Saw a report somewhere that we had an 8mil bid rejected for Isco- was not so a reputable site so I passed on it.
Don't know too much about him, Notso. The Spanish T.V. here seems to concentrate mostly on the top two. I'll have a look at "La Marca" and see if there's anything in there. His actual last name, though, is Suarez
Fair enough PS, we disagree. Actually with Crouch we got 4th and to the QF of the CL, and I don't agree that he is way better than Carroll, though I would say he was better at his peak. I stick completely by what I said.
Hmmm, seems strange, wouldn't you say? Surely our transfers will be going through each day this week? They can't all be left till friday... Can they?!
I don't understand why people think that leaving things to the last minute is so bad - we tend to sign players on 4/5 year deals so they will be available for ~200 matches for us. They are only likely to be incrementally better than what we've got already. I'm one of Defoe's biggest critics but he is still probably in the 100 best strikers in the world and the 30th best one (which is all we can afford at best) won't actually be much better than him. So surely we need to wait as long as it takes to get the best deal that will pay back over all 200 matches rather than worry about the 2 matches they are missing.
From SS transfer clockwatch- The Luka Modric saga has been rumbling on all summer and there are signs it may be drawing to a conclusion with Real Madrid expected to unveil their new signing shortly. The reported £27milion fee should allow Spurs to move for Willian of Shakhtar Donetsk and Leandro Damiao of Internacional. by Chris Harvey 27mil? I read earlier that it was 33mil or was it 35mil? The only ones who know is Levy, RM & ratboy.
Modric to have medical today at real Madrid - suppose that means a replacement is coming in Partnership deal setup with real Madrid - didn't see that coming!
[video]http://bcove.me/d6z6u88h[/video] The last guy in this video sums up my thoughts on Levy and the transfer window completely.
if we've been successful in the "we wont sell until we've found a replacement" stance; that player has been kept amazingly quiet. who on earth is that player? judging by reports, it's not willian as it's been rejected.(even if some might think that he is the type to replace modric.)
Leaving things to the end for a bargain or to force a hand is always going to happen, the point I'm seeing is its the fact 'the end' is after the season has started. We complain about where we finish blaming England and other influences....how about being ready at the start of the season!, we've repeatedly thrown away points in the first matches as far as I'm concerned by not having the side we want, we're still putting it together.
I'll be disappointed if it's not Moutinho, which I don't think it is. I'll be slightly reassured if it turns out that we get Dembele and Willian. Neither are direct cover for Modric, but I do think that a Sandro / Parker with Dembele CM partnership could be interesting. Plus, I like the idea of actually having some cover for Lennon, and Bale, in Willian, as it appears Gio won't get his chance.
This rings true especially for us. We lost out to champions league by one point. With Liverpool and Chelsea strengthening, Everton looking together as a unit with momentum form the start of the season for a change, and the Manchester clubs due to do their usual surge at some point in the season, these 5 dropped points may well count for us this season. It's not a problem if we are aiming for 5th-8th place, but 4th or 3rd? We need all the points we can get. We did better last season with these two fixtures if I remember correctly.
I doubt it was true that we were trying to line up a replacement first, AVB denied it and it was just a few crap journos that thought that was the reason. Get bidding for Dembele please mr Levy.
ENIC it seems are more concerned about financial stability than the chance of CL. Of course had we got CL last season, then we'd have more to spend, presumably, this season. All summer we've needed two strikers and a keeper. To go into our first two games with Defoe as lone striker was a massive mistake. Let's see who we get now, has to be another striker mid and a keeper, will we get them, will they be right, who knows, not me.
exactly Notso. powerspur, you say that 4/5 year contracts get 200 games, which is very true and that the sacrifice is just 2 games at the start. However, as CL qualification is supposedly our target, some could say that the dropped points at the start of the season result in us not qualifying for the CL (2 seasons out of 3), therefore it's a 38 game problem, rather than the 2 games you suggest. it's the knock-on affect. I don't want to sound in any way negative and I'm really positive about what i've seen from AVB so far. But I stand very firm with my thoughts on leaving business this late in respect of what we're trying to accomplish (according to the target set by the club of CL football). theres more to it than just making sure that we don't spend the odd few mill too much. Not being equipped in time or with the right ammo, has actually resulted in us missing a £30mill bonus for the last 2 seasons out of 3. I think we're going to be priced out of Mouts, Lockstock. apparently Zenit have had a bid accepted of 40m for Hulk, and Porto are apparently reluctant to sell any other "stars", should that deal go through. I think Dembele is actually one of our best options for a genuine modric replacement now. my concern was his potential over inflated price, but apparently its £15m. - which is think is great money for a player who is proven in the premiership and is only 25.
I think Dembele's a good player, but I don't think that he'd be a Modric replacement. Seems more like a versatile attacking midfielder, who could probably challenge for one of the positions behind the striker. If we were to sign him, then I'd expect van der Vaart to leave.
All good points Roo, but I think the reality is that we could have brought say Remy for ~£12m at any time, who I think would have been almost no improvement on Defoe, but if we had we can't then pick up someone better who might become available as deals are done late in the window. The option of being able to do a deal late is always valuable but is rarely taken into account.
