Transfer Rumours transfer thread fact and fiction

According to the Torygraph the latest round of Bayern officials failing to understand what £100m means involves us saying "Alright, include Mathys Tel in the deal"

Prepare to see them **** a brick and say we are being disrespectful

 

Don't disagree about Levy. Every managerial decision taken since 2019 has gone as predicted and that is all on him

 

If only this were the whole truth.

It may well become the truth in future seasons with Scott Munn in place, but as we both well know, Levy has historically been far too close to far too many major decisions that go way beyond simply increasing the size of the pot.

I know you don't believe managers make much difference but at the same time you criticise the decision to sack Poch when we did and I have also seen you agreeing a number of times that replacing him with his stylistic opposite was more likely to produce failure than success. So there is a tangible difference in that decision and we have left far too much up to hope/luck than we needed to.

Does this mean Maureen was doomed to fail? I wouldn't quite say that, but to succeed, he needed certain conditions to be met, and they weren't - because Levy was acting as DoF as well as trying to run a multi billion pound business. And when he did finally hand over some power to a DoF, he did so to a man under criminal investigation, which I'm sure you'll agree is hardly ideal or sensible.

As for players being able to adapt to a system, I agree in principle. Any supposedly elite athlete should possess enough transferable skills to be able to adapt to different positions and different systems. But again, we both know that this isn't always true and probably gets less true the closer you move away from a truly elite group of players. So while Pep can move Walker to CB, Stones to DM and Gundogan to a false 9, we don't have that caliber of player and therefore don't have that luxury. It strikes me as flippant in the extreme to say of someone who cost us £40m "well if he can't defend he'll just have to play as a winger". Play where? We now have a system that doesn't use wingers! Should he take Kulusevski's spot? So what we're saying is that very recently signed two players, each worth in the region of £35-40m, and one of them will inevitably have to spend most of his time on the bench, as there simply isn't room in the team for the both of them. That's a lot of money to spend on the bench, especially at a time when other areas of the first team (CB) are crying out for investment and improvement.

 

The club will have no special skill in selecting a DoF but if we happen to get one who is any good he is likely to make a difference quite quickly. I've actually got no idea what Porro's best position is but we've got him because Levy was backing Conte. He should be quite easy to sell if he doesn't fit in. Nothing we do is terminal....we just need to make the best of bad decisions.
As for Mourinho, he clearly sold himself to Levy as someone who could get the best out of the current squad. That turned out not to be true. He and Conte were the most high profile managers we've ever attracted....unfortunately past success is no indicator of future performance.

 

Bild are harrumphing at Levy cancelling today's meeting and rescheduling it for next week, saying he wants to be in total control and that is not allowed

Coincidentally, earlier today Bild reported that Bayern cancelled their flight to London last night, which of course is definitely not an example of them trying to be in control by demanding we reschedule the talks for when they want to turn up and is the height of professionalism not seen since that eselvergewaltigender Scheißfresser showed up to our press conference the other day brandishing a Bayern kit with Kane's name on it...

 

Just over two weeks until the season starts.

No new CB(s).

(Arguably) best ever player more likely to leave than stay.

COYS, Daniel.

 

We’ve signed a keeper from an average team who seemed to have snapped our hands off for the £15 mill so I guess that wasn’t hard work
We managed to persuade Maddison to leave a sinking ship for the bright lights of London instead of the goldfish bowl in Newcastle and we signed someone who’s contract ran out

now it seems we need to sign quality Cbs from established clubs who value their assets highly and we are spluttering and stuttering and choking the clock down

pathetic

 

I’ve tried to keep a level head (and some patience) regarding transfers, as I’ve been really impressed with Ange’s personality and what he’s brought to the club so far. He needed to assess the squad accordingly. - and There’s definitely a better feel about the place.
But regardless of letting him assess the squad fairly, it was clear we needed at least 1 CB. So I’m baffled as to why we haven’t brought 1 in and let that player settle in preseason, with the view of maybe needing another later in the window, whilst simultaneously letting other squad players prove themselves in the mean time.
With 16 days to go, it’s now seeming like we’re waiting on the Kane sale to afford these players, rather than picturing a season WITH Kane, but still buying the CB’s regardless.

once again, we’re set to go into a season with an unprepared squad, and (potentially) new players who haven’t had time to settle with their new team mates. Plus the enormous conundrum of who on earth is gonna score the goals that Kane would have previously.

