The General Transfer Rumours and Speculation Thread

[milo]

I just get frustrated with all the FM boys wanting 5 random players who are good on their computer game, and happy to cast aside the far better players who we already have. And the impatience of writing off Njie and Son, but then wanting to bring in other randomers from weaker leagues who will then not be afforded time to get up to the pace and physicality of the league.

It's one thing to play human resources on speed when you are doing badly, but for the first time in 25 years we've abandoned that approach and are suddenly doing well again.

It's just like they haven't learnt anything, or understood why Poch is succeeding where his 15 predecessors failed.

No one is calling for five signings. No one is being an FM fanboy. People are discussing players that we are being linked with and in the case of Batshuayi, Poch has confirmed that we are interested in.

 

[Gutter Boy]

The best teams combine new players with development though

Make no mistake developing our own is vital but our stand out performers this season have included players brought in and performing straight away like Toby and Alli...

The reality is for where we are heading we have to take calculated risks

We also have to improve as a team

When you look at our squad we have a massive weakness of centre forward cover - as in players that actually play not centre forward, not make shift solutions. Of the games that Kane hasn't scored in this seasin we haven't won 13 of them... If 2 or 3 of them were converted into wins by having another option we would win the league!!!!

You also look at the cover for players who have been exceptional in midfield as it is a big disparity in quality like for like. Mason and Bentelab are decent players but if we want to progress we need to be looking at players who we think can be better than Dier and Dembele, not just cover.

We certainly don't have any obvious candidates coming through as a forward yet and in midfield the two I mentioned haven't progressed in comparison to the rest of the team

Add in Chadli as player who I think needs to move for the sake of his career that leaves at least 4 positions to fill with adequate level players regardless of them being signings of brought through from the youth. They need to be at roast as good and ideally Better than we have...

I don't see the disparity between Dembele and Mason. Mason has been ahead of Dembele in the pecking order for about 18 of the last 24 months, and has been injured most of the rest of the time. And Bentaleb as 4th CM is as anyone we could bring in for £20m+.

We've already got 8 senior AMs for 3 spots. Even if Chadli moves on, there's the likes of Onomah, Njie, Pritchard, and Oduwa already poised on the production line.

 

[Finney Is Back]

Ball's got about 1/10th of the talent and potential that Bentaleb does

While I agree with you that Bentaleb has a lot of talent I don't think his position is as a holding midfielder. Dier's biggest strength is his positional sense and more importantly his positional discipline. He is a natural defender who slots in and effectively plays as a third centre half as Aldereiweld and Vertonghen fan out to cover our marauding full backs. Bentaleb likes to play the game a bit further forward, I see him as the alternative to Dembele in this current Spurs team as opposed to being cover for Dier.

I also think it is churlish to judge what talent Ball does or doesn't have. We haven't seen him play for Spurs as a holding midfield player yet. If we go back even only 1 year then I doubt any of us would've thought that Dier would be where he is now.

 

[Finney Is Back]

I don't see the disparity between Dembele and Mason. Mason has been ahead of Dembele in the pecking order for about 18 of the last 24 months, and has been injured most of the rest of the time. And Bentaleb as 4th CM is as anyone we could bring in for £20m+.

We've already got 8 senior AMs for 3 spots. Even if Chadli moves on, there's the likes of Onomah, Njie, Pritchard, and Oduwa already poised on the production line.

Who are the 8 senior AMs?....

I count (in order of manager's preference): Ericksen, Alli, Lamela, Son and Chadli. That's 5. Who are the other 3? Of those you list on the production line - It seems that the club see N'Jie as a CF, I think Onomah will actually end up in the Dembele role, Pritchard I agree should be ready for our first team squad next season, but Oduwa is a LONG way down the production line.

 

[Finney Is Back]

I'm pretty confident Poch moved on the day he went all Odemwingie and showed his real (lack of) character

While it is possible that we have moved on (perhaps to Batshuyai) Berahino's situation was quite complicated. He had a manager wanting to play a game plan that Berahino wasn't really suitable for, who was completely open to selling him and in fact wanted to sell him. The player had been led to believe that he would be allowed to join us if we bid an acceptable amount and had bene encouraged to put in a transfer request to get his move, only for the chairman to dig his heels in to try to look strong (perhaps angered by Spurs firming up our interest very late in the window) The player then knew he would be on the bench for WBA in a season leading up to Euro 2016, where had he got his move he might've had a chance at making the squad.

 

[Finney Is Back]

£40m for Batahuayi has been quoted in the press all week.

It's very much a seller's market at the moment. In demand players only move for the price the selling club wants.

