Oh god, really? http://www.sportsmole.co.uk/footbal...news/tottenham-planning-hulk-swoop_82268.html "Tottenham Hotspur head coach Andre Villas-Boas has reportedly made signing Brazilian international Hulk his main priority this summer. The pair worked together when Villas-Boas was in charge of Portuguese side Porto, although striker Hulk has since joined Zenit St Petersburg. He has failed to settle in Russia and despite having only arrived in September, Spurs believe that they can tempt Zenit into parting with the centre-forward, according to the London Evening Standard. The report claims that left-footed Hulk could be signed as a replacement for Gareth Bale, who has been linked with the likes of Real Madrid, Manchester United and Bayern Munich in recent weeks."
If it makes you feel any better Roo, the Standard are suggesting that Adebayor would be offered to Zenit as part of the deal! We're obviously just signing wingers and Brazilians this summer. As a Brazilian winger Hulk ticks both boxes.
we didn't even take a punt on anyone last summer though. Everyone with skin could see we needed more than Defoe+Ade
According to some reports; Hulk, Damiao, moutinho, eriksen, rodriquez, soldado, benteke, son, alderweireld, cointrao, ince, remy, higuain and Isco are all targets with a chance of signing. Either AVB has Levy's first born under lock and key or we've been sold and we didn't realise. When are the papers going to stop printing this rubbish?!
I find it difficult to buy the Hulk story. He is reportedly getting paid a fortune at Zenit. No way are we going to pay him what he could get elsewhere.
That's why I place a bit more credence in the Damiao story, it doesn't come from the usual tabloid rubbish, but from Internacional themselves.
Agreed, some in that list are more plausible than others! But as for the internacional president... remember when he pushed that 40m+ release clause, despite entering into negotiations after that. Latino Levy is not to be trusted!
I'll believe Damiao when I see it confirmed. For far too long we've got our hopes up about this guy and it hasn't happened. However, as far as "marquee signings" go, I think this is the most likely. Every other signing will be "bargain with potential" again, IMO. If we see the likes of Eriksen or Moutinho join us in the summer, I'll be astounded. The Tom Ince "types" are about right. But will they be enough to make Bale think that we're doing all we can to progress? I think not. Each summer is a bit of a cross roads for us, but this year is bigger than ever. We only have 1 superstar left now who we must keep hold of and build a team around. Make or break, IMO.
He was trying it on, because at that time Napoli were very keen. I suppose that's the one thing that bothers me a bit, there doesn't seem to be a queue of potential buyers. Just have to hope that AVB & his contacts in Brazil, know what they're talking about.
Yeah, i can see this being the signing that makes spurs or sinks spurs. A bit extreme perhaps but a lot rides on it. We can't afford to do a Bentley again. If we're going for ince surely push for Son! More versatile and THE SHIRT SALES!!! With eriksen and a really really good left back. Christ. Why can't levy be on this board. Our rational, well thought-out arguments would surely convince him spending 50m is a great idea
"Let me put it this way...Damiao looks a real prospect and IF Levy can get him for a good deal (I'm talking around the £20m we're likely to have to pay for a player of his age and good reputation) then I'd like to see him in. What I don't want us to do is pay over the odds" The understanding is that Levy was not prepared to pay the full asking price upfront on an Euro league unproven player. I have repeatedly said that Internacional are effectively gambling on him having a stormer in Brasil 2014 and his stock soars. My instinct tells me AVB has other NEW STRIKER in mind for the summer. And probably conditional on a CL slot. But if so, then Damiao will be forgotten by Spurs and his club can find someone else to play games with.
I read in the paper ,we are looking for a marquee signing to convince Gareth to stay and build a team around him
I would be happy with a Graham Roberts of strikers. Comes from nowhere, and grows into a legend. Rather than some proclaimed "marquee" player.
