Transfer thread for 2016-17 season

For me tequila is the drinks I should never go near. I have very few memories of what happens when I drink it - but other people sure as hell do...

 

I was working in a bar on Paros a million years ago. On my last night I got wasted on tequila slammers and tried to annoy the biggest South African man you can imagine. I sang him the Spitting Image South African song - 'I've Never Met A Nice South African'. Before I got to the third verse, he hit me once , which was all that was needed. All hell broke loose after that but I was struggling to get off the floor and readjust my nose. Happy days!

 

Just a thought Spurm for his experience in general and his connection with Spurs and we do sign him every few years.

 

If I had a quid for every time I've said 'I would sign Defoe in a heartbeat', I would probably be able to sign Defoe in a heartbeat.

 

I have seen at first hand experience how great it is to have someone like Defoe around the club. It's not just the experience he gives, it's the inside knowledge of our club, it's the great interaction he always had with the kids right down to our under 8's. He is so nice, kind and generous and wise, that it is difficult to believe we couldn't benefit from him returning to the lane. Believe me, he's a brilliant guy to have at the club, plus of course he still knows how to score goals in the PL.

 

I don't know all the ins & outs of it. But supposedly, we let him go over wage demands?...

 

According to my ITKs, club insiders wanted Defore gone because he
looked too scruffy wearing the club blazer ...

 

Perhaps you could better use your time by saying 'I would sign Messi in a heartbeat' .

 

I tried that for a few years. But for some peculiar reason - a clerical error perhaps - every time I said it a pound was deducted from his tax return.

 

Say it 20 million more times, and we won't have to pay his wages for a couple of years.

 

I though it but haven't voiced it.

You fool Bri.

 

Pirlo yes please.

Defoe, I love him to bits..I think he is too much of a Hotspur though. He would not be a calming influence.

 

I am sure I have posted this before, but if you remember, he had a run of bad luck in his family life and I think he just felt a complete change of scenery was what he needed. He wanted to get away from London for a while and see if his luck would change. I think the only demands he might have made were for more playing time rather than financial ones.

 

Ok. I always liked him. Obviously, I don't know him personally, but despite all the criticism he used to get about being offside all the time, he scores goals in the PL, wherever he goes.

In fact, he's still scoring them.....

 

It's all very well saying that if we had someone experienced on the pitch we would have done better when we were 2-0 up against Chelsea and the subsequent matches, but on previous form that wouldn't have been any good because we would have already only been fifth. Let's say we had one of Carrick or Pirlo, or Defoe all last year: when would they have played, who would they have replaced and why do you think we would have ended up with more points all season?

 

I’m not convinced a veteran would help. Performing poorly in big games can become a continuing problem, or disappear overnight. Look at Lloris, for example. If I were to single out someone who just didn’t play nearly as well in the crucial last games of the season it was him, from that soft goal that gifted Arsenal a draw to at least one he should have stopped against Southampton. Yet there he was in the Euro semis, roundly outplaying the best keeper in the world and getting his country into the finals (where he could do nothing to stop the Portugal goal).

I might instead encourage Lamela to lead more. He was our best player in the last few games, has tended to be a big game player (against the Mancs last year, for example), and scored a couple of goals in less than two games for Argentina.

"We can win the league, my friend."

 

If Defoe came back it would be on the understanding that he would not be a regular starter, but on the bench. Coming on fresh with say 20 mins to go, when you need a goal he's always liable to get you one.

Andrea Pirlo is quite simply one of god's gifts to football. He'd play some part in any squad I had.

 

We lack a leader on the pitch. Hugo's captain but he's not able to organise the field of play outside his 18 yard box.

Whatever their age, we need someone to cajole, shout, encourage, threaten, demand and show the team what it is to never give in and when to close up shop and hold what we have. The only player ,that I see, who has some of that in his nature is Harry Kane and maybe, just maybe, Lamela. I guess Mauricio needs to find it in each individual player until we can sign someone who just has to be the leader. It is a weakness, though.

 

I'd argue that Dier could be a future captain. He's in he perfect position too.
Or maybe Wanyama?