Transfer Rumour Thread

[ArcspacE]

First off, I am not your "pal" as you call it so don't refer to me as that.

Your first paragraph shows to me that you are in actual fact an FM style fan/manager/chairman. By the sheer fact that you rated Bentley as one of the best right wingers (when he could never be a winger) says to me that you react to clammer, like those of the tabloids and lazy football journalists who link us with all and sundry.

Gio has had more than enough of a chance to sort his career out in the 4 years he has been here. Whether it be down to bad attitude, not being good enough, not able to settle...etc its all academic - he isn't suited to this country or this league and to my mind actually is not a particularly good player at all, Braindead would be my description in terms of his thought processes as a player.

The point and reasons I gave I believe demonstrate they are not just 2 more of the same players. You disagree which is fair enough but the manner and the way your are constructing your disagreement is displaying to me your understanding of our standing in the transfer market, finances and the need to keep all areas of our squad strong, not just the first 11 is limited and therefore poor.

I think it would be fair to say that no top class player we sign expects that every other signing we make is going to be at that level. Possibly there are 3-4 teams in the wolrd that can do that all factors considered and we are certainly not one of them.

And you can confirm them as all facts can you? You have the documentation to prove that we actually bid ?ú35m + for players last January? I think you mean it was widely reported and you have taken it as fact. Whilst also making a lot of money from the Champions League, we also payed out alot of money in bonuses as well which sent our wage budget soaring. That will also be the case for next season should we hold onto our position so its not just as simples as you think.

I don't have modest expectations, what I have is realistic expectations. I expect us to bid a big price for somebody like Llorente/Rossi/Hazard and I would be very disappointed if we didn't get a marquee signing in the summer and one that actually is in a position we need. But I also think we need to be bringing in people that enhance the squad at the same time as people who improve the 11 otherwise the back ups will never be of sufficient standard to just slot in when we need them.

Like with anything its about a balance and a mix, not this bull in a china shop way of bidding for everything over ?ú20m which is what I believe your advocating with your stance on this. Its about buying the right players not always the best or most expensive.

Categorically wrong - I'd prefer one good, informed and well-reserched signing here instead of 3 tabloid hyped up Championship standard brick ones. Else - let's save our money and keep to what we have

Few points below

Bentley was a winger when he left Blackburn and always has been - how is that even an argument?

We did bid money for those players - Arry and the corresponding chairmen confirmed it - look for the links if you want. Unless of course they're all lying for some odd reason

This is not about signing a top class player - but a very good one which we are more than capable of acheiving. Ronaldo is a top class player - Llorente / Hazard are very good ones.

If we improve our starting 11 - the current players would automatically drop to the bench imroving that in return and much more so than any other of the names being thrown around here.

 

[zin]

What's with the Falque bashing? He's listed in the Professionals section of the Spurs website and not the First Team section so has nothing to do improving the first team squad at this moment in time.

How about Giancarlo Gallifuoco? Was he a pointless signing as well? We bought him this January too.

 

[Robbo]

We did miss a trick not getting someone in last January, I don't think you will find anyone that disagrees. However, we are not going to sign purely Hazard-esque type players all the time, its just not feasible. Those sorts of signings are made alongside prudent, thought out signings that offer us the best chance of depth within the squad to address all or most eventualities over a season.

I don't get where this conversation has gone, no one has mentioned enjoying bidding for squad players on the last day as a last resort as a good way of doing business. The debate has been over whether Hoilett on a free as an example is worthy signing for Spurs or just championship toilet as Arcespace said.

I'm not saying the players we sign have to be big name signings, or even expensive - only the billionaire playground clubs can expect that - but why even bother to sign the Pienaars of this world when they're clearly not gonna give us anything we don't already have. I don't know whats going on behind the scenes, so like everyone else I'm only speculating, but it seems fairly obvious that our transfer strategy relies more on random bargains than a systematic approach to find and sign the best players that we actually need.

