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Stuart Jamieson

Premier League news as Man City agree Erling Haaland deal while Conte responds to Klopp claim

Here is a round up the latest Premier League news for Tuesday, May 10.

Man City agree Haaland deal

Manchester City have agreed a deal with Borussia Dortmund to sign star striker Erling Haaland. Regarded as one of the best young talents in world football, the 21-year-old joined the Bundesliga side from RB Salzburg midway through the 2019-20 season.

There has been widespread talk of a move to City in recent months and the Premier League leaders have now confirmed a deal to sign Haaland from Dortmund. A City statement read: "Manchester City can confirm we have reached an agreement in principle with Borussia Dortmund for the transfer of striker Erling Haaland to the club on July 1 2022. The transfer remains subject to the club finalising terms with the player."

Dortmund posted an article on their website under the headline 'Erling Haaland close to move to Manchester City' but the link included did not work as thousands of fans went to read the news. City will reportedly pay the Norway international's 60million euros (£51.25million) release clause.

READ MORE: Stan Collymore hits out over treatment of Leeds United boss Jesse Marsch

Speculation linking City with Haaland had been gathering momentum in recent weeks, with reports on Monday claiming the player had already undergone a medical. Manager Pep Guardiola was reluctant to discuss the situation as he held a press conference on Tuesday to preview his side's upcoming game at Wolves, but did all but confirm a deal was imminent.

Guardiola said: "Everybody knows the situation, but I should not talk because I do not like to talk about the future, next season. At the same time I should say something, but Borussia Dortmund and Man City told me I'm not allowed to say anything until the deal is completely done, so I cannot talk. I'm sorry. We'll have time to talk."

Conte respnds to Klopp claim

Antonio Conte says Jurgen Klopp was looking for an "excuse or an alibi" when he criticised Tottenham's style of play following their 1-1 draw on Saturday. Spurs were more than worthy of their point after they put in a resilient defensive display to stop the title chasers and they could easily have left Anfield with all three points had they been more clinical in attack.

Klopp, clearly frustrated at dropping two points in the title race, said afterwards: "I don't like this kind of football, but that is my problem. I cannot coach it." Conte claimed his counterpart was trying to find excuses and should have kept his focus on his own team.

"Jurgen is an intelligent person, very clever," the Italian said. "He was a bit frustrated after the game, but at the same time for every coach it is important to learn to be focused on your team, not the opponent. It means you want to find an excuse or an alibi because your job didn't work or something was wrong.

"I have respect for Jurgen and I know he respects me a lot and this is a good chance for him and me to learn that during the game you never have to speak about your opponent. It is important to be focused on your team. Honestly, for the coach it is not simple after the game, you have to try to keep your head cool.

"Sometimes it is not easy and many times if you remember this season I was disappointed with the result and myself and my players. When we lost against Burnley if you remember I gave to myself the fault of the defeat. Sometimes we are a bit frustrated, especially at the end of the season when a bad result can change an important target for you."

Rodgers ready for reset

Leicester manager Brendan Rodgers is already looking forward to a summer reset and an overhaul of his underperforming squad. The Foxes' season effectively ended from a competitive point of view following last week's Europa Conference League semi-final loss to Roma.

City still have four Premier League fixtures to fulfil, beginning at home to relegated Norwich on Wednesday evening, and can yet secure a top-half finish. While Rodgers wants a strong end to a largely forgettable league campaign, he is also heavily invested in planning for the upcoming transfer window.

"Our notion for this season is really to finish the season as strong as we can," he said. "I'm looking forward to the summer already to reset and go again. The expectations have really increased because of the performance level over these last couple of years and of course when that increases, the disappointment increases.

"But I've always got the bigger picture of where this club was at and where we're at now and the expectations that are there. We're very focused on the summer in terms of improving the squad.

"I said it needs a healthy shake-up, which most clubs always do around this period of time. You want to keep your core players, of course, but you want to add quality. We don't have masses of money but we want to bring in players that are ready to adapt to how we want to work."

Tuchel explains extra training

Thomas Tuchel has attempted to draw his Chelsea squad tighter together after adding an extra day's training on Sunday. Tuchel cancelled the players' day off on Sunday, bringing the first-team squad into the Cobham training ground for extra sessions following the 2-2 Premier League draw with Wolves.

The German coach insisted the extra day's work was the opposite of a punishment, however, calling on the Blues to draw strength from the collective amid a run featuring just one win from five league games. Tuchel dismissed suggestions of a fallout with Marcos Alonso despite rowing with the Spanish left-back during the Wolves clash, with the 31-year-old then substituted at half-time as Chelsea switched formation.

The Blues surrendered a 2-0 second-half lead for a galling draw with Wolves, with boss Tuchel now calling on his players to close ranks. Asked about any issues with Alonso, Tuchel replied: "It started and ended in the first half, and was not continued at half-time or anything else. It was not continued at half-time, things are solved, and that happens.

"We came in on Sunday, we'd planned a free day but after the disappointment it was not even to punish them. It was normally a free day and of course maybe some felt it was a punishment but it wasn't. It's not the moment for a free day, I explained to them, it's better to be together and talk about it than to go, everybody has his own opinion and everybody has his own truth, maybe it's more risk to be in fragments than in here.

"So we did here very, very light training, just had a run together and spent time together discussing things, how we want to approach the next days. That was actually why we brought everybody together, to have the chance to be together, then a lot of players supported the under-23s on the other pitch.

"It was very nice to see and actually it was what we are, a very supportive and open-minded group of players. So that's what it felt like on Sunday, that was the Sunday morning. It was not to punish them, not do to a video session and show mistakes, it was just to be together and actually not to be in different groups and be away from each other on a free day. That's why we had everybody in."

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