Leighton Baines please.
Shouldn't be too over-priced either with Everton's money troubles!
He will be ridiculously over priced
Leighton Baines please.
Shouldn't be too over-priced either with Everton's money troubles!
I really do think we should look at bringing in a Mata, Silva, Cazorla, type midfielder who can nit things together for us and add a different dimension of quality alongside another speedster as a backup, whether that be Townsend or not.
Andros Townsend has become a transfer target for Swansea thanks to his strong performances on loan at Queens Park Rangers in the second half of the season.
The Tottenham winger has caught the eye for QPR since moving on a temporary basis last January, even though the club are likely to drop into the Championship at the end of the campaign, and will return to White Hart Lane with his reputation enhanced.
Swansea have been monitoring the situation closely and Standard Sport understands they are considering a £5million summer offer for Townsend, who is not among the top earners at Spurs and is under contract until the end of 2016. The highest earner at Swansea is thought to be the Spanish forward Michu, who signed a new contract worth a basic £30,000 per week earlier in the campaign.
Townsend has made nine appearances under Harry Redknapp, who knew the player from his time as Tottenham manager, and has scored two goals. The spell at Rangers is Townsend’s ninth loan stint since he signed a professional deal at Spurs but the first at a club in the Premier League.
The Swans’ tactics allowed wide players to flourish when they were promoted to the top division under Brendan Rodgers in 2011, and wingers have continued to enjoy life under Rodgers’s successor, Michael Laudrup. The Dane favours a 4-2-3-1 system, with plenty of attacking freedom granted to the wide men.
After Scott Sinclair earned a move to Emirates Marketing Project last summer, Nathan Dyer, Wayne Routledge and Pablo Hernandez have been influential performers at the Liberty Stadium.
Swansea believe Townsend, who is left-footed but can play on either flank, would have similar success if he moved to south Wales.
West Brom also showed an interest in Townsend a year ago but at the time there were doubts about the winger’s ability to perform in the Premier League, in which he made his debut only last September. The 21-year-old did not start his first game in the competition until he moved to QPR. It is thought Townsend would prefer to stay at Spurs but he will seek assurances about the club’s plans for him when he goes back at the end of the season. Townsend is thought to be highly regarded by Spurs chairman Daniel Levy but has yet to have a sustained run in the first team.
He has made 18 appearances since making his debut against Charlton in the FA Cup in January 2011. Townsend may consider his options if he is not satisfied that he would play regularly next season. There are parallels with Steven Caulker, another England Under-21 international, who proved himself in the top flight during a loan spell at Swansea last season.
Caulker returned to Spurs last summer and was given his chance by head coach Andre Villas-Boas. The centre-back has made 27 first-team appearances this year, gaining full England honours, and is the leading light of a generation of home-grown players also featuring Townsend and 20-year-old midfielder Tom Carroll. Spurs do not want to lose Townsend but if they see no clear route to the first team for him, they might decide to cash in on a player whose stock has risen.
In an interview with Standard Sport in February, shortly after joining QPR, Townsend said: “It’s hard at Tottenham because you have to compete with players from across Europe. We know how tough it’s going to be but we’ve all been given chances. It’s up to us to take them.
“[The move to QPR] is my big chance to show what I can do. Andre Villas-Boas has told me that he doesn’t want to sell me and that I’m in his plans for the future.”
“He called me on deadline day to wish me luck at QPR, which was encouraging. I’m confident I can eventually break into the Tottenham team.”
http://www.standard.co.uk/sport/football/swansea-plan-5m-andros-townsend-swoop-after-winger-takes-off-at-qpr-8574548.html
Good. Selling him would be rather stupid considering his impressive form this season.
With Bale coming inside, a trio of Townsend/Bale/Lennon in front of Dembele and Sandro sounds good to me. Imagine those three running at you. You'd brick yourself.
I too have been thinking how deadly that trio would be on the break! Especially with Sandro and Dembele being an excellent duo defensively... we could be an even better counter-attacking team than we have been this season.
I too have been thinking how deadly that trio would be on the break! Especially with Sandro and Dembele being an excellent duo defensively... we could be an even better counter-attacking team than we have been this season.
I think AVB did a big mistake in letting Townsend go out on loan. At times we badly needed a player like Townsend in midfield, especially when Lennon was out injured. Our team shape was badly affected whenever Lennon was out. We could have used Townsend as a direct replacement for Lennon during those times.
No question he is a very special talent. I remember his debut game for us in the 3rd round of the FA Cup against Charlton when he scored one from long range and generally tore their defence to shreds with his long, mazy Ronaldo-esque runs that included multiple step-overs at speed.
My only worry is he still doesn't always know when to release the ball - shades of Bentley? He likes to run and run with it, eventually cutting inside to have a pop rather than laying it off to someone in space. Also I'm not convinced about his ability to put in a decent cross. Like most wingers at speed he has a tendency to over-hit them.
That article suggests we might get £5m for him but given his latent talent and huge potential, that could be a ridiculous undervaluation. True, he's already had nine loan spells, not all of them successful, so you wonder about yet another one. His loan to Leeds had to be aborted as things just didn't work out.
It would appear his time has come at last to either make or break at Tottenham.
Very common among players that age with that level of experience.
Nothing like Bentley. The problem with Bentley was that there were very few full backs he could beat for pace, so he had to either take part in quick passing play or he had to just get that yard of space with some trickery and then deliver the cross. Then dallying on the ball becomes a real issue, when you can take players on like Townsend can it's not that much of an issue.
Very common among players that age with that level of experience.
Nothing like Bentley. The problem with Bentley was that there were very few full backs he could beat for pace, so he had to either take part in quick passing play or he had to just get that yard of space with some trickery and then deliver the cross. Then dallying on the ball becomes a real issue, when you can take players on like Townsend can it's not that much of an issue.
While a good stat, there's no way he would have done that playing for us. The other teams set up differently when going into a game against Tottenham compared to QPR. QPR most likely rely far more on counter attacking than us and their players will have far more room to run into.