Transfer thread for 2016-17 season

So when Rose re-signed the Wail slagged us off because Poch wears the same suit in all these pictures. I bet they'll be slagging us off because he's not wearing a suit in this one.

Also, this happened...

 

Spurcat won't be happy either. His favourite player signs a new deal and MP turns up like that?

 

Time will tell on that one, but I doubt it will be "massively"
(using the last CL qualification wage ramp as a reference point) .

 

You won't hear much from Spurcat for a while.
He is still in "manlove" catatonic shock over how Justin Edinburgh was suited
and booted on wednesday.

 

And that comment's from a guy that was only at the club for a short time and barely played.
It probably helps to explain the affection that some of our recent departures have shown for the club.
Soldado had a torrid time at WHL, yet he's relentlessly positive about Spurs, for example.

 

I wonder how much Dier and Alli have had to do with it. They genuinely seem like besties. In any job when you have a 1/2/a bunch of people that genuinely want to hang out together it becomes infectious and i would agree is worth more than (some) money.

 

All these contracts are great news. I don't know how long some of these players have but I suspect it's not just about shoring up those who only have 1/2 years left. This sends all kinds of excellent signals to the players - that their performances last season are being rewarded with a (probably not very big) wage increase, that they are valued. And the fact that so many players are getting them gives that extra signal of unity - that this group is a whole that they should feel lucky to be a part of. That Poch has signed a contract and can now turn to all the players and say "It's alright here isn't it? Do what I did and sign a longer contract - we're going places. And at the very least it's a pay increase, right?"

Love to hear what N'Jie said too.

Maybe some of it is projection but I just get the feeling that Poch is superb at building and maintaining team spirit. Something about the work ethis needed, the system which relies on everyone playing their part in defence and attack, the clear meritocracy and lack of superstars. Even Poch's media appearances leave me smiling. He says absolutely **** all. He's not interested in entertaining a journalist or saying anything interesting. His way of saying the blandest responses possible show that he knows how the media works and basically saying anything of actual substance is likely to be a negative for the club. He just gives them the words he's contractually obliged to deliver then (apparently) saves the real words for the dressing room.

I've harked back to Harry many times on here but with the issue of media interaction and the way he seems so masterful at building cohesion in a squad Poch is the best we've had in my adult lifetime. These qualities also seem to be incredibly valuable - perhaps more so now in our squad-based, post-Bosnan, mega-wages footballing world.

 

Just when I think there is nothing further to impress me about Mauricio Pochettino, he dips into his bag of magic and comes up with this:

“We need to provide the key players with a good environment a solid project. They need to feel that we are in a project that we can win everything. Always you know it is difficult to win because only one team can win the Premier League.

“But they need to feel we are a serious, consistent and very solid project and then they need to ask us to stay here, not that we need to convince them to stay. That is a very bad way when you need to convince the players to stay here - it is impossible to get success in the future (that way). They need to ask us to stay here. They need to be desperate to be part of us.”

I love this man. He is transforming our club. At a time of enormous financial pressure he has secured our top talent on long contracts that they really wanted to commit to. We are in the best possible hands as we build the Spurs of the 21st Century.

 

L'Equipe are reporting that Paul Mitchell is in talks with Marseilles. Well if there's a team that needs advice on how to conduct themselves during transfer negotiations...

The next set of contract extensions are reported to be Verts and Anton Walkes.

Lastly, Ryan Sessegnon continues to be linked with us - to the point that some sites are just assuming Ben Davies'll be off sooner rather than later.

 

I'm not sure about this, probably because I've seen almost nothing of him. He's getting first team football at a young age and that's very Dele Alli. Would he be ready to be Danny Rose's understudy and join the first team squad and play PL and CL at such a young age? Would he go into the Academy in what would seem to be a backwards step? Do we leave him there for a while to get experience?

The likelihood that we'd 'bet the farm' on him being first team ready and flog Ben Davies to give his squad place as back-up left back to a 16 year old, seems unlikely unless Ben has made it clear he wants out (there's no sign of it unless he's been tapped up) or MP has totally lost confidence in him (I guess we'll know if Vertonghen plays at left back again).

It sounds more speculation than 'done deal' to me.

 

I can see us picking up Sessegnon and then either loaning him back to Fulham or playing him in the reserves.
I can't see him replacing Davies, who seems perfect for his current role.
Comes into the side, does a good job, then doesn't moan when he's back on the bench.

A full international who can also play at centre-half or as part of a three and who seems happy.
We'd be mad to sell him.

 

I'm very pleased Son seems atm to be following in Lamela's footsteps. I'm pleased with Janssen's hold up play and glad Sissoko gives us some pace on the team. However...if we were going to pay too much for a player with an attitude problem (and we could have gotten him), I would have bought Bentecke. He'd be perfect both as a change of pace and to get a late goal.

 

I dont get the connection with davies leaving, even if we are signing a kid who plays left back.

For one thing, who's to say that the kid will remain a left back ?

For another, it's going to be at least 4 years until he gets into the first team squad, which is longer than the average player stays at the club anyway.

Doubt davies is looking around for a new club just yet.

 

I'd presume any deal for this Sessegnon lad would result in him staying at Fulham at least until the end of the season, possibly even next season too unless Davies feels the need to look for first team football in the summer of 17, which I certainly wouldn't begrudge him if that's the case, great LB and great pro, we're lucky to have such a good player to fill in for Danny.

 

As we seem to be linked with every Croat playing in Serie A, reports in Italy say we're lining up a move for Milan Badelj, who is available for around £8-12m - although Badelj may be favouring a move to newly-minted Milan.

I hope Levy has booked a month-long holiday in Flordence for January, as Badelj is exactly the player we need and to sign him for that price would be an absolute steal.

 

Keith Burkinshaw, 1984:

" There used to be a football club over there."

Mauricio Pochettino, 2016:

"It's back."

 

That's it. We bought players like Modric and Berbatov. We improved them but I'm not sure that either player or club was truly committed to making their stay a permanent one. We were a club that sold its best players through financial need or player desire to leave (probably a bit of both). Neither factor applies today in the way that it did. I saw this analysis of Pochettino, Levy and Spurs by called 'Bridging The Gap' by uMAXit:

It describes Pochettino as "The human element that negates the [financial] figures." That's exactly what he is proving.

 

I did not know Levy was in Raiders of the lost ark.

 

There are reports saying the Spurs are set for a move with Milan Badelj in January.