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January Wish List and Predicitions

Gutter Boy said:
The Bentaleb money already went towards Sissoko.

We are already down to a perfectly formed 22 man squad. There's no deadwood left (other than Carroll, who we will be lucky to get £4m for).

There's no point playing moneyball with the likes of Davies and Wimmer, when there's more than a 50:50 chance we'll end up with a dud. I still see Wimmer eclipsing Verts and taking a starting spot over the next 2 years - he's a great talent.

I can see the KWP-Trippier thing happening in 18 months time perhaps, maybe Edwards-Nkodou too, but don't think there's a lot more coming from the academy in the near future (with Winks, Onomah and 2CV already in the 22).

Basically I think if we're going to buy a big money AM, one or both Sissoko and Eriksen will need to be cashed in on to fund it.
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Yeah, the thought that came to mind was that Bentaleb hasn't actually been sold yet - @Bedfordspurs indicated the same thing, and I'm inclined to agree that I haven't seen any moves in terms of selling him yet.

If Schalke aren't fools, they'll activate the clause and be done with it - but I don't think we loaned him (or anyone, really) with any sort of *guarantees* that they'd be bought. Thus, I don't think they were factored into the net spend for Sissoko.

As for playing moneyball with Wimmer, Trippier and Davies, I don't think it will be our choice come the summer - at least one of these players will definitely leave because of consistently being a second-choice backup to an established first-choice player. Perhaps more than one - backup players generally don't end up staying for long periods at one club. And to ask someone like Wimmer to spend up to four years kicking his heels so that he can assume Verts' role after that, especially when the Austrian national team currently has a surplus of talented centre-backs ready to edge him out of consideration (Dragovic, Hinteregger, Prodl and co.), and given that he can probably do a job for most teams in Europe, including ones at our level (Napoli, Leverkusen et al)...it's just unrealistic, is all.

Thus, if we're going to lose one or more of them anyway, we may as well do a bit of moneyball business and make a profit out of replacing them with equally talented, but cheaper players - from the academy in the case of KWP, and perhaps through transfers in the cases of Wimmer and Davies if they do end up leaving. Doing so would, when added to the Bentaleb and N'Jie clauses being activated (I think Fazio's has already been activated), give us a good amount of money to spend on eliminating the net spend from the Sissoko transfer and securing additions to the squad, if we're so inclined.

And, personally, I think our squad isn't perfectly balanced - it's fairly well stocked and gives us a lot of options, but I'm not entirely comfortable with the void that opens up at the RCB position when Toby's out, and I wouldn't mind another AM to shore up that forward line - whether that's a Mahrez-type marquee signing or just a solid, proven addition like Siggy is something I'm not overly concerned about, but another addition there would be helpful - ideally one that is both talented enough to represent a major upgrade on our squad strength and old enough to a) provide an immediate impact, and b) still gradually be withdrawn as Edwards and other youngsters like Shashoua gradually enter into the first-team picture.
 
A return for Siggy is looking more attractive but will he take the chance on breaking into the starting XI barring injuries? A taller order now than first time around.
 
DubaiSpur said:
Yeah, the thought that came to mind was that Bentaleb hasn't actually been sold yet - @Bedfordspurs indicated the same thing, and I'm inclined to agree that I haven't seen any moves in terms of selling him yet.

If Schalke aren't fools, they'll activate the clause and be done with it - but I don't think we loaned him (or anyone, really) with any sort of *guarantees* that they'd be bought. Thus, I don't think they were factored into the net spend for Sissoko.

As for playing moneyball with Wimmer, Trippier and Davies, I don't think it will be our choice come the summer - at least one of these players will definitely leave because of consistently being a second-choice backup to an established first-choice player. Perhaps more than one - backup players generally don't end up staying for long periods at one club. And to ask someone like Wimmer to spend up to four years kicking his heels so that he can assume Verts' role after that, especially when the Austrian national team currently has a surplus of talented centre-backs ready to edge him out of consideration (Dragovic, Hinteregger, Prodl and co.), and given that he can probably do a job for most teams in Europe, including ones at our level (Napoli, Leverkusen et al)...it's just unrealistic, is all.

Thus, if we're going to lose one or more of them anyway, we may as well do a bit of moneyball business and make a profit out of replacing them with equally talented, but cheaper players - from the academy in the case of KWP, and perhaps through transfers in the cases of Wimmer and Davies if they do end up leaving. Doing so would, when added to the Bentaleb and N'Jie clauses being activated (I think Fazio's has already been activated), give us a good amount of money to spend on eliminating the net spend from the Sissoko transfer and securing additions to the squad, if we're so inclined.

And, personally, I think our squad isn't perfectly balanced - it's fairly well stocked and gives us a lot of options, but I'm not entirely comfortable with the void that opens up at the RCB position when Toby's out, and I wouldn't mind another AM to shore up that forward line - whether that's a Mahrez-type marquee signing or just a solid, proven addition like Siggy is something I'm not overly concerned about, but another addition there would be helpful - ideally one that is both talented enough to represent a major upgrade on our squad strength and old enough to a) provide an immediate impact, and b) still gradually be withdrawn as Edwards and other youngsters like Shashoua gradually enter into the first-team picture.
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I got the impression that all 4 loan deals would become automatic (at the appropriate transfer window) if conditions were met - completing 10 appearances or whatever. The fact that fees were set out up front (Bentaleb £17m, Fazio £3.5, Njie £6m, Lopez £6m), sort of indicates that too

I think you can keep squad players happy if i) your squad is 22 rather than 35 (like us under Redknapp and AVB), ii) you are playing twice a week, iii) the coach is a good motivator who plays with a straight bat, iv) the team is performing well. Look at how Ferguson kept players like Nick Butt at United for 12 seasons and Wes Brown for 14. Those 3 are all young and still improving.