 

[ArcspacE]

Our transfer structure under Levy is what has brought us to where we are at the moment.

Levy's business running has brought us here. He does not choose the players - management do. He does the business bit and Arry has many times stated he'd be willing to spend big on the right players. So to suggest he's been stingy and forced Arry to buy crocks and semi-retired players is untrue, imho

But we can't compete with United, City and Chelsea in an all out transfer battle. We have to be smarter than them, we have to find better value signings.

Like we were with Modric and sneaked him out of nowhere? What are the chances of seeing that again. I'm confident there are good players our there who can match our wage structure and would not be sought after by the G-8. We simply need to do our homework and have some structure in place as opposed to the usual last day circus show we do so well lately. I think that is the point many are trying to make

 

[Libero]

Categorically wrong - I'd prefer one good, informed and well-reserched signing here insteda of 3 tabloid hyped up Championship standard brick ones.

Few points below

Bentley was a winger when he left Blackburn and always has been - how is that even an argument?

We did bid money for those players - Arry and the corresponding chairmen confirmed it - look for the links if you want. Unless of course they're all lying for some odd reason

This is not about signing a top class player - but a very good one which we are more than capable of acheiving. Ronaldo is a top class player - Llorente / Hazard are very good ones.

If we improve our starting 11 - the current players would automatically drop to the bench imroving that in return and much more so than any other of the names being thrown around here.

Bentley is not and nor has ever been a winger. He is a right sided midfielder. A winger is someone with pace, who beats players with said pace and stretches teams. I do not believe that Bentley is any of those things and never has been. It would be like describing Beckham as a winger. He is not.

I understand that we can and should secure the signing of a very good/top class player but unlike you I do not think its mutually exclusive in terms of purchasing other players who won't be at the same standard. For you it appears either or and if they arent at the very good or top class level then they are dross. Thats not my opinion and certainly not a mentality I would subscribe to.

The links mean nothing. We did not put in multiple bids at ?ú35m + at all. We made a strong enquiry for one player around that price, which was Rossi as I understand it and attempted to negotiate and didnt get very far.

 

[Libero]

I'm not saying the players we sign have to be big name signings, or even expensive - only the billionaire playground clubs can expect that - but why even bother to sign the Pienaars of this world when they're clearly not gonna give us anything we don't already have. I don't know whats going on behind the scenes, so like everyone else I'm only speculating, but it seems fairly obvious that our transfer strategy relies more on random bargains than a systematic approach to find and sign the best players that we actually need.

I agree with you with the timescale and planning. At times we seem to really drag our feet in order to squeeze every last penny out of a deal or call someones bluff. It is not ideal and whilst there is a place for it, we seem to have it as standard policy which isnt good.

I actually think the signing of Pienaar was a good one overall. He hasnt set the world alight generally but he has had an impact from time to time (AC Milan for example) and someone I would rather have as part of the squad than those we have offloaded like Bentley, Jenas and those still hanging around like Gio.

 

[ArcspacE]

Bentley is not and nor has ever been a winger. He is a right sided midfielder. A winger is someone with pace, who beats players with said pace and stretches teams. I do not believe that Bentley is any of those things and never has been. It would be like describing Beckham as a winger. He is not.

The links mean nothing. We did not put in multiple bids at ?ú35m + at all. We made a strong enquiry for one player around that price, which was Rossi as I understand it and attempted to negotiate and didnt get very far.

Sorry but your Bentley argument is very much a strawman one - he's a winger and always has been. Always played on the wing. Can only play on the wing. Had pace to beat defenders and used to stretch defences at Blackburn week in and out.

Arry and their charimen confirmed those bids - how can they possibly all be lying?

 

[Icelander]

This is a young English right winger.

