49 days to the end of the window and a month until pre-season begins...anyone getting twitchy yet? I think a lot is waiting to happen after Copa America and U21 Euros are done, I hope anyway
Exodus Watch Don't all rush to be the one offering him a lift to the airport In similar news, there's a couple of rumours regarding Janssen's departure: Murdoch's Hate Comic are reporting that Schalke are keen to make a move, while Fotomac (?) say we're offering Fenerbahce cash + Janssen to sign Eljif Elmas Sit Down Watch A couple here, both from FootballDotLondon First of all, and more importantly, Poch is supposedly going to suggest to Eric Dier that he goes back to being a centre back - a move a few on here have been suggesting for the last few months - and the last season has certainly gone to show that, while Dier is perfectly suited to the old school hatchet man role, the issue is that role itself is becoming outdated as the modern DMF is closer in style to Ngolo Kante. Of course, this is no doubt also going to lead to more stories linking us with Franck Kessie and/or Amadou Diawara, because we haven't had plenty of those for the last two years Secondly, KWP reportedly wants assurances about his future at the club, assurances he's certainly right to ask for given he's been a bit part player the last couple of seasons with Trippier and Aurier ahead of him, and with rumours of our being interested in the likes of Youcef Atal, Hiroki Sakai and Max Aarons floating around in recent weeks (some stronger than others) he has reason to be concerned that he'll still be third-choice next season even if both Trippier and Aurier depart
CM and RB are the big ones though I’m at a loss as to who we would be after for the latter at this stage. We haven’t managed to move anyone on either which is frustrating, either the deadwood or the two starting XI players who we all think will leave - which is annoying because we need to know where we stand. As hbic said above if Dier is looking likely to be moved back to a CB role then we might not need to sign a Toby replacement but then we will need another CM, unless we’re relying on getting an all rounder like NDombele, and a player who is more progressive but can also play deeper like Ceballos/Fernandes/Lo Celso, and then relying on Winks, Sissoko and Skipp to fudge the gaps. The uncertainty around Toby and Eriksen could be starting to have an effect - quite aside from their financial boost we get from selling them, we need to know which gaps need to be plugged. There’s no point signing a top young attacking midfielder only for Eriksen to stay and an overstocked position being made even worse.
I think Sessegnon, Clarke and - going out on a limb - Ndombele will all be here within a matter of weeks. RB and second CM to then hopefully follow. With potential replacements for Llorente, Eriksen and Toby sorted if required.
Did we clarify the Llorente situation in the end? He was on and off the release list IIRC...would happily have him for another year if possible.
IIRC, it's because we have made an offer but nothing's been signed - although this will no doubt become very, very clear on June 30th
Same but I think he’ll go. He got more game time this season but probably still wasn’t enough to convince him to stay. He probably won’t be a starter at most clubs anymore but I think he’d want to get a lot more game time than he has at Spurs.
The question marks over Toby and Christian Eriksen don't help our ongoing issue with 17 non-home grown spots. Llorente and Vorm's departure allows for 2 CM's like Ndombele/Lo Celso/Tielemans and we have already filled the spots, without addressing the right back, centre half and forward issues. The ridiculous price of established domestic players is a real headache an we've got significant problems in that 2 non-HG players injuries make them of very little use to us or anyone else. So, who might leave....? Hugo.....................not happening Gazza.......................very unlikely Foyth........................................no Super Jan Vertonghen...HELL NO. Davinson Sanchez....................no Eric Dier......it's tempting, unlikely? Serge Aurier..........................Aha! Toby......................................???? Christian Eriksen..................???? Moussa....................................no Big Vic...............ideally, yes but.... Erik Lamela ...............see Big Vic Son...................Aldo thinks so Lucas.......................................no Champions League Ben Davies.......................unlikely It's been long rumoured that Big Vic isn't going to pass a medical and even sending him out on loan is going to be a big ask, given how many games he might realistically be able to play. I'd be sceptical on Erik Lamela's worth too. If Spurs were going to buy a player with his injury record, I'd think that we'd lost our mind. At best, we might loan him out? If we can't loan out these 2, or pay Big Vic up the remaining 2 years of his contract, we're pretty much left to selling Toby, Christian Eriksen or Serge Aurier to recruit any senior, game ready players.
