I think it's a very sensible strategy within reason. We aren't financially strong enough to simply throw around £50m here there and everywhere, especially given the fact that the amount we're likely to bring in from departures is shrinking by the day. As DH has said, CL revenue has massively boosted our income stream over the past 5 years, but without it, we slip back below Arsenal and Chelsea in the Deloitte money list. I also think Levy burned his fingers badly due to the NDombele situation. Maureen just the other day confirmed that the lad has 'loads of issues' in terms of fitness. For all we know, we've just broken our transfer record on someone who has a chronic problem and will play as often as Ledley did at the end of his career, if not less. As I said, we aren't a club that can afford any more signings turning out like Tanguy's has. So I see this a typically pragmatic approach to mitigate CL losses next season while strengthening the squad at the same time.
Yep. It's chess, not checkers. Levy, like it or not, is attempting to play the long game and keep us in the CL without triggering financial warnings if we happen to not make it in next season. People praise Liverpool in comparison, but the biggest difference is that Coutinho was courted for astronomical money which pretty much funded their rebuild. No such offer materialised for Eriksen, despite him wishing for Madrid to come get him. Now look. £10m. Now, grab a DM, ST and a RB, loose the dead weight, and we are back on course. Add a hijack of Bruno Fernandes for the icing on the cake, and we could be in for an interesting upturn towards the end of the season.
So anyone watch the Portuguese league and know much about our new boy? I know he hasn’t played a huge amount of senior football. My limited impression is that signing him is probably in part a reaction to NDombele being constantly crocked - they seem quite similar as players - good blend of physicality and technicality and passing ability to help us get the ball forward quickly and effectively, and also contribute defensively. If this is the case then it’s good to see the club react to the need for a player like this on the squad who can actually play more than 60 mins a month. I only hope that over the remainder of this and the next window they act as forthrightly in addressing our other squad deficiencies.
Premier League clubs may not register more than two players on loan at any one time. - The maximum number of loans registrable in the same season is four, and, under no circumstances, shall more than one be from the same club at any one time.1 Jan 2019
He has been compared to Renato Sanches in the past, although there's a good chance that's just laziness sort of like every French central midfielder of West African extraction is compared to Pogba or Kante...and it doesn't mention if that's Sanches when he was at Benfica, or when he was barely getting any game time on loan at Swansea That being said, last season he was always in the midfield two, sometimes playing deeper and mopping up and sometimes being more progressive and bringing the ball forward, which is the same way we've used Sissoko this season as he played deeper alongside Ndombele but more progressive alongside Winks or Dier, so if that's how we intend to use him then he'll plug a gap...although if we plan on using him as a right winger, as Benfica have done this season, we'll probably save ourselves some money next season ...this also means there's a chance that we'll dread seeing Winks/Gedson or Dier/Gedson midfield pairings, doesn't it? Of course, if we trigger the clause in Lo Celso's loan to make his loan permanent this month at a discount compared to the end of the season, that question disappears completely
That's Premier League domestic loan rules mate. The number of loans from abroad isn't as restricted although I think there is a limit on how many can be involved in the starting XI/ match day squad (though don't take the latter part as a definite, could be wrong on that but we can definitely loan more than two from abroad). It's why Warnock had a moan up a year or two ago, saying something like "we can bring 10 from abroad but just 2 from England, it's a joke!". I see what Warnock is saying but I also think the Prem-to-Prem loan restriction is good as it stops bigger clubs exploiting the system by potentially sending four or five players to another Prem club which not only helps develop their players but also potentially aids them throughout the course of a season if their loan players can help get results against rivals.
Ze Luis Watch ...would now be a bad time to mention he's missed Porto's last two games with knee inflamation? Here's a thought: rather than loan in an injured striker, how about we give Troy Parrott a few games?
Straight in on the weekend please don’t want his first appearance to be against Vancouver White Caps in July ffs
So no loan limit for players from abroad but what’s the squad looking like for the non home grown quota now?
Gedson (pronounced "Jedson", commentators...) qualifies as U21 so doesn't affect it Presumably a couple of spaces will free up by the end of the month, too...
Don’t wanna jump to conclusions here, but I think it’s safe to say that he thinks everything about spurs is fantastic. News for you kid, you’re gonna need to be an’all
Hey, anyone who could come and watch us play against Chelsea and still wants to join is immediately in my good books as one of our best players
The more I think about it, the more the idea of Bruno Fernandes to us makes sense. What is the delay in him signing for Manchester United, if that's where he's going to end up? Could it be that once the Eriksen deal goes through, Bruno then comes in? He is the most Eriksen like player that has been considered for a long time. Could that be another layer to the reasoning of loan deals for other positions? Could this be Mourinho doing his bit to win fans over, and get one over on his old club. "Bruno, do you want to play in the Europa League with Manchester United, or do you want to play in the Champions League with Spurs in the best stadium in London." Maybe he is waiting for the Man United medical to make the call. (Yeah, I know, probably not.)
I'm torn over the whole Bruno saga. Back in the summer, we obviously saw replacing Eriksen as the absolute top priority for the club. But can the same be said now? With hindsight, the near-total collapse of our defence and CM mean that surely any money brought in from Eriksen's sale has to go towards those areas? And the fact that Kane is out for the season means I'd rather see us use it for an out and out striker like Piatek than Bruno. Although I am torn in the sense that I really, really rate the guy. He was phenomenal last season and despite being inches away from leaving in the summer (he even said goodbye to his teammates and fans), he has managed to rally himself and raise his performance level even further. In other words, he has shown a mentality and attitude that is exactly the opposite of Eriksen. So I guess if Bruno really can be got - and it would be a huge coup and confidence boost to beat United to his signature - it might be worth sacrificing short term stability for long term success.
It depends how realistic we're prepared to be. Eriksen is leaving, so that's one spot. If we admit that Wanyama's finished, Foyth ain't getting picked, and we don't really need Mich Vorm, once Hugo's fit...Then we're fine and can go on a loaning spree. Is there such a thing as a loaning spree?
