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Summary of non-mainstream articles: 13/04/2017 23:25:04

| | Report: Liverpool set to sign teenage Czech goalkeeper despite Southampton interestHEREISTHECITY |
| | Everton to test Southampton’s resolve for £55M-rated centre-back, Manchester City and Chelsea also in the race to …CAUGHTOFFSIDE |
| | Southampton handed Gabbiadini boostSPORTSMOLE |

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Which Premier League clubs have a director of football?

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Here’s a who’s who of the Premier League’s directors of football, along with the clubs that don’t even have one.

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Summary of non-mainstream articles: 14/04/2017 00:25:16

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| Premier League Head-to-Head: Tadic v SterlingSHOOTCOUK |

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Liverpool set to battle Chelsea and Manchester City for Premier League star

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Virgil van Dijk is sought after by a number of top teams

Kop boss Jurgen Klopp has given the green light for a move for the Southampton defender, but the Saints are expected to demand a £50m transfer fee.

Van Dijk, 25, has not played since January because of an ankle injury.

But he is still expected to be one of the most highly sought after defenders this summer.

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Summary of non-mainstream articles: 14/04/2017 01:25:29

| | Video: City Watch talks to The Ugly Inside ahead of Southampton vs. City – City WatchCITYWATCH |

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Sourced from Southampton FC - Official Site article

Press conference (part two): Puel on City

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Liverpool join race to sign Virgil van Dijk

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Liverpool are ready to join the race to sign Virgil Van Dijk as they look to make a statement of intent in this summer’s transfer window.

Manchester City and Chelsea have long been established as the clubs leading the way to sign Van Dijk; City specifically sent scouts to watch Van Dijk on November 19 at St Mary’s when he was Man-of-the-Match in a 0-0 draw with Liverpool.

Ronald Koeman, Everton’s manager, is also keen to be reunited with Van Dijk when he begins what is expected to be an ambitious overhaul of his squad, having worked with him at Southampton, but Liverpool are not going to be passive.

Jurgen Klopp is determined to bolster his defence and recently explained the injuries Dejan Lovren and Joel Matip have suffered this season have meant he cannot regard them as being automatic first choices selections.

Though Claude Puel does not want Van Dijk to leave, there is no question they will be put under serious pressure as soon as the window opens; Van Dijk has been a big miss for Puel in recent months, as he recovers from ankle ligament damage.

Klopp wants to bring in quality additions to ensure Liverpool’s progress over the last 12 months does not go to waste and Van Dijk fits the profile of player they are targeting.

Liverpool are prepared to spend heavier than they have ever done before to get their manager the additions he wants.

Some Liverpool fans want to see Mamadou Sakho return, given he has been doing so well on loan at Crystal Palace; there is no clause in the contract they agreed in January that gives them first option on signing the France international and Klopp says no decisions have been made on his future.

‘You can imagine like all the plans we have for next season, we speak about behind closed doors,’ said Klopp.

‘In the moment when we have to say something we will say something. I see a lot of Premier League games so I see Crystal Palace too and I see how he is playing there and all this stuff.’

His tone was similar on Daniel Sturridge, too, and Klopp said: ‘We are in the season and around this we plan different things like transfers, as you can imagine, but who will leave we have never thought about it.’

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Summary of non-mainstream articles: 14/04/2017 06:26:37

| | Paper Round: Liverpool join Man City and Chelsea in Virgil van Dijk raceEUROSPORTUK |
| | Everton ready to smash transfer record for defenderTHISISFUTBOLCOM |

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Summary of non-mainstream articles: 14/04/2017 07:26:50

| | Man City news and transfer rumours LIVEMANEVNEWS |
| | Liverpool ready to challenge Chelsea and Manchester City for the signature of Virgil van DijkJOECOUK |
| | Southampton v Manchester City preview: Live TV details, tickets, match facts, quotes, oddsEUROSPORTUK |

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Sourced from Daily Echo article

PHOTOS: Saints players pay a visit to children at hospital

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CLAUDE Puel and a host of Saints’ first team stars brought smiles to the faces of patients at Southampton General Hospital.

As part of an annual visit, team manager Claude Puel, Maya Yoshida, Ryan Bertrand, Fraser Forster, Jay Rodriguez, James Ward-Prowse and Manolo Gabbiadini were just some of the big names who popped down to the wards ahead of tomorrow’s Premier League clash against Manchester City at St Mary’s.

