I meant name players we have missed out on who then signed and were successful for one of our competitors, not some theoretical possibilities who have yet to make it at the top level. Berahino would have been a mistake if we had signed him.
It took Liverpool about 10 seasons to work out van Dijk and Alisson were needed. They signed half a dozen crap centre halves and goalkeepers before those two.
Nobody knows the outcome of every possible future and to claim otherwise would be arrogant in the extreme. I'm sure that our intransigence with the deadwood has meant that we didn't have the possibility to even bid for players that might have made that all-important difference.
For successful clubs the last third of the season is like a three month long World Cup. Games come along every three to four days. The pace and physicality of the football in the PL is such that it is impossible for players with continual injury problems to keep up the necessary intensity and will probably miss more minutes than they play. We would have been lucky if Moussa could have played more than sixty minutes every other game. It would also probably have finished him as a player. I was sorry to see him go but I would have been sorrier if he had to quit football because we flogged him to death As it turned out he is able to play and show his skills and earn a well deserved retirement fund and we got £9-10 mill for him. It would have been immoral for us not to let him go
I wasn't implying we should have kept him (although rotating him with Sissoko might have worked). Rather, we should have got someone in to replace him.
Even if the first part of this is true, Mauricio Pochettino didn't want any second or third choices. He preferred to work with what he had when he couldn't get the signings that he wanted. That's not anyone's fault, it was the manager's preference. Daniel Levy has previously bought players that managers haven't wanted or asked for. He did it with Van der Vaart and Sissoko and Dele and a few others. I'm pretty sure that Lucas Moura wasn't one that Mauricio Pochettino wanted. Some have worked, some haven't. However, he's stopped doing that now and Mauricio Pochettino has the final "Yes" or "No" on any deal now, as was agreed when the new contract was signed last summer. If we buy or not is down to whther we have the money to compete and the manager wants the player. That's it.
And they finally paid the big bucks for the big players. Instead of hoping players like Mignolet, Karius, Lovren or Klavan would turn out superstars. Which is the situation we’re now in. If we want the top midfielders we have to pay the big bucks.
If Ndombele and Lo Celso will come and we can do deals, I'd sacrifice any other signings this summer to get them. They'd completely rejuvenate our team alongside fitter players, who haven't just come back from a World Cup. I'd willingly give Aurier/Trippier another season and take a chance on playing Dier/Foyth more at centre back, if Toby leaves, to get that kind of quality in the middle of the park. However, if a PSG or Citeh come in with a ridiculous offer, we're going to struggle, no matter how early we make a bid or how high or low we pitch our first one. PSG wanted Mbappe and Neymar and they simply outbid the world to get them. We're not able to get anywhere close to that kind of finance, but we did take Davinson Sanchez when Barcelona were interested and Juan Foyth, when PSG were favourites for his signature. It is possible.
Your first part is quite similar to what I said to Yoss earlier. The CM is the ultimate priority. Our defence suffered this season because we never controlled the midfield. That’s certainly not excusing Trippier (and Aurier) and his multiple brain farts but it certainly helps when the midfield isn’t being overpowered. Sissoko had a great season by all accounts and Winks also more than done his fair share but ultimately that CM pairing was nothing like prime Dembele-Dier or prime Dembele-Wanyama (or go back further to Modric-Parker). We’ve progressively gotten worse in the position over the years. Ndombele and Lo Celso have the potential to take Spurs’ midfield back up to that elite level and possibly further if both bring the form and talent shown at their current clubs. As for being outbid, that’s always the worry with signing top players as they’ll always have competition for their signature. The one advantage that we have over many other potential suitors is the guarantee of game time, we certainly won’t be spending £120m+ on the pair just to have them warm the bench most weeks. Big, big summer for the club.
The point I was making was that everyone praises the club who did the last successful transfer, conveniently forgetting the mistakes that preceded that. We supposedly tried to sign a few high quality players and failed last summer. There is no point in signing dross instead. If we had paid £30m for Grealish last summer then that's £30m less we could afford this summer. As for moving on deadwood, under FFP selling players at a loss immediately reduces the funds available for signing new ones. I can see no evidence in the players that we've signed or sold of any systematic bias towards penny pinching.
Had we not come in with an initial low-ball offer for Grealish we could have got him for significantly less than the £30m the new owners then quoted us. It's called deadwood for a reason. Players that didn't work out or are simply not good enough anymore. If one were to follow your reasoning we'd end up hoarding such players on our payroll until their contracts expire.
We met WBAs valuation but they wanted the full £22m up front...NO ONE pays the full amount up front...WBAs chairman then mouthed off in the press and when that fact was made known by Spurs he (the wba chairman) was widely ridiculed in the media for being a dick. To blame Levy is a farce. He paid the going rate for Paulinio, Soldadi, Janssen, Chiriches (excuse spelling), Lamela, Llorente, Sissoko, aurier and Sanchez (to name some). Some worked ... some didn't... so there's no way of knowing with Grealish tbh...cos Grealish looking good in the championship is one thing but delivering in the prem is another...Tarrabt is a great example of that.
Can’t believe the easy ride Eriksen has got for allowing his head to be turned and switching off at the business end of the season. Yes I know the stat about him running a lot...maybe it’s away from the ball...his presence has been lacking when it was needed...especially the CL final. Main players should be expected to turn up in the main games
Where Spurs are nowadays trying to compete, the scrutiny on players is more cutting. Eriksen is being compared to Hazard and KDB, not Ozil or WTF Man Utd have in their CM today. Unsurprisingly he will be found wanting.
There wasn’t one good performer in the CL Final for Spurs though. Tbh there wasn’t even any good Pool players, they just got the goals in a poor game of football - one of them from a dubious pen. He finished the season stronger than any of our attacking midfield players yet there’s little-to-no criticism for Son/ Lucas/ Dele. Baffles me how Eriksen is always the scapegoat. Personally think it’s just because he’s likely to leave so fans want to blame him for everything.
