The outgoings if permanent would have been good. As it is, it’s likely we see Ndombele & Lo Celso back in the summer still draining wages and still not fitting into the plans. Gil will definitely be back in the summer too and I don’t see how half a season back in Spain helps him get up to speed in England. Plus Gollini will be off in the summer so that’s definitely another keeper needed. Realistically the club will need 5-6 players at least. Where is the money coming from to get that done? Or will it be another transfer window waiting to get rid of players until any incomings can happen.
Imho getting rid of Ndombele, Lo Celso and Dele is a big plus. Ndombele could do very well in France which means he'll have takers in the summer. Lo Celso will do well in Spain and will have clubs wanting him. I know nothing about the new signings but getting rid of dead wood and getting in some new blood could be a real positive. The summer window will be decided by what happens on the pitch between now and then imho.
Loaning out Gil and getting in Kulusevski is good because Kulusevski can play on the right and means Spurs don’t have 3 LW and only 1 RW Bentancur basically replacing Ndombele, Lo Celso and Dele is fine too as the 3 of them didn’t feature in Conte’s plans. The lack of cover for Kane and Ben Davies is the biggest problem. I expect the club to be looking at another CB in the summer. Also expect Doherty to be moved on and a proper RWB (Lamptey please) signed. A ST of some sort is still needed imo. If Kane gets injured between now and the end of the season and it could cost the club dear.
My growing concern is that Levy's banking on making a number of signings in the FoC market this summer. Paratici's been down that road before at Juve and that experience may well have been uppermost in Daniel's mind in his appointment...but we're not Juve and aren't going to be flinging wages and signing on fees about in the same way. There's a restricted pool of options. This summer may see more players of a suitable standard being available, but make no mistake, with financial issues being present at numerous big clubs across Europe, we're going to be going up against multiple clubs, who have bigger budgets and ambitions than we do. If our 'plan' is to sign a number or all of Romagnoli, Kessie, Dybala and Lingard, we'd better have a fall back strategy, because there will be plenty of takers and those players will be talking to all of them. Come this summer, it's make or break for the Conte appointment and 20 years of experience points to us coming up short, unless ENIC make additional funds available....
I agree. It was important to strengthen in this window and get the wheels turning on outgoings, which we’ve done, but the summer is the real barometer. I suspect we’ll be looking for permanent moves for Lo Celso and NDombele and looking to shift the likes of Doherty and Tanganga perhaps. IIRC Madrid’s option to try and buy back Regulion expires after that summer window too so worth keeping an eye on that. What we need in terms of incomings (aside from RWB and Striker which we already know about), we’ll be able to better assess in the coming months. But I expect we’ll look for a left sided CB too, at the least, as well as more depth in midfield.
Yeah this summer there is a lot of big clubs needing multiple signings (Barcelona, Arsenal & Man Utd) so it won’t be easy to get the likes of Kessie, Romagnoli. Finishing top 4 is vital imo. I’m surprised the rivals for that position didn’t make any signings so imo it’s wide open.
It's quite funny talking about the summer window despite the fact the winter one shut last night but it's also not a surprise due to the surgery the squad still needs. Feels like there's a ton of factors to take into account as to who we'll need, who we'll sell and how much we'll spend. Where we finish this season will have a huge effect I reckon, CL or no CL will be the difference of around a £30m budget to a potential £80m+ one (before sales). Romero's buy clause being activated will eat into funds, £45m+ fee so I'd imagine around £15m for the first payment. If we get takers for Dumb and Dumber assuming their buy options aren't taken up. Likely departures of Doherty and Rodon. Potential departures (depending on form and game time between now and then) of the likes of Sanchez, Tanganga, Sessegnon, Winks and Bergwijn. Types of transfers we'll go for - freebies, domestic signings, low value high potential ones, big money ones.
In some ways the window was underwhelming, but it's also got to be considered relative to rivals. In that respect LeArse didn't sign anyone, WetSpam didn't sign anyone, and Manure also didn't sign anyone and lent out two (one to Everton, one to HMP Slade). Therefore I would suggest we are (in these respects at least) in a relatively stronger position than we were.
I read that Ndombele and GLC scored 7 goals combined in 117 games , that's only 6 more than Paul Robinson
Overall, the window was a bit meh, but January is always difficult and at least we managed to move out unwanted players, albeit most of them on loan. Hopefully the 2 new signings can hit the ground running, they look like hard working and functional players who should suit Conte`s style. It is a bit concerning we have stripped out most of the flair and not replaced it though, and we also look short of goals, take out Kane and Son and where are the goals coming from. So much for returning to the Spurs DNA that Blofeld promised us. Sad to see Dele go, I hope he rediscovers his form and that we don`t regret selling him.
Apparently City had considered Kulusevski and even tried signing him when he was a youngster at Atalanta, Conte supposedly wanted him at Inter too. Promising signs at the least that the best side in the country had him on their radar and that he’s clearly a player Conte’s admired for a while.
We were linked with him when he was on loan at Parma in 2019 after graduating from Atalanta's youth team Then Juve snapped him up mid-loan
Pro tip for Kulu and Bento: you must rile up Chelsea fans at least this much please log in to view this image
One of my favourite football photos...look at the utter state of the cock in the top middle of the photo...actually being held back
