Summer transfer thread, AvB window wrap up pg 1527

[DubaiSpur]

You really think City are that bothered?

Considering they can't sign anyone till they get at least a couple of the more ludicrous earners off the books, I'd say yeah, they're bothered.

Still worth a schadenfreude-laced chuckle, though.

 

[superspurs]

You really think City are that bothered?

Well, they haven't sold him yet so they must have an issue with the deal we and Ade have put forward. They stand to pay a player to play for another club, something they will be doing for a fair few more in the future I would imagine. I'm sure it doesn't mean a great deal to them but something is keeping this deal from going through and I get the feeling it's that.

 

[Mumorn]

Was Mame Biram Diouf any good at Blackburn? I have no memory of seeing him play.

He used to play out wide, I remember him doing very very well in a game against Arsenal. Might of been when Blackburn beat them but he definitely caused them problems. Other then that nothing stands out but he wasn't played as a striker, when he's given games as a striker it looks like he could be a pretty good goalscorer.

 

[Mumorn]

So Sport reckon Song will be a Barça player this weekend, I reckon that would be a massive loss for Arsenal.

 

[SpursNorway]

Don't think they've made Moa availiable because of Biram Diouf, they played a lot together from January but Moa struggled a bit with injuries. Moa could do well with Swansea, really good finisher.

3m is a very good deal, around Defoe's level but slightly more suited for a lone striker role.
Although it must be said his availability is due to Mame Biram Diouf (Man Utd, Blackburn) taken his place in the first team, with a strong 6 goals in 10 games start to his Bundesliga career.

 

[indianspur]

So Sport reckon Song will be a Barça player this weekend, I reckon that would be a massive loss for Arsenal.

theyll just go and get M'villa in and probably tie up the Sahin on loan deal....scum are doing some good business this summer. Fookers!

 

[Gutter Boy]

Thing is, with the stadium and training ground and other long-term plans, bearing in mind we also do not have a sugar-daddy to bankroll us, we need to have a long-term strategy.

AVB's quotes last week were interesting, saying the market is pretty dead, not a lot of movement (outside the bankrolled teams obviously) and its hard to do business. We will go into the market, but we want to make sure when we do its not a mistake.

That's what he said. Its also I think part of why AVB was hired and the 'new direction' that Levy wanted to go in.

Redknapp was great for what he did in terms of getting everyone pulling together on the pitch and achieved the best football and finishes in our recent history.

However the squad as I saw it last night is very unbalanced and low on quality in key positions. To me that is down in part to Redknapp and his scattergun short-term approach to the market.

Why did we buy Pienaar on big wages then hardly play him? Why do the same with Kranjcar? We bought Bassong and then just seemed to give up on him even though he'd shown potential in the first season. Redknapp built a very large squad with a massive wage-bill that really has been like a noose round our neck for the last few windows. We have had to clear out a lot of players and free up the wage bill before we become competitive in the market again.

AVB needs to be given time because he's been brought in for the long-term. There hasn't actually been a lot of time since he arrived in relative terms to bring players in because most clubs plan their transfer activity for the summer throughout the season by scouting players , compiling plans and the summer is purely about executing these plans. We've had to devise a whole-new transfer strategy in a few weeks and thats had a knock-on effect. Targets like Remy have been binned and other targets probably installed.

I honestly think that Levy and AVB are probably even prepared to right-off this season in terms of being competitive rather than panic-sign the wrong players that will end up sitting in our reserves in massive wages in 2 years time a la Bentley/Pav/Dos Santos hanging another noose round our neck.

I'd honestly rather have a brick start to the season because we're playing Jenas and Defoe in the first team than sign 'any old striker' JUST to sign a striker. Why? Because the money we use in doing this will just be tinkled up the wall and make us less competitive in future transfer windows.

I want us to get back to a long-term coherent strategy top-to-bottom as at the end of the day its the only way you can sustain long-term success without a sugar-daddy.

Im prepared for the short-term pain to get long-term gain. I just wish more of the rest of the fans were too.

This is key.

AVB has been left in a pretty poor situation. An unbalanced squad with a lot of deadwood yet also missing 4-5 key players.

Longer term I'm comfortable AVB's scouting and Levy's bargaining will work fine. But now we're in quite a desperate short-term situation with time running out. Levy needs to seriously back AVB, like he did Redknapp in his first window (even though he wasted £30m of it on Keafoe).

