No, although Sturridge is a good player, having another striker wouldn't be any use if we lost the supply line from the middle of the park.
I saw that earlier. As, according to The Beeb, the story comes from The Daily Star on Sunday, I won't hold my breath waiting for that offer to materialize.
Or just play Krancjar there instead. We played so much better when he deputised for Modric. He'll get you a few goals too.
Why Harry has frozen out Krancjar, I'll never know. He bought him twice, so surely he must rate him? When he does play, he always does well. Single handedly he won 6 pts for Spurs at the end of last season and secured European football for them. It just doesn't make any sense. But if Modric does go, Spurs have got a great player already to fill his boots.
So Krancjar is as good as Modric then... funnily enough, no-ones offering £27m + players for him though.... In fact, since he's been available for transfer, no-one's even willing to match the £10-12m that apparently Spurs are wanting for him... but he's just as good as Modric....
I'm not saying he's as good as Modric, but as was pointed out, he did a good job covering for him in that position. I think the fact that clubs have balked at the £12m valuation, is because Harry paid £2m for him (admittedly a bargain) let him warm the bench and now puts a hefty price tag on him.
I think Ensil is right, he's not been in the shop window, therefore he's going to attract a bargain bin price. If we lost either Fabregas or Nasri, then I'd love to see us make a bid for Krancjar. Somewhere around £8m sound fair?
Think its Levy that set the price tag If we played so much better, then why are we so adamant on keeping him? Or is it just that we as fans know more than the manager? Perhaps he should be first choice and Modric is the one who should be deputising? A great player? but not as good as the one who's currently holding down the position? Does that make Modric better than great then? if thats the case £27m + Sturridge still isn't enough
Well, good, great, effective - they're all adjectives to describe him being a decent player. Like I said, he's not as good as Modric and maybe his best position is a different one. But he's already proved that he is a player that gives a lot to your team. Why doesn't Harry rate him? Especially as he bought him twice, I just don't understand it.
Its not that he doesn't rate him, its that we have better players on the pitch when our first 11 is available. I agree that he's a better option than say Pienaar, or Jenas, but on the left he's not better than Bale, and in the centre he's not as good as Modric or Huddlestone. And playing him behind the striker(s) he's not better than VDV. So thats why he doesn't get the game time, but is an effective deputy. I personally wouldn't like to see him sold as he is a good squad player, and can be very effective but he wants to play regularly which he won't do at present, therefore if a team wants him then his perceived market value should be set by Levy at al at Spurs. And if they want 10-13 mil for him, then its up to the buying club to pony up the funds, if not then keep hold of him, as a squad player, and use him in the cups to give the first teamers a rest.
The rumour was that Kranjcar came back at the start of last season a fair bit overweight and out of shape. That pissed Redknapp off and he refused to pick him for being unprofessional. The Croatian then struggled to get back into the side. What annoyed me about it was that Redknapp basically ran van der Vaart into the ground and then changed the system when he wasn't available. Kranjcar would suit his position down to the ground, in my opinion. He may even play it better than the Dutchman, as his languid tracking back would mean that our lone striker would be less isolated. I think that his current high price-tag is meant to put people off, while we work out whether Modric is staying or not. If he goes, then we use the money to strengthen elsewhere, play van der Vaart in the middle and stick Kranjcar into the side.
Personally, I don't think either VDV or Kranjcar are capable of taking the Modric role. Neither has the legs, or stamina for it. Modric is an all action type of player, who mostly plays it simple, but is always available to his teamates. I just can't see either of the other two keeping that up for 90 mins.
I think that van der Vaart's workrate is deceptive, because of the role that he plays. In all of the games in South Africa they've had a distance covered stat that comes up every so often and he's almost always our top player in that. He'd have to play alongside a proper holding player for it to be really effective, but I think that it would work. My only worry would be his tendency to give away cheap free-kicks and get frustrated, picking up cheap bookings.
Agreed, he looked more focused towards the end of the season, chasing down the ball and trying to bring others into the game. In my opinion he's nowhere near Modric's level and I'd rather we got him to spend more of his time trying to find space further up the field and trust the players behind him to get everything going.
Nowhere near Modric's level? Can't say that I agree with that, though they're quite different players, which you might not expect given their reputations. I fully agree about him spending more time up the pitch, though. He drops too deep far too often, which isolates the front man.
Sorry, I meant in the role that Modric plays. Thinking about it, Lennon and Bale could do with pushing up to make it a 4-3-3 when VDV drops deep.
