Gennaro Gattuso expects Nico Gonzalez to remain at Valencia for the rest of the season, despite reports suggesting Barcelona are considering recalling the midfielder.
Nico left Camp Nou on loan in search of regular minutes in August but has struggled to nail down a first-team spot with Valencia.
Although Valencia have made a decent start to their first campaign under Gattuso, winning four of their first eight LaLiga games, the 20-year-old has played a limited role.
Nico has made seven league appearances this season, but five of those outings have come from the bench, meaning he has featured for just 231 minutes in the competition.
With Barcelona enduring an injury crisis, reports in Spain have suggested the Blaugrana could cut Nico's loan short in January, but Gattuso has called for him to force his way into Valencia's team instead.
"This is the first time I've heard of it. No player has spoken to me," Gattuso told reporters on Friday. "He is working very well. He has a one-year contract with us. The player has not come to talk to me.
"All the players want to be starters and I think he should work well on the field, and when he has the opportunity to play, show it.
"He is a great professional. He trains very well but I have a squad of 23 or 24 players. He is a kid who always trains fully."
Eddie Howe backs ‘brilliant shot-stopper’ Martin Dubravka to replace Nick Pope
Eddie Howe has backed Martin Dubravka to plug the sizeable gap left by Nick Pope as Newcastle’s first-choice goalkeeper faces up to four months on the sidelines.
Magpies head coach Howe’s worst fears over the shoulder injury which Pope suffered during Saturday night’s 1-0 Premier League win over Manchester United have been confirmed, with the 31-year-old due to undergo surgery which will sideline him for four months and leave him in a race against time to make England’s Euro 2024 squad.
However, the £10million man’s misfortune – he dislocated his left shoulder as he dived in an attempt to save a Sergio Reguilon shot – will open the door for his deputies Dubravka, Loris Karius and Mark Gillespie with the Slovakia international, who came off the bench at the weekend, the man first in line to replace him starting at Everton on Thursday evening.
Howe said: “We really believe in Martin and I’ve always had that high opinion of him.
“Yes, we brought in Nick – we wanted to build competition for places, we wanted to build a squad that we felt could really carry us to great success – but Martin is a high-class goalkeeper.
“He’s a brilliant shot-stopper himself, he’s very good with his feet and his distribution, so no hesitation about bringing Martin into the team and I hope he does really well.”
Newcastle have been linked with a move for former Manchester United keeper David de Gea in recent days, but Howe insisted no approaches have been made.
View this post on InstagramHe said: “We have not made any inquiries or any decisions about our recruitment leading into January.“This is a chance for the goalkeepers we have at the football club to consolidate their positions, and that will be the same for every other position at the club.”
Howe had earlier confirmed that Pope is awaiting a final decision on the way forward, but that surgery was inevitable.
He said: “We anticipate he’ll be operated on – there’s no doubt he needs an operation – so he will be out for a period of time.
“The operation hasn’t happened yet, but we’re thinking roughly around four months, so it’s a big blow to us, but one that we expected after the game.
“He’s naturally down because at this stage of the season where we have so many games, huge games coming up – he’s got, obviously, the Euros ahead of him as well, which he was determined to try to be involved in, and there’s still chance of that for him.
“But I think his main determination is to come back for us, and you never know what situation we’ll be in at that stage of the season, so it could be a lot worse for him.”
Declan Rice says Arsenal ‘never stop believing’ after late winner at Luton
Declan Rice believes Arsenal’s “never-say-die” attitude can lead them to Premier League glory this season.
The England midfielder headed home a last-gasp winner as Mikel Arteta’s side came from behind to secure a thrilling 4-3 victory at Luton on Tuesday night.
Rice nodded in Martin Odegaard’s cross to spark scenes of wild celebration in the away end after Kai Havertz had earlier drawn them level at Kenilworth Road.
