Aldeweireld makes sense on the face of it. I wonder if there’s anything to it. If there is, I’d start Dier at RB over Trippier. I also wouldn’t be shocked to see Bentecke. On the face of it, we could use either Dembele or Stambouli as the shield for the back four we so evidently lacked most of last year. Instead we seem interested in shifting one or both and getting someone else. It’s a bit strange. Part of the trouble is that Bentaleb can be a good DM, IMO, if he wants to be. But either he, Pochettino or both like thim to get forward more. Mason had exactly the kind of year you might expect for a hardworking number 10 in a deep lying role. I can see why we would want Dembele, but not why Chelsea would.
I'd be wary of bringing in yet more players in positions we're well stocked for - we do now have 6 CBs all expecting serious game time after all - without selling a few first. I'm hopeful that we'll be without Kaboul and Chiriches come September but I'm not sure we'll be able to lose Fazio as well, so if we bring in Alderweireld too thats a lot of players to keep happy in a position where it doesn't usually pay to rotate. On Dembele I'd take the rumoured price for him in an instant, but we need to sell Paulinho and Capoue then secure a starting XI quality player to play in the '2' before we sell Dembele IMO. He'll probably be the easiest sell of the players we want rid of to be honest so we can afford to wait on his move. Lets shift the awkward ones first, and quickly.
The hardest problem to gauge for Spurs since Bale left is the cost of having too many players. Some players benefit from competition. Others do better when a job is handed to them. For whatever reason, the more northerly the player’s origins, the more he seems to benefit from security. So Gylfi didn’t work out very well for us, but has thrived in two different stints as Swansea’s every day number 10. Lamela, our most southerly player, on the other hand, has kept working and fighting for his spot through lots of discouragement. I hope the rumors of a big clearout are true, to save money and avoid the problems involved with having too many players. I also think our player acquisition has improved us for quite some time. There have been steps backward, but there’s been a general improvement of the squad, if not the starting 11, for some time. To keep that process going, players have to be lost as well as gained, and it’s losing players we haven’t done enough of the last few years.
Probably the same witchcraft that 7th place, no European football Manchester United used to convince Rojo, Blind and Herrera to sign for them last summer.
Even though the likes of Roma, Fiorentina and Napoli have all had more success in recent seasons, Milan and Inter still have a powerful shirt. The same is true in the Premier League, where a club that is frequently out of the Champions League and is managed by a clueless gobshite is somehow seen as a good club to sign for based solely on their shirt. The problem is The FA pick the England squad along that same logic...
It looks like Spurs may want to get a pacy young striker who can play on the wing, a quality DM/deep lying player...and anybody good enough, for a low enough price. Walloons, Flemings and young players particularly welcome. This would explain the endless series of rumors around players who fall into these categories. There may be a PL bias as well. We’ve picked up Trippier, seem to be interested in both Alderweireld and Schneiderlin and now (batcountry) are willing to do a swap plus cash for Berahino. The Levy way would be to keep racing all the deals against each other, in the hopes of getting the best possible one..and bringing in whomever he gets minutes before the deadline. Or failing to.
We've been stung too much in recent times bringing in players untested in the UK. Clubs with bigger squads (like City and Chelsea) can afford to spunk £20-30m on a player and then give them time to bed in. If we do that we need him to perform straight away, and when he doesn't its like he loses confidence and its game over.
Would you seriously, happily, replace Paulinho, Capoue and Dembele with ONE player? I think with a better DM in Bentaleb's position, Paulinho could do a job in Mason's position. I think Paulinho has been written of too early by many fans, as they forget that at his best, he has goals in him. Capoue lacks pace. I get it, even though he showed early promise. Dembele is the only CM we have who comfortably adds solidity to the midfield at the moment, when we need more steel. Unless Schneiderlin comes in (with his premier league experience and relationship with Poch), I think it'd be a mistake to let Dembele go. Stambouli fouls too much in dodgy positions, which makes me think he's not comfortable in the league (yet). I'd still look to keep one of the three you mentioned if Schneiderlin comes. (Big unlikely if.) ….but maybe that's why I'm not a manager.
Paulinho offers us no physicality in a deeper role and isn't a truly outstanding passer of the ball either IMO - neither is Mason to be fair, although he is better than Paulinho and offers more effort. The Brazilian might be useful behind the striker, but we have better options in the squad to play there if Eriksen got injured - Mason for example, who looks to have a better strike on him than Paulinho, for a start. I'd sell him. Capoue looked good early on in the season but it appears that him and Pochettino seem to have developed a very poor relationship. He may as well not be in the squad nowadays. Sell. Stambouli looks like a handy squad player and I'd keep him around. We'd have seen more of him last season but I think he was carrying a knock towards the end of the season (ironically when we really needed some rotation to pep up Mason/Bentaleb) so we didn't see as much of him as we perhaps might have done. Dembele adds physicality all over the pitch but as I think I said on another thread, doesn't have the footballing brain we need from a midfielder. We won't change him. Even if we sold the three players I advocated selling in an earlier post and bought one starter in, we'd have 4 senior players pushing for 2 starting places in the team, plus Carroll and Alli. Then again, I'm not a manager either, and perhaps I'm too optimistic about the future of Carroll at the club, and indeed Alli's immediate future too.
We've also got Pritchard who has goals in him at championship level. I'd rather see him in the team than Paul
Man Utd say that they'll only sell De Gea to factitious if they give them Sergio Ramos. Marca must be having a field day with that level of delusion...
"Marca must be having a field day with that level of delusion" ITKs have told me their editorial staff would love to, but their orders from the top are to continue with the <insert Barca player name here> to Spurs gossip.
It does need to be said that, the other day, AS were posting reports linking Ramos to Barca. For those not in the know, AS is to Barca what Marca is to Factitious or The Sun/Sky Sports News are to Man Utd.
About how I have it. A streamlined squad would save money and, I think, help team spirit. I’d keep Dembele as he has a very unusual quality. He’s tank-like and has been a big-game player, dominating midfield against top sides. His tendency to bring the ball forward at a leisurely pace is maddening, but it can be very useful against pressing sides, as he can retain possession where others can’t. Paulinho is not quite good enough at two different positions to be worth holding onto. He could be a big player in a weaker side, and should be sold to one, I think. He can press effectively, do dribbling tricks and create goals, but neither his passing or his shooting are very good except at very close range. His best quality may be his ability to get himself and the ball to the right place at the right time to create goals. Capoue, like Kaboul, has reached the end of the road here. Stambouli was a good DM, and deserves more time. I'm probably one of the few who would consider holding onto Ade. It is his on-again year, in what's been a long on-again, off-again pattern. Would it really be much of a surprise for him to have a good year this year?
Just reading that Michu is going to be released by Swansea. Anyone think he might do a job as a backup to Harry. At 4 mil looks like a bargain.
Too many injury problems, as well as rumours of bust ups behind the scenes. Might end up linking up with Laudrup again, wherever he gets hired.
