I've thought that about Frei, but I agree that it's a role for him in a few years. Dembele's physical presence was a large part of why he was so effective. Frei's got a lot of growing to do before he can come anywhere near recreating that.
Spurs are in the Europa League, Bandy. But let's not kid ourselves and hope he'll stay - he won't. He said as much the day he joined! The only reason I can think of going for Richardson is to bulk out the squad. He's a good utility player and now that Duff is nearing the end of his career Richardson can rotate with him. He can play on both flanks too. Doesn't seem like a bad move if you realise he isn't replacing Dembele.
Totally agree Bidley and this deal was being done before Dembele's not as a result of. The £2m (allegedly) paid for Richardson would have come from Etuhu (£1.5m) plus Gecov (£0.3m) plus Hoesen (£0.2m)
Oh we all knew this day would come, but to Spurs? And for a paltry £15m?! Spurs will sell him in 1/2 seasons time to Madrid for twice as much. In a market where Steven Fletcher costs £14m, we have been absolutely robbed on this deal.
Which reinforces the £15m release clause thing, in which case we wouldn't have been able to turn it down, legally! You're right though, Spurs have got themselves a bargain and will probably be passing him on to Real in a year or two for three times the amount.
A bit of cheering up is needed - http://www.examiner.com/article/tottenham-land-fulham-midfielder-moussa-dembele-massive-23-million-deal Isn't spin wonderful.... However much we received the priority obviously has to be bolstering the midfield, it was even before Dembele. Jol now has the cash to do that - not convinced he was given much beforehand and he wont be given the full Demb-amount - but as many have said unless he already had some lined up the window is against him. Would not be surprised to see a couple of loans and holding the money till January.
As he has a release clause as Bidley says there is nothing we can do about it. I guess the positive is we have made £10m on a player and Hopefully Big Maart will be able to reinvest the money before Fridays deadline. I’m not surprised he is leaving and had it been to a Champions League club would have been pleased for him. I feel gutted that he is going to Spurs as he is going to be a bigger player than a Spurs player and as Bandit says will no doubt move on again for a lot more money.
To be honest, the fact he's going to Spurs doesn't bother me. They're a bigger club than us and it's a step up for him. If the release clause is the reason we're selling, then we wouldn't get any more money elsewhere so what's the difference? It's too soon in AVB's reign to know whether he'll be just what they need or a square peg in a round hole. I suspect he'll flourish. I'm more concerned with what we do to replace him than with where he's gone.
Any minute now we'll have the gloating QPR wums crawling out again. We really need a win on Saturday to lift the gloom.
On a serious note, having watched Diarra over the last 2 games I think there is a plan B we can employ. Diarra in more attacking role and Sidwell on Diarra's role more defence minded. Also Ruiz can play the attacking midfielder role. The bottom of both D departing is that we need someone experienced in the midfield. Huddlestone for me.
I can see Ruiz shouldering more responsibility in playmaking, but not moving into Dembele's deeper role. Although he seems stronger this season (he even tackled against Norwich!), he just doesn't have Dembele's physicality. I don't see him playing effectively anywhere other than on the wing or behind the striker. Diarra moving up is interesting though. Huddlestone? Maybe. I really don't know what I think about him. He's the kind of player who you often don't really get an accurate picture of until he actually plays for your team (or maybe that's just me!)
Nope. I've said this before, he wouldn't come with the right attitude. This is an Alan Mullery, or to be more contemporary, a Danny Murphy moment in time. Get in Scotty Parker and make him captain.
Spurs, apparently, have made him (Parker, that is) available. Not sure whether he'd come to us or whether we could afford his wages but he'd be a hell of an addition to the team if we got him. I like your thinking, Cottager.
