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Summer 2018 transfer thread

Would be fairly pleased if we can poach Grealish for a good price. During his purple patch at Villa he definitely battered some opposition midfields.
 
Grealish has had his issues in the past but he’s still young, talented with potential. I’m sure Poch can get a tuna out of him
 
Would be fairly pleased if we can poach Grealish for a good price. During his purple patch at Villa he definitely battered some opposition midfields.

The idea of Grealish is really quite "meh" for me.

He is clearly talented, but has shown poor judgement in the past and IMO is yet to really find a position and realise his potential.

At the £40m reported last week its a clear "Oh fudge no!" from me.

At £15-20m? Actually seems like a "Why not?"

As I said, he is taletend, and perhaps someone like Poch is exactly what he needs to show what he can do.
 
http://sportwitness.co.uk/pochettin...ottenham-going-transfer-e35m-fee-not-problem/


Pochettino driving force behind Tottenham going for transfer, €35m fee not a problem
By Naveen Ullal -

11th June 2018

Barcelona allowed Rafinha join Inter Milan on loan in January. As part of the deal, the Nerazzurri had an option of signing the midfielder on a permanent transfer for €35m, if they qualified for next season’s Champions League.

Inter’s victory over Lazio in the last Serie A fixture of the season helped them meet that criteria. However, they have decided against signing the Brazilian for the price agreed and the player has now returned to Camp Nou.

According to the Catalan newspaper Sport, Tottenham Hotspur have emerged as a new club interested in securing the player’s services this summer.

Mauricio Pochettino, the north London club’s manager wants to take advantage of Inter’s situation by making an approach for Rafinha. The Argentine coach wants to strengthen his side’s midfield and has identified the Barcelona man as a transfer target.

Rafinha doesn’t have a future with the La Liga winners and needs to find a new club. The asking price of €35m will not be an issue for Tottenham and their manager is the “main endorser” of the player.

Inter have still not given up on signing Rafinha and hope to reduce the price tag for the transfer to take place, they’ve even tried to secure another loan.

The Italian club and Barcelona, along with Mazinho, the midfielder’s father and agent, will sit together and try to see if the transfer of the South American to San Siro is possible. The interest from Tottenham has now changed the dynamics.

Over the past few days the Catalan media have strongly linked West Ham, Arsenal and now Tottenham to Rafinha. It’s a possibility there’s an at Barca over how Inter are going about things and the English clubs may be being used to pressure the Italian side.
 
EVERTON TO BID FOR MADDISON

Everton are expected to start the bidding for Norwich City’s player of the year James Maddison – with an offer likely in the next week.

Wayne Rooney ‘s move to the MLS is expected to be confirmed in the coming days and Everton are keen to conclude a deal, with Leicester and Fulham among a host of Premier League teams interested in the England U21 midfielder.

With parachute payments now coming to an end, Norwich look set to cash in on Maddison - and are looking to recoup £20-£25m for him.

The former Coventry midfielder, signed for £2.5m in 2016, is presently recovering from a knee ligament injury suffered at Sheffield Wednesday on the last day of the season. We understand the 21-year old, who scored 15 goals last season, is recovering ahead of schedule from the injury and is due to begin running again in July




With the squad they have, Sigurdsson especially, I dont see what they want with Maddison. I would expect they have bigger priorities...
 
The idea of Grealish is really quite "meh" for me.

He is clearly talented, but has shown poor judgement in the past and IMO is yet to really find a position and realise his potential.

At the £40m reported last week its a clear "Oh fudge no!" from me.

At £15-20m? Actually seems like a "Why not?"

As I said, he is taletend, and perhaps someone like Poch is exactly what he needs to show what he can do.
The key aspect of the 'poor judgement' aspect for me is when it happened. If I think back to the years when I was between about 16 and 21, I did some pretty stupid things, I don't think those things made me a bad person, I necessarily even think that I was a stupid person, just somebody who still had some growing up to do. I know Grealish had the Nitrous Oxide thing back when he was 18 and also a couple of instances of him going clubbing until the early hours of the next day after Saturday games. However I don't recall seeing anything negative in the press about him at all last season or in fact since he was disciplined early in the season before last. Perhaps he has now grown up?

In terms of transfer fee. I expect a fee in the region of £20 million straight up, or a headline fee of £30 million if Villa accept a deal that consists of around 50% in future incentives. For a homegrown player with a huge amount of talent that could eventually prove a very astute piece of business.
 
EVERTON TO BID FOR MADDISON

Everton are expected to start the bidding for Norwich City’s player of the year James Maddison – with an offer likely in the next week.

Wayne Rooney ‘s move to the MLS is expected to be confirmed in the coming days and Everton are keen to conclude a deal, with Leicester and Fulham among a host of Premier League teams interested in the England U21 midfielder.

With parachute payments now coming to an end, Norwich look set to cash in on Maddison - and are looking to recoup £20-£25m for him.

The former Coventry midfielder, signed for £2.5m in 2016, is presently recovering from a knee ligament injury suffered at Sheffield Wednesday on the last day of the season. We understand the 21-year old, who scored 15 goals last season, is recovering ahead of schedule from the injury and is due to begin running again in July




With the squad they have, Sigurdsson especially, I dont see what they want with Maddison. I would expect they have bigger priorities...
they still have Klassen on the books - new manager not even giving him a chance?
 
