Simply because the selling team will want to cover the loss with another player they have to find and negotiate for. They will also want to maximise the buying/selling fee. So every purchase is dependent on other actions by two or possibly more teams. It's a very complex situation just like being in a housing chain when trying to buy a house except in football terms the house also has an opinion.
Also I think we had to wait to see what happened to Richarlison. If he had left for a big fee we might have been in for a mire expensive player than Solanke
I'm trying to justify this transfer in my head and a couple of things are notable. In Ange we trust, he's no fool and with the scouting / stats team they will surely have done their homework on the player, especially for this kind of money. Last season Richy scored 11 and played under half as much minutes as Solanke and to be fair we missed the Brazilian alot when he was injured. The addition of Solanke will hopefully give us 2 potential 20 plus goals per season strikers that fit Anges system. All his goals last season were scored in the box and Spurs had the 4th most crosses per game in the league. Hopefully with a decent pre season we can start with the same momentum as last year. We should be up to speed in terms of fitness & style of play and also with the young blood coming through I'm excited for the season ahead, all eyes will be on Ange!
Bournemouth are actually rumoured to be annoyed with us that we’ve left the signing this late, so not sure it’s really on them looking to maximise a fee or get a replacement in mind but more on us seemingly choosing to act late. It’s all been very laboured our end this window so far and it doesn’t seem like we’re going to be too busy between now and the end of the window either. Whilst we’ve now strengthened the striker spot in terms of depth (assuming Richarlison does say, rumours still suggest we’re open to selling), we’re not really any stronger in terms of first XI from what we were last season. It feels like Ange’s words and the club’s actions aren’t really that aligned considering the manager’s been speaking of looking to win titles with Spurs as he wants to continue the success he’s had at previous clubs. I personally really thought this was going to be quite a big window for us, our FFP situation is extremely healthy and we had a first season from that Ange that whilst far from perfect certainly had a platform to build on and yet it doesn’t feel like we should be expecting to have a considerably better season than last at the moment.
Transfers are never as simple as you seem to suggest we cannot simply dictate to other clubs and players that they should confirm to our wishes. Bournemouth have the same reasons as us to want to complete the deal but the fact that it didn't happen shows the difficulties.
What has this got anything to do with what I just said? When have I even claimed transfers aren't complex or that we can dictate how it plays out? You initially repsonded to a post asking why it took us so late in the window to sign a player by implying Bournemouth were potentially the cause by wanting to maximise the costs and sought a replacement. They wasn't, we only initiated talks with them about 5 days ago for Solanke and then got the deal done relatively quickly. They're even said to be annoyed with Spurs for leaving it so late as they're now without a key striker one week before the season starts.
And what you don't know is what Spurs were doing before moving for Solanke. Moving players for example or considering other options. My comment is general not specifically about Bournemouth because we don't know what is happening behind the scenes.
I think a lot would like to know what’s happening behind the scenes because from our perspective it doesn’t seem like much seeing as Solanke is just the second player to be arriving this summer and the only one expected to go into the XI against Leicester. As I said, it’s been a very laboured approach to the market so far by us, especially considering Ange’s comments at the end of last season both in terms of wanting signings early as well as having big aims.
Of course fans want to know what's happening but you can't do this stuff in public and there are good reasons to keep it quiet. Alerting other clubs or raising the price for example. Managers always want the business done early but so does the club, the issue is the market not individuals. Spurs did make it clear they had to offload players before they could add to the squad it's just a very difficult process, and around all this you have media speculation and fan speculation. Personally I am just happy to see it unfold. I keep half an eye on the speculation out of interest but I don't take it seriously as most of it, as you know, is bullshit.
It's also worth saying that the higher up the league you are the more difficult it becomes to source players that will improve what you have. We have recently played in the same market as Bayern and won and that shows Spurs on the rise. The difference between Spurs now and Spurs 20 years ago is a step jump so apart from the astronimical prices for shirts and the cost of tickets Spurs do not have a lot to apologise for. Even the football under Ange is worth watching.
And we've offloaded a lot of players, since January we've shaved off around almost half a £m a week in wages, Emerson's will soon add to that and it leaves only Reguilon and Lo Celso as the expected departures remaining, with Skipp and Solomon as potential ones. The additions of Werner, Dragusin, Gray and Bergvall (plus Solanke) since then will have eaten into those saved wages but likely by no more than half. We were also circa £230m under FFP at the start of the summer window, one of the few clubs in fact in such a position. Yet we've acted how you'd expect a club on the brink of a points deduction would and are debatably no stronger than where we finished last season.
OK that's what you do.....speculate and to some extent wind yourself up. That's not my thing, it's probably an age thing and to do with computer games which again I never play. I follow Spurs passively and look forward to some exciting football. When I become agitated is when we suffer football like Conte or Nuno, that's when I start complaining. Football for me has always been an entertainment and as you have to care who wins, otherwise it's fairly pointless, all thise years ago I chose Spurs because my parents met in Tottenham and I like their football philosophy (aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaspurs not my parents. Danny Blanchflower was the man who sold Spurs to me like he did to many at the time, and to be fair the club has most of the time tried to remain close to his well known idea of how to play football stemming from Arthur Rowe. I am really delighted to see Ange come in and try to maintain that philosophy but the pressure is on,as always, because football is now such a huge money game and Spurs have not won anything of note for a lot of years. I will always come down on the quality of football rather than what we win but I am from another generation.
Ahh right, a patronising age comment, nothing about logic or wanting your team to aim high and being disappointed at the lack of intent to back the manager and give him the best possible chances of success he himself constantly mentions he wants.
Thought they might have used today's game as a way to announce the signing. Imagine he'll come out either before the game or at half time though.