I promised myself that I wouldn't let my hopes dip until July 1st and so far so good. TBH I think most of the big signings we've seen over the past few weeks have been ones where an agreement was all but confirmed ages ago and all that was left to do was tie up the loose ends and the various formalities like shirt number and social media announcements etc. Beyond that, most players will either be on holiday or focused on international duty. Doesn't mean they're not answering the phone but does mean it is much harder to get both parties together to sign on the dotted line. I think as others have mentioned a major sticking point is the deadwood clearout that if we're honest should have been dealt with last summer but has only grown since. My gut feeling is that we have enough cash reserves to make one big signing without selling, but beyond that any further purchases will need to follow our usual sell-to-buy pattern. This is probably why the Lo Celso link went very, very quiet after it emerged that Real weren't all that keen after all. We lodged a bid, it was rejected, and as far as we know nothing has happened since - probably because Eriksen is still at Spurs. 'That' one big signing is clearly N'Dombele, which I'm relieved about as it is by a distance the area in most urgent need of improvement. As soon as Lyon sign a replacement and the big man returns from holiday in just over a week, we'll hopefully see real movement. But other additions will require us to move players on, not just to balance the HG quota but to balance the books too. Wanyama, Aurier/Trippier, Lamela, GKN, Janssen all need to find new clubs. And then we also need to sort out the futures of long-term loanees such as CCV and Onomah.
Apparently, Betis are out spending money as we speak....money that they don't have without selling, as, they had a poor season last time up (nearly got themselves relegated again) and unlike last season, when they had quialified for EL football and could afford Lo Celso and his wages. Supposedly, they've somehow got the cash together to compete for this bloke... https://www.football-espana.net/78791/betis-rival-everton-espanyol-striker-borja-iglesias and a couple of others. That would suggest that they are selling someone in the very near future. There are a few options including Pau Lopez, formerly of this parish, but I reckon that it is very possible that Spurs (or another club), have done already a deal for Lo Celso and are keeping it under wraps to let Betis get best value in the market. It would be very similar to Lyon buying Ndombele's replacement before finalising his departure and our tactics with the Bale money.
Possibly. It is so hard to sift through the BS. I laughed when I saw the Pau Lopez story as apparently they want £18m for him. I just struggle to see us spending upwards of £120m without recouping any of it first. Either Eriksen is actually off, or we've reached an agreement to sell all of GKN, Janssen, Wanyama and Aurier/Trippier. The latter is highly unlikely, and combined still wouldn't accrue what Eriksen on his own would in fees. You made a great point about our selling power and it does concern me; one year on the deadwood has only rotted further and will now be even harder to shift unless we're prepared to take a significant hit on multiple players - something we haven't done since Poch's first season when all of the Bale misfits were sold at a loss. Being brutally realistic, I wouldn't bid more than: GKN - £5m Janssen - £3m Wanyama - £3m Lamela - £15m Aurier - £15m Trippier - £20m It's concerning that we could sell 6 players and still not raise enough guineas to buy a Lo Celso or Fernandes.
I think this is where the club needs to be realistic with valuations for outgoing players and I think we will. I’d be very surprised if there’s a team out there who won’t see value in £10m-£15m moves for Wanyama and Lamela (may even see scope of £20m for Lamela), fully fit those two go for around £30m-£40m but we know we can’t be asking for that now. The likes of GK and Janssen just need to be sold to the first bidder, take the loss, we’ve made huge profits this season and it’s just imperative to get the absolute deadwood off the wage bill. If we can shift those four as quickly as possible, then we can look at hopefully making some proper dough on Trippier, Aurier and possibly Toby and Eriksen.
Fernandes Watch Sky Sports are reporting that we've "cooled" our interest in him...less than 24 hours after the Torygraph reported that we'd somehow negotiated Sporting into a £45m deal, so either the whole thing was bollocks, we're sidestepping a bidding war, or there's been a potential breakthrough either in the Lo Celso talks or with Eriksen's contract negotiations
Eljif Elmas rumours have resurfaced today, this time even going as far as saying as we’ve bid €19m plus Janssen.
Last summer, we bid for Frenkie de Jong (stop that snivelling!) and Martial and Grealish and a couple of others. I doubt that we expected to buy any more than 2 of them, but we probably had £50 (it should have said million) or so to spend, given the success of that first season at Wembley. This season, the trip to Madrid probably added a little more on top. So, I could see us having enough (just about) to buy Ndombele and just about get Lo Celso over the line, at a sensible-ish price. After that, we may be into selling, to buy Sessegnon and Clarke, with some younger players going in the opposite direction - maybe on loan, maybe as a sale? I'm struggling to see much business beyond that unless we sell Eriksen or Dier or similar. I can't see us buying a striker or a right back but I live in hope...
