Dele Alli signs new six-year contract with Tottenham Hotspur

The Tottenham midfielder Dele Alli has signed a new six-year contract, the club have announced.

Alli joined Spurs from MK Dons in February 2015 and his new deal at White Hart Lane will run until 2022. The 20-year-old has managed 11 goals and nine assists in his 38 Premier League appearances for Mauricio Pochettino’s side.

He follows fellow first-team players Christian Eriksen, Eric Dier, Tom Carroll and Harry Winks, who have all extended their contracts in the last month.

“I’m happy to be here and playing at Tottenham,” Alli stated on the club’s Twitter account. “Personally I can’t think of anywhere better, with the fans, the manager we’ve got here and the young team. It’s a great place to be.”

Alli has enjoyed a remarkable rise to prominence since making his Tottenham debut from the bench against Manchester United in August 2015. Scoring 10 goals in 46 appearances across all competitions last season, he played a key role in helping Spurs to finish third and qualify for the Champions League.

Last September Alli started for the first time for Spurs away against Sunderland, and added: “I remember that game, I didn’t expect to play as quickly as I did and make an impact in the team,” he said. “It’s happened so quickly, starting at Tottenham, playing for England … it’s been a crazy year for me and there are so many people I have to thank.

“I’m happy to be at this club and I can’t thank the manager and all the staff enough for everything they’ve done for me, and the fans, they’ve been right behind me since I signed. Hopefully there are a lot of good times to come.”

Alli’s performances in the 2015-16 campaign earned him the PFA young player of the year award and he was also named in the PFA Premier League team of the year. He won his first England cap against Estonia in October and later a place in Roy Hodgson’s final squad for Euro 2016, although he struggled to find his best form. He has earned 12 caps in total and scored one goal, an excellent long-range shot against France in a friendly at Wembley in November.

This season he has played in all five of Tottenham’s Premier League matches and scored once, in a 4-0 win at Stoke earlier this month. “I have to keep trying to improve,” said the player. “I can’t get carried away, I have to keep trying to make each year better than the last. This will be a tough year to top but hopefully I can do it.

“I’ve tried to grow up. I’ve got great people around me to help keep my feet on the ground and I’ll keep working hard on my football and keep trying to improve.”

Chinese consortium want Hull takeover to make it 'strongest in England'

The Chinese consortium keen on buying Hull City are still interested in the club and want to make it one of the best in the country.

The club announced in July that takeover talks would be put on hold until after the transfer window had closed in September, after initially opening talks with several interested parties in May.

Representatives of a Chinese consortium watched Hull's opening-day win against Leicester at the KCOM Stadium and it has been reported that current owners the Allam family will sell to a brother and sister partnership of Dai Yongge and Dai Xin Li.

"We have a Chinese club and many years of football experience," Li told the Daily Mail. "We have a love for the game and we want to learn about European football and share the passion of the Premier League.

"We still want Hull City and our ambition is to build the club and make it one of the strongest in England."

The club was put up for sale in 2014 after the FA rejected chairman Assem Allam's bid to change their name to Hull Tigers, a move which was vehemently opposed by the majority of Hull's fans.

The Allam family have since come under increasing pressure from supporters, whose discontent with how the club was being run reached new heights following the departure of former manager Steve Bruce in July.

Bruce had grown increasingly frustrated at the lack of new signings after Hull had won promotion back to the top flight in May and had expressed doubts about his future before Hull's playoff final win against Sheffield Wednesday.

England U21s 6-1 Norway U21s: Marcus Rashford nets hat-trick on debut

Marcus Rashford scored a hat-trick on his England Under-21 debut as Gareth Southgate's side saw off Norway Under-21s 6-1 in their Euro 2017 Qualifier in Colchester.

Manchester United star, Rashford, scored against the run of play with a neat finish inside the area in the first half, meaning he has now scored on both his senior debut and Under-21 debut for England.

Chelsea's Nathaniel Chalobah added a second moments later with a volley from six yards, before his club team-mate Ruben Loftus-Cheek swept home a fine third.