 

My patience went the moment Levy started really exploiting and taking the piss out of the fans as well as making false promises.

Wanna charge the highest prices in Europe and also throw out a ****ty cash grab media player? Fine but then don’t expect us to be ok when you’re haggling or stalling over players well within our price range and we’re finishing 8th in the league table. 5 years ago we were also told the stadium would be a game changer… so what’s actually changed? Where’s the “on field success” that was part of the statement back then?

The funniest (not funny) thing about the likelihood of using Kane funds to buy players is that:

A) We likely wont spend the money on a genuine replacement for him

B) The money we get will then almost certainly bump the prices up for the CB targets now the clubs know we’ll have even more cash to burn. So the £30m and £50m fees for van de Ven and Tapsoba respectively will now likely become £40m and £60m at the least.

I just feel very sorry for Ange. He’s walked into a **** situation and a club with a toxic environment and he’s been helped by his hierarchy very little.

 

It's that time of year again: we're being linked with Franck Kessie

In other news...

Exodus Watch
Noticias de Gipuzkoa claim that Real Sociedad are interested in Reguilon

Cough Up Watch
- The Times claims we've rejected Atletico Madrid's £16m bid for Hojbjerg
- Those ever-reliable Turkish sources claim we rejected Galatasaray's €8m bid for Ndombele. That's €8m over four years

 

Atletico are another rich club that always plead poverty. We should never deal with them.

 

I try to not be too negative on here, but to have not added a centre back to the squad 2 weeks before the season starts is nothing short of criminal as much as anything because though he wasn't necessarily the absolute answer, we are a CB down from last season with Lenglet having gone and only been replaced by Rodon who no one seems to think is the answer either.

 

If you want a good laugh, see what Bayern's subreddit has to say about the possibility of Mathys Tel heading our way...
https://www.reddit.com/r/BayernMuni...y_wouldnt_sell_tel_to_get_kane_right_tell_me/
Seid dran, ihr Fotzen

 

Surely we only need 4 or 5 CBs to play 433 as opposed to 6 to play 343

 

As I said a few days ago, we could honestly sell three and sign two and be comfortable for the upcoming season

Provided the three are Sanchez, Rodon and Tanganga, obviously...

 

Essentially yeah, but one small change needed in your sentence - *good* CBs.

Right now we have just one in Romero. The rest are largely relegation fodder.

 

Getting better players is obviously good. But that isn't easy...and rushing it will eliminate some of the prospective signings and thus make success less likely.

 

We didn't say it was easy, but Tapsoba and Van De Ven were identified as targets for this position in early June, it will be August in 2 days time that doesn't constitute rushing it in my opinion, and I am not sure there is a Spurs fan in the country (even my son who is the possibly the optimistic Spurs fan I know), who doesn't think that we need upgrades on Sanchez, Dier and Tanganga in the CB area.

 

No taking time has the opposite effect. We have apparently tried to sign 'top' defenders in at least the last 4 windows and failed. In the meantime our defence has proved inadequate and is the major reason for changing managers and finally failing to get into Europe. If on the other hand we had signed some lesser defenders, who were better than what we had but more available we would have improved our defence and may have even struck lucky and uncovered some gems. As most of the teams in the PL performed defensively better than us there is plenty of choice. We could then have targeted some of the top defenders with less pressure and therefore in the end more chance of getting them.
You cannot run a competitive team by not replacing players until the 'top' target materialises.

 

Adarabioyo Watch
Looks like Monaco are switching their focus to Mohammed Salisu, apparently remembering that he would likely be a cheaper option due to Southampton getting relegated last season

Loanee Watch?
There's a suggestion that Shrewsbury Town want to take Dane Scarlett on loan this coming season