perhaps we felt that keeping Emerson as a cover option was more valuable at the time than the £20m, and it was worth it even knowing we’d command a lower fee this summer?
The obvious thing about looking for Angeball-adjacent players we need to look at leagues where players have the directness and workrate Most obviously the Bundesliga, though we need to truffle around for other leagues that fit that profile - or to put it another way, look at leagues Bundesliga clubs recruit from, such as the Austrian, Belgian, Danish and Swedish leagues, with the J-League and MLS on the back-burner
He’s been poorer far more than he’s been good for us, which basically sums up his career since Chelsea. He’s been ineffective in so many games and there’s also been about 3-4 typical Werner-esque situations of him fluffing golden opportunities. It feels similar to when Matt Doherty had about 6 good games at the end of his second season after he’d been dreadful in every game prior, fans and the club then felt he was worth keeping onto and by January of the very next season his contract was cancelled. These micro positives that poor players give every now and then can’t be overvalued as otherwise it’ll just continuously bite us in the arse long term.
And that’s proven the wrong decision because keeping mediocre players never gets us anywhere. You even said the other day that not shifting deadwood would lead us into that cycle of leaving us with too much to do each window and rejecting a very generous offer for Emerson in January falls into that exact scenario because it’s another name on our summer list to discard that could’ve been dealt with beforehand. I can personally never wrap my head around keeping bad players because it’s deemed as (good?) cover.
I don’t disagree with you. I’d rather see us sell who ever we can, whenever we can, if that player is deemed surplus to requirements. But there must have been a reason why we didn’t act on that £20m offer. whilst all of us want to see the best players possible playing for spurs, there’s potentially a scenario where we felt that keeping him for now was the better option. Perhaps having some cover was better than no cover, especially if alternative options in the market were believed to be no better than what we had. We’ve been unlucky with injuries this season too, so that’s bound to have impacted our decision making in January.
It’s not even about the best players for me, it’s just those who “make sense” and even look relatively competent. I’ve often said that as a bare minimum for a club aiming for European spots you need players capable of playing at a 6/10 every week - and that’s at the very least. Emerson, and he’s not the only one for the record, drops 4s and 5s at almost every opportunity, sometimes lower. To have gotten - and point blank rejected - a £20m bid for that sort of player in a market where money is scarce just seems crazy to me. I think the fact he’s rumoured to be up for sale as well makes it that bit more eyebrow raising as to why we did reject. I think there’s a decent argument to be had that bad cover isn’t actually better than no cover too, in the sense that I’d rather try an untested youth player than a proven poor player. I’d much rather risk the unknown than the known if the known will never or rarely deliver, as cliched as it sounds but “To Dare Is To Do”…
Paul O’Keefe says we’ve identified over a dozen players we’ll listen to offers for. He’s not said who, but maybe: Rodon, Tanganga, Emerson, Davies, Reguilon, Ndombele, Lo Celso, Skipp, Hojbjerg, Bissouma, Gil, Solomon, Kulusevski, Richarlison, Parrott? That’s 15 of who I think don’t have a guaranteed future. Edit: He’s responded to a couple of people, Kulusevski to stay but Davies is indeed on the list. I’ve predicted the latter would be for a while now, contract has just a year left and as reliable as he’s been, the football’s moving in a direction that doesn’t play to his strengths. If he does end up getting sold, I hope the club gives him a good send off like they’ve done for other long serving departures, may never have been the best but was always reliable and dependable.
As it's O'Queef, the immediate thought is that Dier and Perisic would be two of the names...even though Dier's already gone as he triggered the clause in his loan, and Perisic is out of contract anyway In terms of the list you've come up with - Rodon is clearly going, given we quoted a fee to Leeds for January - Gil had his passport stamped when he said he'd stay to fight for his place in January...yet has been absent from most matchday squads since - Ndombele is only going in the summer if we pay off his contract at this point, unless the Saudis want to go full Chinese Super League - Hojbjerg could have left last summer as we accepted a bid from Fulham - but he turned it down expecting to hear from Atletico Madrid - Lo Celso is reportedly getting a new contract per Tutto Mercato, which begs the question why we aren't giving him more minutes - Reggie we've been trying to generate interest since last season, but him being injured for most of his Atleti loan ****ed it - Parrott is reportedly getting interest from the Bundesliga
It looks like Davies is going into coaching. It appears he is one of the brightest lights on up and coming 'former' players. We have money to spend but many clubs don't so it's doesn't look like an easy market.
