Spoken like a true football fan...when this version turns out to be wrong and he turns up in a saints shirt I will say the same![]()
Just pretend this is a straightforward purchase. I still can't understand why Atletico would be so determined to sell to Spurs when we would happily pay them more than 11.5m. Unless we don't want to pay that much... but then why wouldn't we pay that much? That's a good price.
Ehhh... this whole thing still makes no sense to me.
Let's just throw out the supposed Saints right to buy and Atletico's right to cancel.
Just pretend this is a straightforward purchase. I still can't understand why Atletico would be so determined to sell to Spurs when we would happily pay them more than 11.5m. Unless we don't want to pay that much... but then why wouldn't we pay that much? That's a good price.
Only thing I can think of is Alderweireld does not want to come here. In which case there is no point in dealing with us. And therefore Atletico either wanted the cash so they could buy someone else or they were worried that they couldn't move Alderweireld somewhere he'd be willing to go and be stuck holding the bag. So in their minds it was Spurs or bust.
But then, supposedly Alderweireld was perfectly happy... excited even, to come here. Maybe he changed his mind?!?
This is one of the odder transfer situations I've seen. Can't figure out why any of the parties are behaving quite the way they are.
Oh well, we'll be okay either way. I was not unhappy with Fonte and Yoshida as a CB pairing. And Gardos looked solid when he played, so CB is not a huge position of need for us. I mean, if we end up without Alderweireld this is an area we can and should look to improve, but what area isn't? Go with Fonte and Yoshida and put the extra 7-14m we just saved into an awesome DM or a really great striker or something. I think most of us going into the offseason felt like the odds were fairly strong we wouldn't end up with Alderweireld anyway, so no need to panic now.
Because we had a very rare situation: a top-quality player who openly stated that they wanted to be here, and who was available at a very reasonable price. When they sign elsewhere it's impossible to look at such a situation and not come away with the impression that we could have and should have done more.
Could somebody change the name of the thread lol?
There's the thing, though. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong, but to the best of my knowledge from everything that has been posted, we never met their asking price. When the missed deadline proved not to be the trump card we believed it to be, Spurs sorted out everything before we had so much as discussed personal terms with Alderweireld.
AgreedYeah, I think Alderweireld held all the cards. Still does.
IMO, Atletico has a somewhat reasonable argument that we had plenty of time to come to an agreement with Alderweireld and we never did. If he has no contract with us and does not want to play here, why is it their fault? You can't honor a transfer agreement if the player won't agree to transfer.
If we had come to terms with Alderweireld, then we could go to Atletico and open negotiations by saying "We've reached terms and are now exercising our buy option for 6.8m." Then maybe Atletico says "6.8? Get right out of town. Nah, we'll take our chances and buy him back and sell him to someone else." We up our bid, etc.
But they can't promise to sell us Alderweireld for 6.8m (or pay a penalty) because it's completely not up to them. Alderweireld has a say in it. So all Atletico can do is give us permission to talk to the player. Which presumably we had. And we did indeed talk to the player and try to convince him to sign, apparently to no avail.
But regardless of contract language, I think it pretty much comes down to if Alderweireld prefers to be here, then he'll be here. If not, then he goes to Spurs. And there is little we can do about, and really not a whole lot Atletico can do about it other than the two of us squabbling over whether AM has to pay us some cash.
Alderweireld at this point is more or less just strong-arming his way to his destination. He has already told Atletico he doesn't want to stay. And at this point Atletico has already gone in a different direction as far as their CB preferences. They are obviously willing to sell for 11.5m. I would assume we are willing to pay at least that amount, and probably not a whole lot more because hey, 12m is still better than 11.5m and Alderweireld wants us instead of Spurs.
But who knows? I'm sure there are some huge pieces of the puzzle still missing as to why things have arrived at this point. And whatever those things are, they could still play a role. I still think Alderweireld is in control here, but exactly what he wants is a mystery.
But anyways, we're not at fault here because we can't force Alderweireld to sign. Atletico really can't be blamed that much because they can't force Alderwiereld to sign either. Tottenham can't be blamed for being the player's destination of choice (if that is the case) and reaching an agreement with Atletico.
All that's left is a minor squabble over some monetary damages over an alleged breach. Which I'm sure can be easily worked out between the two teams.
It's just business, indeed.
Am i missing something? Been monitoring this thread religiously, and i cant seem to see anything apart from a tweet by Sven Claes (who?!) to suggest its done. Maybe im clutching at stars but read quite a few reports last night and this morning quoting his father as saying there is no deal done.
Am i missing something? Been monitoring this thread religiously, and i cant seem to see anything apart from a tweet by Sven Claes (who?!) to suggest its done. Maybe im clutching at stars but read quite a few reports last night and this morning quoting his father as saying there is no deal done.