2005/06 - Scored a hat trick in a 4-3 win on his debut against Man United, becoming the first player ever to score a hat trick against them. Scored five goals to power a weak Blackburn to 6th in the league to qualify for the UEFA Cup.
2006/07 - Scored 7 goals and provided 13 assists, including many fantastic long distance shots and free kicks. Regarded by the club as a set-piece specialist and is voted player of the year by the fans
2007/08 - 8 goals, 13 assists. Impressed enough to receive 7 England caps, and Blackburn place an ?ú18m valuation on his head.

You can have him - the new David Beckham - for just ?ú15m

Yes, the moral of this story is that some players pan out whilst some don't. Life is full of chances and so is football. Using this logic we'd never buy a player? Torres was superb for Madrid, bought for a large sum to Liverpool where he was also superb, then was bought for an even larger sum to Chelsea where it's taken him 25 hours of football to score a goal. Rebrov was brick, Berbatov was brilliant.....

 

[Libero]

Sorry but your Bentley argument is very much a strawman one - he's a winger and always has been. Always played on the wing. Can only play on the wing. Had pace to beat defenders and used to stretch defences at Blackburn week in and out.

Arry and their charimen confirmed those bids - how can they possibly all be lying?

LOL you havent played football much before I don't think. But its cool. Bentley, Pace? Ok.

Their chairmen? Do you have reason to believe everything they might say? Do you watch them intimately enough over seasons gone by to know they are totally truthful? Do you believe Harry to be totally truthful on everything he should say especially regarding potential signings?

I know your answer but do enlighten me.

 

[Rorschach]

Pienaar has shown nothing of his Everton form at Spurs except that one outing against Milan. As far as I recall he got roundly slaughtered in practically every match thread and probably deserved it. He was often the worst player on the pitch.

Who knows why he was so bad for us and has already looked his old self for Everton agian. To me it always looked like he was trying too hard and not playing his natural game.

In fact therein is at least part of the problem. Players that go from regular starters in their own team to bench or squad players in ours basically stagnate, loose their form, will to live, or try too hard when they are introduced.

Bentley is a good example of this. Frequently when he played for us he tried too much fancy brick and not enough of the basics. Inevitably a lot of this didn't come off and he sent himself into a downward spiral of trying to hard, failing and subsequently loosing confidence. His best spell was in the CL qualifying run in where he just kept it simple and did a job.

 

[ArcspacE]

I have and still do play thank you, but save me your patronising rubbish please

Bentley has decent pace but that is not the only exclusive attribute one needs to be a winger - it could well be you to have confused these positions on the field - ask any professional or other fan - see what they say

Why would Arry lie especially after those chairmen confirmed it? That would be libellous at the very least.

 

[indianspur]

I think Levy is prepared to spend big sums, between 15 and 25 mill anyway (big for Spurs) but he needs the manager to be 100% sure of the potential signings

Ramos really wanted Modric, even spoke to the player on several occasions, and that made Levy confident that Modric was the right player and was worth spending the huge sum on. Of course Levy liked the fact that Modric was young, talented, would have a sell on value whenever it came to sell him, all these aspects are important to Levy.

In Redknapp's time here we have been linked with top youngish talent, and for big fees, but i get the impression that Redknapp has never been 100 % sure and said "yes daniel, go get him, i want him , he is the one" kind of thing. Fair enough, Redknapp probably felt that his targets, more experienced, were better suited to what the squad and team needed at the time.

Redknapp is smart. He knows the value of a player, and he also knows that big money expensive signings put heaps of pressure not only on the player but also the manager. I think Levy would pay 20-25 mill for a Hazard, but when pushed to make a final decision Redknapp might say no, the deal is too much for the player concerned and its better to look at an alternative, cheaper but still a good player that can improve the team (Krasic for example)

"Daniel my san, why buy Llorente for 35 mill when you can do a one year loan deal for Adebayor. Ya know it makes sense Dan"

 

[Icelander]

So essentuially what you're suggesting is we should spend wages, fess and agent fees on 2 inferior squad players in order to replace 2 existing subs (not to mention we need to sell first). I wonder how Toilet and Sigurdsson would look after a month on our bench, zero playing time and minimal match-fitness? Because the bench is exactly where they'll be 90% of the time. Let me give you some clues - look at Gio, Pienaar and even ol' Pav = utterly brick and short of any confidence. None of those 2 mentioned above are fit to grace the team sheet 11. Probably the equvalent of replacing a Skoda with a VW Golf - marginally better = fundamentally the same car.

