Transfer Rumours transfer thread fact and fiction

Spurs merchandising praying for a Sri Lankan / Thai player
(they have loadsa letters in their westernised surnames) .

 

There hasn't been a Thai star in the Premier League since Sheikh Mansour & Friends bought The Thaksin Shinawatra Team

 

I'm going to tempt fate...

 

RCL will not be happy.

 

Spurs being Spurs, it's just as likely we saw him pocket one of the random central midfielders we're being linked with this week...

 

Rabiot Watch
Even though he's ditched his swivel-eyed agent/mother that doesn't seem to have lowered his wage demands, with the usual £200k a week wages and £10m signing bonus once again being mentioned

Although those may well come down significantly by mid-August...

Daily Mail Watch
As they're currently looking for any news that doesn't feature the phrases "Article 50" and "extended until June" they've resorted to their backup plan of saying we'll be selling half our squad in the summer, so this week's summer exodus will consist of
Christian Eriksen
Toby Alderweireld
Danny Rose
Victor Wanyama
Vincent Janssen

Meanwhile, their predicted incomings are Wilfried Zaha, Jack Grealish, Carlos Soler, Jarrod Brown and Aleksandar Mitrovic - in other words, they expect us to sell a centre back, left back and defensive midfielder without replacing them, which definitely doesn't make the entire story sound like complete bollocks...

 

What could have been

 

God bless Third Party payments ballooning transfer fees at the last minute

But, of course, "classic Levy" is the default response...

 

No We Haven't Signed Anyone Watch
I spent a good twenty minutes flexing my Google Fu muscles to see if we were on the verge of signing a player named Vasco as his name came up at least half a dozen times in the club tweets about our current U18 game with Norwich, only for it to be nothing more than fans of one Brazilian club think the best thing for them to do is to spam every Twitter feed they can find for reasons I really can't be arsed to look up because they're being ****ing annoying

Hopefully this leads to Vasco da Gama fans experiencing something remarkably similar to what happened the last time Brazilian football fans were obnoxious when the entire world was watching...

 

A week or so ago the old "Spurs buy one Sessegnon and get the other free" story reappeared, which when that was being suggested last summer sounded fanciful - but now it sounds a lot more credible

Also, while I'll probably regret this...

Eriksen Spitballing
As the Daily Wail are reported we're "resigned" to losing him in the summer, I have one question...to who?
Barca have Arthur establishing himself this season and De Jong incoming
The Sheikh Mansour team have De Bruyne and Mahrez in his position already, plus Footie Leaks could kill their summer business dead
PSG have Di Maria and Draxler in place, plus Neymar continues to destabilise the team as he has to play every game
Chelsea have a transfer ban
Man Utd would likely be met with a response of "So you'll be giving us Rashford then?"

Obviously there is the very real threat of Los Ladrones, but that's the thing: they're also after Hazard that means there's a 50/50 chance their interest in Hazard will defang their sniffing around Eriksen - although the one team that concerns me that everyone is overlooking is Bayern, as they need to overhaul the attacking midfield with both Robben and Ribery getting long in the tooth and, as Timo Werner can't be spirited away on a free transfer for another year, they're going to have to spend this summer to upgrade the part of the team between Goretzka and Lewandowski

 

It'll be interesting to see how this pans out. I agree that Bayern might be pole position now, usually I wouldn't think they would want to spend the cash but if they don't have to compete with others then that, plus Eriksen's contract situation, could put them in front in the race.

Now ZZ is back at Madrid I think Isco will probably stay and they'll focus on getting a winger and a striker. I think Barca might still be an option for him.

 

Hazard and Eriksen are very, very different players though. The real problem at Real (see what i did there?) Is that Benzema has never been a 20+ goal a season striker. As long as Ronaldo was there no one cared but they urgently need to replace the goals from somewhere and Eriksen demonstrably isn't that player whereas Hazard is. There is a chance they might see Eriksen as a Modric successor but he hasn't played there more than a handful of times in his career so it would be a huge gamble.

A lot depends on how Zidane sets things up for the rest of this season. I think you're right that we'll see Isco brought in from the naughty step and as Vinicius Jr continues to outpace Asensio in his development, Hazard is probably the only missing piece in that jigsaw (if they persist with Benzema).

I have an awful feeling we'll see some bids from left field, specifically PL clubs and specifically Man united trying to do a double deal for him and Toby, refusing to give us any players in return.

 

I haven't been particularly impressed in all honesty. I know Fulham have had an awful season overall but watching him play I find myself thinking 'he needed another year at a solid championship club'. Looks like the leap up a division was too much too soon for many Fulham players, Sess more so than others.

In fact, their season has just been a story of watching our transfer targets failing to make us regret not signing them. Sessegnon, Seri, Mawson...all disappointing seasons.

 

RS has been very disappointing in a very disappointing season for Fulham. He has lost his confidence and (appears) 1/2 yard of pace. But....
He is very young still and obviously talented - and a personal wake up call at that age that you're not as good as your hype might do him the world of good in the long run.
He will likely be at a more reasonable price level too, so with Poch as his mentor, I reckon he is a BUY for me if available.

 

I agree, too many managers/coaching staff, different instruction etc., he must be confused, in fact the whole team look confused. If he stays he will have Scotty/Matt Wells which, in time will get him his confidence back but moving to Spurs under Poch and the coaching team to me sounds a no brainer. Providing he is prepared to graft, listen and knuckle under it would be the making of him.

 

The making of Danny Rose and Kyle Walker was MP sorting out the centre of defence and the Dier/Dembele partnership in front of them. The confidence that we could actually defend transformed the pair of them in terms of performance.

Fulham have no defence and Mitrovic apart, some decent players are getting lost in the mayhem. We need home grown talent. If Fulham will sell and the kid wants to come, I'd buy him.

 

Fulham’s just been a clusterfuck from day one.

Jokanovic chop and changed the side so much in the first couple months that they could never get a rhythm going, Ranieri couldn’t solve the issues he inherited and now Parker is in mainly for damage limitation.

They’ve got some good/ promising individual talent that under the right manger and team would flourish.

I’d have no problem taking Seri, Sessegnon and Mitrovic off their hands in the summer once they’re relegated.

 

Not Mitrovic for me. Something about him shouts 'disruptive influence' despite his occasional mercurial talent.

 

I think a couple years ago I’d have agreed with him being disruptive but I think he’s matured a bit now, still a fiery character but uses that to his advantage more often than not instead of causing his team problems. Probably wouldn’t join us anyway, at his age he’ll want guaranteed football every week.