Like you (and Roo ) I’m usually highly critical of supposed ITKs but I think Paul has been pretty reliable with info, is he always 100%? No, but there’s usually decent substance to what he says most of the time. I saw the Mercato stuff on Lo Celso, I think it’s fair to say that’s complete nonsense. The guy isn’t even second choice in his preferred role because we saw the other night Ange prefers Kulu there. As much as I don’t rate him though he should’ve had more minutes in recent weeks.
I think he could make a great coach/ manager as well, about 6 or 7 years ago I actually remember our players being asked who would make a good manager and a lot said Ben back then, he breaks the stereotype of footballers being stupid that’s for sure. But like I said to Lefty recently, I don’t see him making the transition just yet, I think he still has a good few years to offer as a player before taking the step into coaching but unfortunately for him I don’t/ didn’t see those years being at Spurs. When he does hang up his boots though, I really hope that like Mason, Archibald-Henville, Lewis, Burch and Defoe we offer Ben a role at the club if he wanted one. Being as smart as he is and already taking his coaching badges whilst having played under and learnt from the likes Poch, Jose, Conte and even Ange, you won’t find many who’ve had a better education than that for a future coach/ manager.
O'Queef is an absolute grifter yet never gets called on it, for example this little doozy from the end of last season And how many contracts were torn up? None The thing with Lo Celso is that he has the directness that our play needs which Hojbjerg lacks and Bissouma hasn't demonstrated since something like November - yet it has to be said a final third CM who is direct when moving forward and has a streak of bloody mindedness to them is a relatively easy find if you know where to look, for example there's three players who fit that description in Boca Juniors' first team (and that is not an exaggeration) while there's numerous players with that profile in the Bundesliga or Ligue 1, and that's before looking in the hipster leagues such as Belgium, Austria, or Denmark
I don’t think he gets called out because he’s gotten a lot more right than wrong. It’s not always been transfer news he’s posted about either which I think is a decent sign of someone with knowledge as most other fake ITKs post solely transfer news and ironically just before a window opens, there’s been lineups, club news etc that he’s often gotten before even the likes of Gold or KP have said.
That's the other thing: a lot of his transfer scoops happen to have already been posted by Romano, Di Marzio, Schira et al He's an aggregator, but unlike Hotspur Related he's got an ill-deserved cred
Welp, looks like any potential summer move for Roony Bardghji is off: he's done his ACL and is expected to be out until November-December
Just been catching up with his pre match comments. Refreshing to hear a manager say it like it is. Wholesale changes are needed and have been since Poch first asked for it, over five years ago. But I do have a feeling of dread in the pit of my stomach. Will Levy do something he has never fully committed to? Will he stop insisting managers polish turds into diamonds and just back him fully and unreservedly, as Arsenal have done for Arteta (who did worse than Ange in his first season, despite already being in the dugout from Nov of the previous year)?
I do wonder if Romero could be a surprise departure this summer. He was one of the players Ange went absolutely nuclear at during the Chelsea game. Tbh Micky is already outshining him on a regular basis.
Highly unlikely, given Ange has said he wants more players with Romero's drive Indeed, our first choice back five are pretty much safe - it's the midfield where you expect the axe to be swung the hardest
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/cqenqzvd29mo Ange telling the board how it is and what needs to happen, it is good to see, no doubt Levy will not like the sound of it though. It will be interesting to see what happens, will it be same old Levy and Ange inevitably goes the way of his predecessors after being lumbered with an inadequate squad, or will Blofeld take a leaf out of the Woolwich book and step up the levels of intent. I know where my money lies.
