Zaniolo’s picked up pace again. Even rumours of a swap involving him and Toby with us paying a bit of cash too.
I've been saying for 12 months that you need to replace Dembele. To replace him with a player who is so similiar in position and style, but also has virtually the same name is obviously genius.
Odds on AJ to do another kit announcement video for Spurs and this time with the Sess brothers modelling them?
Strange but true: we broke our transfer record on a well-known player...on Danny Rose's birthday. Oh, Levy.
What are Spurs up to on attacking CM ?? More so, with the Eriksen contract situation still somewhat unclear. We are looking at replacement at worst, competition/rotation at best.
Either way we need someone who will provide competition so that players are pushing each other seriously. Tielmans would be good to put the heat on Eriksen if he stays or Alli who I think has suffered due to a lack of competition in the last few seasons.
Tielemans would have been an NDombele alternative in my eyes, I don’t think he’s quite a 10. Alli’s numbers have suffered because he’s been shuffled around the midfield pack a bit last season. He’s also played an awful lot of football without a whole lot of time off since he signed for us, and played through injury. All that said he clearly wasn’t at his best for much of last season and he also needs to cut some of the dawdling on the ball out of his game and be more ruthless. I’m confident that he’ll find his mojo again after a proper rest, a full preseason and hopefully a more defined and settled role in the team. That said, competition will help too, but I think we need to sign at the right level for that, as well as working out a better way to play post-Eriksen rather than trying to replicate an imperfect setup with different players.
There's no doubt that Lo Celso is our top target now that Ndombele is in. After that, there's growing suggestions that there's a loan deal (with an option to buy) in the offing for Ceballos from Real Madrid. It looks like Tielemans remains outside our top preferences. There's no sign of any interest from any of Europe's other top clubs, either. If Leicester were able to sign him on loan in January, then potentially again this summer, there must be something that's keeping others away, too?
It's true but on the other hand I think Lesta want to re sign him therefore that suggests he's not a negative influence on a squad. Something I thought could be an issue since positives he brings to a game were evident for all to see last season. Maybe he has got a bit of the Adebayor about him and just plays well when he needs a contract.
A lot depends on what happens with Eriksen, Toby, Trippier, etc. So far we’ve been net spenders, which is not Levy’s way of doing things. You can get by the end of this window the books will be more balanced. If Eriksen goes to Real, I think we’ll move quickly for Lo Celso.
Lo Celso would be a big statement of intent, in some ways a bigger one than NDombele. Tanguy is a statement because he’s a record fee and other big clubs were in for him. He’s a guaranteed 1st team player who fills a gaping hole in our midfield. Lo Celso would be a statement because he’s very similar to Alli, so represents us getting two strong players in one position. That’s a powermove that usually only the likes of City play. It’s also a pointed moment for Alli because it shows him that he’s not guaranteed a place if fit, which might be a kick up the arse for him.
Do people consider NDombele to be a "statement of intent" ?? I consider him to be a Dembele replacement, albeit much younger and seemingly the finished product than a rough diamond. Therefore given the Pochettino system, an astute buy rather than a seismic event.
I think he is in some ways though like I said in my post, he’s also a very necessary player for us. What makes him a statement is the record fee and the fact we reportedly beat a number of big clubs to his signature - which means we are able to sell the project to top young players in a convincing manner and/or splash the cash to turn heads, something we would have found harder to do in the last couple of seasons IMO.
