Top stuff from Sonny too. ****ing PUMPED for Sunday now I hope all the squad are as energised by this change and result as I am and I’m sure a few more Spurs fans are.
As I’ve said multiple times already, the one thing I truly can’t/ couldn’t forgive Jose for is keeping that guy on the bench. Very few players on the planet have a skill set like he does. I really do hope we keep him next season.
Despite my love for Poch and what he did for this club, he deserved the sack for blowing £100m on Lo Celso and NDombele. Beggars belief we scouted both of them for 2 whole years yet couldn't see this coming. Fernandes plus Grealish would have cost the same. Astonishing.
maybe this has been covered in the past, but do we know for sure whether these were Poch’s signings? Or Levy tribute acts?
One takeaway from last night - even if we hadn't realised before - is that we need more 'Lamela' attitude and less 'Ndombele' swanning around if we are to get anything from Sunday and the run-in.
There's no indication that they were in any way foisted on Poch. At the start of that summer, Dan Kilpatrick named our 4 targets as Ndombele, Lo Celso, Sessegnon and Jack Clarke. Levy purchases tend to arise as options very late in the window, when we've missed out on others and he smells a bargain - see Aurier, Bergwijn, Lucas, etc. What constitutes a bargain is in the eye of the beholder.
I think it was pretty common knowledge we started intensive scouting for Lo Celso, Ndombele and Sess at least 2 years before we actually signed them. In the latter's case, we actually tried to sign him a year earlier and in the former two cases I think we got to the point of bidding but no further. HBIC will probably know the full details. After 3 windows of zero investment leading to a decaying squad, Poch HAD to get that window right. No long term 'maybes' for the future. No luxury players with questionable fitness and attitude. He had to get it right. He failed epically. The 4 players signed that window to the tune of £140m have returned appx £15m in actual value.
Ndombele was 1,000,000% a Poch signing.. He saw Ndombele as a young Dembele and Poch was even rumoured to have said that he wished he signed Dembele when he was younger as he believed he could’ve made him even better. Ally Gold also mentioned how Poch turned down Tielemans and I think one other CM (forgotten who) to hold out for Ndombele. Lo Celso may have been a bit less nailed on as Ndombele was but I do believe he had a strong say in that too.
Think Lilywhite Rose must be reading our comments: Surprised it’s as close as it is to be honest. Comments seem to suggest most would sell Lo Celso but keep Ndombele. Think they’ve got the combined fees wrong though, I believe it was £55m for Ndombele and a combined £42m for Lo Celso (loan and perm fees), making it just under £100m, not £110m. Think they’re basing £110m on the fact Lo Celso would’ve cost more had we not signed him in Jan.
Cheers chaps, interesting info. With Lo Celso in particular, I just seem to remember us being linked to both him and Fernandes. Wasn’t sure whether Fernandes was the one Poch wanted, but whether Levy gave him Lo Celso instead.