The key aspect of the 'poor judgement' aspect for me is when it happened. If I think back to the years when I was between about 16 and 21, I did some pretty stupid things, I don't think those things made me a bad person, I necessarily even think that I was a stupid person, just somebody who still had some growing up to do. I know Grealish had the Nitrous Oxide thing back when he was 18 and also a couple of instances of him going clubbing until the early hours of the next day after Saturday games. However I don't recall seeing anything negative in the press about him at all last season or in fact since he was disciplined early in the season before last. Perhaps he has now grown up?

In terms of transfer fee. I expect a fee in the region of £20 million straight up, or a headline fee of £30 million if Villa accept a deal that consists of around 50% in future incentives. For a homegrown player with a huge amount of talent that could eventually prove a very astute piece of business.

While I completely understand the idea of him being young and dumb, and accept on the face of it thats really not a huge shocker - it was still very disappointing.

He was a professional athlete, even at 18, and would have been so for 10 years. He would have known very well what he should and shouldnt have done, and so to be photographed so tinkled he was passed out cold in the street does, IMO, show really bad judgement. He would have willfully gone against his training to end up like that.

And its something that creates a stigma around him.

It does sound like he has kept his head down since, but it will still take time for doubt to dissipate.


If we sign him, I hope for nothing but a roaring success, of course. But looking at him as a potential buy, I do have my doubts.

Not only about his suitability to our ethics, but also as to where he fits in things.

As I said, he is a player who while talented, is yet to cement a position and thrive there. Would he be able to step up to our level and do what he has been unable to at Villa?


they still have Klassen on the books - new manager not even giving him a chance?

Seems odd, doesnt it?

I think its clear they are pretty well set for attacking players. Might want a focal point up front. Its more the balance of midfield and defence they should be looking at.

New manager really should be taking stock of this and moving accordingly, going for Maddison just seems out of place.
 
Maddison has got a major injury (an ACL). He'll be out for 6 months.

And we've learnt from players like Jay Rodriguez and Olly Barkley in the past why you wait for them to recover fully before deciding whether to sign them or not
 
This is a new one:

https://cartilagefreecaptain.sbnati...x-grimaldo-benfica-30m-danny-rose-replacement

Tottenham identify Alex Grimaldo as possible Danny Rose replacement
According to Portuguese paper Record, Spurs are making plans in case Danny Rose is sold.
By Dustin Menno@dustingm Jun 11, 2018, 3:30pm BST

Despite a couple of recent interviews that hinted that he wants to stay at Tottenham Hotspur, Danny Rose is still linked with a move away from the club this summer after the World Cup. If a Portuguese newspaper is correct, Spurs may have identified his potential replacement.

Alex Grimaldo, Benfica 16-17. Used to be a kid in the Barcelona system. Now regarded as a top young fullback at Benfica

According to the Record, Spurs have “allocated” €30m to meet the buyout clause of Alejandro “Alex” Grimaldo, a Spanish left back presently playing for Benfica. The full article is behind a paywall, but Sports Illustrated states that any move for Grimaldo would be contingent on Spurs offloading Rose after the World Cup.

If you play Football Manager, you might recognize the name Alex Grimaldo — he was considered one of the best young LBs in the game in FM17, and one of those “wonder kids” that you were supposed to buy and develop into a superstar. A La Masia graduate, Grimaldi is a Spanish U21 international who has yet to receive a senior cap.

Grimaldo is now 22 and to be fair has the makings of a very good left back. He’s been a regular for Benfica this past season, scoring a goal and tallying five assists in 3200 minutes. He’s a short guy — 5’7” — but a speedster who likes to get forward, and is also known as a proficient crosser of the ball. In that sense he’d be similar in profile to Rose, and a nice contrast in playing style to Ben Davies.

One potential concern with Grimaldo would be his history of injury. He missed a significant portion of the 2016-17 season with a groin injury and also a few matches at the beginning of this past season. He’s coming off of a pretty good season that saw him start pretty much every match for Benfica since November of 2017.

I’m not sure what “allocated €30m” means in the context of this article — probably this is all just paper talk and a random transfer rumor without any merit. But if Spurs are indeed looking to potentially replace Rose this summer, I think Grimaldo would be a pretty nice option. He’s not English, so Spurs would need to make up the “association trained” aspect of the Champions League squad some other way, but he’s young, fast, and promising. That’s a pretty good combo. Consider me Alex Grimaldo-curious.
 

After Sporting fell short of a Champions League spot and before the Cup final that they would end up losing, a large group of fans entered the club’s training ground and physically attacked the squad. There were some injuries, striker Bas Dost suffered cuts to his head, but beyond the physical impact, the mental toll of the event was undoubtedly enormous. With a large number of fans blaming the President for installing such a confrontational climate around the club and for the lack of defense measures that could’ve prevented the attack.

https://statsbomb.com/2018/06/what-if-your-club-lost-all-its-players-the-sporting-lisbon-story/
 
I read somewhere earlier that we are looking at Rafinha who played for Inter last year. Looks like he could do a job in a midfield 3, though I'm still not sure what sort of system Poch is gonna have us playing next year.
 
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