I suppose it comes down to what constitutes spending large amounts. The way things are hopefully shaping up this summer, it may not be a large amount. Plus, I'm sure the initial cost would be amortised over the length of their contracts. It also fits in with Levy's strategy of buying young, and if they have to be sold, it would be at a good profit. FFP may, of course, not see it that way. So, it looks like their could be a few sales this summer, too.
Well if you believe the papers, then Hudd, Parker, JD, Dempsey and even Ade can all go if we receive a good offer for them. Gomes as well. Livermore to go out on loan. The wages for Bentley and Gallas have (finally!) cleared too. AVB is at least trying to get things moving in the right direction - there is certainly the argument of 'too much too soon' (read: look what happened at Chelsea) and it doesn't always work to bring in 4/5 first teamers who then don't gel (read: look what happened at Man City in their first big money season). But I think we've trodden enough water now with this lot.
I wasn't talking about if we signed them, we work quite differently I feel and I don't think Levy would let signing 2 youngsters who won't join us for a year to affect our spending on the squad this summer.
It's not only a matter of how Levy, or the club, views it. It's also a matter of how the FFP rules view it. £17mil is, after all, not peanuts.
Apparently Paulinho is holding a press conference within the hour to announce whether or not he's leaving Corinthians. The director of Corinthians has apparently said that he's already a Tottenham player. So this all means he's not joining us...
As I said the otherday, if City and Chelsea are FFP compliant then we haven't got a thing to worry about
The latest commercial for the Prem in the US has Bale's face as the first and last shots--though, interestingly, nothing of him scoring. The glamor sequence is Rooney's overhead vs. Man City. The usual style of promotion in the US is to feature the best player in the league almost over the league. It's almost more LeBron and the NBA than the NBA. I'm thinking once NBC is sure Bale really will be playing next year for Spurs, the next, third, commercial will have a few Bale goals. Paulinho's not the only one who thinks Spurs with Bale are an exciting team. So it doesn't seem the moment to let him go to Spain. It does seem time for Arsch am Tisch, and that may be why we're spending.
Paulinho has been confirmed, apparently. Just held a press conference and both him and his club have said it's done. This is all going by Twitter and other social media, so don't get too excited just yet, but it seems to be genuine.
ESPN Brazil are reporting it, so I guess it's done: http://www.espn.com.br/noticia/3398...o-corinthians-para-o-tottenham-e-diz-ate-logo Welcome to Spurs!
I'll wait till it's on the OS before finally being able to put an entry on our IN column I was almost at the point of putting Baldini on there.
I'm just putting the finishing touches to my "Ronaldo + Messi join Spurs for a sum of £10" thread...
From Twitter: Paulinho: "This is a very hard moment for me, I have had 3 great years at Corinthians, but now it's time to go to Tottenham." That sounds like a truly terrible film it really does.
also, within the hour: one of the reliable (IMO) twits has just confirmed that Villa has agreed to join us.
