there is quite a few who think one of the front 3 will be gone in the summer and tbh although Klopp doesn't like Jan signings but at least this would give him time to bed in as often Klopp holds new signings back until they have spent time being trained in his methods .
I think Poch also broke the rhythm of buying low/selling high. If we hadn’t been pushing the league for a couple of years then we might have seen more of the usual recycling of players. In reality a healthy turnover is always a good thing but it relies on your scouting to identify players who can bridge the gap quickly. EDIT: the recycling of players through the squad with buy low/sell high of course generally aims to keep the club at a certain level. There’s also a strong argument that we should have struck from a position of strength and invested to take the final step in winning one of the big two trophies. We came close enough in Poch’s tenure to getting both. In that sense, the stadium came at the worst possible time.
Ally Gold confirmed a few weeks back that Levy only appointed Paratici after he couldn't find a realistic coach who would accept the job. So, he was Para(tici)chuted in at short notice with a restricted budget and did some deals with little idea of what the coach and club would need. I don't blame him for that. This window he's shopping for an exacting coach, who won't tolerate buying any old player, with a budget that won't cut the mustard. I have some concerns about whether he's the right bloke, but he hasn't been here long enough for anything to be his fault...
Bentley came from Blackburn, Poyet was out of contract. City were desperate to get rid of Adebayor, like we are with Ndombele. I'm pretty sure that we'd sell him to Arsenal. Frazier Campbell was a loan, so that United could strong-arm Berbatov out of us and Levy wouldn't look ridiculously stupid in letting it happen 5 minutes before the window closed, with no 'replacement'.
So, no coach worth his salt wants to negotiate with Levy? I don't blame them. That alone should tell Baldilocks that he might be part of the problem.
its not that you made a profit on trips, its that 20m for trips was a bargain. 20m is what palace paid for james tomkins or you did on a super cut price deal on aurier. No way was a prime trippier who had a small down half a season and was smashing it for england worth only 20m, especially when he was probably worth around 50m a season prior to that when he was on top of his game
The torrent of disappointment and my Gooner cousin's mocking texts meant I missed that. As a rule, we deal poorly with clubs who are around us in the table...and I would expect that to be so. We can't buy decent ones, because they'd be mad to leave...so it's the ageing or ones with problems. I'm glad that we're not doing what Arsenal have done in the last decade, as it served them poorly, but we've just made different mistakes.
ENIC had two opportunities (2012 and 2013) to usurp the Goons from their precious CL slot. Whereas I do put the failures in both years in the main on the managers, ENIC had the opportunity, in pre UEFA FFP times, to inject the cash needed to try and strengthen the squad to get the club over the line over the period where fatigue + injuries makes a squad wanting, Although we cannot say what would have happened (would 2012-13 have been a repeat of 2010-11 etc) , at least we may have kept Modric for one more season, brought in that CL money to get new WHL really going etc.
If he left for another English club then yeah we probably would've got close to double that thanks to the English premium but Trippier has even confirmed that the club were actively trying to sell him before the season finished and Atleti seemed to be the only ones interested. £20m+ was a decent enough price for a player that had a terrible individual season and that the club didn't seemingly want. I liked him in general but from a £3m investment it was solid enough business. £20m was about the going rate for decent FBs too, it was only the elite ones like Walker/ Cancelo etc going for crazy amounts.
