A club can attract the players that the bigger fish don't think are good enough for / have need of them (at that time) . Which is how Spurs got Carrick / Berbatoss / Modric. So in these (alleged) FFP times stopping Sugga Daddy FCs stockpiling talent, that is the scouting game Spurs have to resume.
Agreed, occasionally we will sign experienced players who will turn out to be greats but I think those three are the majority of examples in the last 25 years and two of them were only 23 when we signed them. I think if you look at players who were 25 or older when we signed them you won't get more than 5% who were real successes.
So use that as the thesis basis. For every : 1. two greats you find who were 23 max, you are likely to find one who is 24-25. 2. three greats you find who were 23-25, you are likely to find one who is 18-19 (Bale) . You can probably dimension the age ranges further by position (defence/MF/attack) .
On thinking further you could arguably add Dembele, Vertonghen and Alderweireld to the 25 plus success group, definitely Son and Eriksen to 21 to 23 group and Lennon, Rose, Walker, Dele and Dier to the younger group.
Loic Tanzi at L'Equipe says we're pushing for talks to sign Rennes striker Arnaud Kalimuendo Interesting one, this: he's one of the current crop of French strikers who play as a CF yet their pace, movement and control is much closer to a winger, so imagine a hybrid of Gareth Bale and Jermain Defoe and...I've raised your expectations a touch too high for what is likely going to be a rotation player I should have just said El Hijo del Ekitike, shouldn't I...?
Would make sense as a profile. Frank likes players who can play as an inside forward (when he plays 433 variations) or as a striker (when he plays 352).
I'm happy to sign youth and experience, preferably in the same player. Players like Son and Eriksen have been great successes for us. They were both young when they joined (23 and 21), but had played over 300 senior games. I'd also be fine with us bringing in proven quality in our weaker positions. I've mentioned him before but I think Joao Palhinha would be a no-brainer, especially on the cheap. He could easily replace Christian Norgaard's role in Frank's system/s, in my opinion.
...in case anyone was wondering, Kalimuendo has over 150 Ligue 1 appearances to his name: 93 for Rennes, 60 for Lens, and 3 for PSG Honestly think a front three of Tel, Odobert and Kalimuendo zipping around the pitch like a trio of caffeinated hummingbirds could be something to see
Or it might just need better players. Go through a list of 'experienced' players we have signed and tell me which ones would help us now and I will respond with three times as many who wouldn't.
The failure of signings isn’t down to them being experienced though. It’s been poor scouting imo. By experienced I don’t mean old btw. Just ready made players which the club have signed a decent amount of in recent years - Romero, Kulu, Bentancur, Van de Ven for starters
Data gives you an advantage, but scouting completes the job that it started. Data tells you nothing about a player's personality or what he gets up to when he's not playing. You don't want to accidentally sign a Mason Greenwood or a Thomas Partey, for example. Not unless you're Marseille, anyway...
