ADAM Chicksen is the proud member of an exclusive club at Valley Parade.
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Not a single member of England’s 2018 World Cup squad played their football outside of the Premier League.
That complete domestic dominance wasn’t present in any of the other 31 competing teams, although Saudi Arabia’s three-man La Liga contingent were nothing more than a PR exercise.
In the last 20 years only Fraser Forster (Celtic), David Beckham (Real Madrid) and Owen Hargreaves (Bayern Munich) have represented England at a World Cup while playing abroad.
Playing for Bayern Munich was a thrill a minuteEPA
But the winds are changing.
England now have a manager in Gareth Southgate who doesn’t care for historical club stature. He picks purely on form and suitability for his tactics.
Southgate’s appointment came at a moment in time in which English youngsters are showing increased willingness to fly the nest.
Jadon Sancho may well be the first of Generation Odyssey to see his gamble rewarded with an England call-up.
Jadon Sancho – 17/18 season best bits 
pic.twitter.com/jbqtpn2wPo
— Borussen 
(@BorussenEdits) May 14, 2018
Aged 14, Sancho moved from Watford to Man City for a fee which would have topped £500,000 if certain conditions were met.
In 2017, having been at City for just two years and with his path to first-team football blocked by a never-ending supply of multi-million pound arrivals, Sancho left England for Borussia Dortmund.
Any worries about a lack of confidence moving to a new country were quickly dashed when Sancho inherited the no.7 shirt previously worn by Robert Lewandowski and Ousmane Dembele.
Sancho’s importance to Dortmund was underlined by the fact they only let him play in the group stages of England’s victorious Under-17 World Cup campaign before calling him back to Germany.
A World Cup campaign that didn’t end in tearsGetty - Contributor
Last season he registered one goal and four assists in seven starts for Dortmund, while he’s already off the mark for assists this campaign.
But, more than the numbers and stats, it’s Sancho’s ability to leave professional defenders looking like salsa dancers that has caught the eye, both in Blighty and abroad.
Sancho is a modern footballer who combines YouTube-taught footwork honed in the back garden with academy-drilled football IQ.
One burst from him can change the game, as Greuther Furth recently found out in the last minute of DFB Cup extra-time.
Ademola Lookman had a prolific end to last season when he joined RB Leipzig, much to the annoyance of Sam Allardyce, and registered five goals and three assists in seven starts.
Sancho and Lookman’s travels clearly caught the attention of those back home.
Ronaldo Vieira, Keanan Bennets and Reo Griffiths all left English football to move to Sampdoria, Borussia Monchengladbach and Lyon this summer.
Reiss Nelson, a friend of Sancho, is reportedly closing in on a move to Bundesliga side Hoffenheim.
Enjoy him while you canGetty - Contributor
Nelson’s case is an example of a talented player unwilling to sit about and wait his turn in a brutally cutthroat industry.
The winger won the Under-17 World Cup in 2017 and was named the best player at the Under-17 European Championships in the same year.
He’s been around the Arsenal first-team since the age of 16 but still finds himself stuck behind the less technically talented Alex Iwobi.
So why not move to a league that boasts the youngest average first-teams out of all of Europe’s top five divisions?
Sancho’s call-up to the England squad would leave a clear blueprint for others to follow.
That’s sometimes all it takes for a trend to emerge.
There’s no need to waste your teenage years playing reserve football. There are clubs out there willing to play you from the get-go, as long as you’re good enough.
With the Premier League and the FA clearly disjointed we can no longer rely on domestic football to strengthen the national team.
Time to dust off the passports.
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A minority of Manchester United fans have been slammed on social media for taking selfies with Tottenham hero Lucas Moura.
The brilliant Brazilian scored twice to end Spurs’ Old Trafford hoodoo and pile further misery on under-fire boss Jose Mourinho.
Manchester United fans were desperate to grab a moment with Lucas MouraSky Sports
Harry Kane grabbed the other as Mourinho endured the biggest ever home defeat as a manager in all competitions.
Despite United losing the second of their opening three Premier League games for the first time in 26 years, Red Devil supporters wanted their to grab a moment with the man in the spotlight.
As Moura walked towards the tunnel, fans asked the former Paris Saint-Germain man for a picture.
He was happy to lap up the praise and even took phones out of their hands to take selfies with the delighted supporters.
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The Brazilian had just put United to the sword with two goals…Sky Sports
Moura was happy to enjoy his moment at Old TraffordSky Sports
What am I seeing here 
united fans shirts and scarfs on getting selfies with Lucas Moura after he's just pumped them?!? Feel for the true united fans having to see that my head would be rolling into Silks
— Wez (@Wez_chiiiii) August 27, 2018
Lucas Moura scored twice in Tottenham’s 3-0 victoryPA:Press Association
Viewers took to Twitter to share their views with one branding it “humiliating.”