The visit was organised by the Saints Foundation, the charitable leg of of the club.

Players and staff went into the children’s outpatient department, Teenage Cancer Trust unit and the elderly care units, chatting with patients, posing for selfies – even with those in rival colours, and handing out gifts.

Meeting children, babies and elderly patients alike, players and staff went down to the hospital to put smiles on faces.

As part of an annual visit, Maya Yoshida, Ryan Bertrand and Manolo Gabbiadini joined other first team stars, who face Manchester City at St Mary’s in the Premier League tomorrow.

Paying a visit to the wards, handing out signed cards and posing for photos were how the Saints players spent one afternoon in the visit organised by the Saints Foundation.

The charitable leg of Southampton FC, the trip was aimed at meeting and speaking with as many patients as possible.

Split into three groups, players and staff went into the children’s outpatient department, teenage cancer trust unit and the elderly care units.

The club was hoping to give something back to the community and spend time with those going through difficulty and put some smiles on the faces of patients, with players happy to pose for photos with those in rival colours.

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Sourced from Daily Echo article

Pied to get his chance

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CLAUDE Puel plans to give right-back Jeremy Pied a chance to play before the end of the season.

The Frenchman, who arrived at Saints from Nice on a free transfer last summer, has been out for seven months with a serious knee injury.

The 28-year-old has appeared on the bench in Saints’ last two games, but is yet to come on.

However, Pied got some much-needed playing time under his belt this week, appearing for an hour of Saints under-23s’ 2-2 draw with Liverpool.

“He played very well with the under-23s and it was interesting to see him,” Puel said.

"He came back in the training with a good, strong attitude and it’s fantastic to see him after six or seven months at this level.

"He came back very well and congratulations to all the medical staff, they worked very well with him and it’s impressive to see him with hunger to want to play.

“He’s quick, fast and technical. He has a very good attitude and spirit and he will be important for the squad.”

Pied was brought through the Lyon academy by Puel, before the 55-year-old signed him up at Nice and then Saints.

He’s played just 11 minutes for Saints so far, coming on as a second-half substitute against Watford all the way back in August.

Twelve days after that, Pied suffered the horror injury in training and has spent the majority of the season recovering after surgery.

But Saints are now facing a hectic end to the season, with eight games rammed into five weeks, and Pied could get a chance.

That period will include four games in the final two weeks of the campaign, with the postponed Arsenal and Manchester United matches rearranged for May 10 and 17 respectively.

That busy period will likely allow Pied and other squad players to get some minutes.

“We have different possibilities and many games, so it will be important to play every time with all the players and consider the possibilities and who is physically fit,” Puel said.

“It will be important to get a good results and maintain consistency [in that period].”

He added: "We’ve got to play many games in a short period of time with the two games postponed.

"For example we’ve got to play every three days in the last month of season and it’s important to keep all the squad ready with a good attitude and good spirit.

"You can see this with the suspension of Oriol [Romeu] or different injuries to important players, like Austin, Van Dijk, Targett that it’s important to have a good squad and keep them in a good focus.

"It’s always difficult for example like when we had one game in two weeks.

“It was hard to keep the squad happy with a good attitude, but all this without games the players keep a professional attitude and they work very hard to show their quality to try to change opinion. This is important because it’s a competition between themselves.”

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Sourced from Daily Echo article

Puel has no rotation regrets

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CLAUDE Puel does not regret his decision to continually rotate his team earlier this season – despite finding success with a settled side recently.

The St Mary’s chief did not select an identical side in consecutive games until the end of February.

With Saints battling on several fronts, in the Premier League, Europa League and in domestic cups, Puel felt it was necessary to chop and change to keep his players as fresh as possible.

And if the same scenario were to happen again, the boss would do the same.

“I would make the same decision next year if we were in the European games,” he said, ahead of tomorrow’s match against Manchester City at St Mary’s. "It will be a good thing.

"It was important to rotate because we had a game every three days.

"It was crazy to have all these games in the first part of the season.

"But all this allow us to develop many players.

"Since the beginning of the season we have had a lot of injuries.

"It wasn’t possible to keep good result, intensity and consistency about our results.

"When we can do this rotation it was to recover after every game and develop the young players.

"It was a good benefit for the club.

“For us now, with all these injuries, we stay with a good level and that is important.”

During the early part of the season, Puel would regularly tinker between games, especially as Saints bounced from Europa League to top-flight matches.