Enough with these limited cloggers and hyped-up Champinship nothing players looking good on the Weekend Review show

Enough with looking to replace one squad player with another based on the latter scoring 3 concsecutive goals against Wigan Athletic

Enough with this miopic outlook of a 'cheapie but a goodie' wheeler-dealer semi-retired injury prone crocks 6-month flimflam deals. Enough


A club of our scale and our aspirations for the future needs to unconditionally make a statement in the transfer market. How would we ever attract higher calibre players in the fold of Hazard if we keep mentioning Blackburn and Wigan's on-form 'stars'.

We need a clear transfer outlook based on thorough research and informed decisions. Not to mention we're flush.

If we want to be regular CL participants, Top 4 pushers and even title-contenders - our transfer dealings must reflect that else the balance would not work.

And if the chairman isn't willing to trust Arry with some pessos due to his imminenet departure - then perhaps we need to seek making alternative arrangments

Well, the fact is we need a third winger, preferably someone who is comfortable on both wings, and we need a player in the mold of VdV who can rotate with him and step in when he's injured. Which is a lot. You say inferior squad players, I say players who can step in and allow us to keep our shape and actually rotate the squad without a significant drop in performance. Next year we can't affort the kiddies in the Champions League and last year the amount of games cost us a spot in the top 4 when we ran out of steam at the end IMO.

Bentley doesn't provide what we need, which is pace down the flanks, Jenas isn't effective in the VdV role and we have Parker, Sandro and Huddlestone ahead of him. Gio never really got going here, unfortunately for us and him, be it his work-ethic or style of football.

But I agree, of course we should be aiming for established stars, yet we always seem to miss out in the end. Someone always trumps us with higher wages or a higher transfer fee. Sometimes you have to take chances on players who are very promising but not fully established. Boom or bust so to speak. Javier Hernandez had never played outside of Mexico?

If we don't buy Sigurdsson, so be it. He's not a priority over let's say a CB, Winger and Striker. But he's not expensive , transfer fee AND wages, I'm pretty sure he qualifies as having trained in England for 3 years(That squad rule thingy...) and as VdV's replacement he should and would get a lot of games. Just because he doesn't have a fancy foreign name and plays for a CL club doesn't mean he'd do wonders for us?

 

[Rossi22]

The moral of this thread being - Don't buy players incase they turn out to be rubbish.

 

[ArcspacE]

The moral of this thread being - Don't buy players incase they turn out to be rubbish.

More like - don't buy squad players because we already have plenty of similar quality. Let's at least sell a few first

 

[Libero]

I have and still do play thank you, but save me your patronising rubbish please

Bentley has decent pace but that is not the only exclusive attribute one needs to be a winger - it could well be you to have confused these positions on the field - ask any professional or other fan - see what they say

Why would Arry lie especially after those chairmen confirmed it? That would be libellous at the very least.

I don't believe you because you would understand the difference between players that are wingers and those that are sided midfielders otherwise. Either that or you have never played that position or watched people enough to know the difference. And as for patronising, you would do well to follow your own advice.

I don't ever get inolved in this stuff and just post in things I so wish although I have watched some of the stuff you post and consider it to be stuff of nonsense with a touch of supposed air of authority which comes across in your posts, considering anyone else less ambitious for the club than you or stupid.

You should be sponsored by e-on due to the amount of gas you talk - Bentley has pace? He has absolute zero pace and always has. It was his delivery that was sought after and even that went down the drain when he joined.

