Any updates on Ade? Be really pleased when he's gone so hopefully the club can start their moves for a replacement. Who that is will determine how competitive we are.
I would say that Townsend's initial England call up was down to some good Spurs performances, and he has always looked very good with the national team, far better than his average performance level with Spurs. That vindicates his continued involvement with the England setup IMO. He deserves that part of his career, but he really really needs to step up his game at Spurs. On Lamela, I see what you are saying about selling an improving player being a somewhat dubious decision, even if the level of play and rate of improvement leaves much to be desired. However, I would say that he is only going to improve (and even then there are no guarantees on the rate of that improvement) if he gets consistent game time in a position and system that suits him, and I think that no matter where you play him right now it harms the team. He isn't the player we need - right now the first team is setup to get the best out of the Kane/Eriksen/Chadli trio and their movement and interchange, and what we need is a player to stretch the width on the right hand side and create more space and options for those three to exploit, not a player who can provide occasional moments of quality but all too often congests space and slows down the play. I'd seriously consider taking any offer of £10m upwards and making an immediate approach to a player like Nathan Redmond. On Ade, he apparently had a medical at Villa yesterday, or at least was certainly at their training complex, so I imagine we're waiting to announce him and Vlad together.
Probably busy working out how well he can play in the first half of the season to get himself a contract come July so he can plan when to go off the boil.
Sometimes I wish there was a way you could all see Lamela on the training ground. Some of the stuff he does is just awesome, he really is a talent. Coupled with a very good work ethic and thoroughly professional approach, it's such a shame he hasn't been able to replicate this on a consistent basis in the PL.
I wouldn't sell either of them . I think Townsend is a player who will probably leave us sooner rather than later, yet he has had spells both with us and QPR, where he is a real handful. I would have thought he needs some damn good old fashioned coaching , hours extra on the training ground on shooting practice etc, enhancing his skills. I rate Lamela. Watch him in games, he is always prepared to do his share of the dirty chasing back work and on many occasions it is his interceptions which break up our opponents play.
I don't doubt Lamela's talent or technical ability, I don't doubt his desire to succeed at Spurs or his work ethic, he seems a genuinely good guy who is willing to work hard to succeed, unlike some of the bad apples we have had at Spurs in recent years. What I doubt on the pitch is his ability to make the right decisions at key moments in the game - and I don't think that we can afford to make him the focus of the team, which I think is what it would take, and persist with him until he fully makes use of his qualities that we have seen flashes of, if he ever does fully attain his potential. This is especially the case as I feel that we have a good core of young players in attacking positions who want to play in a way that doesn't work so well with Lamela. I really feel for him having the big fee hanging over his head too, it changes people's perceptions of him, myself included.
Just to throw in a positive comment on Townsend. Although not one of my favourite players be any means, he always tries to make a difference when he comes on and he does score some important goals. I always have time for players that put in the effort, players like Dawson or Milner. There are times when players like this, who maybe not the most skillful but their sheer effort rubs off on a team that is perhaps struggling to break through a mass defence. Going back in time the older posters will remember Colin Bell a good example of an 'effort' player.
When selling a player it doesn't matter whether you make a profit or a loss. What matters is whether you sell him for more or less than he is worth.
I still think that Lamela's best role is playing in behind the striker, which is problematic. He congests things too much when he cuts inside, much like Townsend. I'd like to see the two them played together in the Europa League in different positions. Stick Lamela behind whoever we bring in up front and Townsend down the left.
Yeah, if Townsend could hit shots in a Spurs shirt like he does for England he'd be a phenomenal player. It's been a bit frustrating his lack of progress over the past year but sooner or later things will click into place for him, I just fear it won't be for us. Glad to hear Lamela's been impressing in training. I too think he works really hard, especially defensively, unfortunately a few poor passes in his own half and a couple of bodged clearances seem to stick in people's minds.