The visitors had led 2-1 at half-time as Gabriel Martinelli and Gabriel Jesus scored either side of Gabriel Osho’s equaliser but two errors from goalkeeper David Raya gifted Luton the lead.
Elijah Adebayo headed in a corner with Raya stranded as the Spain international came off his line and got nowhere near the ball before Ross Barkley’s shot squirmed under his body to take the roof off Luton’s famous old stadium.
Arsenal, though, proved their title-winning credentials by battling back to go five points clear before Wednesday night’s games, and Rice believes their knack of scoring late can galvanise the Gunners this season.
“I think last year they were eight points clear and obviously lost the title,” the £105million summer signing said.
“This year there definitely seems to be a different feel around the place in terms of being stern, being steady, being composed in big moments.
“Luton Town caused us a massive threat and it looked like we were going to drop points. But this season, it’s that never-say-die attitude that we’ve got that we keep pushing, keep fighting to the end and I think that’s our fifth goal in added time.
“I think we should start scoring some a bit earlier! But to score in added time, it shows what we are made of and we will never stop believing.”
Rice’s header was the ninth league goal Arsenal have scored in the 84th minute or beyond this campaign, with their late shows earning them an additional nine points.
Arteta was booked for his over-zealous celebrations following Rice’s winner and will now be banned from the dugout for Saturday’s trip to Aston Villa.
For Luton, it was a tale of what might have been on a night when they went toe-to-toe with a team that spent 248 days at the top of the table last season before losing out to Manchester City.
“Proud. Devastated – the two words are proud and devastated,” experienced winger Andros Townsend said when asked to describe his feelings.
“Proud because it was an amazing performance against one of Europe’s best clubs, score three goals, press higher to not give them any time on the ball, to have chances.
“To still lose it, devastating, but on Sunday we’ve got Man City, so we have to drown our sorrows and then we have to take the positives and look forward to another tough game.”
Beth Mead: England ‘devastated’ to miss Nations League finals and Paris Olympics
England forward Beth Mead said the team were “absolutely devastated” after missing out on the Nations League finals and failing to qualify for the Olympics for Team GB.
A dramatic evening saw England thrash Scotland 6-0 at Hampden Park, with Lucy Bronze’s stoppage-time header looking like it would be the crucial goal for the Lionesses to finish top of Group A1.
However, a late added-time brace from Damaris Egurrola meant the Netherlands pipped Sarina Wiegman’s team to the summit on goal difference, ending Team GB’s hopes of qualifying for Paris 2024 and ensuring the Dutch reached the inaugural Nations League finals.
Making her first international start since sustaining an anterior cruciate ligament injury more than 12 months ago, Mead bagged one of the six England goals, but acknowledged it was tough losing out by “small margins”.
“Unfortunately, it wasn’t in our hands and the Netherlands got the four goals,” she told englandfootball.com. “Congratulations to them but we’re absolutely devastated to miss out by such small margins.
“We made sure we kept in communication and Sarina was telling us what was happening in the other game so we knew what we were meant to do.
“We got the late goal and we thought we’d maybe got over the line but, unfortunately, it wasn’t meant to be and that’s football. It is small margins, there were injury-time goals in both games and it wasn’t meant to be.”
European champions England lost out narrowly to the Netherlands and Belgium in their group games, going down 2-1 to the Dutch in September before a late Tessa Wullaert penalty saw Belgium win 3-2 in October.
The Lionesses had kept their qualification hopes alive going into the Scotland game as Ella Toone’s stoppage-time strike secured a 3-2 comeback triumph over the Netherlands in the reverse fixture at Wembley on Friday.
“It’s a tough one,” Mead added. “I think the girls have worked really hard. I thought we were incredible this camp.
“We’ve done ourselves proud in both games that we’ve played. Unfortunately, it was out of our hands and maybe we let ourselves down earlier on in the competition.
“But we’ll keep working hard, we’ll keep coming back stronger, and I’m excited to see what this team is about.”
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