Think Klopp has finally realised he can’t just have 3 top players for his front line. Add in Diaz to Jota, Salah, Mane and Firmino and that’s a tasty forward line
have to disagree personally. Atletico will spend if they have the cash (not sure if they had the cash then, they were spending the likes of 114m on joao felix, 27m on marcos llorente (cm), 22m mario hermaso (who is this random cb) and 18.5m Renan Lodi (who is this random lb) and 18m on felipe (who is this cb) that window. window before that they spent 65m on lemar (alongside others). Joao Cancelo 36m to juve and 58m city Mendy 50m (yea i know its city) Walker 50m Chilwell 45m Farland Mendy 43m Hakimi 39m inter and 60m psg Nelson semedo 29m to wolves Maybe this is unfair, let me take a look at FBs in the pl for that transfer window and window before 18/19 Dalot 20m Daley Blind 15m Digne 18m (great buy) Perreira 20m Diego Rico 13.5m Johnny Otto 19m 19/20 Danilo 33m to Juve from City after he flopped Tierney 24m Wan Bissake 50m Target 14m Reviewing that list, i would say perreira and digne are undervalued (but unknown at the time and digne had fallen out with barca). I still think trips went cheaply and atletico got good value from him as he helped them win the league Actively trying to be sold doesn't mean lower levy prices -> see alli, ndombele, everyone else you are trying to sell but cant
[QUOTE="Dier Hard, post: 15560006, member: 1013963" It seems Levy's struggled adapting to Spurs' change to being a big club, as well as the market's inflation. .[/QUOTE] This is an important point and one I was trying to express in recent posts. The move from top 10 to top 4 is the Everest of the PL. We are now hunting in the same waters as clubs like Barcalona and Liverpool and the apparent loss of two Spurs targets to these clubs would confirm that. The only way to bridge the gap is to increase your income (new stadium), buy young prospects to develop, produce your own from the academy. It's not chance that two of our best players Kane and Skipp are home grown. This is the long game and fans want action now. You can speculate all you like and blame Levy. 'It's the same story every transfer window' and then lay the blame for that at the door of Levy but remember it could equally just reflect the reality of the market Spurs are now in. In the end IMO it will be the young players we find or produce that will take Spurs to the next level. Relying on transfer coups is unlikely to produce the goods. Of course we could employ a top manager to push the squad up the mountain
I reckon Salah or Mane will be off in the summer but bringing in their replacement early is excellent strategy. Liverpool are probably the only big club to have used the Jan window really effectively in recent years. By contrast we seemed more than happy allowing all of Dembele, Rose, Wanyama and Eriksen either run down their contracts or decline to a point of no return before we so much as gave a passing thought to replacing them. Reactive, never proactive.
I think you've proven my point here though to be honest, Bob. The £20m+ (I think it was about £20m + £2m in add ons) was about right for someone of Tripps' age, level and stature. Of the players that went for significantly more than him, three of them were domestic based transfers in Walker, Wan-Bissaka and Chilwell. The others with the exception of Mendy would all be regarded as elite FBs. The £20m+ for him is about par for the course when looking at the fees for others. If we'd sold him for £20m to an English club then yeah, terrible business, but selling him to Atleti for that amount and looking around at most other good - but not elite - FB player sales, he's more or less gone for the right sort of price.
yup they could see firmino fading, got in jota quickly and early, let him bed in, make impact of the subs bench and ultimately he's now a starter. Tsimikas at lb looks decent too.
yea but would you really say hes the same cost of dalot and otto, less than semedo and danilo. I don't think so, only 5m more than blind he was older and crapper or matt target who couldnt even start for southampton
Traore would be a Spurs player if we paid the price in the first two weeks of the window though. Barca only became interested once Ousmane Dembele's contract situation became clear mid-window, they've told him either to renew or leave, as he won't play for the club this season if he doesn't renew. Diaz I have no issue losing out on, I'm disappointed of course but I can't be annoyed that he wants to join a bigger and better club. What I have issue with is why didn't we make this move on January 1st? If we made this move at the start of the window and Liverpool then came in and "stole him" from us, we would have over three weeks to pursue new targets and alternatives. Instead, we have three days to presumably sign a player instead of Diaz - and Traore - and chances are it's going to be a mad rush in which we likely either miss out entirely, or we go for a b-tech option. I love Oli Skipp but we can't say he's one of our best players based on half a season. He's been excellent this season and the hope is that he'll be here for years to come but we can't be jumping the gun. Ultimately though our academy won't produce XI Kane's or Skipp's, it's never happening. The reality of the market for Spurs is that we leave everything to the last minute and often come up short. Missing out on players is annoying but understandable if they're joining a bigger and better club, but leaving everything late is solely down to how this club is being ran and it needs changing, we simply cannot go on like this. We're declining year or on year for the last four of them and whilst Conte may have halted that decline temporarily, if he ends this season with zero or poor signings, he's more or less likely going to pack his bags in the summer and tell everyone arrivederci. He's doing his part by galvanising this squad to the best of his ability, the board certainly aren't doing their part.
It's also self-evident how making the wrong signings hamstrings the squad and the club. Ndombele and Lol Celso represent 100 million of business and have contributed almost nothing. Not only do they not improve the squad they also prevent other signings. Every signing is a gamble.
