Transfer Rumours transfer thread fact and fiction

We would not be finishing in the top 3 without Kane.
In his position he is peerless in the PL, and has been
so for a good 3 seasons.

Eriksen ?? Nope.

 

And we are bettering our previous seasons, when we finished 3rd 2nd and 3rd. It is just our Spursy luck that others are bettering their previous season to a greater extent. Hey, City were favourites for the title this season and we are matching them.

 

To paraphrase Ned Stark from Game of Thrones :

You joined Citeh, when joining them was safe.

 

Our wages aren't actually that bad now, Jasp. Admittedly we can't match what City, Utd, Chelsea and Arsenal are paying their very best players but in general we've now got players earning what they'd possibly struggle to get elsewhere.

Now Jose's been sacked, Poch is the second best paid gaffer in the Prem after Pep.
Kane is now one of the best paid players in the Prem.
Alli, Son and Lamela have all inked £100k+ deals in the past six months, joining Lloris who's also been on about £110k for a couple years now.

We supposedly also offer the best bonuses in the Prem (presuming appearances/ goals/ assists/ clean sheets etc... No point on trophies ) so I think it bumps up our player's contracts even further providing they're doing well.

 

In Guardiola's words:
"the problem is the other team is fantastic, maybe the best team in Europe or the world right now and in top form".

 

Luck may play a part in us always seemingly coming up short but I'm also of the opinion you make your own luck to a certain extent.

Pool have done just that, they've strengthened the necessary areas and now they're currently top of the Prem. Is that luck or is that just investing wisely to improve the squad? We've done great to stay in the mix so far but we could be doing even better had we addressed our problems at CM. For the best part of a decade we've been better than Pool, yet their recent investment has now made them that bit stronger than us. We're so close to being at that elite level, so, so close. The problem is however, this situation won't remain forever unless we act on it.

 

In the four seasons Kane has been a first team player, both he and Eriksen have won one POTS award each (Toby and Jan winning the others). Eriksen also won POTS in his first season with us before Kane established himself.

Eriksen's the man that makes us tick. Without him, we're nowhere near as effective. He's essentially another Modric, just in more advanced position.

 

Pool changed in the last year or so, they stopped just buying promising players and bargains and decided to invest heavily in the two most important areas for them to improve the squad - CB and GK - and they sanctioned whatever spend was required to buy the two best players they could. We’re still doing the former and it shows, because they’re now in pole position to win the league and we’re not. I don’t think we will do that, unfortunately. We should.

While I think there is far more to our position this year than simply not spending and we’re doing admirably to keep up in the circumstances, it’s frustrating to be so close especially with speculation around our manager and key players not going away.

 

I don't really agree with the Joe Lewis jibes to be honest, mate. He owns ENIC who owns Tottenham, it's ENIC the business that makes decisions not Lewis on a personal scale.

I wouldn't want Spurs to ever go down a Oligarch/ Sheikh route, I want us to earn our success the right way, not buy it.

I've always said trophies go against ENIC/ Levy but the progress we've made as a club has been better than any other side in the Premier League under their stewardship. For sure, I wish we could've won more but let's not forget we've had our chances over the years, since our last LC win, we've lost in LC finals to Utd and Chelsea, while we've lost in about four or five FA Cup Semi finals. It's not like we've been nowhere near to silverware, we've just often come up short.

The comfortable factor is where I agree and the point I'm also making. Fans are happy we're currently in the mix of things but the problem is, we need to go that one step further and not just be in the mix but also win them. Everyone who loves this squad and manager would hate to see it broken up any time soon - and that's what I fear if we don't try and take that "next step". Things don't stand still in the Prem, you either progress or regress, we're at a crossroads where we're so close to progressing but equally so close to regressing. I still think ENIC can take us to that final level, they've done everything to get us to this point and with just a few more tweaks, I think they can take us beyond.

 

I wonder if that has anything to do with having a cheque for almost £140m land in their lap last January when a key part of their team got spirited away to Barcelona?

It's amazing how small details like that get overlooked...

 

Completely agree. It's been pretty much what I've been trying to get at just perhaps worded differently.

We don't even have to be as gung-ho as Pool when it comes to spending. For sure, the dream would be for us to splash £80m or so on Milinkovic-Savic but I understand we likely don't have that right now, I do however believe we have some dough to spend, more so if we can shift deadwood quickly. To put a guess, I'd say there's about £30m in the bank, plus whatever we could raise from outgoings, so say £50m tops if we got players out. £50m can be spent on either one great, or two very good CMs that completely change the outlook of this side. Sissoko no longer gets ran into the ground and we have the manpower to fight on all fronts for the remainder of the season. There's other areas that could do with tweaking but CM is the one that'd make the most difference from an immediate standpoint.

 

But you know now or very soon is that time for ENIC?

ENIC,Joe,Levy....I feel like I've rang up British Gas to file a complaint and I keep on being forwarded to someone else. End of the day whoever it is they are calling the shots for our club and our 'organic' blueprint needs to start delivering.

Like I have to keep on saying...we are not mid table fodder with illusions of grandeur...just have a look around to see the company we are keeping for the things we want to achieve.

 

I think Van Dijk would've joined Pool sooner or later while it was obvious for about three seasons Pool needed a new keeper. So I think even without the Coutinho money, they'd have still strengthened those positions by the summer just gone. The likes of Keita/ Fabinho/ Shaqiri may not have all happened but only Shaqiri has made a genuine impact out of those anyway.

 

The Coutinho transfer was interesting because on the one hand it was an aspiring team selling their best player, on the other hand they knew they had enough going forward to compensate and that the money they could make would be best spent to make the whole team better. It worked and it was ultimately a fantastic piece of business.

I’m not sure us selling Eriksen would pan out the same way to be honest.

 

Sell Eriksen for that money and we can get two of those
"60m players" ( < FIFA 201x > ) and have money to spare.

It doesn't seem to have done the Poool any harm, so I
assume it will be the same for Spurs, right ... ??

 

They have to act soon, as in this window in my opinion. Another season of being the nearly men could be hugely problematic for us, I hope it won't be but I fear it may be. It's why I was so certain this summer that we'd do something "big". I've now for the same feelings towards this winter window.

We're not mid-table fodder because of ENIC though. ENIC have helped turn us from mid-table lurkers to a top six/ top four side. As I've said, no other side in the country has managed to do what we've done, Villa, Everton, Newcastle at one stage and probably others have all tried but failed - and failed miserably. The top six was never a thing until we made it so. It was always top four, then City with their billions came along and then we decided to gatecrash it too. While there's no trophy for that, it's still a fantastic achievement. However, now we have to go that one step further and actually maintain our fop four/ six status AND win stuff. I still believe ENIC can do that for us, at least for now.

 

Agree, we don't have a glaring deficiency like Liverpool's defence was either. Plugging a hole like that is easier than trying to make our midfield a little bit better or adding quality depth.

 

They are custodians of THFC....under ENIC's watch we have got here...yes...the club has the potential to grow...they have exploited that...well done. We are also a football club.

 

I don't even think he was their best player, that's the funniest thing. Many Pool fans used to say he was fancy and had moments of brilliance but would often go missing. I think he's even come in for some criticism at Barca for those exact reasons. Luckily for Pool, they received a crazy, crazy offer for him and even though it meant losing a great player, it allowed them to sign multiple great players to make it worthwhile and they never even needed to actually replace Coutinho with a like for like replacement as their style changed the moment they signed Salah anyway.

I also agree, selling Eriksen will not have that same effect.

 

Why?

No decent midfielders available?