The General Transfer Rumours and Speculation Thread

[braineclipse]

Plus Leicester i think have put to bed the idea that you can never play 4-4-2 or can never play wth two strikers...two strikers is a good option to have to go 4-3-3, 4-4-2 or 4-1-2-1-2 (diamond)

If this was aimed at me I've not said that you can never play 4-4-2 or with two strikers.

 

[glorygloryeze]

If this was aimed at me I've not said that you can never play 4-4-2 or with two strikers.

Lol, not aimed at you at all buddy, just a general point

 

[glorygloryeze]

You fail to point out that neither Son or Njie had a proper pre season last summer, nor did Lamela when we signed him. This Tottenham habit of faffing around when buying players and not getting them has a major impact in their squad intergration

Indeed..if we confirm top 3 (as we bloody well should) they'll be no excuses for me if this happens again, at least in terms of our priority signings..

 

[braineclipse]

Indeed..if we confirm top 3 (as we bloody well should) they'll be no excuses for me if this happens again, at least in terms of our priority signings..

I quite like a slightly longer term approach.

History shows again and again that even when signing players early players often need time to settle in. The players we should expect to up their game from the start of next season are players like Son, Clinton and perhaps even some of our young players that are now established but still have a lot of potential. Perhaps Lamela can up his goal scoring total, Rose can improve his final ball or Walker can weed out even more of his poor moments.

Then the players we sign this summer are not expected to make an immediate impact. Of course a great bonus if they do, but we don't have to rely on that. Our strategy really shouldn't be to rely on players making an immediate impact because it's a strategy that fails time and time again.

Let's instead focus on finding the right players with the right attitude and the right attributes that will develop into our team and improve and a couple of years down the line can be dominant. If that takes some time this summer, if that means waiting until after the European Championship or waiting on a bigger team to finish their business then so be it. Because that's the strategy we've succeeded with thus far. Then you get the bonus of an immediate impact when everything lines up just right.

 

[Gutter Boy]

Ok, so who would you suggest instead of Batshuayi to do that?

I still like the sound of Dembele from Fulham. I think he could be another Alli or Dier - an under-the-radar one who contributes more and quicker than expected.

 

[Gutter Boy]

Poor example, they have 3 world class forwards up front

But play 4-3-3. It's a big drop in quality any time one of their main 3 misses.

 

[NaijaSpurs]

What are the examples of the big time mentality club with top class strikers sitting on the bench ready to step in when the first choice gets injured? Must surely be plenty of those examples around for you to choose from...

This thing is they may not always have top strikers on th ebench but often clubs buy players they think will be top strikers for them

My point is Emirates Marketing Project not having quality backup (despite spending over £28m on Bony) for the best striker in the league is a major factor why they were not major challengers this season

Anthony Martial is definitely not the finished article but the Mancs thought so much of him that they were willing to splash big money (rising up to over £50m) on him even though Rooney had been there main striker

Sure it did not work out but the Scousers splashed the cash on Benteke (£30m) with Ings and Origi on their books even though they had Sturridge

Chelsea have just one half decent striker and we can see how injuries and suspension costs them this season

 

[braineclipse]

Poor example, they have 3 world class forwards up front

In their system they have world class players for each of the 3 attacking positions. Either one of those goes out and they suffer a big drop in quality.

For our system we have great players for each of our "4 attacking positions" in Kane, Eriksen, Alli and Lamela. Either one of those goes out we suffer a drop in quality.

People are talking about having players on the bench to make an impact, the Barcelona comparison isn't perfect but it's not poor either. Real are in a similar position, as are Emirates Marketing Project, Chelsea, Dortmund, Arsenal and many others. Perhaps you can argue that United and Liverpool are not, but that's because they've been such a mess they have no idea who their best players actually are.

 

[glorygloryeze]

I quite like a slightly longer term approach.

