Bit out of the blue. Bouhafsi is a semi decent journalist too. Although different positions, if he turns out a fraction of the player his Dad was he’ll be a good player/ signing.
Are we just being linked with anyone who has any vague Italian links now? He's French and Guadeloupean, but he was born in Parma when his dad played there. Also another Raiola client. Got 8 goals and 7 assists last season, as well as a ban for gobbing on someone, IIRC.
Probably, lol. Ah, so seems like a nice guy. On the outset I’m not sure it’s a position we need to prioritise, having said that maybe there’s going to be a bit of a shake up in the wide positions? There has been links for a number of our wide players in recent weeks but unsure how much substance there is behind some of the rumours. Lucas has been linked with a move to Al Hilal, Lamela’s been linked with a return to Italy, Bergwijn with a move to Ajax (though can’t see that one happening) and we’re unsure right now what’s happening with Bale now that Carlo has replaced Zidane.
Bundesliga Rando Watch RMC report we're in talks with A German Team over Marcus Thuram - to the point somebody's putting their neck out with the story Now let's get the obvious out of the way first: Thuram is a rapid goalscoring left-winger who can also play as a CF if needs be, which sounds remarkably familiar - as in "Hmm, I wonder if we dropped this story into the French press to nudge Sonny in the ribs over that contract" sounding familiar But there's another reason I'm not entirely convinced about this being genuine, namely his agent is Mino "****" Raiola and I very much doubt we want to be on the receiving end of a prison romance over agent's fees
Somebody might want to ask Villarreal nicely if they might like to give us the £15m to make Foyth's loan permanent now I mean they only have three weeks to get it done...
Would love it if we got him, very good player IMO. If that’s really the price too then we’d effectively be swapping him for Foyth which is a great deal for all involved. Missing out on him because we haven’t got the manager sorted or can’t shift players fast enough would be a real kick in the teeth tbh, though it wouldn’t be the biggest surprise of all time.
This is why I’m so disappointed that the new manager and head of recruitment/DoF isn’t in place yet. Could possibly miss out on a couple of very decent signings
Not necessarily, as there's been various examples of teams signing players without a manager in place. Off the top of my head we signed Robbo a good three weeks before Santini took over while Levy was pictured in Amsterdam negotiating for Verts in the period between sacking Redknapp and signing AVB, and (IIRC) Chelsea have signed players when they were between managers in the past Obviously there's the potential of a manager turning up on Day One and saying "I don't want you" to whoever we signed, but on the other hand there is also the possibility of signing (to chuck a name in) Sabitzer and when NEW MANAGER shows up asking them where they want Sabitzer to play, and therefore asking which of Lamela/Lucas or Ndombele we can move out (and similar can be said of Andersen, as the day NEW MANAGER arrives we can simply ask which of Dier, Sanchez or Toby they don't have plans for)
Marcus Thuram Alessio Romagnoli Gianluigi Donnarumma Anyone else suddenly worried by the thought that Paratici only has Mino "****" Raiola's number in his Filofax?
Incoming sporting director Fabio Paratici will tell Harry Winks that Tottenham will listen to offers for the English midfielder, 25, this summer. Thank **** for that
So who do we bring in to get our HG numbers back up? Josh King or Andros Townsend? Actually, since I'm here, here's one thing that needs to be said about those suggesting Skippy gets another loan: loaning Skipp means we can't sell Sissoko
Loaning Skipp out again would be a mistake IMO. He’s home grown and had an outstanding season with Norwich, definitely keep him and see how he gets on. If he doesn’t feature much by the winter transfer window then possibly look at a loan then.
One thing with Skipp that's got stuck in the back of my mind ifs that, considering how Fonseca turned Bryan Cristante into a libero, I'm now half expecting Skippy to do likewise
MLS Rando Watch Well that's a new one... The Torygraph are linking us with LAFC's Uruguayan striker Diego Rossi, who is in the last six months of his contract I'm sure it's just a coincidence that we're being linked with yet another left winger who has a ton of pace, knows where the goal is, and can also play up top in a pinch for the second time in as many days just as we're looking to get Sonny's new contract nailed down...
Surely the issue is that Cristante is over 6ft whereas Skipp doesn’t have the figure for a CB and will get targeted there. I think it would be more likely he’d play a back 4 with a CM dropping in situationally or just use Rodon in the middle of a back 3 as he’s probably our best ball progressing CB.
Considering how Fonseca had Pau Lopez come out of his box to be a third CB in the transition phase last season, we could get some weirdry yet Also, is it worth pointing out that Skipp is the exact same height as Franco Baresi and Fabio Cannavaro? That should get the Pond Life lurkers going for the afternoon...