Profit or loss are only irrelevant to the Cities and Chelseas of this world. To a club like us looking to grow and build a new stadium, I would argue that profit and loss become of paramount importance - hence our recent transfer policy of signing young hopefuls then developing them and selling them on at a hefty profit or keeping them if they want to stay. Selling a player for what's he's worth is more or less impossible in the modern game, which is why I prefer to ignore cost as much as possible. Currently, Lamela is worth no more than £15m. But he is young and improving, which means that next summer it's more likely that he'll be worth £20m than £10m. Which is why it makes zero sense for Levy to sell him now, unless we truly need the funds for a marquee signing - which we don't. Partially because we can't attract marquee signings, but mainly because we just don't. I would argue that it is to Levy's credit that he's sold so many players at a loss this window, as it really does buck the trend for him and shows that in his own funny little way, he's supporting Pochettino more than any manager in the past 4 years.
It works both ways selling players IMO. On the profit/net spend front, because we turned a profit in the Bale transfer window I would have no qualms about selling players who arrived then for less than we spent on them. In the bigger picture we're still in profit there. If we'd finished our dealings in that window at a net loss, then it would be a different story, as it would be if we were desperate to sell players in order to keep the club afloat. When it comes to what a player is worth, again its a two way street - players are worth more or less to buyers and sellers and its obviously about finding a compromise when agreeing a fee. Look at Bale - he was a once in a generation player for us, a player putting in performances in a Spurs shirt that had him up there as easily the most influential player in the league and one of the best players in the world, period, regardless of position. I'm not sure I will ever see a player of that profile at Spurs again in my lifetime, so he commanded a higher fee than Ronaldo did from United, as world class players come and go there more regularly. Similarly, Harry Kane is not objectively worth £45m, but to us he is worth far more than that all things considered. At the other end of the scale, Capoue for example purely as a player is worth more than what we sold him for, but as he seemed a bit of a bad apple and wasn't going to be in our plans going forward, selling him below his value based purely on on-the-pitch performances was worth it for us. Identifying the value of a player is a multi-faceted and complicated business, and in most cases I think there are always reasons why players get sold at far higher or lower prices than one would assume they would be. I guess where we disagree Citizen Kane, is that you think Lamela will add significantly (£5m+) to his value with another year at Spurs, whereas I don't see where that significant an increase in his value would come from, particularly as I resent the idea of persisting with him playing in the team in order to benefit his development, if that is detrimental to the overall performances of the team, which I think it is.
Yes that's a different take on the cost/worth argument I suppose; this might not be Levy throwing his full support behind Poch - it might just be as you said: he's willing to take a hit on the Magnificent Seven because the Bale windfall was SO enormous. As for Lamela, I don't think we disagree at all on this point. I admit that it is painful as anything watching him playing in a position that clearly isn't his most comfortable, and as a result drifting infield to further crowd an already crowded area. I'm also worried about how long we have to 'indulge' his development until either the club or the player blinks. The question is though: who can we realistically sign who would do any better? If Berahino or Bolasie come in, I'd be more than happy for them to usurp Lamela as I do feel they'd be better in that particular position. But then again, bear in mind that neither of them have anything like the defensive work-rate that Lamela has. I don't think a Poch system can afford all of the '3' failing to track back. Eriksen and Chadli don't do nearly as much work as Lamela defensively. Can we afford another one of them? The way I see it, the only way to incorporate a Berahino or Bolasie into the line up is to also add a superb DM to take the work load off of the '3'. Which brings us back to square one, because no-one has any viable suggestions for this messianic DM. If only we knew of someone with significant connections to Roma who could convince De Rossi to sign for us....
Brad Friedel might've let something slip during the commentary for the MLS game. He was talking about the loan system and mentioned that it had worked out well for Kane and Carroll and could work out for Yedlin. Not sure if he knows something that we don't, but it wouldn't surprise me.
He's way down the pecking order you'd have thought, certainly behind Walker and Trippier whilst Dier can also fill in at RB so it would make sense for Yedlin to go and actually get some game time.
There's been whispers of Yedlin getting loaned out pretty much all summer, with Norwich as a likely destination.
Talksport claiming we have been thwarted in our attempts to sign ashley young. ..sports journalists have such an easy job...Make **** up then make more **** up to explain away the 1st pile of **** ... then make some more **** up!
How much truth is I this, who knows? But sounds like the sort of player Levy would be interested in - at a price, of course! http://www.espnfc.co.uk/soccer-tran...-up-interest-in-stuttgart-striker-timo-werner
Werner's name has cropped up frequently this summer, so there's presumably something to it. We did send scouts to countries other than France and Germany, right?
