B for me. Maybe a bit generous in that Adebayor should have been in before the start of the season.
But the others, ins and outs, probably only would happen close to the bell.
OUTS
Modric - always going to go, clearly Levys brinksmanship got the best, inflated price. Is he really going to be worth £35m to Madrid???? Will he, in their vastly talented midfield, really make the difference that he did at WHL? And will he sell many shirts? With only one bidder milking £35m is genius..... I dread to think what Levy has promised as part of the "special partnership". Not that his agreements are worth that much, eh Luka?
Rafa - wish we could have kept him, but maybe a case of quitting while you are ahead for both him and us. Just don't think a 60 minute forward is what we need to be building a team around right now. Hamburg now become my favourite other team
he will be their hero for the next 7 years. Good luck to them.
Other outs - Business that needed to be done, anything in the kitty would be a bonus. Glad Hudd and Daws haven't gone, hopefully there is not bad feeling there with the boss and they are given a fair chance. With the Europa plenty of football to go round. Jenas and Bentley,
could have a useful role in the cups. Lots of Premiership clubs would happily have either as squad players.
Dempsey - Gone a long way to covering our attacking deficiencies. Not ideal, but clearly versatile enough to add completion right across the front line.
Dembele - Not necessarily a Modric replacement but if we can't bring a replacement in, for whatever reason, then it's a case of how well we work the system that we now play. Dembele along with our other first choice four or five midfielders is perfect and I think the overall front six (midfield and strikers) offer us enough creativity to have just as successful a season. With Siggy and Vertonghen it's a similar story, good players who will suit how we are going to play.
Lloris - Could be a massive, massive signing. People say that we didn't need a keeper now but the problem is, WHEN we need one, there may not be a good option. This is Frances number one keeper for crying out loud! Time will tell how suited he is to the English game but he's a very very sound keeper. Friedal will hopefully be happy to drop down to number 2.
As for the one that got away, Moutinho, well I'm gutted. Surprised that it was personal terms, would have thought that was all done in the background via AVB. A little worried too that signing Moutinho may have been a deal breaker when we signed up AVB too. Possibly could have been a come and get me to other suiters, and you get the feeling come January he will be out of our league, But maybe he was just that bit out of reach now anyway. I'm guessing it's wages, or if not release terms - surely players have to be wary of what happened to Luka.
As for Hugo, Mousa, Clint et al..... welcome to the Hotel California!
