I struggle to watch anything connected to that game. Reminds me of just how long its been since we won a bloody trophy.
The Wail is saying we've pulled the plug on moves for Ferreira and Barkley. I sincerely hope the former is yet another example of them posting all manner of bollocks.
The Gazetta dello Sport are reporting that Juve have signed Mattia De Sciglio ...or, to put it another way, the team that could have thrown a spanner in the works of the Perreira deal have just signed a right back ...and before anyone asks, Milan don't have a right back-shaped hole in their team as they signed Andrea Conti a couple of weeks ago. GET IT ****ING SORTED LEVY!!!
Reckon we're going to loan out Sissoko and then recall him on deadline day due to a lack of transfers at this rate. All we've bloody done is make the squad worse so far, this is ****.
I tend to agree regarding Sissoko. I don't think we'll find a buyer who is willing to pay anything near what we want, so a loan to get him off the wage bill seems very possible, IMO. As for other signings, I reckon we'll continue to pursue the youngsters we like bringing in for the future, as they are relatively easy and we don't face a lot of competition. Levy can play his usual game with those transfers, without being in a rush. But any major money dealings will be done right at the end, where Levy will try to get reduced fees, IMO. Hopefully I'm wrong and he'll have learnt from Newcastle not budging on Sissoko, despite being relegated, and won't take that risk again. I said this last summer, but I honestly believe that deadline day isn't what it used to be anymore as clubs just don't need the money like they used to. It's such a dangerous game holding out till deadline day, and stops any preseason training with the new club.
A journo has just tweeted in the last half hour that marseille are keen, but want a loan deal with option to buy! Good call NKNG
Levy is renowned for enjoying a bit of brinkmanship and our flourish of activity towards the end of last season demonstrated the two key flaws with this: Our failed bid for Zaha - openly derided by Parish - demonstrated your point perfectly...even 'small' clubs couldn't give a toss about £20m anymore, so it is far within their best interests to just hold on to their best players. We also saw it with Berahino but that case was drastically different in that the manager seemed to actually want to sell him and reinvest the funds whereas the chairman just seemed to want to massage his own ego by bruising Levy's. The Sissoko fiasco demonstrated the problem with brinkmanship in general and that is that as soon as one other player puts their chips down, you are essentially screwed and compelled to meet the asking price. This is precisely what happened when Everton emerged out of nowhere with a bid that Toon accepted, and with 5 hours left of the window we had no choice but to cough up. Sadly, we coughed. I've heard a lot of talk that Levy is deliberately biding his time, waiting for the market to calm down and for our wealthier rivals to spend themselves into a shelter before making his moves. While there is logic to this, it ignores the fact that 3 of those rivals are SO wealthy that matching even our highest bids (£30-40m) isn't a big deal for them if it means gazumping us. See Willian for further details.
I think we're playing hard to get.....again. Tap up the player, get him to tell his club that he only wants to play for Spurs and tell him to be prepared for this to drag on a bit. Then we put in an eye wateringly low offer and when it's been refused, then you walk away muttering and tutting. The selling club is then left with an unhappy player that they can't sell to anyone else. Providing that all goes well, you go back a few weeks later and the selling club are desperate to do business. We pick up Victor Wanyama for bugger all. Happy days! Leastways, that's the theory. It works until a club with greater resources comes and offers considerably more in wages than we can muster. Then it's back to the drawing board.....again.
Yeah, I don't mind us not buying many players but we're already without Son, Rose, Lamela and Alli(CL ban) at the start of the season and with Walker gone as well we should have been looking to get one or two fresh faces in before preseason. We need to be pushing hard to get Barkley in over the next week otherwise we really will end up needing Sissoko.
To me thats like a choice of A) would you prefer to be kicked in the nuts or B) would you prefer to have your nuts stamped on?
Disagree. Anyone interested in Demarai Gray coming to the club should be just as interested in Zaha, who has a similar playing style and gets better year on year. When I heard we'd been rejected by Palace I sighed with relief as I thought 'good, this shows that there is money to be spent, now hopefully we'll spend it on someone already 'there' rather than another work in progress'. Then Sissoko happened. And my grasp on reality imploded. To me, Zaha v Sissoko is like a choice between being kicked in the nuts and a very nice, superbly choreographed surprise birthday party.
I agree, and certainly don't wanna see 7 players come in again, but we needed 2 or 3 regardless of injuries or sales of any first teamers - ie Walker. I don't think Barkley is the answer to one of those needs though. For "match day ready" players we should be looking to buy players who are as good as we have, or better. Otherwise we're not improving. They also need to add a dynamic that we don't already have, IMO. I know there's the argument that you can't keep everyone happy if they are on the bench too often, but with 38 league matches, CL football, and 2 domestic cups, there's enough rotation available to keep players happy, as we'll pretty much be playing 2 games a week for a large spell of the season. I don't think Ross Barkley is as good as any of our current group of midfield players and don't know where he slots in. It's just risking the likes of Winks getting less game time. I don't understand the interest at all, and it feels like we're signing quantity over quality. A player like Mahrez, I'd understand as he's quick and skillful and adds a new dimension. But at the moment the rumoured incomings are somewhat underwhelming and don't feel like we're trying to make a statement of our intentions going forward.
