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Moussa Dembele

Things can change. Also from Aulas this last summer...

Now, the pacey forward looks set to join Tottenham, after Lyon president Jean-Michel Aulas told RMC Sport that Spurs are insistent on signing N'Jie - and whilst he thanked Daniel Levy for the simple negotiations, he also added that a deal may not go through until Lyon sign Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa from Roma.

"I had Daniel Levy, on the phone many times," said Aulas. "Levy insists on signing Clinton. We are close to an agreement. But we want to finalize other deals before [selling N'Jie], including the very important investment we are doing with Roma. Much has progressed.

"I thank Daniel Levy for making an offer that is respectable. Things can change from one moment to the next. I expect also a call from the United States, where he is currently, to try to move forward," he added.

I was just going to post the same quote. Aulas complaining about Levy's negotiating tactics is a case of pot and kettle! Aulas is hardly a shrinking violet when it comes to negotiating as has been shown by the values for players that he extracts. By all accounts he seems like the Levy of France, except he likes the limelight.
 
We'd still have 6 specialist AMs for 3 positions (Lamela, Alli, Son, Njie, Eriksen and Chadli). With 8 (Pritchard and Onomah) it's the only part of our squad you could say is still slightly bloated.
If you add Kane to the mix then it's actually 7 players for 4 positions, which doesn't sound quite so clever and that is before you consider that one of those 7 players is currently injured with quite a serious injury. So we would actually be down to 6 players to cover the 4 positions. We are still in 3 competitions with a reasonably good chance of winning any of them. I expect us to really need our squad over the coming weeks.
 
If you add Kane to the mix then it's actually 7 players for 4 positions, which doesn't sound quite so clever and that is before you consider that one of those 7 players is currently injured with quite a serious injury. So we would actually be down to 6 players to cover the 4 positions.
You didn't take the likes of Dembele, Alli, Mason and Carroll into account though. Yes, in essence they are central midfielders, but they have played as a 10 this season, some even on the wing.
 
You didn't take the likes of Dembele, Alli, Mason and Carroll into account though. Yes, in essence they are central midfielders, but they have played as a 10 this season, some even on the wing.
Aside from the one that I have bolded (who I did take into account) I don't think I would really want any of them to be playing for us in the 7, 10 or 11 positions. Perhaps, at a push, I'd have Dembele at 10, although I think doing this weakens us considerably in the number 8 position.
 
Aside from the one that I have bolded (who I did take into account) I don't think I would really want any of them to be playing for us in the 7, 10 or 11 positions. Perhaps, at a push, I'd have Dembele at 10, although I think doing this weakens us considerably in the number 8 position.
Be that as it may, they have been used there this season, especially in the number 10 position. They are additional options there, arguably better ones than Onomah. We're absolutely fine in terms of numbers for those positions.
 
Do you think we are biding our time with this signing? In other words finding out if another forward is possible, before going back and offering more for an immediate transfer or signing off a May transfer?

No. We have been interested in him for about 18 months and trying to sign him for a fair while now. The player (or more pertinently his agent) has been keeping his options open as the financial offers have been increasing as the window has gone on.

A bit of a contradiction with:

My thoughts are that if we somehow end up getting Berahino then we'll sign Dembele and leave him on loan at Fulham. If we don't sign Berahino then we'll end up agreeing a deal where we get Berahino with no loan back to Fulham.


Either Dembele or Berahino is needed, hopefully we can get one of them now. If not we do have options. Chadli, Njie, Son, Lamela, Eriksen can finish and we can adapt our system if we need to. I am sure Levy is doing all he can, but we won't be held to ransom; which is correct as no signing is guaranteed.
 
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Not signing Dembele when we had a medical makes no sense to me

He may be available on a "free" in the summer but the chances are the tribunal fee will be as high as the fee we had just agreed anyway

At least signing him now and loaning him back would have made him ours

Now we have to "secure him" against people who will get him on a free
 
Not signing Dembele when we had a medical makes no sense to me

He may be available on a "free" in the summer but the chances are the tribunal fee will be as high as the fee we had just agreed anyway

At least signing him now and loaning him back would have made him ours

Now we have to "secure him" against people who will get him on a free

Indeed; shambolic even...
 