One said: “Man Utd fans getting selfies with Lucas Moura just after their team got pumped 3-0. Humiliating!”
Another joked: “Lucas Moura has just buried United & Mourinho and their fans are having selfies with him hahaha.”
A viewer commented: “Some United fans perfectly summing up modern day football. Taking selfies with Lucas Moura who’s just given their team an absolute thumping.”
Kane opened the scoring with a stunning header in the second half, beating Phil Jones to the ball.
Just two minutes later and Moura doubled Spurs’ lead to send the travelling fans delirious.
Mourinho’s misery was compounded when Moura beat Chris Smalling for pace before firing past David De Gea.
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Tottenham forward Son Heung-min helped South Korea reach the Asian Games semi-finals as the defending champions beat Uzbekistan 4-3 in an extra-time cliffhanger on Monday. The World Cup star, who is in Indonesia chasing a gold medal that would spare him a career-threatening spell of military service, produced a pair of smart assists for hat-trick […]
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American football, we come in peace.
We’re not here to berate you for stealing the F-Word. We’re happy to share football, full-backs and free-kicks.
Nope. We’re actually here to steal an NFL concept. The NFL draft, to be specific.
You’re going to be a star kidAP:Associated Press
The NFL draft takes a bit of getting your head around, especially when it comes to converting it over to football.
So allow us to simplify it. For a start we need our draft players. These come in the form of all 133 transfers, both permanent and temporary, made by Premier League clubs over the summer, including Liverpool’s purchase of Naby Keita.
Fulham head the draft, as they were promoted through the Championship, followed by Cardiff and then Wolves. From there it’s last season’s table in reverse order, minus the three relegated sides.
In order to simplify the process further, we’re going to invent a rule that states there’s only five rounds of draft picks. Anyone left after that will be available for the Championship vultures to scrap over.
Got it? Let’s proceed.
2014’s top draft picksReuters
First round:
“So how’d you feel about becoming the no.1 draft pick,” shouts Fulham owner Shahid Khan down the phone as he strokes his magnificent moustache.
Naby Keita, on the other end of the phone, grins awkwardly with the air of a man who would rather be playing elsewhere but finds himself standing in front of Geoff Shreeves.
Cardiff pass up on Riyad Mahrez, with Neil Warnock unsure of how he would fare at left-back, and instead sign Fabinho, leaving the Algerian free to move to Wolves.
Three goalkeepers go in the first round as Huddersfield, West Ham and Bournemouth all fill their boots gloves.
Towards the bottom, Jack Wilshere is forced to rapidly delete all videos of him singing anti-Spurs songs as he rock up on at N17.
Fulham- Naby Keita, Cardiff- Fabinho, Wolves- Riyad Mahrez, Southampton- Jorginho, Huddersfield- Alisson, Brighton- Mateo Kovacic, Watford- Fred, West Ham- Rui Patricio, Bournemouth- Kepa Arrizabalaga, Crystal Palace- Richarlison, Newcastle- Max Meyer, Leicester- Xherdan Shaqiri, Everton- James Maddison, Burnley- Yerry Mina, Arsenal- Jean Michael Seri, Chelsea- Bernard, Liverpool- Fred, Spurs- Jack Wilshere, Man United- Felipe Anderson, Man City- Joao Moutinho
Second round:
Lucas Torreira claims the ‘best of the rest’ prize for being the first pick of the second round while Warnock continues building his army by snapping up part-time MMA fighter Aleksandar Mitrovic.
Paul Merson will not be on Everton or Leicester Soccer Saturday duty after their signings of last season’s Eredivisie top scorer Alireza Jahanbakhsh and Sokratis Papastathopoulos.
There’s widespread disbelief as, for the second time in the draft, Jose Mourinho passes up the chance to bring a defender to Old Trafford.
