Look, we've got some decent backup goalkeepers available, but I'm not sure any of them are as good as Tommy Forecast. £3m and Alfie Whiteman will have to do, I'm afraid.
£40million shouldn’t be a problem. If Spurs policy is to sign young players with huge potential (Gray, Bergvall etc) then Dibling ticks every box. Even if it was a deal that means he stays at Southampton until the end of the season, it should be done.
I think he'd still do a good job for them, to be honest. Their alternatives to Ramsdale have been woeful.
Ramsdale hasn’t been great since signing for them. One thing you have to rate Arteta for is upgrading him when many said it wasn’t something they needed to do.
You’d be mad to even take £40m, mate. We paid that for Archie Gray (worth every penny so far, a rare shining light of the season for us) and he’d never even kicked a ball in the Prem beforehand.
I highly doubt we'll do any deal until the end of the season. He's still got 2 and a half years left on his contract so we don't have to rush. Plenty of time to drum up a bidding war.
In his defence this time it's much more to do with the utter **** that is in front of him, Dibling and Fernandes aside.
Yeah I think the fee will be more £60million than £40million. Especially considering his age, home grown status and potential. Still doable for Spurs if they really want to sign a top quality youngster though. If they can waste big money on Richarlison and Brennan Johnson then Dibling is a no brainer
Yeah I’ve already said in the past I’d happily throw a blank cheque at them for Dibling. Some players you can just tell are gonna be superb, this ain’t a flash in the pan player, he’ll go to the top. That natural ability ain’t something you coach, you either have it or you don’t and he’s got plenty.
Brandon Austin is PL proven, so maybe we can convince them he's worth £20m? Worked with Tommy Forecast...
Probably more ex-Spur related though I can’t remember if we had any sell on clause but Everton have apparently enquired for Emerson Royal. With Walker set to join Milan, Emerson will likely be out the XI despite only joining in the summer.
Sami Mokbel mentioned in passing we have an interest in Natheus Cunha, though Forest are so far the only team to make a concrete bid ...which is a little too "Saudis sign Chris Wood to stay up at Burnley's expense"
I still think, once again, that Levy needs back Ange, not sack Ange. Sacking Ange right now would be the dumbest thing to do, in the same way that sacking Mourinho before the cup final was just stupid. Man City in 'crisis', by contrast, simply bring in reinforcements, clearly Levy and Lange need to do that, rather than having two get a new manager & reinforcements. I also think Sonny is not captain material. I am getting the feeling that it's too much responsibility for him, he doesn't seem to have the guile necessary. He needs to bury chances like he had vs Everton in the most ruthless fashion. Seems like he spends more time flustering under the pressure than actually finishing these days. I don't believe he is physically past it, he's of similar age to Salah. It's mentality for me. It's one role too many. If Son is the best candidate for captain then it doesn't say much about the fibre or minerals in the squad. He's too 'light'. Kulusevski is the obvious candidate for captain at the moment. At leat stick him the 'leadership group'. He's clearly the bright light of the season. Ideally we'd have someone with a bit more grit to take that role. Sonny needs more 'muscle' around him in other players. Hopefully when players come back, things will look very different. Opposition fans, pundits, would LOVE Levy to sack Ange so they can mock Levy and Spurs once again, for doing the same crap of sacking managers before they have full backing. It's a damned if we do, damned if we don't situation. In my dream scenario Levy turns billy big balls and signs Delap, Cunha, Dibling, Fratesi and Skriniar and sends Werner back. Send Lankshear and all the other underused, under-trusted, youth out on loan. Keep Moore to bed him in. The pattern of capitulation always happens when we the midfield pivot is weak. Redknapp turned a corner when Palacios came in and partnered with Huddlestone, Sandro, Modric and Parker helped in similar ways once Modric bulked up. Pochettino hit form with the famous Wanyama / Dembele pivot and ended up with Winks and Sissoko. Ironically Mourinho and Conte had Skipp and Holberg. At the moment we don't even have a pivot as solid. It should be Bissouma and Bentancur, but they seem even less consistent. This is why Everton can just decide they aren't loosing to a bunch of kids, and make it so. Fratessi looks like the profile that'll stiffen the middle and give these younger players the right guidance in that part of the pitch. It's time to 'buy' a cup or two. It's the only way Levy saves face. Put on a few more American Football matches and "Beyonce" concerts to balance the books. Actually put all of this wonderful infrastructure and income to good use. Pay over the odds. Just for a couple of windows. Do a Chelsea. Look at all of the players we've been in for that have gone to Chelsea, they are obviously making that move for a reason. Money is definitely a part of it, but I'm sure they all have a bit more belief in the success of that project and the story / history of the club. A lot of these Prem players think they are too good for Spurs. Fulham or Wolves for example, to Spurs is no longer seen as an obvious step up. The narrative has to change. To be fair to Lange and Levy, no-one likes us, meaning Man City, Chelsea, Arsenal, Villa, Man United, Liverpool, Newcastle don't seem to sell to us in the way that they sell to each other to keep the status quo intact these teams are happy to improve each other, with the exception of United / City. Cole Palmer to Spurs, for example, would never happen. I imagine they don't want Spurs upsetting the party. To be fair to Levy, he's only one move away. It's great that the club is wealthier than ever, relative to other clubs. This is no easy feat to achieve. Respect where it is due. Now just raise the damn wage to turnover ratio to compete in signing the right players, and it'll silence the bitching of all haters, pundits and fans alike. Why make all of this money if you're not going to do this? Anything else is just stupid, and renders the whole enterprise pointless. It's time.
Sacking the ubermensch was not stupid If he qualified for Europe his contract would have automatically extended, yet it was quite clear that the wheels were coming off already and there was no way things were going to improve without the funding of an oil state behind it, which we didn't have The mistake was not sacking him sooner, as the Dinamo Zagreb result should have been the catalyst for replacing him
22nd Jan, biggest injury crisis the club has ever had. 15th in the league and sliding down the table fast. Yet no outfield players signed…. This club isn’t serious.
I’m coming round to the belief we’re not going to either. I’ve mentioned to Roo and others in recent days that I think the manager being a dunce and our Europa squad registration situation being so ****ed that it’s too much of a hurdle for our even bigger dunces hierarchy. Not a chance we’ll be signing a Cunha/ Mbuemo/ Luiz etc that we’re crying out for. I suppose at the very best by the end of the window we’ll make a Werner-esque loan, someone who is like 4th/5th choice at their current club.
Europa registration makes things hard but still need players for the league campaign. A serious club would have made moves by now.
