Transfer thread for 2016-17 season

This was in a press conference held in Melbourne about 2 or so hours ago, it was in part of a statement about the lack of stars in the touring squad.

 

"N'Jie is not with us because he's injured and not available to come (really?). The situation of the other three players (Bentaleb, Pritchard and Fazio) is very clear. They are not in my plans." - Mauricio Pochettino.

Sorry, should have put it up before.

On the Pritchard front, I think it would be pretty amicable. Pritchard is at an age where he needs first team football and lots of it. He isn't 20, 21 anymore. I am sure he'd love to stay and be first choice on the left but he just isn't going to be. Eriksen is in front of him. I am sure both Pritchard and Pochettino know this to be the case and that we need to give him the chance to make it elsewhere.

With Bentaleb, either his game or his face (or both) don't fit. I reckon it's a bit of both as with Andros' strop and need to see if he could belt the ball out of the stadium half a dozen times a game.

Mason suffered injuries last season but there seems to be no suggestion that he is leaving. Mauricio Pochettino is credited with being a very caring, sweet guy. He is also a professional who wants to succeed and the reason why he'd sell someone is that he doesn't think they will help him to do that. I reckon the squad know that given how close he is to Harry Kane, Dele Alli, etc.

 

Brian - i posted the full statement on the pre season thread if you want to see it in context.

 

Cheers, Mate! We are in Australia after all.

 

We should also remember that poch said soldado was in his plans, and was sold weeks later.
I don't buy the N'jie in his plans talk.

I think it's got to the point where he's been injured for so long and having watched him in training, poch doesn't feel that he's going to be the player he once hoped he would. - Hence why we're going for an almost like for like replacement.
This time a year ago, I think poch probably had major plans for N'jie to be a regular who'd provide some pace in our team which we lacked.
The signing of GKN is poch reattempting this plan again, but not risking another year with that player being N'jie IMO.
It seems harsh on N'jie, but the coaching staff know best. Something isn't right.

I'm happy with our signings so far, but like many, I do think we need an experienced head somewhere in our team. A CL veteran who's on the way out, but can still do a job and teach the youngsters some valuable lessons would be nice to see.

 

Agree with this. If Njie genuinely isn't involved due to injury, I make that 4 injuries since joining us less than a year ago. Poch's system requires tip-top fitness and stamina levels so I would ship him on for that reason alone - it would seem he has a touch of Sir Les Ferdinanditis about him; move to Spurs and suddenly your injury record goes to ****.

It's all gone very, very quiet on the N'K front though - not even the merest sniff of developments in almost a week now.

As for Mason, I've said all along that if it was a choice between him and Bentaleb to leave, I saw enough horrendously bad cameos from the older of the two to convince me that he should bite the bullet and leave, especially as Bentaleb has time on his side to develop. I guess we do have to be mindful of the fact that at the beginning of the season, Mason was consistently one of the best players on the pitch, and injured himself scoring an excellent goal. Something clearly wasn't right on his return though; he pulled out of challenges, mis-cued shots and passes and just generally looked a bit forlorn. I hope Poch can coach that out of him because pre-injury Mason looked like a really useful squad player, whereas post-injury Mason looked like a liability. I'd still love Bentaleb to go out on loan to a good footballing side (unlike that ridiculous decision to send Pritch to West Bronze Age Albion), knuckle down and really work hard to prove his ability, then be welcomed back with open arms next season.

 

I think someone at Sky read my last post...

 

As for GKN, apparently that deal is done, but it's not being announced until a replacement has been found. Because nothing's been finalised with N'jie yet, that's supposedly why we've not seen any announcement.
Even GKN's hairdresser posted a picture wishing his friend good luck at Tottenham!

As for Mason, I can see him going too, along with Bentaleb. And Carroll for that matter. ok, we may be left a bit short, but if all we have to do is find one replacement for those two having done all of our important business early on, I dont think it'll be too difficult.

 

If Mason, Carroll and Bentaleb are going we most definitely need cover for Dembele. Cover that doesn't involve playing Alli in a sub-optimum position.

 

I think the idea is that we play Wanyama and Dier together, at least against strong teams. Against weaker teams it may be Mason, Carroll or possibly Eriksen playing further back. It doesn’t fill me with confidence either, but I would be even less confident with Bentaleb. I wouldn’t be surprised to see us pick up someone later on. In any case, it will certainly be less Dier than last year.

 

The reality is that all 3 of them probably won't go. Bentaleb looks like the biggest casualty, which is a shame as he's a good player on his day. I don't see Mason or Carroll getting much time next season, so it makes me wonder why we don't cash in now and upgrade for someone who could make a difference in the CL.

 

Yesterday, I read that we still hold a strong interest in Tielemans. That's good to hear but half the top clubs in Europe are interested in him. Maybe The Express are right and we're in for Sissoko from Newcastle? He's only £35m, after all.

News that Marko Arnautovic is heading to Everton. That makes yesterday's Chadli to Stoke rumours make a good deal of sense. If we're to sell him, N'Jie, Bentaleb and Pritchard then our spending can't be done unless we're very confident in Josh Onomah, Marcus Edwards, Harry Winks, etc. readiness for our biggest season in decades.

 

We should get Arnautovic.

He does come across like a stroller at times but he is an upgrade on a lot of our fringe players.

 

After initially debating the topic with myself, I now really hope we keep Mason, he was looking good at the start of last season and then got the injury after scoring a great goal against Sunderland, when he returned he looked a shadow of the player but injuries can really stifle your season and so I think it'd be incredibly harsh to ditch a player who was great in 14/15 and started 15/16 well. He's probably the closest player we have to Dembele in terms of being box-to-box (not that he's anywhere near as effective) and if we're selling Nabs and possibly Carroll, selling Mason too would make no sense to me. It'd leave us with just Dier, Dembele, Wanyama and Winks in the CM positions with then the need to find someone who'll happily play back up.

If Stoke do sell Arnautovic then they'd likely be willing to spend a pretty penny on Chadli, I'd much rather keep him but if Poch thinks he's expendable then we should look to be getting £15m+ for him at the very least, in my opinion he's as good as Arnautovic, it's just at Spurs it's hard for him to be the main man like he would be at Stoke. Just look at Gylfi these days for Swansea, rumours of a £20m+ bid from Everton was in the works, it's amazing how that momentum and ego boost of being the main man can really make a player shine.

 

Have we settled on whether Carroll is out of contract?

 

If we were to sell Chadli then I really hope we keep Pritchard
In fact I really hope we keep him anyway- out of all the players we are supposedly off loading, Pritchard is the one I would be most sad to see go.

 

Tom Carroll's in,
Tom Carroll's out,
In,
Out,
In,
Out,
His status is in doubt,
We signed Dele Alli,
Tom hardly got a shout,
That's why it's up the spout.

Ohhhh Tom Carroll's leaving,
Ohhhh Tom Carroll's staying,
Ohhhh Tom Carroll's confused,
That's what it's all about.

Thank you. I must now go and do something useful.

 

18 more days to go Bri, you can make it.

 

I need football. Help!

 

I can tell...I just go on the PL board or Sunderland board and start an argument.

Fantastic.