They said if a world class player becomes available they would be interested but they would not pay top dollar for players who would not quote’ improve the team’ in the managers eyes so therefore they prefer youth that he can mould in his own image. Pochettino gives levy a list and he does his best to secure the signatures it’s all about the squad and poach is vary aware about keeping the team spirit..
In other words, no short-term fixes like Stambouli or N'Jie for the sake of saying we signed somebody Good luck to the Levy Out mob as they tie themselves in knots trying to say they don't want that sort of signing while also demanding the club makes a signing or they'll post ever-angrier tweets in the club's feed...
Speaking of which, it's interesting to see reports this week that Antony Martial has declined to sign a new contract at United this week. He was THE player that we wanted last summer (and the 3 previous summers). His agent had come out and said that he wanted out and Martial declined United's desire to loan/sell him outside the PL as he's said to want to stay in England. Although United will trigger an option to extend his contract by 12months, unless they sack Mourinho, I'm sure that we'll be trying to do sign him in January and maybe he'll be sold then? If not, I'm pretty sure that we'll be back in for him in the summer. We seem to believe that we have a real chance of getting him and if we can get the pre-United version up and firing, he'd complete our attacking options. I'd rather wait for someone like him than keep signing N'Obodies from abroad that we can't get a tune out of and can't get rid of.
Frenkie de Jong's the rumour that's gathering the most momentum right now, although that may be tied to a re-emergence of the Dembele departure rumours that have snowballed since the Watford game
We seem to have cultivated really good links with Ajax. They don't seem to upset by Levy's negotiating although they'll know that we got Davinson Sanchez on the cheap. I'd not be too surprised to see de Ligt and de Jong come to us next summer, if Toby leaves. De Ligt wanted out last season and we were very definitely interested. The reports that we contacted United about Rose and Alderweireld would suggest that we thought we could replace them both, even late on in the window. Ajax wanted to keep de Ligt for another season and we'd probably got 2 prices for him, with a premium for immediate sale. I'd be surprised if we weren't trying to get both for next season, as well as Martial. I believe that we had money to spend this summer but couldn't get the players that we wanted.
If we can nab Frenkie from under Barca’s noses that’ll be amazing. Massive talent. Closest player you’ll get to a “young Modric”. Think he will go Barca though, most of their CMs are in the dreaded 30 age bracket now. A revamp will likely be on the cards next summer and I can see Frenkie being top of the list. Dream summer 19/20 window for us would be to actually raid Ajax for De Ligt, Frenkie and Donny van De Beek. All three would fit in perfectly with this squad and style of play.
It's interesting to see how various clubs will trip over one another for various players, for example Rabiot's likely to have a bunch of suitors elbowing each other in the ribs with Juve, Barca, The Sheikh Mansour Team and Saltypool all squabbling over him as his contract ticks down (so I doubt our calling dibs due to being linked with him for the best part of three years is a valid transfer strategy...) while Milinkovic-Savic has been linked with Juve, PSG and Expensive Stoke already, surely Brozovic is on some radars by now, Ndombele probably will be too, Ruben Neves has the monied clubs of the Premier League linked with him on a weekly basis, while Haidara apparently forgot to be moved from Taurine FC Salzburg to Taurine FC Leipzig during the summer so unless there's some pre-contract shenanigans somebody's going to be considering a bid. The two things we need to do is not get drawn into situations where either the club or the agent is clearly drawing out negotiations in the hope somebody else comes in with a much-bigger offer as happened with Batshuayi, and we also need to play our cards close to our chest to avoid some buggers coming along at the last minute as gazumping us as happened with Willian. So I guess my first question is...does Stanislav Lobotka still have that release clause in his contract? That might solve a few problems pretty damn quick.
Well this didn't take long... De Jong Watch Bastions of so many factually accurate stories Mundo Deportivo are reporting that we made a £44.8m bid for Frenkie De Jong which has been rejected, which I'm sure will please that well-known sports team based in the same city as Mundo Deportivo who go by the name of FC Barcelona.
Okay then, where's the headlines speculating who the entire Poch family were scouting on Saturday? please log in to view this image
That looks like it was taken while Luke Shaw was out cold, judging by the clock. They used to call Pochettino his dad at Southampton, so I can see why they all look a bit concerned.
Apparently moneybags £ity are eying up a £200M bid for Agueros replacement in harry kane .best of luck dealing with levy on that one
From the BBC Gossip column.... Former Tottenham and England defender Steven Caulker, 26, could be set to join Ukrainian side Arsenal Kiev after being offered a deal by their coach Fabrizio Ravanelli, the ex-Middlesbrough striker. Arsenal ****ing Kiev? Who are their local rivals, Chicken Kiev?
What a waste of a career. Had so much potential, he wanted it all too soon though, had a great breakthrough season but decided that guaranteed first team football at a relegation fodder side was a good a career move...
