I was studying the BBC website over breakfast. I came across a recording oftheir Football Daily programme: - It features David Pleat, someone who works for Spurs, talking about transfers. Not some unnamed 'friends of Eric Dier", someone who is directly involved in Spurs transfer business and he's talking to the media! This is solid gold information direct from the horse's mouth. At 67.24 he says that "You can forget about Eric Dier moving." This is genuine information from inside the club. NOT ONE SINGLE MEDIA OUTLET HAS QUOTED HIM. NOT ONE! It's ****ing ridiculous.
Speculation was rife that Pau Lopez had signed when the following image appeared on the club's Snapchat please log in to view this image It soon became apparent that it was youth keepers Brandon Austin and Alfie Whiteman with Vorm, not Lopez.
Oh, come on! That's not the tabloid way to do it. Spurs in shock Neville signing! No, despite his constant love letters to Pochettino, we haven't replaced Walker with Gary or even his brother Phil. In the second such move in consecutive days, Spurs Ladies have signed a player with a familiar looking surname. Ashleigh Neville is also a defender. Is it a requirement?
O Jogo are reporting we had a £15m bid for Pereira rejected. If true, the message is clear: suck it up and pay the £22m release clause.
Lyall Thomas is reporting that Juan Foyth says he was misquoted about meeting with Spurs, with Thomas blaming it on people whacking articles into Google Translate and making headlines out of the words that actually make sense ...so we'll be seeing him in training next week then.
Good tabloid reporting is much like good wummery, in that it is important that you do not let the facts prevent you from printing the comments.
In that interview, Pleat makes the following points:- City won't play with wing-backs, next season (that could frustrate Walker, who may not get much game-time) Hart isn't a very good goal-keeper Kane is the best Striker in the World (no surprise, there) Sanchez won't be at Arsenal at the start of the season, as there is clearly a problem between him and the club Poch is happy with the way transfer talks are progressing No way will Dier be leaving the club ("you can forget that!") We don't need to sell to buy Pleat got quite animated when the presenter tried to keep pressing with the "Dier to United" bollocks.
I'd query point 1. Was he saying they'll play without wing backs AND full backs? Walker is their only senior right sided full back so he'll play lots.
Okay, I may have over-egged Point No.1. The bit in brackets is more my comment on what Pleat said. I do believe that Walker is going to get less freedom at City than he had at Spurs, unless City greatly fortifies its back line.
Fanfiction specialists A Bola are reporting that we'll sell Eric Dier to Man Utd for €50M and sign William Carvalho for €30M. Before anyone asks, A Bola have a reputation for thinking of a story and then printing it, sort of like those Turkish sites that habitually links us to every player under the age of 25 who was born east of the Bosphoros. The fact that the original story appears to have been taken down from their site says a hell of a lot too...
