Villas-Boas quashes Sneijder rumours

Dec 29, 2012 10:20:00 AM

The Spurs manager has rubbished reports linking the north London club with a move for the Dutch superstar insisting the squad does not require any new additions

Andre Villas-Boas has played down reports linking Tottenham Hotspur with a move for Inter outcast Wesley Sneijder, before adding that he feels his squad needs no additions to finish in the top four of the Premier League.

The former Chelsea boss has impressed so far at White Hart Lane, bringing in six new signings in August including France captain Hugo Lloris, the creative Mousa Dembele, and fellow Belgium international and former Ajax captain Jan Vertonghen.

However, Villas-Boas does not believe that Tottenham will make any further additions in January.

The Spurs manager told reporters: “It’s very unlikely we will do anything in the window.”

Consistent with this, the Premier League's youngest manager squashed reports which have linked Sneijder to White Hart Lane, claiming they “aren’t true”.


BALE UP THERE WITH THE BEST
13/2	Gareth Bale is 13/2 with Paddy Power to score the opener in the game between Sunderland and Tottenham

The north London club currently sit fourth in the Premier League, and a win against Sunderland on Saturday could see them climb to third in the table and temporarily overtake Chelsea, who will have two games in hand. But Villas-Boas knows that Tottenham must defeat Sunderland if they want to consolidate their position in the top four over the New Year period.

Villas-Boas added: "We have to open up a gap between the rest of the teams at the top.

“At the moment, regarding the league position, it’s very dangerous because a 4-0 win doesn’t mean anything — everyone is so tight together.

“We are not far off Chelsea or Manchester City, but we need to keep some consistency to settle into the top four and open up some kind of gap.

“We want to have a strong second half to the season, better than last year.

“It’s always difficult at Sunderland and will be particularly so this time after they beat the champions. We expect a run for our money, but hopefully we can get a result.”

Tottenham travel to the Stadium of Light on Saturday for the 12:45 kick-off against Martin O'Neill's Black Cats.

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Champions League final - LIVE!

German giants Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund will battle it out at Wembley for European glory. Get involved by sending us your thoughts via Twitter or Facebook! Hosted by Mark Doyle.

6:26 PM BST

Bayern have arrived at Wembley! The legendary Lothar Mattheus will obviously be cheering on die Roten this evening, but he is just hoping that Fussball is the winner tonight:

"The whole world will watch the game," the World Cup winner told Sky Sport Germany. "It electrifies the masses. Never before there was so much talk about a Champions League final than this time.

"Both groups of fans know the whole world is watching. We have to present ourselves similar to the way we did at WC 2006 because it brings a lot of sympathy. Today we have another chance to present Germany in a positive way."

Unfortunately, there were reports of some clashes between rival sets of fans earlier in the day, but, happily, the atmosphere at the ground is wonderfully good-natured.

6:18 PM BST

Former Dortmund goalkeeper Jens Lehmann was present at the Champions League festival earlier and he is tipping his former side for the title: "I think Bayern are a little stronger but if I was to have a bet, I would bet on Dortmund because that would win me more money!"

However, our tipster Hugh Wilson reckons that the value is a punt on both sides scoring in the first half ...

6:11 PM BST

Right, allow me to redirect you back to Twitter because Goal's Carlo Garganese has just logged on for a live Q&A session, so start tweeting him your questions.

6:08 PM BST

Dortmund are keen: They've already arrived at Wembley. Former Dortmund defender Christoph Metzelder can understand his old side's desire to get to the ground as early as possible. "This is the most horrible time ahead of the match," he told Sky Germany. "The tension is huge on the way to the stadium until you can finally warm-up and get on the pitch."

However, former Bayern boss Ottmar Hitzfeld says it doesn't matter when Dortmund arrive, they're still not going to lift the Champions League tonight: "Bayern has to win the title; it's just their time. They won't let a third final in four years slip away from them."

6:02 PM BST

Now back to our man, Jay Jaffa, who is outside the ground:

"I've just had a chat with a man called Helmut. As you will see from the photo, Helmut arrived here by bicycle ... He said: 'It took me 10 days. I didn't see the sun once: it was raining, powerful winds, horrible, but I made it. I rode 554 miles to get here but ... I don't have a ticket.'

"Ouch! I feel for Helmut, he looks absolutely drained and I reckon he was relying on the gift of charity as his way in, but alas it is yet to find him."

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