He's currently Marsailles' only forward. They basically need eye watering money for him to rebuild their entire squad. They want their equivalent of a Bale sale. Why on earth would they let him come to us cheap?

IMO Batshuayi will end up going for about 30 million Euros. His club are in financial trouble and while the player clearly has lots of potential he is not yet proven as one of the top strikers in Europe.

 

[Finney Is Back]

Parachuting in 5 big-wage chequebook signings would complete destroy the team spirit that our success has been built on and create totally unnecessary disruption and instability (especially when City, Chelsea and United are likely going to inflict that chaos on themselves again).

Making second rate chequebook signings is the bad-old Tottenham approach that hampered us so badly for 25 years.

Us and Leicester's starting 11s contain 20 players who were at the club last season (Kante and Alder the only summer additions). That stability has been the secret of our successes.

I don't think anyone is advocating making 5 signings. From what I have seen people are typically suggesting only 3 signings (CF cover, a CM/CH signing and an AM signing). Last season we purchased Son, Aldereiweld and N'Jie for largeish fees as well as Wimmer, Alli and Trippier for small fees. That didn't seem to ruin our team spirit or disrupt us at all. In fact it looks as though each of those signings have galvinised us, either through their presence in the first team or providing genuine competition to a first team player.

If we signed (for example) Batshuyai, Boufal and Wanyama for 60 million (which is roughly the amount that I think they would cost) all we would see is a stronger squad with more competition for first team places. We would also have 3 more players who were the choice of our manager and (one would therefore assume) players that he thinks have the right attributes both in terms of physical and mental attributes.

 

[Finney Is Back]

I just get frustrated with all the FM boys wanting 5 random players who are good on their computer game, and happy to cast aside the far better players who we already have. And the impatience of writing off Njie and Son, but then wanting to bring in other randomers from weaker leagues who will then not be afforded time to get up to the pace and physicality of the league.

It's one thing to play human resources on speed when you are doing badly, but for the first time in 25 years we've abandoned that approach and are suddenly doing well again.

It's just like they haven't learnt anything, or understood why Poch is succeeding where his 15 predecessors failed.

I think you are rewriting history on several fronts. Firstly I don't think anyone wants 5 changes to our first team. It looks as though people are talking about 3 signings to strengthen the squad. Also I don't think anyone is suggesting random players who are worse than what we already have. I don't think anybody is writing off Son or N'Jie. I think all of us expect both of those players to remain in our squad next season. It looks to me as though Chadli is most people's fall guy - and that is primarily because his lack of workrate doesn't fit Poch's pressing game. Additionally from what I can tell we aren't looking at players from weaker leagues than we signed Son and N'Jie from. It seems that our targets seem to be primarily located in France, Germany and England. 3 leagues from which players are typically able to adapt to PL football. I'm also puzzled as to why you think we have abandoned the approach of signing players. We brought in 5 last summer (6 if you include Alli coming to us for the first time after his 6 month loan to MK Dons). Of those 5/6 players we signed Alderwiereld and Alli are first team starters, Trippier, Wimmer and Son all played a decent number of games. From that it would seem that our 5/6 signings last summer have played a very large part in our improvement this year.

 

[Gutter Boy]

Who are the 8 senior AMs?....

I count (in order of manager's preference): Ericksen, Alli, Lamela, Son and Chadli. That's 5. Who are the other 3? Of those you list on the production line - It seems that the club see N'Jie as a CF, I think Onomah will actually end up in the Dembele role, Pritchard I agree should be ready for our first team squad next season, but Oduwa is a LONG way down the production line.

Alli, Eriksen, Lamela, Son, Chadli, Njie, Onomah and Pritchard were my 8. I didn't classify Oduwa as he's clearly still an academy player (cf Onomah and Pritchard).

 

[Gutter Boy]

I don't think anyone is advocating making 5 signings. From what I have seen people are typically suggesting only 3 signings (CF cover, a CM/CH signing and an AM signing). Last season we purchased Son, Aldereiweld and N'Jie for largeish fees as well as Wimmer, Alli and Trippier for small fees. That didn't seem to ruin our team spirit or disrupt us at all. In fact it looks as though each of those signings have galvinised us, either through their presence in the first team or providing genuine competition to a first team player.

If we signed (for example) Batshuyai, Boufal and Wanyama for 60 million (which is roughly the amount that I think they would cost) all we would see is a stronger squad with more competition for first team places. We would also have 3 more players who were the choice of our manager and (one would therefore assume) players that he thinks have the right attributes both in terms of physical and mental attributes.

3 signings is still too much.

