I’ve said it before but I imagine it’s very much a watching brief for us right now. Seems like the player would come back and maybe we’ve had a chat about what it would take to get him out of Barca (likely not much) but you’d think the club are more focused on the priority, younger LCBs with a higher ceiling and might go back for Lenglet later in the window if we can’t get two of the up and comers. It doesn’t look like clubs are beating down the door for him so that seems sensible.
It's no longer just about the team and results, it's also about the growth of the 'Spurs brand'. Sponsorship and shirt sales may be more important over the year than getting 80 million for Kane. Add to that the increased chance of a decent season and the revenue that brings and it's far from certain that it doesn't simply make economic sense to keep Kane for a another year and take the loss at the end. Also Kane could still decide to sign a new contract if things go to his liking. If Levy is trying to keep him then it would be taking into account these economic reasons. On the other hand Spurs may have already agreed to sell Kane but it's worth keeping that quiet until they have done their own transfer business so other clubs are not eyeing a Kane pot of gold and inflating their prices to suit.
Because of our squad. Thanks to the two recent signings, our first XI is probably now just one good CB away from being something to be proud and excited about, albeit I'm basing that on keeping Kane, should he go it drops significantly in quality. But beyond the XI? It's woeful, truly bloody woeful. We've got a couple steady Eddies in Davies and Skipp plus some promising young players but outside of that we've largely got relegation calibre players (at best), all of whom need shifting. We might be able to strengthen the squad a bit this summer but I think it's going to take one or two more windows to do so and until that's done, any faint hope of challenging is simply just a pipe dream. For Ange's first season, I'd say get back in the top six and have a crack at both domestics whilst playing a brand of football that doesn't make us wish we were blind.
I wish I shared your optimism. But in the cold light of day, there are a lot of 'ifs' in your argument, and a number you haven't mentioned. We don't have an "embarrassment of attacking riches". Far from it. We have one true gem in Kane, another who was worryingly off form all season (Son) and a youngster who for now should be viewed as a promising player until further notice (Kulusevski). Then we have Perisic who isn't good enough at this stage of his career, Porro and Gil, neither of whom are proven at PL level and Richarlison who was a colossal waste of money. In fact the only 'embarassment' worth speaking of is how much we paid for him. So the 'ifs' needed to make your statement worthy of optimism are: 1. Kane stays 2. Son regains his form and isn't in decline 3. Kulu kicks on 4. Porro proves himself 5. Gil proves himself 6. Perisic turns into Dorian Gray Then we turn our attention to the defence. We currently have no one at the requisite level. Dier, Sanchez, Davies, Tanganga, Royal and Sess are simply not good enough. Romero has the quality but lacks the temperament. So the 'ifs' here are: 7. We find a replacement to massively upgrade Dier, and that new player settles immediately 8. Romero learns how to calm down 9. Udogie and Spence adapt quickly to the PL 10. Vicario adapts quickly to the PL And then perhaps there is the most significant 'if' of them all, which is 11. Ange being able to take the giant leap up to an elite league that is getting harder every season. I share your optimism for the midfield, where I think Bentancur and Bissouma behind Maddison is an excellent combo on paper. And I am also optimistic that next season will be significantly better than last, but to forecast a potential Leicester-esque title challenge is fantasy imo. The year they won it, City were just getting started under Pep, Klopp wasn't yet at Pool, Arsenal were tearing themselves apart, Newcastle were relegated, so were Villa. Brighton and Brentford weren't even in the PL, United were in terminal collapse after SAF, Chelsea were having one of their 'off' years. The path to glory could not have been more clear of obstacles. The state of play has changed drastically since then. Not only are there more obstacles, they are getting more immovable every year. We are miles off a potential title challenge imo. Four years at least. I fear that fans who think otherwise might be in for more pain and disappointment, when in reality a simple observation of the facts on the ground rather than relying on 11 big 'ifs' all aligning could spare them that suffering.
Atalanta and Luton are both reportedly looking at Tanganga Meanwhile, those always reliable Turkish sources claim Galatasaray are looking at Djed Spence
Interesting to see if Destiny makes it on the tour. I’d forgotten the Italy U21s crashed out at the group stage with the final game a couple of days ago. Word on the street is that they’ll both get a full 3 weeks off after their last game, so Destiny will be back July 19th, with 2 games to play in Singapore. You’d imagine he’ll travel for that. Skipp almost certainly won’t, you’d think, as even if England go out on Sunday, his 3 weeks would mean that he’d be flying out for only a couple of days, which seems a bit mad. This assumes that neither will come back early, of course.
