Pochettino to Barca ?

I think Lloris is one of the best in the Premier League, possibly in Europe. I rate him very highly, although he is prone to the odd error. For me Vorm comes nowhere close and I think you'd be significantly weakened if you had Vorm as your No1

 

I'd disagree. Vorm doesn't get much game time, but when he stood in for Lloris recently he did very well.

The money that Levy would extract from any potential buyer would be a significant help in strengthening anyway.

 

Having the money is one thing, getting the right player is another. Spurs don't exactly have a great track record in spending big money either. I think you'd do really well to hang on to Lloris, but unless Spurs can win something and consistently qualify for the CL, then I think he'll look elsewhere. The problem for Spurs is that without CL football, you will have trouble attracting the top players. I think top 4 is an absolute must for you this season if you want to hang onto players like Lloris and Ali.

 

Lloris I genuinely don't care about that much. Alli may well go one day, but we all lose top players if we can't meet their not always realistic expectations.

You're almost certainly going to lose Sanchez for pretty much those reasons.

 

The Sanchez situation is worrying for us, he's an irreplaceable player really, but he does look really frustrated at the moment. If he does go then at least a club like Arsenal has big pulling power for the top talent. Personally regarding Lloris, I think you're really lucky to have him, he could easily play for Real, Barca, PSG etc and if the De gea deal didn't collapse a couple of seasons ago, I think he would have ended up at Utd. To be fair Lloris has given Spurs ample opportunity, so you couldn't really blame him if he did decide to join a top club playing regular CL football.

 

Obviously, we're working towards regular CL football. Hopefully, with the new stadium, we'll be some way towards that. I sense that we're finally on the right track, but these things take time. Top talent is not easy to get at any sensible price nowadays, which is why I think youth policy is the way of the future. Something we've done pretty well at.

If Lloris were that sought after I'm sure we'd have been batting away his suitors, but we haven't been.

I'm pretty sure that Levy would not agree to sell him to a Prem rival unless we're really not that bothered.

 

Spurs have had some good success with youth, Kane, Alli, Winks, you'll always need to augment that with some top established talent to compete at the top level. I think the stadium move will be a big test for Spurs to manage to balance the books. I can honestly see a couple of big names leaving Spurs to ensure that you stay in the black over the next few years. God knows how you'll cope being at Wembley next season, if your CL form there is anything to go by, you'll be in a relegation battle next season !

 

Wembley is most definitely something we will have to adapt to. I'm expecting that it will take time and the beginning of next season could be a rocky one. But adapt we will, as we'll need to adapt to the new stadium the season after.

We also have players coming through like Carter-Vickers, Marcus Edwards.

The simple fact is that unless you spot something that others haven't, as Soton seem to have done with Gabbiardini, any significant talent is going to cost £40 mill+.

The upshot of these sky high prices for so called 'established' talent is that youth policy is becoming more and more important for many clubs. The upside might one day mean an England team that can actually win something!..

 

There's plenty of bargains to be had out there still, Gabbi is a good example (providing he keeps it up, but early signs are good). Delle Alli is another one (who was on our list too!). It's just a lot of big clubs don't want to take that risk on a player having to settle etc. We picked up Virgil & Mane for around £25m combined ffs!

Agree on the Wembley front, you might struggle for a while with teams raising their games to play there etc. but I think you'll be fine after a while. Might stand you in good stead if you reach any finals next year too.

On the Wembley note, do you know what allocation you'll be giving to teams in the PL next year?

 

No idea, mate, as I'm over here. But case by case basis wouldn't surprise me.

 

I think the more pertinent question is, "Can Arsenal hang on to top 4 and avoid going into a managerial meltdown?"

The stakes are far higher for the Gunners, since a failure to finish in the top 4 would almost definitely see you losing, not only Wenger, but also Ozil and Sanchez, and probably a couple of others.

It is not inconceivable that Arsenal could be on the verge of a crisis.

The game against 'Pool, this weekend, is going to be crucial. Win that, and you can start to rebuild and begin believing that you will finish top 4; lose and... well, let's just say that the gap would begin to look a little scary.

 

honestly gk position is the most overrated position ever in footy.

no wonder, none of the top goal keepers fetch decent money. Real vs De Gea fiasco etc.

Levy cannot even get fraction of what he thinks on Lloris. 15M tops will be decent for him.

 

I think Lloris would go for more than that, more like £25m - £30m.

 

What is Wembley's capacity ? Something like 90k ? You'd think that oppo teams could have any number of allocated tickets they request really.

 

It just wouldn't feel right going to watch your team play Spurs at Wembley in a league game. Perhaps if they handed out winners medals, that might help. But walking down Wembley Way for a PL game? All wrong imo. Appalling decision by the F.A. allowing this in the first place. Spurs should have been made to groundshare with Enfield Town.

 

Depends on the game. Against Hull, or WBA, or similar, maybe yes. But against Utd, or the NLD it would probably sell out.

 

True. For the big games, I reckon the oppo will be wanting something like 30k allocation

 

And think how handy it would be for all those Utd fans who live in Hendon.

 

Yeah 90k. Think I read somewhere that they're not allowed to use full capacity for every game though? Might be wrong on that count.

Agree generally. An away FA Cup QF would be brilliant though with the allocation they'd have to give.

Edit: Saying the above, I'm against the semis being played at Wembley so contradicting myself there a bit