 

[Mumorn]

theyll just go and get M'villa in and probably tie up the Sahin on loan deal....scum are doing some good business this summer. Fookers!

They had M'Vila sewn up and then pulled out and no one knows why, some thought it was down to the players attitude. But still, he's a key player for them and if they bring in one of Sahin and M'Vila they have to adapt and won't have the same effect Song has for them.

 

[Hotspur]

So Sport reckon Song will be a Barça player this weekend, I reckon that would be a massive loss for Arsenal.

Good player yes, but why would Barca need him? Busquets and Mascherano as DM's already

 

[Hotspur]

Of course Keita is gone and Mascherano plays more as a CB for them

 

[yidarmy107]

Thing is, with the stadium and training ground and other long-term plans, bearing in mind we also do not have a sugar-daddy to bankroll us, we need to have a long-term strategy.

AVB's quotes last week were interesting, saying the market is pretty dead, not a lot of movement (outside the bankrolled teams obviously) and its hard to do business. We will go into the market, but we want to make sure when we do its not a mistake.

That's what he said. Its also I think part of why AVB was hired and the 'new direction' that Levy wanted to go in.

Redknapp was great for what he did in terms of getting everyone pulling together on the pitch and achieved the best football and finishes in our recent history.

However the squad as I saw it last night is very unbalanced and low on quality in key positions. To me that is down in part to Redknapp and his scattergun short-term approach to the market.

Why did we buy Pienaar on big wages then hardly play him? Why do the same with Kranjcar? We bought Bassong and then just seemed to give up on him even though he'd shown potential in the first season. Redknapp built a very large squad with a massive wage-bill that really has been like a noose round our neck for the last few windows. We have had to clear out a lot of players and free up the wage bill before we become competitive in the market again.

AVB needs to be given time because he's been brought in for the long-term. There hasn't actually been a lot of time since he arrived in relative terms to bring players in because most clubs plan their transfer activity for the summer throughout the season by scouting players , compiling plans and the summer is purely about executing these plans. We've had to devise a whole-new transfer strategy in a few weeks and thats had a knock-on effect. Targets like Remy have been binned and other targets probably installed.

I honestly think that Levy and AVB are probably even prepared to right-off this season in terms of being competitive rather than panic-sign the wrong players that will end up sitting in our reserves in massive wages in 2 years time a la Bentley/Pav/Dos Santos hanging another noose round our neck.

I'd honestly rather have a brick start to the season because we're playing Jenas and Defoe in the first team than sign 'any old striker' JUST to sign a striker. Why? Because the money we use in doing this will just be tinkled up the wall and make us less competitive in future transfer windows.

I want us to get back to a long-term coherent strategy top-to-bottom as at the end of the day its the only way you can sustain long-term success without a sugar-daddy.

Im prepared for the short-term pain to get long-term gain. I just wish more of the rest of the fans were too.

Rubbish. You are completely missing the point.



We have tracked Damia for three fudging years. We have not been able to tie up a deal in three fudging years. And now, once he’s achieved what Tottenham predicted he would, he is unaffordable. If we do not have money then let’s state it and readjust our targets. Don’t put in four fake 30 million bids for strikers we have no intention of completing deals on and don’t continuously state that if the right player is out there then the Chairman will be willing to spend big. gonads he will. There is no shortage of top strikers in world football, just a shortage of money at our club and a shortage of flexibility and long-term strategy by Levy.



There are no guarantees in football. Success is a gamble. If you’re not willing to gamble you’re not willing to play.



And his point on players like Pienaar and Kranjcar are completely contradictory. We need a squad and we need players of their calibre. Ditching them because Redknapp didn’t fancy them and sanctioning their exits before AVB was installed was incredibly stupid of Levy.



Levy has done well to move the club from mediocre to competitive, but I do not think he will get us to the next stage and I do not think he performs consistently well as a Chairman.

 

[marcospur2]

I'm not convinced the criticism of Redknapp is as clear cut as some suggest, and if he was so scatter gun then why did Levy allow it? Much more to this than blaming Redknapp, all points to limited resources and Levy bargaining to extract everything out of deals in a rather hypocritical way (symbolized by one, now seemingly personal, deal regardless of the expense to the broader squad). I am sure there is a lot going on, but maybe the big issue is despite finishing top four in two out of last three seasons we are not the force we might think we are? We cannot yet compete for top class talent in the way others can. But to return to the first point about Levy, and the idea AVB is in a tough situation, well aside from expecting assurances were made by Levy that the situation would be addressed no one can escape from Harry's record and that is where AVB is in a really difficult situation.

