At the risk of continuing the vulture-esque behaviour (he says, while leaving notes outside Wembley suggesting an Arp, Papadopoulos & Halilovic triple deal...) here's a look at other relegated clubs across Europe who could offer us something LA LIGA ...okay, between Deportivo La Coruna, Las Palmas and Malaga the best I can come up with is Sully Muntari, but that would require it to be six years ago and Harry Redknapp to still be in charge. As for the rest, most of their best players are loaned in, and obviously weren't up to the job. LIGUE 1 Metz (confirmed relegated) Benoit Assou-Ekotto Troyes (need at least four points from the last two games) ...moving swiftly on Toulouse (one point below safety with two to play) Issa Diop (centre back, been linked with us throughout the season) Yaya Sanogo (striker, was a beast for my Football Manager 2012 Spurs team...) Strasbourg (one point above the relegation zone with two to play) NEXT! Lille (one point above the relegation zone with two to play) Anwar El Ghazi (winger, linked with us a couple of seasons ago) Yassine Benzia (striker/attacking midfield, dubbed the new Benzema apparently because he looks a bit like him) SERIE A Benevento (confirmed relegated) Bacary Sagna (mainly because it would be funny...) Hellas Verona (confirmed relegated) Lee Seung-woo (striker, because we're linked with every other South Korean these days...) Cagliari (one point from safety with two to play) Han Kwang-song (striker, likely to protected by referees terrified of Kim Jong-un being displeased at them) Udinese (one point above the relegation zone with two to play) Stipe Perica (striker, no doubt peed off at wasting three years of his career in Chelsea's Development team) Bram Nuytinck (centre back, played for Anderlecht so he's Belgian enough for us - as long as we ignore the Holland U21 caps) Crotone (one point above the relegation zone with two to play) ...keep looking Chievo (one point above the relegation zone with two to play) ...I'm thinking this was a mistake. Still could be worse, have you seen the ****e at the bottom of the Primeira Liga?
The Mirror are reporting that United have dropped their interest in Danny Rose and that a more likely next destination for our DoF could be Everton. It seems that following the departure of Rooney they'll have a space for an over the hill, fat bastard on high wages, who just can't be bothered. A price of £37m is suggested, which indicates that Everton, unlike Rose himself, have no idea what he's worth - about £37 based on his performances this season. Oh yeah, Danny, don't forget to close the door on your way out.
AND THAT'S THE BOTTOM LINE! BECAUSE STONE COLD BRIAN SAID SO! If someone had said to me last summer that Everton were going to try and sign Danny Rose for £37m I would've admired their optimism but also laughed quite hard in their faces at such a derisory bid. Fast forward 12 months and I'll be asking if they want him gift wrapped with some complimentary chocolates.
Would love Everton to offer that, and for Spurs to give Rose permission to talk to them if he wishes.
VULTURE UPDATE Ligue 1 Toulouse are three points adrift in the relegation play-off place, needing a win against mid-table Guingamp while Caen need to lose to PSG with an eight-goal swing...which sounded unlikely until I mentioned PSG Serie A ...same dreck as before Eredivisie Hang on, I didn't actually do this one, mainly as Serie A turned into a massive waste of time. Anyway... Twente (relegation confirmed) Mounir El Hamdaoui (forward, as likely to play for us next season as he was when he was on the books twelve years ago) Jos Hooiveld (centre back, although as he used to play for Southampton he'll be off to Anfield) Sparta Rotterdam (relegation playoffs) This was a mistake, wasn't it? Roda JC (relegation playoffs) ...yeah, I may as well be looking at the SPL. SPL Ross County (relegation confirmed) David N'Gog (forward, experience in the Premier League, somehow only 29 years old) Partick Thistle (relegation playoffs) Niall Keown (centre back, and if he signed for us his father might actually explode...)
Here's a bit of stealth Levying: Fenerbahce president Ali Yıldırım Koç (stop sniggering at the back!) has mentioned that Fener paid €5m for Janssen's loan - meaning that if he is moved on this summer, we'd break even on a £14m fee - and that's working on the assumption that Janssen's £17m fee doesn't contain various clauses
I think you meant to say... please log in to view this image please log in to view this image please log in to view this image please log in to view this image please log in to view this image please log in to view this image please log in to view this image please log in to view this image please log in to view this image I hope we don't make a habit of offering him a new contract after every Premier League start, though...
VULTURE TIME Rather than pick the bones of teams that have or look like being relegated, instead let's look at teams that narrowly missed out on European football - which could be an advantage Bundesliga Stuttgart Benjamin Pavard (centre back, strongly linked with us in January) Julian Green (winger, linked with us approximately one a season for the last four years) A German Team Jannik Vestergaard (centre back, linked with us on an annual basis) La Liga Real Sociedad Asier Illarramendi (centre midfield) Bilbao Inigo Martinez (centre back...although he signed for them in January) Raul Garcia (centre midfield/attacking midfield) Inaki Williams (winger/striker) Serie A Fiorentina Milan Badelj (centre midfield, linked with us for the past six years) Federico Chiesa (winger, linked with us a couple of times this season) Sampdoria Karol Linetty (centre midfield, strongly linked with us a couple of seasons ago) Dennis Praet (attacking midfielder, also Belgian) Sassuolo Domenico Berradi (striker, strongly linked with us last season) Ligue 1 Bordeaux* Malcom (attacking midfielder, I believe you may have heard of him...) Saint-Etienne* Neven Subotic (centre back, but joined from Dortmund in January) Montpelier Nordi Mukiele (centre back, linked with us in January)
I read somewhere that we’re looking to sort contracts out sharpish, then move onto incoming transfers. This is a good start. Hopefully it’s an indicator as to how quickly we’re going to move with all of this. Literally 1 day after the season finishes. Great news.
"Pish! We should've been sticking a contract under his nose when he was coming off at half time!" - Harry Hotspur
We need proven winners in the team to take us forward. So no to relegated players and no to the above ( unless a bargain squad player). We need to strengthen the first team with a player who's been there and got the medals, who will get into the players in the dressing room.
Here's the thing with proven winners: Sunderland had a bunch of them in their squad a couple of seasons ago but that didn't prevent them from finishing sixteen points from safety, so simply pointing to somebody and saying they won X, Y and Z isn't enough. That's why the lists are pretty damn short for some teams, and if you missed it half of the names listed are me taking the piss (mainly because you need to find some entertainment when seeing the dross at the bottom of the Portuguese or Dutch leagues), but there's certainly some players worth looking at, namely... Kyriakos Papadopoulos (Hamburg) due to his experience of top-level football with Schalke and Leverkusen Issa Diop (Toulouse) as he was captaining the team before his 21st birthday and has the physical traits to fit in to the Premier League Jann-Fiete Arp (Hamburg) because we'll be needing another backup striker, and he's looking like a potential gem Even from the relegated Premier League clubs there's players who are proven winners (i.e Gareth Barry) or have leadership (Johnny Evans, Ryan Shawcross) so dismissing them out of hand isn't necessarily the best idea - after all, Scott Parker was relegated the season before we signed him, and he was a perfect fit for our midfield the following season.
A couple of seasons ago? John O'Shea's still there. He's won five titles, an FA Cup, a League Cup, the Champions League and the World Club Cup. He's a very decorated League One player. Callum McManaman was Man of the Match in Wigan's FA Cup Final victory over City. Jack Rodwell won the title with City. Aiden McGeady won 3 leagues and four cups in Scotland. Bryan Oviedo won the Danish Superliga and two Danish Cups.