Rashford's deflected effort then looped into the top corner on 66 minutes, and though Ghayas Zahid grabbed a headed consolation, the 18-year-old completed his hat-trick with a penalty moments later.

Lewis Baker, on loan at Vitesse from Chelsea, hooked home a sixth late on, and the result means England go back to top spot in Group 9 with two games remaining, two points ahead of second-place Switzerland.

Rashford, 18, was making his first start for England Under-21s, while Real Madrid's Martin Odegaard started for the opposition at the Weston Homes Community Stadium.

Norway started the brightest, forcing Angus Gunn into a string of early saves. First, Mohamed Elyounoussi was denied at the near post as Gunn beat away his fierce effort, before the Manchester City stopper was at it again, denying the same player with a fine save to his right from an effort inside the area.

Moments later Gunn was at his best to deny Iver Fossum, whose near post header from Odegaard's cross was parried away at point-blank range.

Despite their early dominance, Norway were behind just before the half-hour mark. Rashford, racing on to a deflected through ball from Chalobah, poked the ball past Sondre Rossbach into the bottom right corner from inside the area.

It was 2-0 eight minutes before the break, Chalobah volleying home from close range for his first Under-21 goal after James Ward-Prowse's sumptuous free-kick from the right.

Rashford was denied at close range by Rossbach after the break, before Loftus-Cheek got the goal his performance deserved on 64 minutes, curling home into the bottom corner from Nathan Redmond's square ball to start a period of four goals in eight minutes.

Rashford got his second and England's fourth two minutes later, seeing his effort from inside the area deflect and curl into the top corner, before Norway substitute Zahid headed in a neat consolation at the near post.

England were awarded a penalty on 72 minutes as Rashford's cross was handled by Thomas Grogaard, and usual penalty taker Ward-Prowse stepped aside to allow him to convert for his third goal of the game.

Redmond hit the post later in the half with a left-footed drive from 30 yards, and Baker completed the rout with four minutes remaining, directing Ward-Prowse's corner into the bottom right corner with a fine finish.

Wayne Rooney ‘played wherever he wanted to’ – Allardyce

Sam Allardyce praised Wayne Rooney’s performance after he played in a deeper role in England’s 1-0 World Cup qualifying win in Slovakia.

Rooney, 30, was expected to play as a No. 10 behind Harry Kane but spent much of the game in midfield. Allardyce admitted his surprise that Rooney had not played further forward, but insisted his captain was “brilliant.”

“Today Wayne played wherever he wanted to,” Allardyce said after his first match in charge. “He was brilliant and controlled midfield. I can’t stop Wayne playing there.

“I think that he holds a lot more experience at international football than me as an international manager.

“Yes he played a bit deeper than he does at United, but Wayne’s comfortable, when I talk to him, about the position.

“This is the most decorated outfield player in England. He’s won everything at Man United, more or less, and at Champions League and domestic level.

“Using his experience with a team, and playing as a team member, it’s not for me to say where he’s going to play. It’s up to me to ask whether he’s doing well in that position, and contributing.

“If so, great. We’d like to get him into goal-scoring positions more. He’s been a goalscorer all his life and I want him to do that again, but he reads a game as he reads it. He read it very well, we won the game and dominated the game, outplaying the opposition.

“I must admit, he did play a little deeper than I thought he’d play today, but I was pleased with his performance.”

Adam Lallana scored his first goal at senior international level at the fifth added minute after England dominated the game throughout but couldn't find the back of the net.

England boss Sam Allardyce keen on recruiting foreign-born players

Sam Allardyce says he remains keen to consider any player eligible for England regardless of whether they only qualify through residency.

Allardyce has already confirmed that he had explored the possibility of calling up Sevilla midfielder Steven N’Zonzi, who spent six years in England with Stoke City and Blackburn Rovers, only to discover he was ineligible after having represented his homeland, France, at under-21 level.

Fabio Capello had previously made an attempt to secure Spanish midfielder Mikel Arteta’s services, which foundered for the same reason, and Allardyce said the Football Association has a department actively exploring potential options for new recruits.

