"Re. Schnerdlein - some say he's stalling to see if Man Utd qualify for the group stages of the champions league" That is confidence in your future employer for you.
"I'm curious. Why do you care?" Well they lost the Brenton "If you spend 100m ..." Cup to Spurs this season, so ripping the 2014-15 'net spend' Cup from our hands is all that is left for them.
If his performances on the pitch are anything to go by he will still be strolling round the changing room clearing his kit out. Watford should finally get him through the door by november
I read an interesting article, ’The Curious Case of Benjamin Stambouli." The most interesting theory was that Stambouli was forced out not because he didn’t work hard and play fairly well, but because Pochettino was trying to say, "Look, he’s fine. But to reach our goals, we need to get players who are better than fine. And we can do it and break even if we sell the fair to middling types as well as the outright disappointments, and use it to get a few of the best players who’ll come here, along with some cheap, eager younger players." That’s about what I would have said, any way. But I would have kept Stambouli. DM’s are unpredictable, to me, and Stambouli had a chance of becoming really good.
Have we sold Stambouli now? My impression was that we would have seen more of him at the back end of last season when we really needed some rotation, but he was struggling with a niggling injury of some kind. He's a handy player and given the number of players we have moved on at CM so far and with potentially more outgoings to come, he'd be well worth keeping for now until we sign a new player in that position, who would presumably be a starter.
I heard Stambouli was going to Watford, I thought. But it was only a rumor. I agree he seems useful, especially when DMs may be likelier to get hurt than anyone else. It’s not as if he’s drawing big wages.
That is the rumour. We've supposedly accepted a fee and it's now onto personal terms. I would suspect, by the end of the week, he'll be gone
The thing is, sometimes you need the "decent" players in your squad. Look at Wes Brown or John O'Shea: neither of them were top quality defenders at any point, yet they were solid pros who could do a job when brought on to close out a match or to fill in for a few games here and there while the first choice players got rested. From that standpoint it makes sense to keep Stambouli around, especially since we're still in the market for a defensive midfielder after Kondogbia joined Inter while Southampton tucked their Schneiderlin-shaped ball under their arm before stamping their little feet all the way home, and given we have previous in failing to secure players in key positions we shouldn't tempt fate.
Not strictly transfer news but it may affect our incomings: Harry Winks has signed a new contract running to 2018 with an option to extend for another year. Whether this means a loan move is in the offing, or if he's one good pre-season away from a breakthrough at Spurs, we shall have to wait and see.
Got to love sky - Currently reporting that 'Southampton boss Ronald Koeman and his players are back in pre-season training, but there was no sign of want away midfielder Morgan Schneiderlin. Meanwhile, the Dutchman is still confident of signing Atletico Madrid defender Toby Alderweireld, and says he's been assured by the player that he wants to join the Saints' In the accompanying video clip Koeman clearly explains Morgans absence and when pressed about Toby he only refers to a conversation they had at the end of last season, and a private text. So basically there is no news but Sky would like to make out that there is!
Southampton claiming that Alderweiled (excuse spelling) says he wants to stay at southampton...so either 1) they are lying in order to put pressure on the player 2) he is lying in order to keep southampton fans on side 3) he has changed his mind and now wants to stay 4) the media are lying about what has been said or 5) we have wasted a lot of time and energy bidding on a player who will not join us Beginning to get very very bored of this
Can't understand all this profit/loss stuff. The way it works as far as the Spurs Accounts go (and any other club if they are listed on the stock exchange is as follows: Sign a player for 20 M on a 4 year contract, he is therefore depreciated by 20/4 per year (unless he signs a new contract) if sold for 10 M with only one year left on his contract his value has depreciated to 5 M therefore a PROFIT of 5 M has been made. Sounds silly but that's the way accountants look at it.
"Beginning to get very very bored of this" Atletico have decided that Soton are not getting the player on the cheap. And that Spurs as a suitor can bid the price up easily.
I’m really pleased about this. I think he can develop into an outstanding player for us, and has become good already. The question to me is what his role should be. He’s very versatile, yet the combination of him and Mason were not good enough defensively last year. It says a lot that the only team of the week I saw him on was when he was pressed into service as a left back. I don’t suppose if we don’t get Alderweireld we can turn around and get Carrasco. I wouldn’t value my opinion very highly, but I think he may be just the attacking player we need.
Bentaleb's contract is smashing news. Glad we got any issues there were, if indeed there really were any as reported, out of the way.
Fantastic news about Bentaleb, one of the best young players to come through the club, genuinely believe he'll be one of the best CMs in Europe within the next 3-4 years. Delighted with the news about Winks' new deal too, looks a great young player and someone who could definitely have a future at the club.
We’re supposedly offering 20 million for McCarthy. This one seems like a non-starter to me. Everton finished ahead of us two years ago. Selling one of their key players to a rival seems too depressing to their fans to be worth it. Man U clearly can’t understand why we wouldn’t do that, but I could understand why Everton wouldn’t. It’s a double loss in both cases. Besides, though McCarthy would be good to have, though maybe not for 20 million, I’d rather have Mario Suarez or maybe Cabaye. I don’t see what an older striker like Llorente buys us, other than a search for another striker in a year or two. Besides, we already have a couple of veteran strikers. But a deep lying playmaker in his late twenties could both help Bentaleb, Mason, Alli and Carroll develop, and, perhaps, bridge the gap while Alli develops. Suarez seems like a particularly good choice if he’d like to come, as he’s a quality player, might not cost too much, is losing his spot at Atletico and is used to a high energy system.
