Tottenham have agreed to loan France midfielder Tanguy Ndombele, 25, to Valencia. (Telefoot) please log in to view this image
Yes but has Tanguy N'dombele agreed? or is he holding out for PSG? Similar , in a way, that Traore is holding out for Barca.
Apparently, the reason Amrabat doesn't get into the current first eleven is because a recent managerial change meant playing a different style of football. Before the change, he was more regular and a reliable performer. Conte had Matic and Kante in a pivot when he won the league. For me, our best CM is a place holder and always has been in comparison, since Dembele left. If Amrabat can firm up the middle then I welcome the move, especially when Conte wants the player. What do I, or any other Tottenham fan, know that he doesn't about what kind of player suits his systems best? If it means that Skipp, Hojljberg or Winks have to spend more time on the bench, so be it. I imagine the ideal would be to allow Amrabat and Kessie in the pivot of a 523 (or 343 depending on how you look at it), when that formation is called for. Diaz Kane Son as a front three with Traore as a wing back. I'm all for it, an immediately firmer setup. If Levy does the business of course.
I’ve been reading up on him too and tbh in theory he seems like a cog in the machine that would work for Conte. As you say…it seems to be a managerial change that has resulted in less game time and nothing to do with form or injuries. Came 3rd in Italy’s player of the year in 2019 and started to attract the attention of Conte at Inter. Doesn’t score much having bagged only 5 goals in his career but seems to have more in his locker when it comes to attacking than Skipp and Hoj. He’s known for playing the diagonal passes like Alderwereild used to for us. I see zero negative in him joining for a loan with option to buy.
I fully agree. I don't understand the negativity that some people have. Either we get in earlier than most, and the player isn't a 'name' yet, or we leave it too late and cry when someone like a Leicester knock on the door instead. We have to allow for managers to take risks on players. Jose said as much when comparing Klopp's rise with Liverpool.
Yes, it really does For example, when watching literally ten minutes of the AFCoN reveals Amrabat is a deep sitting midfielder who plays through balls, which isn't comparable to any of our CMs It doesn't matter if Morocco are playing Senegal or South Sudan, ten minutes is going to reveal how a player plays the game
I really liked how we lined up against Leicester, When we played Chelsea in the LC first leg we were over ran in midfield. I think Amrabat can sit in a 3 and allows us to control possesion. I was initially worried with a midfield 3 we would lack creativity but we made a lot of chances against Leicester and should of scored more, it also allowed Kane to play further forward rather than coming deep to try and make something happen.
The intriguing unknown in all this is what Conte sees Skipp evolving into as he develops. He played in a really advanced role against Leicester - almost as a right winger often level with Kane and Lucas. Although not the quickest player he has a surprising burst of pace over the first few yards and also an excellent engine. His ball across the middle for Lucas which ended up with Hojbjerg's shot being cleared off the line by Albrighton was Eriksen-esque and while there is no question that Winks has impressed more in the passing department this season, I do wonder just how high Conte sees Skipp's ceiling and if he could develop into playing a more advanced role - not quite a 10 but not quite an 8 either. Amrabat - Hojbjerg pivot with Skipp or Winks playing further forward in between the lines could cause opposition sides a lot of tactical headaches. However, it does mean we lose the pace of Lucas or Bergwijn from the starting line up (I think both are more effective from the bench anyway), which is where the WBs become so vital and may be why Traore is suddenly such a high priority. Bringing in him and Amrabat and implementing a tactical tweak could improve our whole shape for the price of a Danny Drinkwater.
In terms of our midfield, it's very easy to see where Amrabat fits in Skipp or Amrabat Hojbjerg or Winks Given the obvious issue of the past eighteen months is flogging our CMs into the ground, with Hojbjerg playing an absurd number of games in a row while Skipp's rapidly getting towards that level, having somebody else who can play in their role is common sense, and if that somebody else can be brought in without costing the earth only somebody with a pathological need to **** on anyone we're linked with would complain. For example... Similarly, if the plan is for Traore to play RWB then he's an upgrade on Doherty, and hopefully a sign that Doherty's moving on which really needs to happen as much for his good as for ours, and if that kicks Emerson up the backside even better
We did play well and as I wrote above, I think the way we used Skipp was key to that. However, Leicester were missing loads of first team players and Tielemans put in possibly the worst performance of his career. The real litmus test for whether we can control the midfield will be at the £tihad in a few weeks.
Further forward, the no nonsense / percentage play of Skipp means the ball is quickly moved on to the real attacking threat + effectively recycled when the opposition do try to clear from their box. The latter is a key tenet of busparquet : clear the lines far enough to allow the defence to reset fast enough to meet the next wave.
He’s only in his second season with Fiorentina, first season was a starter, this season he isn’t. So it doesn’t really give a clear sign if he’d be a regular performer on a general basis for them. As for firming up the middle, if you mean by adding more options, then yeah that’s fair, if you mean by doing a better job than Skipp or Hojbjerg then that’s gonna be tough to do as they both do a solid job of protecting that back three and improving on that isn’t a necessity. Kessie hasn’t signed yet, nor is there a definite indication he will and so that’s jumping the gun a bit assuming Amrabat and him would be in that pivot, which would imply you perhaps see Amrabat ousting Skipp or Hojbjerg, which I think is doubtful from the initial outlook. I think it’s more likely he joins to oust Lucas (plus Winks) in a 352 but if we go 343 he’d likely play backup.
Adding an option to cover for the potential departures of the three wasters makes sense and providing backup to either Skipp or Hojbjerg again certainly makes sense. As for Traore, we don’t know if he’s even an upgrade on Doherty, which is quite scary to think about. As of right now it really is quite impossible to say. The Doherty at Wolves was excellent, the Traore at Wolves is average. The Doherty at Spurs is “peep behind the curtain” worthy. No guarantee Traore would join Spurs and be an upgrade, especially in a position that isn’t his primary role. You’d like to think he would but there isn’t a guarantee on that. Now Lamptey on the other hand…
Barca are reportedly trying to snaffle up Kessie on a free Paratici needs to earn his money, and given Ivory Coast just got knocked out of the AFCoN he needs to come out with a strong hook - and not in the way we offered Holtby £65k a week to leave Schalke six months early
Couple of journos are saying Traore is close to joining Barca on loan. If true, my personal opinion of that is happy as I’ve made it clear I don’t rate the guy and I feel the £20m+ can be used more wisely. BUT considering this club has chased him all window and even since the summer under Nuno, it’s another case of pissing about with targets and losing them.
Yeah spoke about that yesterday or the day before, apparently they have a verbal agreement so far, so nothing set in stone but it’d require us to show some balls and offer Kessie a package that makes him stick his middle finger up at Barca when they ask him to ink anything on paper.
He's reportedly looking for £120-150k a week, which is double what Milan are paying him Given the fee is probably going to be sub-£10m it's probably more palatable to eat the wage hike, compared to Mane who wanted us to treble his wages at Southampton (when we were "only" offering double) on top of paying £35m for him
