I honestly don't know enough about Stambouli to comment on him specifically. I don't even know if he's considered an option to Schneiderlin. Personally I think considering Bentaleb as a first choice midfielder is a potential different solution to some of our central midfield problems and someone, perhaps Stambouli, to come in as an option in midfield to allow for Bentaleb to get rotated and rested at times could be a smart move.
It could be that he sees the price as not excessive at all. Not knowing for sure what we've actually bid (and had rejected) and not having heard anything from Poch on this. Surely you realize just how speculative this is? Are you really comfortable having a go at Levy to this extent (accusing Levy of forcing players onto Poch and of not backing his manager) based on something so speculative?
Out of curiosity which "all accounts" leaves us with a large surplus from our previous dealings?
Final question. Do you think Pochettino when taking the job expected us to go after a target like Schneiderlin beyond a "reasonable fee"? To forget thinking about making good value deals and just pursue Schneiderlin until Southampton caved the way Real Madrid, Emirates Marketing Project and Man United (now) pursue their targets (although at a somewhat smaller level of course)?
In reply to your first point, it is entirely possible to rotate Bentaleb into and out of the side based on our opposition: indeed, I think it should be done regardless of whether we actually bring in Schneiderlin or not. But he can't start against teams like Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal, and he won't be able to for a long time: for that, we need a stronger, more reliable solution, and that's where the Stambouli/Schneiderlin distinction comes into the picture.
Regarding your second point, I've learned from hard experience (and, I suspect, most of the posters here have learned through hard experience) that any and all managers deserve time to put their plans into place, quite a bit of time. And with Poch, I feel we've got a potentially amazing manager on our hands: though I advocated for LvG all through the summer, he's really impressed me with his ideas and demeanour, and I think he'll shine given time. The problem is, hard experience with Levy has taught me that very often, managers are given neither the time nor the real backing (in terms of the players they want or ask for, no matter how unreasonable those requests may be) to make some history at WHL. For a variety of reasons (our financial constraints, our impatient fans, and yes, Levy's reluctance to spend money on signings he doesn't see as value for money deals) managers are very rarely given the players they really want, at least in recent history. Now, that alone is acceptable. But when combined with the lack of flexibility in the timescale afforded to them to deliver success (naturally, a manager without his first choice targets will take longer to deliver), it leads to an unwinnable solution for any coach that rocks up at the Lane: he is asked to build a winning team on a budget, within a timescale that even lavishly-backed managers would find somewhat demanding. Now, that's not entirely Levy's fault: like I said, we as fans are quite impatient - but it is majorly a product of the chairman's handling of the club over the past few years, and the most prominent display of that was last December, when Levy's curt demand for more playing time for Ade prompted AVB to finally send his resignation in.
I don't want Poch to fall into that quagmire: I think too highly of him for that. Ergo, I want one of two things: either Levy backs his man with the players he really wants (or at least ,one key player that he finds essential) or he affords his man more time than usual to get his project right. I don't trust him to do the latter: can you blame me, considering that I don't even trust myself to refrain from judging him throughout this season? Ergo, I really want him to do the former. Now, I haven't seen much evidence of that happening. I haven't seen evidence of the players we've gotten so far being forced down Poch's throat either: overall, it's been a fairly neutral summer on the 'rumors of discontent' front. But objectively, based on past evidence (mainly AVB's tenure and the Moutinho saga), which is the only solid evidence we have to go on....what conclusion would you come to? All the talk about AVB having players forced on him and of him being unhappy with our failure to close the Moutinho deal, that hasn't at least aroused your suspicions about this Schneiderlin saga?
Regarding your third point, a check with Transfermarkt should satisfy your curiosity on the subject: we made a profit last year, a large profit in 2011-2012, and given the imminent outgoings tomorrow will have broken even on this year's spending at the very least. There is excess money left lying around, especially considering the new TV rights deal kicking in (the money from which we thought would be spent last season but is yet to be seen) and our deal with AIA. That's where my confidence comes from, plus the numerous articles at the start of the summer detailing Poch's transfer kitty from the Guardian, the BBC and the Telegraph (
http://www.theguardian.com/football/2014/may/27/mauricio-pochettino-new-tottenham-manager).
Finally, I think Poch expected us to try to get Schneiderlin at a reasonable fee. However, I believe that given his importance to Poch's style of play at St.Mary's and Poch's previous breaking of Southampton's transfer record when signing Dani Osvaldo, another old boy of his....I believe that given those things, Poch's idea of what a reasonable effort and fee to secure Schneiderlin is differs substantially from what Levy and Baldini consider to be truly 'reasonable'. All conjecture, but again, based on past evidence, whereas conjecture that indicates that Poch is happy with our (imo) lacklustre efforts to sign Schneiderlin is lacking a real substantive basis, imo.
Overall, you have to understand that a lot of fans, me included, are nervous about whether Poch will be given the 'backing' he needs to succeed here. I've referred to it repeatedly over the past day or so, but in my mind, backing is more than just financial: it's trust in a manager's vision for a side, faith in his eye for a player and a willingness to do what it takes to make his vision of football at Spurs a reality. While that may all well be the case at Spurs at present, will it last through the first real bad period Poch goes through? I'm not sure it really will given our painful recent history. And that's why I'm so desperate for us to sign Schneiderlin: at the very least, that signing would afford him a better tool to use when building Spurs than a player he doesn't know like Stambouli, and could in the end be the difference between Poch succeeding or failing here at WHL. If he still manages to succeed using a Stambouli instead of a Schneiderlin, great: but I'm a bit wary of taking that chance and letting him try to do so. Please understand that point.