BTW Carroll rumours have to be total BS.

 

[Dicko]

I wonder if Mascherano is happy with his utility role at Barca? Most of the time he's either a makeshift CB or a rotated CM.
At one point Maradona said he was the best all round midfielder in the world or something didn't he!?..
I guess it comes back to the ''Squad player but winning trophies'' versus ''legend status in a top team but no trophies'' debate

 

[a spur from swansea]

This is key.

AVB has been left in a pretty poor situation. An unbalanced squad with a lot of deadwood yet also missing 4-5 key players.

Longer term I'm comfortable AVB's scouting and Levy's bargaining will work fine. But now we're in quite a desperate short-term situation with time running out. Levy needs to seriously back AVB, like he did Redknapp in his first window (even though he wasted £30m of it on Keafoe).

Ha ha left in a poor situation,a side thats been in the top 5 for the the last three years,AVB should be topping the squad up with two or three marquee signings now,pushing us for the title,not spouting the same things Harry was saying about getting players in,and waiting what Levy is going to do with Modric.

 

[Kingdawson]

Ha ha left in a poor situation,a side thats been in the top 5 for the the last three years,AVB should be topping the squad up with two or three marquee signings now,pushing us for the title,not spouting the same things Harry was saying about getting players in,and waiting what Levy is going to do with Modric.

It seems like the pro AVB camp are getting their excuses in nice and early. They forget that for the last 2 seasons levy didn't really back Redknapp either in terms of signings and we still finished top 4 and got to a champions league quarter final.

 

[clevelandspur]

You really think City are that bothered?

They print money over there, I honestly think they could care less if Ade sits in reserves and collects a paycheck. This fair play brick is a total farce so many ways to get around it don't even think the people running it know how to enforce it

 

[marcospur2]

It seems like the pro AVB camp are getting their excuses in nice and early. They forget that for the last 2 seasons levy didn't really back Redknapp either in terms of signings and we still finished top 4 and got to a champions league quarter final.

Completely agree. Revisionism rules at present where Redknapp is concerned. He did a remarkable job with very little backing. Levy is a master at convincing some fans he can do no wrong.

 

[Rossi22]

GB has a point. Harry left us with a good 11-14 players but the rest were either short term fillers, unhappy or just not good enough. He left us with one striker and has the nerve to say it's a squad that can win the League.

 

[Kingdawson]

GB has a point. Harry left us with a good 11-14 players but the rest were either short term fillers, unhappy or just not good enough. He left us with one striker and has the nerve to say it's a squad that can win the League.

who is not good enough that Arry signed?

 

[nayimfromthehalfwayline]

It seems like the pro AVB camp are getting their excuses in nice and early. They forget that for the last 2 seasons levy didn't really back Redknapp either in terms of signings and we still finished top 4 and got to a champions league quarter final.

I made the same or similar points before Harry left, after Harry left and once AVB came in.

This summer/season was ALWAYS going to be one of transition IMHO.

The squad was managed in such a way it was inevitable.

In addition, I do believe it is very difficult for us to get the players we want. Harry elluded to it many times before.

Essentially we have a VERY good team, and so to improve it is difficult. We just cant pay the fees and more importantly wages to sign players THAT GOOD they will improve us.

There seems to be a structure to windows now where the super rich need to do their business before the rest of the world can move with their own.

Harry tended towards more established players as a compromise.

Personally I prefer the sort of policy that has brought us Sandro, Walker, Modric, Ekotto, Bale... IE Young, decent and likely to improve.

Problem is that takes time.

Since Redknapp left so has King (huge loss), Adebayor (huge loss) Modric (in spirit at least, huge loss at this point), Pienaar, Kranjcar, Corluka (a big asset to lose IMO) as well as Saha and Nelsen who were supplimenting for gaps in the squad.

In addition to this there are the likes of Jenas, Bentley, Bassong, Dos Santos (though I wonder if he can come back) who are sitting around just wasting our time. They dont appear to be wanted and so are just financial leeches right now.

As well as that Parker is injured and not available until (reported) a month into the season.

With or without Harry this was always going to be the case. This summer was never going to be an easy one.