Fulham- Lucas Torreira, Cardiff- Aleksandar Mitrovic, Wolves- Andriy Yarmolenko, Southampton- Bernd Leno, Huddersfield- Adama Traore, Brighton- Lucas Digne, Watford- Andre Gomes, West Ham- Alfie Mawson, Bournemouth- Andre Schurrle, Crystal Palace- Ricardo Pereira, Newcastle- Leander Dendoncker, Leicester- Sokratis Papastathopoulos, Everton- Alireza Jahanbakhsh, Burnley- Kurt Zouma, Arsenal- Luciano Vietto, Chelsea- James Evans, Liverpool- Willy Boly, Spurs- Kenedy, Man United- Gerard Deulofeu, Man City- Issa Diop
We're just waiting for a mate… 
Luckily for us, Lucas knows how to make one 
Watch @LTorreira34's tutorial in full 
https://t.co/IgMGicrSDQ pic.twitter.com/isCMvve3HG
— Arsenal FC (@Arsenal) August 22, 2018
Third round:
Mourinho quickly puts to bed any fears over his mental state by signing 6ft 7in centre-back Jannik Vestergaard and playing him in holding midfield.
World Cup winner Erik Durm can feel unlucky at having to wait for the third wave of draft picks to end up at Wolves, but at least he’s not joining Man City to sit and watch Ederson, which is the fate that befalls Spanish goalkeeper Sergio Rico.
Liverpool’s signing of Ben Gibson is a glimpse into a dystopian future in which Roy Hodgson had never been sacked and Mohamed Salah plays left-wing back for Sunderland.
Arsenal’s signing of Yves Bissouma has Arsene Wenger’s fingerprints all over it.
Fulham- Stephan Lichsteiner, Cardiff- Calum Chambers, Wolves- Erik Durm, Southampton- Matteo Guendouzi, Huddersfield- Andre-Frank Anguissa, Brighton- Salomon Rondon, Watford- Danny Ings, West Ham- David Brooks, Bournemouth- Ryan Fredericks, Crystal Palace- Sergio Rico, Newcastle- Timothy Fosu-Mensah, Leicester- Lucas Perez, Everton- Raul Jimenez, Burnley- Jefferson Lerma, Arsenal- Yves Bissouma, Chelsea- Martin Montoya, Liverpool- Ben Gibson, Spurs- Cheikhou Kouyate, Man United- Jannik Vestegaard, Man City- Sergio Rico
You won’t be needing those shaded in Wolverhampton
Fourth round:
By this stage in the draft managers are frantically cold calling anyone who’ll pick up.
Is Fabian Schar any more worthy of going higher in the draft than Harry Arter? Probably not. Schar was just the first one to pick his phone up.
Joe Hart’s move to Cardiff has a reassuringly warm feel to it, sort of like when you go back ‘home home’ and that shit pub is still going strong, full of all the regulars.
Newcastle’s signing of Carlos Sanchez, coupled with the presence of Jonjo Shelvey, means the club don’t have to worry about accidentally topping the Fair Play table.
Fulham- Fabian Schar, Cardiff- Joe Hart, Wolves- Terrence Kongolo, Southampton- Matej Vydra, Huddersfield- Rachid Ghezzal, Brighton- Diego Dalot, Watford- Ki Sung-yueng, West Ham- Florin Andone, Bournemouth- Stuart Armstrong, Crystal Palace- Ken Sema, Newcastle- Carlos Sanchez, Leicester- Angus Gunn, Everton- Caglar Soyunucu, Burnley- Ruben Vinagre, Arsenal- Leon Balogun, Chelsea- Harry Arter, Liverpool- Jordan Ayew, Spurs- Fabri, Man United- Joe Bryan, Man City- Ramadan Sobhi
Cardiff fans took Joe Hart in as one of their own
Fifth round:
It’s time to be honest with you.
We went in with the best intentions of picking every player, analysing their strengths and weaknesses in minute detail and placing them at the appropriate club.
But by this stage in the draft it’s just not worth it.
We got a bit excited when we saw Mathieu Valbuena’s name, only to realise it was actually an uncapped Brazilian by the name of Fabian Balbuena whose start at West Ham has seen James Collins linked with a return to the London Stadium.
How do you separate Filip Benkovic and Ben Hamer? Isaac Mbenza and Joao Virginia? Vincente Guaita and Victor Camarasa? Nope, we just can’t do it.
If the NFL did transfer deadline day (it would be shit)
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Real Madrid got their La Liga campaign off to a winning start with a 2-0 victory at home to Getafe on Sunday in their first league outing since the summer departures of Cristiano Ronaldo and coach Zinedine Zidane. The European champions ensured the three points at the Santiago Bernabeu with a 20th-minute goal from Dani […]
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What are they smoking over there?
Napoli’s chief has accused Liverpool and Roma of a bizarre ownership collusion.
In a rant aimed at the two Champions League rivals, Aurelio De Laurentiis claimed the Reds’ owner John W Henry and Giallorossi chairman James Pallotta have an underhand agreement.
