Rival Watch / Other Teams
- Thread starter PINKIE
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There are rumours swirling that they will be in the next few weeks, however I also heard that contrary to what we heard before they do in fact have an appeals process that could take years.
I do hope the right thing is done here and they are dissolved as a sporting entity and the club can restart with a slightly different name from non league.
Initially, I didn't think it was that outrageous. He's a good, modern Premier League player (not necessarily a top defender, but as a footballer, he's got good attributes), Netherlands international, just turned 26 years old and there were several clubs across Europe looking at him.
However, I've just read he had 1 year left on his contract. £52m for a player with 12 months on his existing deal is very steep. I guess that's what they had to do though if they wanted to fend off other competition - offer a price Brighton can't refuse and no-one else would be willing to pay.
Considering they have signed Senesi and Robertson on free transfers, van Hecke on top of that for a combined total of £52m isn't too shabby, I will admit.
The only comedy is in the fact that for seven years we've avoided making necessary signings instead of convenient ones, which is what led to us being in the mess we've been in for two seasons.
Every manager since and including Poch has been asked to work miracles, and it has backfired spectacularly.
Next up, Tonali. If we get that over the line (reported £80-90m), there really is nothing to laugh about anymore as it would indicate that we are finally behaving like a serious club instead of a social science experiment.
Similar to what I said with van Hecke, if Spurs are willing to pull out all the stops to get him, I see no reason why it can't happen.
By all accounts, he is reportedly keen on a move to Spurs and is their top target. I suppose we'll have to see if any richer/more ambitious clubs are in for him or turn his head, but it does appear (as it stands) that Spurs are the frontrunner for his signature.
I know Fabrizio has said Arsenal & Man City are also interested in him, but he's not our top target and, frankly, with the finances involved that Newcastle would want, I don't think it's worth it.
Well he's definitely not worth the £80-£100m that I've heard being touted.
He's a good player, but if we are going to be spending that sort of money, then I'd want far better quality.
I don't get why Tonali would make the sideways step. Is he going to get paid more? More likely to win trophies? More likely to finish higher in the league? Unless he just wants to live in London maybe. But otherwise weird. You're getting rinsed if you're paying more than £50m for him though. £140m for Van Hecke and Tonali is ridiculous.
Perhaps. Spending £52m to end up with a defence of a washed up and past it Robertson, Senesi, Van Hecke and Spence/Porro(?) though just screams midtable mediocrity and Spurs could achieve that already with their current set of players and a decent manager they give time to. Just weird.
What are you on about?
Spend on players since 20/21 - right about the same level as us and we're champions.
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We've prioritised quantity over quality for years.
So yes, we've spent tonnes (I make it slightly lower than this graph, around £900m, but that's obviously still very high). But instead of signing one player for £80m who will almost certainly improve the team, we'll go and sign three for £30m or two for £40m and they either have no impact, or take us backwards.
Classic case in point is how we have two useless strikers who cost £120m when we'd have been better off spending £100m on one brilliant striker and £20m on a backup. But we just don't think like that, largely because the wages that come with a £100m striker would shatter our wage ceiling.
But you don't think you're doing that now with Van Hecke, Senesi, Robertson and Tonali? To me, they're EXACTLY like your signings of the past five years. Mid-table plodders and/or at the tail-end of their career.
Not at all.
Given our circumstances, they're better than what we might have expected. All PL proven.
Only Robertson is at the end of his career, but his experience and mentality will be invaluable. Most Pool fans seem devastated that he's leaving which tells its own story.
Senesi and Van Hecke have improved year on year. Tonali is a quality player.
Didn't see you complaining when you signed Rice from relegation candidates West Ham. His quality was obvious.
Exactly. Rice's quality quality was obvious and we paid big money for him to achieve the goal of bridging the gap to winning the big trophies which he's now partly done. Senesi, Van Hecke, Robertson (2026 version) have no more obvious quality than Richarlison, Bissouma et al.
Tonali... meh, jury out. He's pretty good I think, but for £80m+ I feel like you should be getting a top 5 CM in the world and he's nowhere near that. Though I suppose if Anderson is £120m+ and Fernandes is £85m+ then maybe £80m that is now the going rate for quite-good CMs, but **** me that is a **** going rate.
I'd be defensive and backing of any big spend that Arsenal were looking to make too so I get you defending him. But pff. To me it just looks like Spurs are spaffing money all over again and rinse and repeating the same cycle.
For Spurs to genuinely change, I feel like you need to stop the manager recycling, trust someone (probably RDZ?), accept a period of mediocrity while the manager sorts you out, and you need to take up the Brighton model of scouting further afield and picking up younger gamble players and honing them.
I don't agree with this. In current football there is no guarantee that spending £80m on one player will improve the team. Firstly there is s dearth in talent, secondly fees are over inflated. You just have to look at the silly money Man U and Chelsea have been paying for players.
If you think back to Wenger was doing just that, refusing to buy marquee players, he still had us playing good football and still had us qualifying for the CL. So its not a bad strategy and should get you a decent squad of players. But they can't be mediocre players.
In your position I don't see the point in buying any marquee players, no point having a new Ferrari engine and some old 1940s East European no name car running gear and brakes. £30-50m purchases is what you need, get a good squad of players first then look for marquee signings.
I think they need to bolster the midfield and attacking options (easier said than done, as we well know!) but if they do that, I think they can definitely aspire to be finishing in the top-7/8 positions next season - especially as they're only playing 1 game a week. Let's face it, they can't be any worse than they've been the last 2 seasons and there are still some unknown quantities for next season too e.g. Sunderland with Europe, Brighton with Europe, Chelsea with a new manager, Man United with CL football. So I think the race for Europe will be a lot more open IMO and don't see why Spurs can't be in contention.