Lo Celso wouldn't have joined us early whenever we signed him as he was playing international football all summer. Sessegnon wouldn't have been fit to go on our tour. So delaying the deals cost us nothing and probably saved £10m.
Pretty good window. Strengthened with 2 really top drawer signings and added a couple of youngsters who can hopefully make an impact down the line. Keeping Toby is a great boost and if we can get Eriksen to sign a new deal then it's been an even better window. The only concerns are a lack of outs, unless I missed some, and a slight weakness at right back but it's nothing too major.
He's clearly had some media training, which reflects well on Fulham and he's been following us for a while too, judging by that. Very carefully picked words at the end about working hard, earning his spot and learning what it means to play for Tottenham.
BBC football reporter Ian Dennis: In terms of incomings, the Tottenham scouting staff have delivered everything Mauricio Pochettino wanted. Pochettino has got targets they wanted and I don't think he can repeat his comments about changing his title to 'coach'. BBC Sport correspondent David Ornstein:Tottenham started today with disappointment because Paulo Dybala was a deal they have been working on for a long, long time - a number of influential people were working extremely hard to get this deal done. Despite getting very close it fell apart. The reason we were given was Juventus decided not to sell and keep Dybala. There is a good chance there is a deeper story to this. ESPN's Melissa Reddy on BBC Radio 5 Live:Tottenham have had a standout window. Signings in key areas and at that pedigree, aligned with fact they have continuity and consistency. They were desperate for a refresh which they now have. All along I had a feeling it would be Manchester City and Liverpool plus the rest - now I think it's Manchester City, Liverpool and Tottenham will worry the other two more than any other club.
My musings on this : 1. It was a "statement of intent" in attempting to sign Dybala. The fact that the BBC HYS on it yesterday had over 500 comments on it showed that the Spurs haters feared this one actually happening. 2. If the "long time" part is true, then that means it went under the hack radar. It will be interesting to see if/what "deeper story" there actually is. Overall. I feel there is a "what does not kill you makes you stronger" aspect to this transfer window. Specifically, additional items to add to the day 1 check list for any target signing X : 1. Does X have sell-on clauses from previous clubs ?? If so, how much (fixed fee, % etc) ?? 2. What is are the image rights arrangement for X for their current club ?? Are they happy with it (be willing to carry it over as is to a new club) ?? The Lo Celso saga showed that THFC can find solutions to #1. However, as I said yesterday there is no doubt other clubs have seen what happened, and the legal depts of clubs will start working on future sell-on T+Cs that will seek to prevent a loan fee 'bypass' of their cut.
2 in on the final day surprised me. I expected Sessegnon (imo he will be the best signing) but I was waiting for the Lo Celso deal to fall through all day. Didn’t get the ‘glamour’ signing of a Dybala or Coutinho and only time will tell how well the new recruits do but at least the squad is a bit fresher and there is new faces and characters to mix things up. Hopefully no1 is sold between now and the end of August though as losing Eriksen, Toby or Rose will leave the club light.
Losing N'Koudou, Wanyama and some of the fringe, ex-youth players probably wouldn't be an issue, though.
So by waiting Levy saved us 33M on LoCelso's release clause and another 10M on salary's. 43M in all. Tight Kunt . There is method to his madness.
I think as it stands we’ve had a strong window. Yes it would have been nice to get GLC and Sess in earlier but unless you’re a City and can offer financial terms to clubs that just make it impossible to turn down, these things have to be negotiated carefully. In the end all three of our senior transfers were complicated in some way, so some credit has to go to the team behind the scenes for securing Poch three players he clearly has been tracking for some time and who all look like they are going to be players who will suit Spurs and PL football. Dybala is a weird one, by all accounts this was a long running set of negotiations that I imagine probably started back last season when it first came out that CR7 had unsettled him at Juve. But I think we were always unlikely to sign him without Eriksen going somewhere for a good fee, and the image rights issues are notoriously complex - this won’t be the first or last time a transfer has fallen through because of them. We’ll have to see who leaves now. I think Toby is worth keeping for the year because we’d only have got £25m for him in any case. Eriksen is difficult because I think Levy would find it hard to turn down a big fee for him now or in Jan - but if nobody he wants to move to has offered us one by now, the chances of it happening vs. them just getting him for free next summer are surely slim, unless injury forces someone’s hand.
Yeah Toby will stay now. If no one offered £25m for him I’d be amazed if someone offered £35m-£40m. He’ll be leaving on a free next summer. With Eriksen it’s the hope that kills. If Madrid or a top dog in Europe doesn’t make a bid, could that persuade him to sign a new deal? Or does he just see out his contract knowing that when he's available on a free he’ll be guaranteed to join a top club, probably Juve seeing as they love a freebie.
The only reason a top Euro club would take him on a free is because they don’t see him as being important enough to shoehorn into their starting line up, or even to make the bench most games. As good as he’s been for us, he’d be like a fish out of water at the likes of Real or PSG. In any event, I appear to be very much in the minority in that I haven’t been overly impressed with Eriksen, and I wouldn’t be sorry to see him go. Sure, he’s a decent player, but not decent enough to win us anything, like a Suarez, Hazard, or Salah. Plus, let’s be honest, he’s been an absolute liability on free kicks and corners.