Napoli president Aurelio De Laurentiis came out with the bizarre conspiracy theory about Liverpool and RomaReuters
Pallotta: ‘What do you think @ADeLaurentiis is smoking over there in Naples? If he finds that little bird again, he’ll find out we also own Barca and Bayern’ 
— AS Roma English (@ASRomaEN) August 17, 2018
He said: “I always had a suspicion that the real owner of Roma is the same as Liverpool.
“And if this were the case, the two clubs should not be allowed to play in the Champions League.”
Asked how he knew that, the 69-year-old told Gazzetta Dello Sport: “A little bird told me a few years ago.”
Roma’s Twitter responded with a tongue in cheek quote from Pallotta.
James Pallotta questioned what De Laurentiis is smoking in a cheeky reply on the club’s Twitter accountEPA
Mo Salah starred for Liverpool against former club Roma in their Champions League semi-final last seasonAFP or licensors
Liverpool also signed Alisson Becker from Roma for a world record fee for a goalkeeperReuters
He said: “What do you think Aurelio De Laurentiis is smoking over there in Naples?
“If he finds that little bird again he’ll find out we also own Barca and Bayern.”
It is against Uefa rules for two Champions League clubs to have the same owners.
Liverpool signed Mo Salah from Roma for an initial £34.4million before the Egyptian went on to score 44 goals for the Reds.
John W Henry, right, has been Liverpool owner since 2010Alamy
De Laurentiis hired Carlo Ancelotti over the summer to replace Maurizio SarriCIRO DE LUCA
Then the Anfield club went back to the Serie A club to buy Alisson for a then world record fee for a goalkeeper of £67m.
The two clubs also played each other in the Champions League semi-finals last term, with Jurgen Klopp’s side triumphing 7-6 on aggregate.
Napoli hired Carlo Ancelotti over the summer after Maurizio Sarri left the club for Chelsea.
De Laurentiis made sure Sarri’s exit was as difficult as possible, forcing the West London club to come to an agreement with them over the end of the Italian’s contract first.
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And Tottenham boss Mauricio Pochettino admits he feels “sorry” for chairman Daniel Levy and fans over the sorry shambles.
The club insist they still hope their new home will be ready to host Manchester City on October 28.
Spurs chief Daniel Levy is having the mother of all nightmare over the new stadiumGetty Images
On Wednesday an online recruitment agency posted a job saying “10 electricians required for immediate start in North London on a large commercial project” on THREE-MONTH contracts.
And a source told Sunsport the agency confirmed it was for work on Tottenham’s new stadium.
Its opening has already been delayed indefinitely due to construction problems, forcing the North Londoners to switch the home games against Liverpool and Cardiff to their former temporary home at Wembley.
And Pochettino also wants to play Pep Guardiola’s City there if White Hart Lane is not ready – even though there is an NFL game at the National Stadium on that date.
The only way Spurs’ match clash can be played at Wembley that weekend is if it is switched to Monday night, which breaches the Premier League’s own ground-sharing rules.
But Pochettino, whose side host Fulham at Wembley tomorrow, has ruled out the option of playing at a THIRD venue – which also breaks rules.
Spurs fear their new ground will not be ready for three monthsAlamy Live News
He said: “If our stadium is not ready we need to find a way to play at Wembley because three stadiums in one season would be too much.
“Maybe the day after the NFL game the pitch is not in the best condition.
The new White Hart Lane’s opening has already been delayed indefinitely due to construction problemsAlamy Live News
“But we need to make the effort and try to play in the end because maybe to find another date will be difficult.
“We all feel disappointed with the announcement from the club this week.
“I feel so sorry for myself first of all, for players, fans, everyone.
“I feel sorry for the chairman – he tried with everyone to arrive on time, he made a massive effort, I feel it every day.”
Mauricio Pochettino admits he feels ‘sorry’ for Spurs fans over the shamblesReuters
Spurs’ original planned stadium opener against Liverpool on September 15 had to be scrapped after construction chiefs admitted to Levy that crucial safety systems had not yet been put in place.
Poch added: “Not having it ready for Liverpool match is massive disappointment for everyone. But most of all for Daniel.
“The first thing we can do is try to help, to be positive to adapt ourselves. But now we’re going to play at least two games more at Wembley, that is for sure.
“I hope we can finish the work in that moment and we can play in our new home. If not, we are going to give our best to win games and give good performances.
Spurs had hoped to face Liverpool next month in their new homeAlamy Live News
“This is another disappointment but we need to be all together and that this is a massive project that will be there forever.
“I understand the problems about tickets and the money, I feel sorry for the fans.
“I want to say thank you to them, apologise and try to reward them by winning games. That is the only way we can pay back all the work they have been doing for club.”
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