Well I'm sure there is a reason but I clearly can't work it out

Well the fiasco with this non-signing (a clear penalty kick of a signing) shows that

a: Poch DID want another striker (apparently it broke down because Poch didn't want him to go back there on loan)
b: in all the months we had to identify alternatives we didn't come up with one and perhaps had all our eggs in this basket.
Ridiculous
 
It is probably due to Fulham not being able to sign a replacement loan player, more than anything.

Perhaps, but the question is if he was our main target why not snap him up earlier in the window and give them the money earlier so that can get their replacement in?
It's the sort of signing that really could have been tied up and ready to go on 1st Jan....Fulham needing to get a replacement could have easily been predicted..
 
Perhaps, but the question is if he was our main target why not snap him up earlier in the window and give them the money earlier so that can get their replacement in?
It's the sort of signing that really could have been tied up and ready to go on 1st Jan....Fulham needing to get a replacement could have easily been predicted..

We won't know. But can speculate: other irons in the fire ourselves, Fulham seeing what is available before committing, negotiations with the players agent etc. It is frustrating. I agree we should have signed someone - we've known since September we needed a CF - but if the players we want are not available, we didn't need a Saha this time. Which is fair enough with Chadli/ Son/ Njie often on the bench unused.
 
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Perhaps, but the question is if he was our main target why not snap him up earlier in the window and give them the money earlier so that can get their replacement in?
It's the sort of signing that really could have been tied up and ready to go on 1st Jan....Fulham needing to get a replacement could have easily been predicted..
No matter how much money we paid for Dembele MkII, it wouldn't have done Fulham any good as they are serving a transfer ban and can only get players in on loan.

I have nothing against you glorygloryeze, but some of the arguments you are making are either very naive, or you are not aware of the circumstances surrounding what you are talking about. I understand your frustration, but it would be more effectively communicated when talking with facts and researched arguments, instead of having emotional reactions. Today was a difficult day for all of us, so we'll come back tomorrow and in the days to come and evaluate it. And who knows, maybe even look back at it and say "meh..."
 
No matter how much money we paid for Dembele MkII, it wouldn't have done Fulham any good as they are serving a transfer ban and can only get players in on loan.

I have nothing against you glorygloryeze, but some of the arguments you are making are either very naive, or you are not aware of the circumstances surrounding what you are talking about. I understand your frustration, but it would be more effectively communicated when talking with facts and researched arguments, instead of having emotional reactions. Today was a difficult day for all of us, so we'll come back tomorrow and in the days to come and evaluate it. And who knows, maybe even look back at it and say "meh..."

Well, we all hope so don't we....BUT we've been here a few times before....

My point about getting it done early was that if would have given them more time to get a replacement, especially a loan one which would probably have been easier if given much more time.
We tried to play their situation in our favour but in the end we played ourselves (in that we have not got Dembele MKII in or anyone).
If we miss top 4 by a few points or miss another target by a goal or two, we will look back at the window and sigh....as we've done several times before...
 
Well, we all hope so don't we....BUT we've been here a few times before....

My point about getting it done early was that if would have given them more time to get a replacement, especially a loan one which would probably have been easier if given much more time.
We tried to play their situation in our favour but in the end we played ourselves (in that we have not got Dembele MKII in or anyone).
If we miss top 4 by a few points or miss another target by a goal or two, we will look back at the window and sigh....as we've done several times before...
Let's see. I, and I'm sure you too, hope you're wrong. ;)
 
Well, we all hope so don't we....BUT we've been here a few times before....

My point about getting it done early was that if would have given them more time to get a replacement, especially a loan one which would probably have been easier if given much more time.
We tried to play their situation in our favour but in the end we played ourselves (in that we have not got Dembele MKII in or anyone).
If we miss top 4 by a few points or miss another target by a goal or two, we will look back at the window and sigh....as we've done several times before...

Regardless of Fulham's situation, what incentive is there for the player to agree to a move early when he had numerous big clubs fighting for his signature, several bigger clubs rumoured to be monitoring the situation and him being in an even stronger position in the summer?
 
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