History shows again and again that even when signing players early players often need time to settle in. The players we should expect to up their game from the start of next season are players like Son, Clinton and perhaps even some of our young players that are now established but still have a lot of potential. Perhaps Lamela can up his goal scoring total, Rose can improve his final ball or Walker can weed out even more of his poor moments.

Then the players we sign this summer are not expected to make an immediate impact. Of course a great bonus if they do, but we don't have to rely on that. Our strategy really shouldn't be to rely on players making an immediate impact because it's a strategy that fails time and time again.

Let's instead focus on finding the right players with the right attitude and the right attributes that will develop into our team and improve and a couple of years down the line can be dominant. If that takes some time this summer, if that means waiting until after the European Championship or waiting on a bigger team to finish their business then so be it. Because that's the strategy we've succeeded with thus far. Then you get the bonus of an immediate impact when everything lines up just right.

That's a fair point re existing players improving so as not to put too much pressure on new players.
However, i would assume that we have already been doing our scouting for a while and i can't believe that we don't already have one or two forward targets that we are close to tying a deal with, esp now with minimum 6 CL games in the bag (more or less).
Lack of CL probably cost us (in the end) on securing the likes of Martial, Schneiderlin, Depay, Kramer etc last summer. I'm sure there are targets right now that the club have been tracking a while. It'd be good if a CF amongst those can be signed so they get used to Poch's training methods etc earlier to give them the ebst chance of benefitting us earlier in what will be a busy more competitive schedule next year.

 

[Gutter Boy]

Indeed..if we confirm top 3 (as we bloody well should) they'll be no excuses for me if this happens again, at least in terms of our priority signings..

85% of all transfers happen in the last fortnight of August. It's a myth that it's just us.

There will be little activity early on because of the Euros and then holidays; while a lot of players will hang on late in case the wages of City/Chelsea/United overhauls' comes calling.

 

[NaijaSpurs]

But play 4-3-3. It's a big drop in quality any time one of their main 3 misses.

You obviously were not paying attention earlier this season when Messi was out for 2 months and Suarez and Neymar were on scorching form and so Barca did not miss him at all when he was out. In fact why Messi was out Barca actually stretched their lead at the top of the table

 

[Gutter Boy]

This thing is they may not always have top strikers on th ebench but often clubs buy players they think will be top strikers for them

My point is Emirates Marketing Project not having quality backup (despite spending over £28m on Bony) for the best striker in the league is a major factor why they were not major challengers this season

Anthony Martial is definitely not the finished article but the Mancs thought so much of him that they were willing to splash big money (rising up to over £50m) on him even though Rooney had been there main striker

Sure it did not work out but the Scousers splashed the cash on Benteke (£30m) with Ings and Origi on their books even though they had Sturridge

Chelsea have just one half decent striker and we can see how injuries and suspension costs them this season

And all of them have poisonous and divided dressing rooms, compared to the unity and spirit of ours (and Leicester's).

 

[glorygloryeze]

And all of them have poisonous and divided dressing rooms, compared to the unity and spirit of ours (and Leicester's).

I guess you could say that for Emirates Marketing Project, Man Utd and Chelski.
But why do you say that for Liverpool?

 

[braineclipse]

This thing is they may not always have top strikers on th ebench but often clubs buy players they think will be top strikers for them

My point is Emirates Marketing Project not having quality backup (despite spending over £28m on Bony) for the best striker in the league is a major factor why they were not major challengers this season

Anthony Martial is definitely not the finished article but the Mancs thought so much of him that they were willing to splash big money (rising up to over £50m) on him even though Rooney had been there main striker

Sure it did not work out but the Scousers splashed the cash on Benteke (£30m) with Ings and Origi on their books even though they had Sturridge

Chelsea have just one half decent striker and we can see how injuries and suspension costs them this season

All of these examples of it not working isn't a cause for concern? Doesn't it seem like signing a big money striker as a "backup" with him and everyone else knowing that he's a backup has some inherent problems? You say Chelsea only have one half decent striker, but it's not for a lacking of spending money on strikers! Doesn't it seem that even in situations where two strikers are competing for being first choice when one of them pushes on to a Kane level of excellence the other almost always struggles and is eventually shipped out as a "failure".

