Sam Johnstone set to join Palace. Smart signing for both. He's a decent keeper and will get regular game time there. In other news, looks like United are inching closer to Eriksen. Not gonna lie it will pain me deeply to see him in their shirt. Annoying that he'll cost them nothing but the flip side is there are other areas of that team in far more urgent need of attention. The entire back line for a start.
Romano's also reporting Marseille looking to loan in Gil, although isn't as committal to it as L'Equipe were Considering how Ligue 1 is a pretty physical league, coupled with OM's CL football, I can say that I hope Monaco also consider a loan...
I really hope we swoop in and sign him, I appreciate our priority is a CB, RWB and another striker but Eriksen on a free seems like an absolute no brainer to me.
It will be interesting to see how much game time he gets if he joins united. If as expected they sign Antony from Ajax and De Jong from Barca, they will have a lot of options with Ten Haag also liking Van De Beek and they have Fernandes, Sancho, Elanga and even Rashford and possibly Martial who all occupy attacking midfield/ wide midfield/attacking positions that is competition for probably 3 places in the team. But with McFred still in the defensive midfield and the same issues at CB and FB.
It could come down to a "last responsible moment" approach. Other positions may be higher priority, but if they do not get done quickly enough then Spurs may have to bid earlier for Eriksen than they hoped to.
He’s the one I’d be gutted to miss out on. Much more than Gabriel Jesus (Arsenal) and Richarlison (Chelsea). Spurs need creativity in midfield and Eriksen is about low risk as possible.
I’m in 2 minds about how significant it is. On the one hand, having 5 subs opens up a lot more potential to have a player like Eriksen in the squad who can play when we need to have someone who can break a low block down, either starting or from the bench. We don’t usually play with a 10 but could flex to 352 or play him in a midfield 2 with a more defensive partner, someone like Bissouma who can cover a lot of ground behind. On the other hand I think what we missed a lot of last year was consistent productivity from the wingbacks, which is so important in a 343. With Sess finally looking like a player in that position, Perisic joining, Doherty hopefully coming back from injury to continue his surge in form, and another attacking RWB option on the way, we should get that threat from wide areas and WBs pinning wide defenders to make central space far more often. The midfielders we have are reasonably creative from deep but not 10s who can work in tight spaces around the box. With proper WB play we might see another dimension to their game, enabled by more space in the middle and passing options out wide. All in all I’d much rather have Eriksen as an option in the squad than not, though.
Lyall Thomas says Spence is desperate to join us and we’ll be back in for talks with Boro. Also interested in signing other young English players to compete/ backup for places in squad. Levy is the one working on the Spence deal as Paratici is working on other targets - no wonder this one’s taking its time then unlike the other three
I tend to agree with this. Even if we make no further signings this window, our strongest XI on paper is probably: Hugo Romero Dier Davies Doherty Bissouma Bentancur Perisic Kulu Kane Son There just isn't room in there for Eriksen to be a regular starter. True, he played plenty of games as a CM under Conte at Inter, but the PL is quicker and far more physical than the Italian game and more and more teams are using the CM as a properly combative engine room with players who can resist a press, retain possession, carry the ball and have at least enough creativity to move the ball on to the wide or attacking players. Bentancur, Bissouma, Skipp and Hojbjerg all more or less fit that profile. Eriksen doesn't. I'd also love to have him as a squad option, but if he wants regular football fair enough. Although truth be told I can't see him getting it at United either.
Frankfurt have signed Mario Gotze. Not a rumour/ transfer link but I wonder if that could potentially open the door for a possible Kamada exit and if so if we'd be a team interested? We had a very brief link to him a month or two back but nothing substantial. His deal ends next summer, impressed me in the games I saw of him in Frankfurt's Europa campaign and he plays in one of the two spots behind the striker in a 3421. Whilst we play a 343 I'd imagine he could adapt to going slightly wider judging by his skill set (or if we go 352 at times), whilst also being an option to play CM too if need be, if we don't re-sign Eriksen I think he'd be a decent alternative. Won't hurt from a commercial aspect either to bring in another top Asian player.
Levy getting involved with the transfer of Djed Spence , he can't keep his ****ing nose out of it can he
Listening to what Ali Gold said it seems to make sense that Barca are in for Eriksen. Barca need to sell De Jong in order to free up money to register Christensen and Kessie. I think they then see Eriksen as De Jong's replacement. He's 25/1 with Betfair, i have had a fiver. If this comes off I'm calling myself ITK
Interesting how, ever since Lyall Thomas offhandedly mentioned us looking to sign young English players to fill out the squad depth, there's been a sudden outbreak of calls to sign Ben Brereton Diaz Keane Lewis-Potter is my top pick given he's had back-to-back seasons of 12 goals from the left wing and is in the last year of his contract, while Alex Scott has been strongly linked and Malcolm Ebiowei was (allegedly) the bloke whose medical was called off at the weekend due to his agent being ill, so two wingers and a CM cover a lot of depth bases