He was criticised in some quarters for his chopping and changing, but has now stopped that policy after the volume of games thinned out for Saints.

With eight games left, the club are now targeting a positive end to the season and Puel states that getting above West Bromwich Albion in eighth is an ideal target.

“It’s a good objective for the end of the season,” he said.

"It’s important to play with ambition, with good focus.

"I want my players to improve and progress because we want to finish the championship in the top half of the table.

"It’s important to also prepare for next season.

“We learn, we take experience and maturity.”

Puel is already thinking about next term, with the development of Saints’ young players at the forefront of his mind.

He said: "We will see for next season but we have a good squad, young players and they continue to develop and improve.

"It’s important to keep this spirit and show the best of themselves.

"It’s a possibility to improve and I know and I’m sure they are ambitious and they want to keep this good feeling.

"I think it’s a good thing to play a lot of games with ambitions until the end of the season.

“But we can always do better in Premier League and this is important to keep a good focus and to stay hungry and in a good feeling for the next season and to keep a good ambition.”

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Take a look at our pre-match stat pack, as #SaintsFC prepare to take on #MCFC in the #PL: http://sfcne.ws/MCFCStatPack

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The Ugly Inside News for Southampton

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Sourced from Mirror.co.uk article

Liverpool paper round-up: Reds ‘enter race to sign Virgil van Dijk’

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Liverpool are the highest scoring team in the Premier League, but their defence has let them down this season.

With Mamadou Sakho likely to leave on a permanent basis this summer, Jurgen Klopp will be in the market for a new defender.

The Reds are reportedly ready to join the chase for Southampton’s Virgil van Dijk.

The Mail say Liverpool will battle Manchester City and Chelsea for hi signature.

Here is the rest of Liverpool’s news:

Fernando Torres has lifted the lid on what he felt after Steven Gerrard slipped against Chelsea and inadvertently threw away Liverpool’s title hopes.

The Atletico Madrid striker, who played alongside Gerrard for four years on Merseyside, was in Chelsea Blue on the day in question.

But despite his side taking all three points and ending Liverpool’s 11-game win streak, Torres took no pleasure in seeing Gerrard’s pain.

“He is everything I needed on the pitch altogether in one player,” said Torres, reminiscing on his Anfield partnership on the BBC.

"I was a big fan of Stevie before I went to Liverpool but playing with him was much better than I was expecting.

“It was amazing, by far the best player I played with and I would pay to play with him again.”

On the slip, which cost Liverpool at such a crucial point in the 2014 season, he added: "I felt so sorry for Stevie.

"And I know how important it is for Liverpool to win the Premier League after so many years and it was so unfair for Stevie.

“He was the person who really deserved to win the Premier League, but that’s football, in one second everything changed.”

Steven Gerrard has been advised to follow Zinedine Zidane’s management career, by former Liverpool manager Gerard Houllier.

The French boss handed the Kop hero the captain’s armband in 2003 and has now entered the debate surrounding the 36-year-old’s future in the game, report the Liverpool Echo.

Gerrard is now an under-18s coach back at Melwood and has been told he can replicate Real Madrid chief Zidane’s swift route to the top of the game in management.

The France legend cut his teeth with Los Blancos’ B-side, Castilla, and led the Spanish giants to their 11th European Cup last year after replacing Rafa Benitez midway through the campaign.

“What I would advise Stevie is to do the different steps,” Houllier told talkSPORT.

“Zidane is at the moment in charge of the Real Madrid team, but before that for four years he coached the youth, then the reserves, then he became an assistant manager to Carlo Ancelotti.

Houllier led the Reds to a treble of the UEFA Cup, League Cup and FA Cup in 2001, and he tipped Gerrard to replace current boss Jurgen Klopp in the Anfield hotseat.

He added: "You’ve got to be patient. You can’t step from players’ life and players’ activities to coaching.

“If he is patient and does the various steps then maybe he will be the next [manager] after Jurgen Klopp.”

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Summary of non-mainstream articles: 14/04/2017 09:45:11

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| TOP 5: STUNNER’S AGAINST SOUTHAMPTON - Man CityDUGOUT |
| | Liverpool join race for £60m-rated PL defensive ace, Klopp to raise £30m by selling misfitCAUGHTOFFSIDE |
| | Liverpool, Chelsea, and both Manchester clubs chase £50m EPL defender101GREATGOALS |

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