The obvious solution is sign a HG player for the sake of moving one out, and there's a few who are in the last six months of their contracts Demarai Grey (who has been linked pretty much all season) Ryan Bertrand Steve Cook Andros Townsend John Lundstram Jeffrey Schlupp Dwight Gayle Of that list, Lundstram is the only one who plays as a CM The only other feasible option is Sean Longstaff who, while having 18 months on his contract as opposed to six, there is talk of Pini Zahavi looking to engineer his exit so the question is whether Steve Bruce is willing to put up with Zahavi playing silly buggers, which leads to the other question of whether we're really happy to have agents screw over other teams so we can nick a few players off them
Odd rumour doing the rounds: we're going to cancel Ryan Sessegnon's loan to Hoffenheim and loan him to Milan for the remainder of the season due to Milan's dearth of LB options as Diego Dalot is headed back to Penchester while Diego Laxalt is going to be sold this month Obviously there's half a dozen red flags with this story, as it's been reported by a Milan fan blog citing a Tier 93 Spanish source, and the basis is we're not happy with the lack of game time Sess is getting...even though he's a regular in Hoffenheim's side at the moment However, it does mean we can tell Danny Rose there is some news from Milan...
There’s been a bit more talk of a possible Eriksen return (loan). A loan deal really would be ideal at the moment, we’re lacking genuine creativity and it’s resulted in Kane taking on the mantle of being a goal scorer AND goal provider. If he could return with a spring in his step then him in front of Ndombele and Hojbjerg would be an excellent trio of players. Also Perisic’s name has cropped up again. We’re stacked with wide players but if we could shift Lamela and Lucas it’d be a great signing. Always said Perisic has a wand of a left foot, would provide good competition to Son, Bergwijn and Bale.
IMHO too much "swallowing of pride" on both sides is necessary for this one to happen. Not sure though if Eriksen would consider a loan to a current PL top 4 rival of Spurs to be disrespectful.
I’d take Eriksen back all day long. Wouldn’t need to settle in knows the club and league like the back of his hand. Plus he’d have something to prove and like you say he would help provide some much needed creativity. I can’t see it happening though.
Thought the same as DH on this. Get Harry doing what he does best, be a striker and score goals. With Eriksen our passing game would be so much better and improve possession. Don't let him near set pieces though.
Honestly, if we're looking for creativity in our team Eriksen is the last player we should be looking for The one place where we need creativity is in central midfield, especially since Ndombele has been pushed up into the No10 position, because our transition from defence into attack is not only too slow but also entirely predictable as our CBs have been drilled into looking for two out balls (Hojbjerg or their respective FB) which clubs are cottoning onto, with the Leicester game showing that weakness in particular This means we need to be looking at one of two players i.) Somebody who can either dictate the pace from deep a la Modric or somebody who can quickly bring the ball from defence into attack a la Dembele ii.) A proper DM, which would allow Hojbjerg to push up (which, in theory at least, also allows Ndombele to drop deeper or Winks to operate as a No8 more often) The fact this would also allow us to sit on games more reliably is another bonus
If Eriksen joined Ndombele would drop deeper and thus play the Modric role you speak of. If Lo Celso wasn’t made of glass, a move for another creative player wouldn’t even be such a priority for us this window but his injury record is getting beyond a joke for someone that’s only been here 18 months. So I think a loan move for someone like Eriksen would make a lot of sense as it buys us time til the summer to assess how we move forward from a creative standpoint in the position.
To be honest I find that doubtful, because as things stand the ubermensch doesn't trust Ndombele with the defensive side of his game which is why he's played further up the pitch, and the only way he'd be likely to move back into a deeper role is if he had a dedicated DM next to him which, in theory at least, will see our defensive line moved 10-20 yards up the pitch compared to what it is now So if we're looking at a midfielder this window, we're more likely to bring in a Franck Kessie or Marcelo Brozovic as somebody who will get the ball moving so it reaches Ndombele/Lo Celso further up the pitch rather than the player who is further up the pitch
In recent games he’s showing more willingness to track back and tackle as well as even press a little. Slowly but surely he’s getting that fitness up too albeit it should never have been an issue in the first place for a professional footballer. I think against the Man City’s of this world we’d be better off with Sissoko and Hojbjerg in the middle but in general I see no problem with Ndombele and Hojbjerg with Eriksen (or Lo Celso) in front. I think in this January window too we’re not going to be spending too big on any player so if a loan for Eriksen can be done it makes a lot of sense from a financial perspective. I’d highly doubt we’d go for Brozovic or Kessie right now, summer maybe but not now.
Milan topping Serie A coupled with their continued Europa League participation likely puts Kessie on the backburner until summer, which arguably helps us given he's got 18 months left on his contract so the asking price will clearly drop when the season ends in May/July/2027, although given he;s on a tear this season there's probably going to be a few teams having a look at him And this is why Inter players are worth looking at this window: while they're second, they crashed out of Europe altogether which means fringe players and/or those royally ****ed off with Conte's tactics are in play, which is where Brozovic having 18 months on his contract becomes a potential factor. I mean, we've been linked with him for four managers now, so surely one of them will sign him...right?
A Turkish source says we're going to sign a 19-year old American right back with a single USA of America cap That's a lot of red flags for a single sentence...
Respectfully disagree. I think what Harry does best is what he's doing now. To keep him as a 'traditional' striker I think would lose so much of what he can do over and above what most strikers can do. Generally I think you have to be careful because what is an upgrade to a team in some respects is detrimental to others. I think one of the reasons Dele is less useful now is because one of the great things he did was arriving unmarked in the box late. There's just no room for that with Kane/Son playing as they are now.
I think that there's room for that if we have someone more creative playing alongside Hojbjerg. If Ndombele or Winks are there, then it should work. Sissoko doesn't have it in his locker, though he does seem to be getting forward more now.
Random Winger Watch Because it wouldn't be a transfer window without us being linked with a winger, this week it's Stuttgart's Nicolas Gonzalez Now on the one hand this seems like the sort of lazy story you can expect, given he's having a good season so far with 5 goals and 2 assists in 10 games, which has come from Stuttgart playing him as a CF instead of his usual LW position. However, given he signed a new contract last November (that's November 2020, for anyone who is still writing "2020" when signing things) that probably means this isn't just agent talk, and there's talk of both us and Juventus looking at him - although both of us need to sell to buy, us because we need to free up a Non HG space while Juve need to free up funds due to Stuttgart's €30m asking price So what would that €30m get us, if it were to happen? Well to put it simply, it would get us somebody with rapid pace, some great ball control, an ability to get into scoring positions, a lethal left foot, useful in the air, and to top it all off he can cross the ball pretty damn well too and has a little bit of ****ehousery to his game too And it has to be said, as our current setup is based on wide players breaking into the area to score, there is likely something to this as he does have the attributes to play in our system, with only one drawback: if he were to sign, either he or Son would have to moved to the right flank So stick a pin in this one for the summer, methinks
Timothy Fosu-Mensah is reportedly set to join Leverkusen for £1.5m Come on, Levy, you know you want to...