This is quite a good little article. I know a few of us share very similar thoughts. (I'm wondering if our comments have been seen to be honest.) - He appears to have used my comparison to a leaking bucket, but has reworded slightly differently! (Better) ("we always end up having to fix a leak rather than plumb in the en suite") Big Brother is watching us, I'm telling ya! http://www.thefightingcock.co.uk/2013/05/why-cant-we-get-a-squad-together/ "Throughout my life Tottenham have never had a properly rounded squad. Iâm approaching thirty now, and ever since I can remember there have been gaping holes in the first team and yet some positions have experienced overcrowding akin to rush hour on the Victoria Line. We are talking real feast and famine, and I cannot fathom why. Back in the mid-nineties, the squad was to be honest, s**t. Then when David Ginola left, we had no left winger pretty much until Gareth Bale arrived. Under Martin Jol, when the team started to pick up, we had literally no left side, with the right footed Lee Young-Pyo literally covering the entire left side on his own, both offensively and defensively. Then there were the four out and out strikers (Berbatov, Keane, Defoe, Bent), of which realistically only two could start, which led to Defoe leaving the season before Berbatov and Keane buggered off, with Bent leaving once Defoe and Keane had returned Weâve had four right backs, only two strikers, and earlier this season four number one keepers! Right now we donât have enough strikers or wide men, but plenty of central midfielders. We are never short on numbers, just short on the right numbers, and all in all it is a bizarre way to run a club. This is hardly a secret, either. All Spurs fans, give or take, can agree that we need at least one more striker and a wide man, and quibble over other places. What I cannot understand is how someone like Daniel Levy, with his business acumen and awareness of making full use of the options available to him (okay, being a stingy bugger) can see us through window after window when there are massively obvious flaws in the team. Weâve had four right backs, only two strikers, and earlier this season four number one keepers! Last year we were in the title picture for about six months of the season. This season we have beaten City, United, Arsenal, Liverpool, come within minutes of beating Everton at Goodison Park, and, god willing, will beat Chelsea at the Bridge for the first time since God was a child. AVB has the tactical acumen that we lacked last year under Harry, while there is generally a good mix of youth and experience in the side and we have a good group of academy players coming through. However, while I believe we have players who can challenge for the title (if not win it) we donât have the squad. Letâs take the goalkeeping situation we had earlier in the season. We sign Lloris, the French captain, plenty of medals etc etc, and we have Friedel, the elder statesman, established Premier League keeper, coming to the end of his career. Thatâs grand, covers the bases. Great number one, reliable back up. Then you have Carlo Cudicini, okay, personally I donât believe you need an experience number 3 keeper, if the youngsters arenât good enough to sit on the bench in an emergency then why are they at the club, but whatever. Then you have Gomes as well! At best two of the four will play, and even then that causes problems with the media and fans (I think Lloris should have come into the Europa League side after the Lyon games). The other two donât get a look in, they sap wages, and divert valuable resources away from areas of the squad that need addressing. While I believe we have players who can challenge for the title (if not win it) we donât have the squad. If we offload Gomes in the summer then that situation will be resolved, but the fact is it should never have happened in the first place! Take our midfield conundrum â AVB could name more central midfielders in our squad than Harry Redknapp could (and does) blame for QPRâs demise! Youâve got Sandro, the backup to Sandro, Scott Parker, the backup to the backup Jake Livermore, then Tom Huddlestone, Mousa Dembele, Lewis Hotlby, Gylfi Sigurdsson, Tom Carroll, even Dempsey and Vertonghen could play there in an emergency. Then beyond that you have Dean Parrett and Massimo Luongo â how are those players ever going to get an opportunity at the club with a plethora of established proâs ahead of them? And thatâs without considering an additional playmaker that we have clearly lacked this season. We all know the issues upfront, and a team of our quality and ambition should never have to resort to playing Clint Dempsey as the only striker. As honest and determined as the American, and as crucial as some of his goals have been, he is not of the required quality to be the lead striker, and his signing smacks of the kind of panicked/opportunistic transfer policy we sometimes see from Levy. By not committing himself and the club to sealing the final piece of the jigsaw, we always end up having to fix a leak rather than plumb in the en suite. We didnât strengthen last year and we lost van der Vaart and Modric. Instead of adding a world class striker to the team (in addition to keeping Adebayor or signing another forward) we have to address the lack of creativity in midfield (which we did not truly do, as great as Dembele has been). By the time we get round to signing that terrific number 9 weâll have to find a replacement for Bale, then when we get that replacement Lloris, Vertonghen, Kaboul, or Sandro will have moved to one of the worldâs great teams and we will forever be playing catch up. We as a club have done so much right but we always come up short just when it matters. There is always an area of the first team that needs fixing, but instead we spend our resources on stop gaps and short term fixes, forever chasing the Promised Land. We have a talented, young manager. We have a player in Gareth Bale who is on the cusp of being one of the best players in the world. We have some star players like Lloris, Vertonghen, Sandro, Lennon, and with some very strong players supporting them. We have exciting young players too. All we need is one summer with purposeful investment, not half measures. Get rid of the remaining dead wood, invest in a top striker and perhaps a winger or true creative playmaker. You can probably add a left back in there as well given the question marks over Benny at the moment. This is the moment. This is our chance. If we are serious about taking the next step then we need to, finally, get together a squad, full of quality and with the full range of options. It will not take much and I believe if we can do that, if we can add the one or two unique players we need, then we can fulfil our potential and bring back glory to the Lane. If we donât, then come 2014 we may well be waving goodbye to a star player or two and waving goodbye to our chance to really become a top team. To Dare is To Do, and this summer Levy needs to dare a little more. If we come up short this summer then I fear we will forever be just outside the elite. I do not want this to be as good as it gets. As a wise man once said: âIt is better to fail aiming high than to succeed aiming low. And we of Spurs have set our sights very high, so high in fact that even failure will have in it an echo of glory.â COYS!"
I can understand the link with Hulk, he's made it clear he isn't happy at Zenit due to the racist chants aimed at him by his OWN fans. Only stumbling block for a club like us is Zenit are paying him mega, mega bucks... They signed him for something like £40m too so I think chances of getting them to make a substantial loss AND getting Hulk to agree a lower deal is highly unlikely.
The only other way of looking at it, is that if he's getting abused, then perhaps he would consider a wage cut? If it was that bad and you were on mega bucks, you'd take a cut to get away from it. it's the fee they'd want to recoup which is the biggest stumbling block, IMO. There's about 5 or 6 clubs who would pay that sort of money, but do any of them want him/ need him? he's ****ed.
To be fair I'd take all the abuse and stick in the world if I were on £150k a week. I think it's not even a case of "needing" him when it comes to the likes Chelsea/ City/ PSG etc, they just buy the players to a) Improve their already star studded squad and b) **** the teams over that do need them so that they can't improve and thus not provide true competition for these mega bucks clubs.
