do. But it's still a very good end to the week playing against a good Belgian team here. Arguably even stronger than the Norwegian team we played last week and I've got to be more than happy that we've come out with another victory."
"[Gary] Cahill I suppose is slightly more of a concern for me because it is a jaw injury. We're desperately hoping the CT scan doesn't show any fracture and it's just going to be a bruising situation, which will be bad enough, but won't stop him taking part in the tournament. As far as John's [Terry] concerned he felt his hamstring a little bit. Again it wasn't a major thing when he came off but we still need to scan it just to be 100 per cent sure."
Suffice to say, if Cahill has broken his jaw, he won't play any part in the tournament.
"[Gary] Cahill I suppose is slightly more of a concern for me because it is a jaw injury. We're desperately hoping the CT scan doesn't show any fracture and it's just going to be a bruising situation, which will be bad enough, but won't stop him taking part in the tournament. As far as John's [Terry] concerned he felt his hamstring a little bit. Again it wasn't a major thing when he came off but we still need to scan it just to be 100 per cent sure."
Suffice to say, if Cahill has broken his jaw, he won't play any part in the tournament.
19:35 BST
And another point from today: Eden Hazard wasn't great. Don't think you can judge him on one performance though. What do you think? Is it just a case of too much hype around the Chelsea-bound Belgian?
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