Oh and RCL, can you please change the title of the thread to begin with capitals? The fact that it's in lower case is annoying the f*** out of my OCD EDIT: Thank you. I can sleep at night now.
The Observer had an article saying that Levy had offered to get Austin when Berahino fell through but Pochettino didn't want him as he didn't fit the system. I have to say that getting people in to 'fill a gap' even if they are not the people you really want rarely works for any sort of team. Breaking team spirit is much easier than creating it. I don't want or expect us to sign any stop-gaps; only players we really want. We don't need Fazio at all though and we don't need to ship out Townsend unless his relationship with the club is permanently blown
I wouldn't mind seeing Veljkovic given a start against Monaco alongside Wimmer. It's a real chance to win the group, I know, but if we could show him that he'll get games, then we might save ourselves a transfer. Rescuing Townsend from the chop might achieve the same thing, if he can sort out his attitude and apply himself. Showing the squad that there are ways back into the side when you've ****ed up could be as valuable as the Great Pillock Purge of the summer. I think that's what they're calling it, anyway...
If he has been speaking with the Belgrade clubs about a January move, giving Veljkovic a start against Monaco might be problematic - Partizan need to avoid defeat in their last group game to qualify for the knockout stages for the Europa League. ...however, if there's something to the rumours of Fazio returning to Sevilla, as they're bottom of their CL group I have a bad feeling he might get a run-out as there won't be any problems with him being cup-tied.
But even if Townsend is welcomed back into the fold, where would he fit in? We have two pacy players in Son and Njie who both already look like they'll offer more than Townsend, whilst Dembele, Eriksen and Lamela, despite lacking that pace also bring so much more to be table than him. And that's without mentioning Pritchard's development probably being more important now than indulging a 24 year old underperfomer. If it was a case of, as under Sherwood, welcoming Adebayor back to the fold due to a chronic lack of goals, that's one thing. But I'm afraid I cannot see what Townsend brings to the table anymore. We're far better selling him while he's still young and Hodgson bizarrely calls him up for England as both will vastly inflate his fee.
It's a shame if rumours about Veljkovic looking to go are true, losing an extremely promising player is never nice but because we have so many of them at the moment, the loss won't feel too bad until he's snapped up by Real Madrid for £30m in 4 or so years time. When I look at the young players at the club, both those of whom have progressed/ progressing through the academy and those we've signed young, I see so many of them having very bright futures in the game. Kane, Alli, Dier, Bentaleb, Onomah, Winks, CCV, Oduwa, Harrison, Walker-Peters, Edwards, Sterling, Bennetts plus Veljkovic could all go on to be Premier League (or equivalent) and even international stars if given the right guidance and playing time. This is without the doubt the best period the Spurs academy has ever had I'd say.
It does bother me that, even though we've been focusing on youth and have seen several Academy graduates step up to the first team, we've lost a couple of our most promising prospects this season: first it was Azzaoui choosing to sign for Wolfsburg in the summer, now Veljkovic is saying he wants to leave (and he didn't want the club to extend his contract during the summer)
Not sure how that can be true tbh, as thr Berahino deal only feel through in the final hour of the window. Would have been no time to move for Austin.
Veljkovic in fairness I can somewhat understand wanting to leave, he got first team appearances under Tim yet hasn't really had a chance under Poch so it must be frustrating to have been on the fringes and getting chances to being restricted to just U21 duty. Azzaoui was only here for a year and while he looked like a great prospect, he probably wouldn't have got a chance this season what with the amount of attacking mids we have, he's already made his first team debut for Wolfsburg so he'd argue he made the right choice. I suppose we're bound to have some causalities, realistically not every youngster will make it here, even some of the good ones, the fact we seem to have so many at the moment just rolling off the conveyor belt is comforting though. We've had the Kane, Mason, Andros and Nabil (plus Pritch) era, now we've got the Onomah, Winks, CCV, Walker-Peters, Oduwa & McGhee era who'll be making the step up now or in the coming seasons and then we've got the Bennetts, Edwards and Sterling crop to follow after them.
Pochettino had some mixed messages today when asked about Andros Townsend's future and his appearance with the U21 team: "It’s not an issue with Andros. He was on the bench in some games and was out of the squad against Chelsea and he asked to play for the Under-21s against Middlesbrough. He asked to play. It’s a very good thing because the player was out and didn’t play for many weeks and it was a good opportunity. For me it’s a very good attitude to want to play for the Under-21s and keep working hard and keep his physical levels and condition up." Asked if he was training with the first-team squad again, Pochettino said: ‘Yes, it’s like other players. Sometimes when the players are not involved in the first team in the squad… but in this case, with Andros, he asked and he wanted to play for the Under-21s. It’s not an issue. He’s still young and he has a big future in football, here or at another club. Always you need to learn in football." Positive feedback on his request for game time with the youth side, but also the mention of playing for other clubs. Hmm...
"At the moment we've got a fully-fit squad, with Ben Foster very soon to return"? They're not planning to sell Berahino, but it might happen if they receive an offer that's acceptable. I assume that his contract running down will affect his value. I also suspect that they might apply a Tottenham Tax to any fee, unfortunately.
Yes, Berahino clearly hasn't been the same player this season, no doubt due to the blown out of proportion melodrama of the summer. He only has a year and a half left on his contract so theoretically his value should have dropped. But no doubt Mr Peace (ironic name) will insist on receiving the same amount we bid in the summer - again, all up front - only to sell him to Arsenal for a kit-kat and a fanta come the last day of the window, just to be difficult.
He didn't really play for anyone last season: he had a five minute cameo against Limassol for us, the grand total of three games at Middlesbrough between October and January, one start and two 25ish minute sub appearances for Middlesbrough between October and January, then three starts for Charlton before his season was ended with a shoulder injury in early February. This season, on the other hand, seems to have turned into some kind of Mexican standoff: he wouldn't sign a contract as he had at least four players ahead of him in the pecking order in both of his favoured positions so wouldn't be guaranteed games, and because he wasn't signing a contract we wouldn't guarantee him games and instead proposed a long-term loan - yet the moves to Leeds and Sporting Gijon both fell through.
Given their names have been repeatedly linked with us in recent weeks, which of the following list does anyone expect to see sign for us in January? Michy Batshuayi (striker, Marseilles) Saido Berahino (striker, Kvetch Bromwich Albion) Moussa Dembele (striker/winger, Fulham) Laurent Depoitre (striker, Gent) Breel Embolo (striker, Basel) Rico Henry (left back, Walsall) Keisuke Honda (attacking midfield, Milan) Karol Linetty (central midfielder, Lech Poznan) Alexandre Pato (striker, Corinthians) Jordan Pickford (goalkeeper, Sunderland) Adrian Rabiot (central midfielder, PSG) Henri Saivet (right wing/central midfielder, Bordeaux) Moses Simon (winger/attacking midfielder, Gent) Timo Werner (striker/winger, Stuttgart)
For reasons I can't explain every time I see Depoitre he reminds me of Ian Moores. It's probably the beard. I'm not a fan of the facial fungus and generally hold to the premise that we shouldn't sign any bald or bearded players.
I get the feeling our interest in Depoitre has cooled somewhat: a couple of months ago a fee of £3.5-5m was being touted, but with Gent qualifying for the knockout stages of the CL they're quoting £14m Batshuayi and Embolo have probably had their fees inflated by Marseilles and Basel qualifying for the Europa League knockout stages too
Sell everyone over 25 and buy no one. We need to make room for all the youngsters coming through our ranks