Do we want to take part in a Emirates Marketing Project like merry-go-round of expensive backup strikers coming and going because that's the big club mentality?

To me it makes at least as much sense to say Kane is our first choice striker and will remain so, no need to try to sign someone as good as him. If he gets injured it will be a big blow, it's not the kind of blow we can completely prevent. Let's instead sign someone who will be happy in their role as Kane's backup, someone with potential, someone who can develop. Someone who ideally if Kane at some points decides to play for Real Madrid or Barcelona might just ideally have stepped up meanwhile to the point of being able to take over.

It's a cheaper solution (allowing us to spend our money elsewhere) and it's not an inherently worse solution in my opinion.

 

[NaijaSpurs]

I still like the sound of Dembele from Fulham. I think he could be another Alli or Dier - an under-the-radar one who contributes more and quicker than expected.

To be honest I have no idea how good Moussa Dembélé is because I simply have not seen Fulham play in a while so I cannot really comment on his ability.

 

[Gutter Boy]

I guess you could say that for Emirates Marketing Project, Man Utd and Chelski.
But why do you say that for Liverpool?

Liverpool are where we were 12-18 months ago.

Klopp will now have a massive clear-out, almost halve the squad size, and promote some of Inglethorpe's protegees. But they are still at the Paulinho, Ade and Chiriches hanging around and holding them back stage.

 

[braineclipse]

For all of City's big money spending on striker after striker after striker and only ending up with one truly top quality striker in Aguero what has actually worked out for them as an option up front is a youngster signed for their academy in Iheanacho.

I don't get why a similar approach for us, a club with an actual history of succeeding with developing young players, isn't a decent idea.

 

[NaijaSpurs]

All of these examples of it not working isn't a cause for concern? Doesn't it seem like signing a big money striker as a "backup" with him and everyone else knowing that he's a backup has some inherent problems? You say Chelsea only have one half decent striker, but it's not for a lacking of spending money on strikers! Doesn't it seem that even in situations where two strikers are competing for being first choice when one of them pushes on to a Kane level of excellence the other almost always struggles and is eventually shipped out as a "failure".

Do we want to take part in a Emirates Marketing Project like merry-go-round of expensive backup strikers coming and going because that's the big club mentality?

To me it makes at least as much sense to say Kane is our first choice striker and will remain so, no need to try to sign someone as good as him. If he gets injured it will be a big blow, it's not the kind of blow we can completely prevent. Let's instead sign someone who will be happy in their role as Kane's backup, someone with potential, someone who can develop. Someone who ideally if Kane at some points decides to play for Real Madrid or Barcelona might just ideally have stepped up meanwhile to the point of being able to take over.

It's a cheaper solution (allowing us to spend our money elsewhere) and it's not an inherently worse solution in my opinion.

No, because Potch has indicated that with the right players he would consider playing up front, the simple case is Potch has never had 2 decent strikers at Spurs.

I was also concerned there were a few times this season when Kane was not on his game we had nothing.

 

[glorygloryeze]

I still like the sound of Dembele from Fulham. I think he could be another Alli or Dier - an under-the-radar one who contributes more and quicker than expected.

We did well with Alli and have been lucky that he has shone so soon; thanks to Poch's coaching and our scouting research.
Poch/the scouting have identifeid both players - What makes you think Dembele will have a greater impact than Batshuayi (forgetting the difference in the transfer fees)?

 

[Gutter Boy]

For all of City's big money spending on striker after striker after striker and only ending up with one truly top quality striker in Aguero what has actually worked out for them as an option up front is a youngster signed for their academy in Iheanacho.

I don't get why a similar approach for us, a club with an actual history of succeeding with developing young players, isn't a decent idea.

But that's not exotic, and people need to be entertained between June and August

Second tier chequebook signing has been failing us for 25 years, yet people still want that over the recently very successful Dier/Alli/Wimmer route.