The new England boss told reporters: “Do you pick the best squad to win the World Cup, and if one or two of those are like N’Zonzi, do you do it? Or don’t you? And then you suffer the consequences of not winning it or not getting to the quarterfinal and failure, so if that player is top quality…

“Cricket do it, don’t they? Rugby do it, athletics do it. It’s not happening anyway so we can cover that again if it does.

“It’s not my department to find those. We have a department to look at the whole situation at all areas for every international team.”

As Allardyce has highlighted, the England cricket team has regularly used foreign-born players such as Eoin Morgan and the rugby union side has players including Manu Tuilagi.

The football team has included players born outside England but has so far focused on those who moved to the country in their youth, like Jamaicans John Barnes and Raheem Sterling, or have English parents, like Owen Hargreaves.

Other nations have brought in naturalised players, including Spain’s Marcos Senna and Diego Costa and Portugal’s Deco and Pepe, while Italy have a long history of using “oriundo.”

Allardyce said naturalising foreign players “happens in all the other countries” and pointed to “the shortage of English players in the Premier League,” adding: “I think it is only 31 percent, and if those don’t play on a regular basis, surely if you are going to win something and that player is of the calibre to force his way into that side then you give him a chance.

“It’s a very delicate subject. I’ll have to see if I actually do it one day how it’s perceived across the nation. If he goes out and scores the winner, will it be quite that bad?”

England have endured a long period of disappointment at international level, and the criticism of the players’ efforts at Euro 2016 has persisted due to the contrast with Great Britain’s success at the Olympic Games, where only United States collected more gold medals.

Allardyce said: “I think that we all come under scrutiny in football terms, particularly after the Olympics, about what is our identity? The Olympians have got great credit for what they’ve done and achieved again, so what do we take from that to make our identity?

“For me it’s about going out and the players showing not just how passionate they are, but how skilful they are at international level.”

The 61-year-old former Bolton, Blackburn, West Ham and Sunderland boss said he was viewing the England job as “the final challenge of a long career” and that he would “leave no stone unturned, to give them [the players] all the capabilities and possibilities physically, technically, tactically and mentally to cope with what’s coming their way.”

He added: “That’s the greatest challenge of all for me. Having conquered — if you like — the Premier League for so long with so many different clubs, this challenge is a much wider scope and much more challenging, but for me much more exciting.”

Sex offences rise threefold in schools

The number of sex offences in schools reported to police has almost trebled in four years, a study has shown.

Ten sexual offences on school premises are reported to police in England and Wales on average each school day, according to figures compiled by Plan International, a children’s charity.

The number of allegations rose from 719 in 2011-12 to 1,955 in 2014-15 in what the NSPCC has called a “very worrying trend”.

Girls were the victims in two-thirds of cases, and children as young as five were recorded carrying out assaults.

Lucy Russell, UK manager of girls’ rights campaigning at Plan International, said cases involving very young children were rare.

The most frequent alleged offenders were other pupils, who were identified as the suspects in 29 per cent of the cases, while teachers and other staff were the suspects in 15 per cent.

Russell said girls may be underreporting sexual offences. “Girls experience everyday harassment – unwanted touching, groping, name-calling – that goes on day-to-day,” Russell said. The incidents that get reported to the police are often a “culmination of months and months of activity” and girls are often expected to put up with or laugh off problematic behaviour, she added.

In April, MPs on the women and equalities committee launched an inquiry into sexual violence and harassment in schools  following research involving 300 school and college pupilss. This also found that many incidents go unreported and some incidents are “brushed off” by teachers because of the young age of those involved.

The charity requested figures under the Freedom of Information Act for arrests for rape and all other sexual crimes in schools from all 45 UK police forces for each of the last four years. Police  Scotland declined the request and 10 other police forces did not respond, so the true numbers may be higher.

Russell says there is a lack of clarity about how sexual offences are recorded by police, with everything from unwanted touching to rape included in the figures.

Last year an investigation by the BBC found that more than 5,500 allegations of sexual offences in schools had been reported in the previous three years, including 600 rapes.