We're at the stage now where we should be making 1 senior signing a year, like Ferguson did at United when they were at their most vibrant. I'd happily take 2-3 more 16-17 YOs coming into the academy each year too of course.

Remember it'll be 1 in, 1 out now; whereas the last 2 summers Poch has been dramatically cutting numbers and clearing deadwood (which we have none of left really bar Fazio and Yedlin)

I think the appointment of McDermott as DoF, rather than a wheeler-dealer like Baldini, suggests very much that that will be our approach.

 

[Finney Is Back]

Alli, Eriksen, Lamela, Son, Chadli, Njie, Onomah and Pritchard were my 8. I didn't classify Oduwa as he's clearly still an academy player (cf Onomah and Pritchard).

Ah ok.... I was confused as you quoted 8 SENIOR AMs and then mentioned 4 of them as being on the production line. Of those you mention I don't think Chadli properly fits Poch's pressing style, I think Onomah will play deeper and I also think he desperately needs a year of first team football on loan. My thoughts on our AM options currently are that we do not have anybody who can adequately replace Eriksen in the team. I suspect this is why Pochettino seems to have interest in Boufal.

 

[Finney Is Back]

3 signings is still too much.

We're at the stage now where we should be making 1 senior signing a year, like Ferguson did at United when they were at their most vibrant. I'd happily take 2-3 more 16-17 YOs coming into the academy each year too of course.

Remember it'll be 1 in, 1 out now; whereas the last 2 summers Poch has been dramatically cutting numbers and clearing deadwood (which we have none of left really bar Fazio and Yedlin)

I think the appointment of McDermott as DoF, rather than a wheeler-dealer like Baldini, suggests very much that that will be our approach.

Hmmmmm..... Last year we made 6 signings. They clearly improved us. Why are we suddenly elevated from a position where 6 signings improve us to a position where we should only be making 1 signing? The only question we need to ask (and I'm sure that Pochettino is asking) is whether there are players out there available who are better than any of our 25 in our squad. if there are and the players are deemed to have the right mentality then we should be considering trying to sign them. From Poch's recent comments (about Batshuyai and Umtiti specifically) it seems that this is exactly the sort of thing that is happening.

 

[glasgowspur]

Should we have a dead rubber game I'd like to try chadli in dembelles role. He has the physique and skill set and it makes me wonder if he could be converted a la Dier

 

[DubaiSpur]

No one is calling for five signings. No one is being an FM fanboy. People are discussing players that we are being linked with and in the case of Batshuayi, Poch has confirmed that we are interested in.

Speaking of which, Poch also confirmed that we were interested in Umtiti, which was interesting to me.A left-footed CB wasn't exactly what I figured was necessary this summer, what with Wimmer already here and CCV apparently ready to come through to fill up that fourth CB slot. I figured it would raise a bit more discussion than it has, and I wonder if there's something going on with the CBs that we're not aware of (or, alternatively, if CCV, Wimmer or Umtiti are being primed to take up the role of Dier's backup).

Also, Vorm will have two years left on his contract this summer, if I'm not mistaken. If he wants first team football, or if we want to move him on for a fee (perhaps to get around that pesky Utrecht-Swansea dispute) then this summer would see his value at its highest relative to what we could get for him next year. That would be another squad place that needs filling, whether it be via promoting McGee or signing someone. If we were looking at the signings route, Ron-Robert Zieler could be an option; his club, Hannover, have just been relegated from the Bundesliga, and he has a very low 3.5 million euro relegation release clause.He's quite consistent from what little I've seen of him: he's never made stunning wunder-saves or anything, but he's never made mistakes and his defense seems to trust him. Best part is, he's 27 (should be entering into prime goalkeeping age) and he'd qualify as a homegrown player in the PL, having spent the necessary years as a youth team player in United's academy.

If we were looking for backup to Lloris and possibly an upgrade over Vorm in that role, Zieler's one we should look at, imo.

 

[Finney Is Back]

Should we have a dead rubber game I'd like to try chadli in dembelles role. He has the physique and skill set and it makes me wonder if he could be converted a la Dier

The fact that my 10 year old niece is braver than Chadli in the tackle suggests to me that he wouldn't be suitable for this role. I don't think I have previously seen such a fantastic physical specimen be so timid on the pitch.

 

[glorygloryeze]

I wonder if Poch actually commenting on Michy Batshuayi means a deal is very close? I wonder if we feel we need to do a deal early in case he goes to the Euros and his value soars?
Alternatively, maybe Poch is sending the media on a false scent and we are actually wrapping up another deal as we speak away from the limelight?
I would be elated if we could have a striker signing confirmed before the Euros.

