There's winning pedigree mate and theres people who have been along for the ride in winning. Aurier never reminded me as a leader, not even when he's one of the bigger names for the ivory coast. You wouldn't envisage the likes of Alonso or John Stones to be leaders or bring a winning pedigree even if they are okay players and impart their winning wisdom.
The Dembele and Llorente ones were definitely poorly managed. We did “try” signing Grealish in the summer before we sold Dembele the following winter but obviously ballsed it up. Poch also wanted to wait a year for Ndombele and therefore passed up on Tielemans. Llorente leaving and not being replaced I think was also more down to Poch than anyone else, never really seen to utilise him until he had too, which is a shame as he proved useful in his second season and right now would probably enjoy a lot more game time under Jose. I think the club also thought KWP would step up more than he did to replace Trippier but Poch never game him a real chance, he was never fully ready either having been rotting in the stands for over two years instead of being loaned out. That’s why most fans are now happy Skipp and Parrott have both gone on loan because the hope is they’ll come back as potential first teamers in a year or so.
exhibit A about the bringing a winners mentality is Eriksen who is always accused of disappearing in big games (i disagree) but he won 3 leagues in the dutch league before rocking up at spurs
Aurier had made the TOTY once or twice so I’m not sure he was exactly a passenger. He’d been looked at a few top clubs in the past prior to us signing him too. I don’t think anyone could’ve really envisaged how bad he’d turn out but on paper he ticked just about every box possible in terms of replacing Walker.
i don't disagree with this at all. On paper he looked like a good signing and at a good price. I won't use hindsight on this one as i think very few people would see this one going that badly. I just 100% disagree that he was more highly rated than walker which you seemed to suggest
He was a brilliant player for us though and was every penny. I agree about the false claims of him going missing, a lot is forgotten that he took us to the league cup final in 2015, got assists in two FA Cup semi finals, scored goals against Real Madrid, Inter, Utd, Chelsea, Arsenal, City etc.
We've spent well over £300m on players since the high point of the Pochettino first eleven. Gazzaniga - Steady Back Up Aurier - Liability Doherty - Too soon to judge Sanchez - Bambi on Ice Foyth - Never plays Hobjberg - Too soon to judge Lo Celso - Injury prone Ndombele - Can`t be bothered to run Lucas - Head down merchant and not enough end product Sissoko - Limited footballer Sessegnon - Never plays Clarke - Impossible to judge Bergwijn - Decent player Gedson - Never plays How many of these been upgrades or shown they are of the required standard. Our squad is way short of quality all around the pitch, and we have signed 3 mid table players to fill holes in the squad and still have others to fill. Recruitment has been poor, and all Levy does is drag his arse through the transfer window like a disabled dog for the sake of a couple of million quid here or there.
I said he had a higher pedigree than Walker due to being a multiple league winner, not necessarily higher rated, there were few RBs rated higher than Walker at the time of him leaving us, the ones that were were at the elite clubs already - which in fairness is where Aurier did come from.
To be fair I think Power has more or less said that but the point he initially made I believe was against the notion that we weren’t showing ambition or spending enough. We definitely spent, we just spent poorly, at the time though a lot of the signings we made seemed to be good signings, hindsight’s shown not so much. We’ve seemed to have a complete flip of luck with regards to recruitment. The team of 2017 cost us about £100m yet the team of now is about £300m+ and is a lot worse off and so we’re now in a situation where we have to try and rectify some of those poor buys. I still think this window can be a success and something to build on, albeit it’s annoying we haven’t signed one or two more already.
Or more accurately, Levy has backed his managers and scouts and has seen them piss the money up the wall. There are very few examples of us missing out for a few million. The ones where we pay the asking price quickly like Sissoko are no better on average. And look at any clubs last 15 signings, only Man City and Liverpool do better and that's reallt only true for the last few for Liverpool. So the truth is that Levy has spent a bigger proportion of our income on the squad than everyone except for Man City.
Bale and Belotti would be the ideal two signings for me Bale ticks every box that Spurs need offensively, could you imagine Bale, Son and Kane
It's definitely a sexy thought. With Bergwijn breathing down their necks too who I think in time will be a great player and competing/ learning with Son and Bale will do him the world of good. Belotti would also be great although for me I'll be/ would have been just as happy with any of Wilson/ Watkins/ Wood/ Dost etc. I think they're all good strikers who can add a lot to the team and squad.
He’d be a hugely exciting signing though I would expect him to need a bit of time to get up to speed considering he’s not played a lot recently. He’s not the player he was a few years ago but he would add so much to us. Would still need a striker though IMO.
Yeah that’s why I’d like Bale and Belotti, Bale gives that star factor that would boost everyone I think and Belotti is a proven goal scorer who gives a different option up top.
I’d bite your hand off for anyone right now if I’m honest. As a backup I’d take Bas Dost for about 5m in a flash.
In terms of Sanchez, there's some additional context there At the time we splurged on him that was when Toby was rebuffing contract offers so we bought him in as a potential like-for-like replacement, while also bringing in Foyth as a long-term replacement for Verts This also ties into a repeated issue since then: we expect players to leave, but they don't - which in turn messes up our transfer activity Alderweireld, Fazio, Rose, Dembele, Wanyama, Eriksen and Aurier are all obvious examples of this issue, as well as deadwood like Janssen and Nkoudou
Or alternatively: Hey Erik, you know that guy you replaced and whose shirt number you took? Yeah we're gonna need that back...
