I’m really happy about that. Veretout is a good signing for Villa, but simply isn’t an improvement over what we have, and would do nothing but need to be moved on in a year or two. He reminds me of Lewis Holtby. The same transfer targets get a little airing, then settle back down as another familiar name or two gets a few days of articles. The only news is when one of them signs for someone else. We need some stock pictures of the transfer team on the move: Levy eating a knockwurst and mustard below pictures of Werner, Bender and Kramer. Other than needing a striker good enough to rest Kane sufficiently, I also see us as being in good shape. Of the two types of players who could make us much better, I’m leaning towards a DM. A brilliant RM would be fantastic to have, but we do have IMO a bunch of very good midfielders. I’m not convinced by any of our DMs. Mason did very well last year and helps us get forward, but there’s nothing D about him. Dier looked awkward in his first start, not that I would give up on him yet. It looks like Pochettino wants to play Dembele further forward. I was impressed by Winks--I thought he played an important part in our second half team looking smooth and mostly error-free--but surely he’s not going to do more than play in the cups.
I too think we should play Dembele further forward where the decisions he has to make are reduced. To quote Bill Shankly, our advice to Dembele should be very simple, 'Stick it in their net we'll discuss the details later'. His dribbling ability and his skill in repelling challenges could cause mayhem if it were employed more often in the opponents penalty area.
Yarmolenko has told the Ukrainian media that negotiations between us and Dynamo Kyiv are ongoing, with a fee of £10.5m being mentioned. This begs a simple question, though: how hard is it to negotiate when we can promise Yarmolenko that Russian tanks won't be parked on his doorstep anytime soon? The Torygraph are reporting we're going all-out to sign Sven Bender, so which the only logical response is... please log in to view this image
Is Sven Bender actually any good or is he just considered such because he plays for Dortmund? I only say it because he doesn't seem to play as much nowadays as he did when Dortmund were at their recent peak and I've always personally put him in the bracket of "solid if unremarkable". Now that may really be exactly the kind of player we need to partner Bentaleb, but I worry that he is perhaps a little limited on the ball and yet because of his age, the club he is at and having 2 years left on his contract we'd still have to pay a reasonably big fee for the guy, when we could pay a little more and get someone younger and with more potential, or the same age and a slightly better fit. In for a penny, in for a pound after all. Then again I've been impressed by the club's business so far this window and if the coaches and scouts think Sven Bender is the man for the job then they probably know far more about him than I do and I should trust their judgement more. Until they get it wrong and then I can crow about it. Yarmolenko looks like a quite attractive signing. Very silky skills, an eye for a pass, flexibility across the forward line and capable of bagging a fair few goals too. If he settled well at Spurs we may well have found a good player there.
Agreed. Our three signings look so carefully thought out that if we sign them I tend to think Yarmolenko and Bender will be the attacking and defensive midfielders we should be getting. I don’t know of any reason to think Bender isn’t just another spin of the rumor cycle. If there is actually some sort of trustworthy record of Yarmolenko saying negotiations are ongoing...there’s reason to take it more seriously. He ticks all the boxes to me: primarily right sided, can play as striker, looks to be real quality, somewhere called Transfermarkt says the two most similar players are Willian and Walcott...and that his value is 24 million euros, so a fee of 10.8 million pounds would be a bargain. Various people seem to think the Bender rumor is at least more likely for most. CFC thinks he would be exactly what we want except for the fact he can’t stay fit. So if he is actually coming, rejoice, and, if not, be glad we aren’t getting a crock. If you’re the half-empty type, you can be unhappy either way. Though you knew that already. "But Bender has been, in my observation, an excellent defensive midfielder. Playing in a counter-pressing system, he has had to cover a lot of ground just to shield his back four, as the players in front of him are switching positions like maniacs to pressure the ball on every turnover of possession. For a DM, Bender has played an aggressive forward passing game, because everyone in a counter-pressing side has to be an aggressive forward passer. It appears that it is precisely this aggression which has lost Bender his position, as Tuchel prefers the lower-risk game of Weigl. The big problem with Bender is his injury history. It covers several pages on transfermarkt, and over the last three years he has missed dozens of matches. There isn't any single injury that seems to recur, he just gets hurt a lot. Bender is only 26, so he should be around his athletic prime, but it is possible he will simply not be able to continue to compete at this level. That is the risk. But the reward is a peak-aged Champions League quality defensive midfielder with years and years of experience in a high-pressing aggressive-passing system that should make it quite easy for him to adjust to Pochettino's tactics. Spurs would not be able to sign a player of those qualities if he did not have some other question marks."
As redwhiteandermblue points out, Bender's injury record is atrocious. In the last few years, I think he's managed a maximum of 20 games a season. Not sure if it's worth buying a great player who's really injury prone or a slightly worse player who will likely stay fit.
On an unrelated note - Soldado to Villareal is apparently done according to some people on twitter. With Adebayor following him out the door, our strike force, approaching the Audi Cup and 1 week from the start of the season, will consist of Kane and Coulthirst...
I guess the upside to that is that, also according to twitter, we're announcing Timo Werner soon and getting close to Yarmolenko who can play there too. Twitter thinks Berahino is still on the cards as well. We shall see shan't we, although this is Spurs so frankly few things will ever surprise me.
I enjoy watching Bundesliga every now and again as I love the atmosphere at some of the games and I see it as probably the closest league in the world to the PL in terms of physicality and intensity. I've always preferred the other twin - Lars Bender, although he's under contract at Bayer until 2019 so would cost a lot more. He also has a pretty awful injury record - maybe it's genetic!
Man City are being strongly linked with Berahino - guess you can write that one off then. I'm now envisaging the scenario where we don't sign anyone else this window. It's not a happy image.
Which would be another example of a club buying players not because they want them, but to prevent rivals from doing so. Rodwell and Sinclair are the obvious examples at City, while you could potentially have an entire matchday squad from players Chelsea signed for this reason.
Agreed though City might say they've loaned Jovetic, Dzeko is off and Negredo is already gone. Only really leaves Aguero and Bony as senior strikers.
Yarmolenko is the second or third best judged target we’ve been linked with, after Alderweireld and perhaps Trippier. I hope we can continue our good luck/judgment and get him. The only player I really wanted so far that we didn’t get is Martial. I’d like to have Berahino and Bender, but neither one is a perfect fit, to me.
What do you have against Berahino rwaeb? I'd only be concerned about the fee we'd have to pay to get him in, he would definitely add a dimension to the forwards we have (i.e. a very quick striker) that is somewhat missing and if we wanted to play him with Kane, he could do that too on the basis of their England U21 games together.
Anyone know why we have shown no interest in Charlie Austin? Is it cos we don't think he is worth £15m? Or do they think he is too similar to Kane?
I'd suspect its the latter reason re. Austin. Berahino might cost more but is 5 years younger and gives more options to the team, both in terms of where he can play and what he brings to his primary position at striker. I suspect we'll bring in one of Werner or Berahino and also Yarmolenko, or another wide player this week. Then we're looking pretty set, assuming that a DM isn't coming in and we want all our incoming business done by the time the PL kicks off. I hope we get it done by then to minimise disruption etc.
Rumours about vertongen to barca are back again...I am still of the opinion that we should sell him. I also think that we will begin the new season without any more new signings. .. think tgere will be signings in the last week of the window now Obviously I use my usual 'wtf do i know" disclaimer with these views
Can't agree with that, mate. I'm looking forward to seeing Vertonghen & Alderweireld playing together. I would tell Barca to **** off, unless they want to pay totally silly money. I hope we don't start with no more signings. We most definitely need another striker, and I wouldn't say no to Yarmolenko, either.