I wouldn't bring in another CB. Dier and 2CV covering for Alder is an excellent solution (to the fact that CBs like GKs generally don't need to/shouldn't be rotated).
 
I can see a couple of the youngsters getting a loan.

I'll be surprised if we make any signings though.

Net spend prediction: £0
 
Gutter Boy said:
Who else do you think needs putting in the shop window for the summer (in addition to McGee, Oduwa and Lesniak)?

Ogilvie? Glover? McDermott?
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I was thinking more about giving Harrison and Walker Peters some first team regular football, although maybe we want to get the FA Cup out of the way first
 
Gutter Boy said:
Look at how Ferguson kept players like Nick Butt at United for 12 seasons and Wes Brown for 14. Those 3 are all young and still improving.
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I wouldn't call either Ferguson, nor Butt or Brown (kind of kinky with those two in the same sentence) young and improving :p:p
 
galeforce said:
I was thinking more about giving Harrison and Walker Peters some first team regular football, although maybe we want to get the FA Cup out of the way first
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Except for the mystery that is Tom Carroll, every player Poch has ever loaned has been sold straight afterwards. Remember he's said himself he doesn't trust other coaches with players he rates. A loan for Harrison or KWP would be the death knell for their Spurs careers.
 
Gutter Boy said:
Except for the mystery that is Tom Carroll, every player Poch has ever loaned has been sold straight afterwards. Remember he's said himself he doesn't trust other coaches with players he rates. A loan for Harrison or KWP would be the death knell for their Spurs careers.
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From what I've seen, I don't see that Harrison is remotely good enough to make it in the PL
 
Gutter Boy said:
I got the impression that all 4 loan deals would become automatic (at the appropriate transfer window) if conditions were met - completing 10 appearances or whatever. The fact that fees were set out up front (Bentaleb £17m, Fazio £3.5, Njie £6m, Lopez £6m), sort of indicates that too

I think you can keep squad players happy if i) your squad is 22 rather than 35 (like us under Redknapp and AVB), ii) you are playing twice a week, iii) the coach is a good motivator who plays with a straight bat, iv) the team is performing well. Look at how Ferguson kept players like Nick Butt at United for 12 seasons and Wes Brown for 14. Those 3 are all young and still improving.

I wouldn't bring in another CB. Dier and 2CV covering for Alder is an excellent solution (to the fact that CBs like GKs generally don't need to/shouldn't be rotated).
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I don't know if the loans become automatic, per se - given that Schalke have played Bentaleb some 20 times already, wouldn't the clause have been triggered by now? Zaza's buyout clause, for comparison, was to have come into effect upon the player making 15 appearances for West Ham (I believe) - something similar must surely have been the case for Bentaleb, since these things tend to follow industry standard practices to a greater degree than pure sales (that's just a personal opinion, though).

And I don't think making a comparison between Fergie's United and us is the right approach when measuring the willingness of backup players to spend long periods at the club. Fergie's United won titles, trophies and gongs galore - they also paid some of the highest wages in the PL across the board, with even backup players (at least, the ones Fergie trusted) earning higher amounts compared to what they would have earned as starters elsewhere. Both of those are big incentives for a backup player when it comes to them choosing to stay - we can't offer either.

We can't offer Wimmer, Trippier and Davies much playing time either (they don't play anywhere close to twice a week as it is), given our reliance on their first-choice competitors - and Poch, while probably a considerably good motivator with the players in his 'in'-group, seems like the sort of person who would definitely adopt a very professional, considered approach with players outside of it. Kaboul's complaint that Poch had stopped speaking to him probably reflects that - if you're not in his good graces, he won't exactly pull the 'arm around the shoulder' stick. While Trippier, Davies and Wimmer are almost certainly nowhere near being the sort of player Poch would treat as 'outside' the group, it probably still factors into their thinking - if they falter in terms of not giving Poch what he expects of them, then they're probably not going to be given much slack in the future.

Given all those considerations, I don't think our backup players are as happy with their status as Wes Brown and Nicky Butt were at United. I wouldn't expect them to be, either.
 
AdamB said:
From what I've seen, I don't see that Harrison is remotely good enough to make it in the PL
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I knew a bloke at my work who's son played in the Woolwich youth team with Andy Cole and he said the same about him, is too easy to right off youngsters.
 
Gutter Boy said:
Except for the mystery that is Tom Carroll, every player Poch has ever loaned has been sold straight afterwards. Remember he's said himself he doesn't trust other coaches with players he rates. A loan for Harrison or KWP would be the death knell for their Spurs careers.
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possibly, thats a fair point
 
After watching Alli and our other English players tonight, would settle for just signing another young up and coming English player. Dont care what position
 
AdamB said:
After watching Alli and our other English players tonight, would settle for just signing another young up and coming English player. Dont care what position
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Sessegnon at Fulham looks very tidy, Everton are signing some good young English players, the signing of Bassala Sambou was a master stroke.
 
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