Libellous? its the game. You spin things to suit your club. if you think that we bid ?ú35m for 3-4 players January then thats fine but I believe you are dreaming. You have bought it anyway so it did the trick because it appeases the people like you who feel if didnt make one of those signings then it was time for the cyanide pill. for the normal masses however it means that we just didnt make a step forward in that window for whatever reason with all the more reason to get the RIGHT signing in the summer.

 

[Libero]

More like - don't buy squad players because we already have plenty of similar quality. Let's at least sell a few first

I agree fully......lets sell a few. No one said otherwise. If we can't get rid of the rest of the surplus players I wouldnt want us signing someone like Sigurdsson. But Hoilett is a different kettle of fish altogether.

 

[Wriggly]

Arc, you are on fire in this thread.

 

[ArcspacE]

I don't believe you because you would understand the difference between players that are wingers and those that are sided midfielders otherwise.

Seeing this as the only football related aspect of your post (ignoring the rest which is clearly seeking a reaction)) - the difference is indeed quite clear between the two positions although Bentley has always been a winger.

Start a poll on here if you strongly believe otherwise - gain some objective input and perhaps you might re-consider your view instead of barging in head-first into arguments which you clearly seem prejudiced against on a subjective level against posters, in turn resorting to strawmen arguments and digs. There is a lot more to a winger than mindless pace.

My last comments on this 'debate'

I do not believe Arry lied about bidding for players is it was widely documented in many sources including direct quotes from many executives. I see no reason for him to do so better yet Levy to allow such libellous statements which could have substantial repercussions for the club and its image. And if it was all a smoke-screen for the next transfer window and our genuis masterplan for undercover signings - well it's been 1.5 years since then and still waiting. Massive aspect for the club is to imrpove our transfer dealings and I doubt anyone out there would disagree

 

[africanspurs]

Not if we're going to spend ?ú10m and the rating of his ability is based on the last three decent weeks and "he was quite good at Reading".

i see where you're coming from. (cut to the end of this post to miss out all the convulted BS)

the only thing is that football and harmony tends to work on a heirachy type scale , where players have their own individual pulling power, personal character traits, earnings, marketability , .....etc etc not just skill and ability. alot of politics , just like any professional industry....but here is the thing..

as you can see now with chelsea, arsenal, and us when we have 2 pts from 8 games. you dont have to be a crap footballer to play badly, you just have to play badly for whatever reason is making you do it.

as good as ou first 11 is right now, it is hard ti improve it and at the wages structure we have its even harder to keep the squad we have now . if we were to only buy players for the first team, the amount of expenditure would be huge, that would limit us to like about 1 or 2 players added per season IMO. but more importantly is that as high profile as our players are now, the chances are that they wont be content with sitting on bench and they'll leave..so instaed of what i assume people are expecting , which is = get great player in and have excellent player that has been replaced to be on the bench...what will happen is that you'll have a great player in .....the excellent player leaves...and you would still have a less than adequate replacement coming in for your great player..only now the difference is ALOT more noticeable to all of us

getting in players to imporve the first 11 is good, but a trcky thing cause in the interim before players leave we have no idea how team morale would get affected and what that would do to our performances

i personally feel that the bottom line is that sometimes you need to bid fo players that know thier place and know where they come into the heirachy but that are capable of pushing the first teamers to imporve so they can keep their places. i would also think its also important to keep momentum flowing and thats to make sure your standard of play does not diminish with your injuries. signing high calibre squaddies can help with this, which then helps with form and then helps with confidence, then results etc etc. case in point Adebayor and lennon...one guy needs competition to push him into playing well and the other needs confidence...one persons benefits indirectly helps the other person

not to mention that high claibre squad players actually do cost abit, they should in theory be the price of previously expensive players from a diferent era. so 10 million is about right for high claibre squad players.

this isnt to say though that buy to imporve your first team is bad, it never is...just that squad players are just as important