 

[Gazzasrightboot]

£40m for Batahuayi has been quoted in the press all week.

It's very much a seller's market at the moment. In demand players only move for the price the selling club wants.

He's currently Marsailles' only forward. They basically need eye watering money for him to rebuild their entire squad. They want their equivalent of a Bale sale. Why on earth would they let him come to us cheap?

I've not seen the £40m that you are talking about. Most have said a deal worth up to £30m with add ons, which is quite different. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/fo...chase-Marseille-star-continues-catch-eye.html

As for it being a sellers market....perhaps. I think that there are a lot of clubs that are looking to improve and that will also need to move on players and this is where I think we can take advantage. We will be an attractive option, so it may even be out of the selling clubs ability to stop their player from moving (UK EPL sides aside). I think making sweeping generalisations is just unhelpful. As ever, we will be in competition with a lot of other clubs who will be able to pay higher wages etc.... We've always managed to make signings against this backdrop. Now with us expecting to be in the CL, we are even more attractive, especially being seen as one of the clubs that has been part of a title race.

£30m inclusive of add ons seems to be an affordable fee. He's not necessarily going to be a bench warmer, and I could see Poch changing our formation for certain games to take advantage of playing two strikers, something that he has not been able to do with us.

 

[Lemonade Money]

I think the reason we signed so many players last summer, was because we wanted to get rid of a lot.
I think our squad is sorted apart from an alternative for Kane, and an alternative for Dier/Dembele. This would then allow Dier to play CH if we had two injuries to Verts/Toby/Wimmer.
It is also good to freshen up a squad, whilst also letting the players know they are out if they don't perform/conform. Hence I'd expect to see Fazio, Chadli and Bentaleb sold.
Plus we'll sign some youngsters for the development squad.

 

[Libero]

I don't see the disparity between Dembele and Mason. Mason has been ahead of Dembele in the pecking order for about 18 of the last 24 months, and has been injured most of the rest of the time. And Bentaleb as 4th CM is as anyone we could bring in for £20m+.

We've already got 8 senior AMs for 3 spots. Even if Chadli moves on, there's the likes of Onomah, Njie, Pritchard, and Oduwa already poised on the production line.

If you do not see the disparity in ability between Ryan Mason and Mousa Dembele then that is all anyone needs to know about your knowledge or therefore lack of relative to the conversation. Making statements often enough does not make them fact, no matter how many times you repeat it or ignore attempts from others to kill your outlandish claims.

Mason is not technically in competition with Dembele anyway as Mason's position throughout his time coming through at Spurs is as a number 10 where Dembele has played a few times only this season. Mason is nowhere near comparable as a DM with Dembele, its not even worth trying to discuss why that is the case, it just is.

Bentaleb may well be just as good technically as anyone we could bring in for £20m + but that is completely worthless if he doesn't buy into the philosophy of the manager, is injured all season and then decides that playing a friendly for Algeria is more important than managing his return from injury in a manner that the club deems responsible. May as well sell him and get the £20m and bring one of the youngsters through "off the production line" that you speak of.

These AMs that are being discussed, Oduwa is still a way from being able to be part of the first team squad on a regular basis. Pritchard has lost an entire season and will probably have to do a 6 month loan where he actually plays before coming back into the squad, Onomah is not really the sort of player that is required in the AM area imo, certainly not as a wide forward. That leaves N'jie who can play as a forward or AM, Chadli, Eriksen, Lamela, Alli and Son who will miss much of pre season and the start of the new season by playing for South Korea in the Olympics.

Signing another wide forward given the increased number of games we will hopefully play with a slightly bigger squad is not a bad thing to do, especially if a player of Schurrle's quality is available. Do we just pass up on buying proven quality because you feel 3 signings is now too much disruption for this squad?

 

[Bedfordspurs]

I don't see the disparity between Dembele and Mason. Mason has been ahead of Dembele in the pecking order for about 18 of the last 24 months, and has been injured most of the rest of the time. And Bentaleb as 4th CM is as anyone we could bring in for £20m+.

We've already got 8 senior AMs for 3 spots. Even if Chadli moves on, there's the likes of Onomah, Njie, Pritchard, and Oduwa already poised on the production line.

You don't see the disparity... Do you have eyes???

Dembele has been borderline world class this season. Look at the stats when he hasn't played and that's A big reason why we ain't winning the league as he is vital to us and the way we play !! I like Mason but a fit Demebele to do a fair comparison is light years ahead of Mason. Do the comparison on games played when both were actually fit and available and you will see