I agree with most of what you say here, it doesn't make my point less true. Many 'if's had to come together for Leicester and Arsenal to challenge respectively, if you listed theirs with as much details as ours the list wouldn't be phenomenally shorter in either case. It was fantasy for Leicester too. I'm not saying that we're going to win the league, but I don't think Postecoglou is as negative as most fans, or has the belief that be of any threat is beyond us this season. Obviously, he has to bring the players in that he wants. We scored the 5th most goals whilst Son was playing through a hernia injury apparently which explains his dip in form. Kulusevski was also injured for big chunks of last season. The teams that finished 3rd and 4th scored less than us. We conceded the 6th most goals. Clearly our defence is s&(t. Maybe embarrassment of riches is a bit far, but which teams front three would you take instead of ours? It's nothing but embarrassing that with our attacking players we didn't finish higher in the league. Vicario gives me Gomes vibes if I'm honest, but I still think with a half decent defence, we'd do better than last season. I hope for an Amrabat type DM signing, three new CBs, and at least one backup winger. I'd love Olise or Gnoto. I have a feeling that Ange get's a tune out of Gil and a few others in our squad. I doubt he can get rid of all of them at once, but thankfully it appears he's making a priority clearing out the CBs for new blood. I'm not going to be 'optimistic' until a highly successful transfer window closes with signings quality enough that we see momentum can build quickly, but if Postecoglou laid out his stall as 'sadly' as you did, no new players would come.
CB Watch Alasdair Gold says we're looking to bring in two CBs, and is talking up Tosin Adarabioyo - which pretty much confirms he's a lock for one of the targets
The 2022-23 "season compass" : PL (like for like with 2021-22 after 38 games) : Pts = -11, GF = -1, GA = +23. Things of note : 1. If the 2021-22 season had been repeated, but with the Toon results this season remaining as is, the Toon still would finished 4th via GD (being +4 better) . 2. The attack was effectively as potent as in 2021-22 3. The GA total was worse for only the bottom third teams ( a savage indictment) , So assuming Kane is not sold, then the manager only has to get an extra 4 wins on the "like for like" to effectively restore the pts level of 2021-22, regardless of whether the GD (GA) improves. Obviously the dust has not yet settled on the transfer window, but I contend that on paper the above is a modest initial target for the manager to achieve with the squad at hand.
Nile John’s signed a new deal til 2025. Quite surprised at that, talented but not to the degree where I think he’d make an impact in the first team. Maybe a loan this season with a view to either determining for sure if he has a future or to then cash in on him next summer? Ally Gold says Matthew Craig has also signed a new one. Edit: now confirmed by club, 2026.
What happened to Vlahovic? I thought he was the next big thing and when we were kind of pursuing him he was out of our wet dreams but yet he doesn’t seem to be hot property no more and is on offer for loan moves, sales etc
Had a mediocre, injury-troubled season and Juventus are skint. Scored 14 goals and got 4 assists in 42 games, which isn't awful, but isn't great either. Chiesa missed about half of their season and Pogba only played 150 minutes for them. That left them with Filip Kostic and the ghost of Di Maria as their main creative outlets. Kostic played every match (nearly 4,000 minutes) and Di Maria's 90, so they struggled. Only conceded 33 goals in the league, but only scored 56 and they had a 10 point deduction. Juve are a bit of a mess at the moment and he's one of their only big assets. They've got Milik and Kean, so they probably want to cash in on Vlahovic.
With any luck, Ndombele's body language (from 0:27 to 0:40) indicates he won't be here for much longer
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I wonder if the Winks deal was separated from the Maddison one for FFP or something? Different months and seasons, I think.
Maddison being moved out before the end of the financial year was FFP gymnastics, Winksy heading that way was more due to him being on loan until June 30th
As far as the bottom line goes, in Levy I trust. If it has helped Lesta out on FFP etc, then a favour owed.
Genuinely best of luck to him. No secret I’ve been his biggest hater from a playing perspective but can’t fault him as a person and he’s lived the dream of all of us to play for his boyhood club.