The rising numbers of sex crimes being reported could be partly due to better reporting of incidents when they occur, Russell said. “Certainly we think there’s an improvement in police reporting and recording, and we think it does sound like young people are reporting more of what they’re not happy with, and that’s a positive thing,” she said.

But the steep nationwide increase hinted that other factors could be in play. “There is an indication that the very heavily sexualised messages that children are getting from online pornography and sexualised videos is impacting on their behaviour, and it is changing the expectations they have around their relationships,” Russell said.

An NSPCC spokesman said: “It is deeply concerning that over the last few years thousands of young people have made allegations of sexual offences committed against them in school, a place that should be a sanctuary for children where they are safe from such horrors.

“The rise in reporting to police reflects a very worrying trend which should make all authorities and parents sit up and take notice and then redouble their efforts to keep children safe from sexual abuse, both inside and outside of school.”

A Department for Education spokesman said such reports were rare but added: “Any offence must be reported to the police. No young person should feel unsafe or suffer harassment in any circumstance.”

Plan International is calling for mandatory sex education in all schools to help tackle sexual harassment and violence.

A Department for Education spokesman said: “Sex and relationship education is already compulsory in all maintained secondary schools and many academies and free schools teach it as part of the curriculum. We are looking at all options to raise the quality of personal, social and health education teaching.”

Government initiatives have included a healthy relationships campaign, Disrespect Nobody , that has received nearly £4m of government funding. But Russell said the education that is delivered is failing to tackle issues such as gender equality, consent, and online behaviour such as sexting. She said it is “miles behind and it’s just not fit for purpose”.

Juan Mata's Blog: The Theatre of Dreams never disappoints

Hi everyone,

Once again I’m writing to you after a good week, when we have been working well to get another victory. Last Friday’s win was special, not only because we played on a Friday night, which is quite unusual when you are involved in a European competition, but also because it was the first official game in Old Trafford this season. As you can imagine, the atmosphere lived up to the expectations. Once again we could feel the support of the crowd; it is vital if we want to make of every game in Old Trafford a special day. It is also vital, in my opinion, to generate that ‘chemistry’ with our fans in order to make of our stadium a very tough place for the other teams.

We played a solid game against Southampton to get the second win out of two games in the Premiership. It’s still August and that means we are still working on a few adjustments. We know there’s still room for improvement. We are laying the foundations of the team for this season and, you know, those wins help us to create an optimistic atmosphere and make things go well. Last Friday we deserved the three points. The only bad news was my friend Oriol Romeu’s injury, luckily it’s nothing serious. It’s always a pleasure to see you again, Ori, you are a phenomenal player and one of the best persons I’ve ever met in the world of football.

We have a tough game ahead on Saturday at Hull City. It’s never easy and they are one of the four teams that have won the first two games this season. They are back in the Premier League this year and are having a surprising start. We will try to win and keep our good streak.

La Liga kicked off in Spain this weekend. Barcelona played an impressive game and defeated Betis with yet another great game from Messi. If he starts the season like this it’s not easy to foresee how far is he going to get. Real Madrid also won in Anoeta with two goals from Bale and one from Asensio (this guy is very talented). It was also the first week in the Second Division. Unfortunately, Real Oviedo lost in Valladolid but we all have hopes in this project. Michu has been the latest addition to the team and I’m really happy for the club but also for him, because he’s been very unlucky with injuries. I hope he can help the team go back to the First Division! Good luck, ‘crack’.

Lastly, I’d like to say something about the Olympic Games in Rio, that are now over. It’s been great to enjoy so many sports during these two weeks, I really love the Games. Congratulations to all the participants and specially to the Spanish medallists. They have made history again and have produced exciting and unforgettable moments. You guys are great! The effort and sacrifice of all the competitors is commendable. Aside from medals or diplomas, the feeling of being part of the Games is really worth it, I know that from my own experience! But the true champions have been the #TeamRefugees in their first Olympic Games. You are the true winners and deserve a big applause!

Have a nice week. Hugs,