I want to be optimistic, but as I’ve said before, history shows us a certain way we do business. In particular, little to no net spend. Therefore I’m not getting my hopes up that anyone else will be signed, especially after the amount we’ve spent on Ndombele.
I can't see many surprises on the horizon. In - Lo Celso......maybe, just maybe Sessegnon as well but that's starting to look like January/next summer. There's no chance of Dybala unless there's an Eriksen/Dybala swap deal. If we sold Toby, we might try for a centre half but everything points to him and Eriksen running down their contracts and leaving for nowt next summer. Out - Onomah and a couple of other academy graduates...maybe GKN on loan. It seems that we'd like to shift Danny Rose and Big Vic but it doesn't look likely.
A few weeks ago I was hopeful of maybe 4-5 ins, and tonnes of outs. But again, so much has been left to do with such little time remaining. There’s just no way we’d get all of that done in 8-9 days. - and you and I well know that some of the ins will depend on who we can get rid of.
An Eriksen/ Dybala swap deal is bittersweet for me. I've made no secret that I'd love for Eriksen to stay but if he's adamant on going then being able to pull off a swap deal like that would be pretty cool, personally though I just don't think Dybala will fancy it. I think Sess and Lo Celso will be Spurs players, ideally within a few days as I'd like for them to have at least a week of pre-season. Also fancy us to sign someone out of the blue, ideally a RB or ST. Outs I agree, mostly non-wanted academy players and hopefully GKN can be binned somewhere. Think Toby will be here next season, if no one paid his release clause I can't see anyone coming in for him now.
Lo Celso should not be dependent on outgoings. Sessignon would be nice on the balance sheet if he is covered by some deadwood being shifted, but again the money should be there. Sad to say that things right now have the traits of reverting to old school Levy, which if so means serious failure this summer.
I'm actually rooting for his arrival which is weird given I'd never even heard of him until a few weeks ago and I've still never seen him play.
I think we will buy two or three more if we can get them for less than our valuation. I think we will sell two or three more if we can get someone to pay our valuation. Doing anything else would be stupid. Our success with transfers over the last few years suggests that who ever does our valuations is pretty good at it.
Lo Celso is the only one I feel remotely confident about, and that’s only because it’s everywhere in the media and genuinely seems to have some legs. Sessegnon isn’t just about the money though, IMO. - surely we’d need to shift Rose? Then surely Dybala is dependant on Eriksen? (There’s just no way we’re spending another £60-80m without bringing in some serious dosh from somewhere) Signing 3 players seems like there’s going to be a lot more work involved than just signing the players themselves. Just can’t see it in 8-9 days. Sorry to be a mood hoover!
1. Attempting to nail sellers to the wall for an extremely low amount, with insufficient time to get alternatives if the seller does not blink. 2. Trying to clear all the deadwood and using that money for big signings.
I think Levy himself said last week that with the signing of the new sponsorship deal that we would be improving the squad. I have always been a Levy 'supporter' but i think he does need to back up those words before next Thursday