Alright lads, Toon fan here... This subject might have been done to death so if that's the case just send me in the direction of an existing thread...But... I was just wondering what the impact of being dropped from the Champions League will have on your transfer targets. There's no doubt you still have massive appeal for any incoming players, but without Champions League (and mutterings that Bale, VDV and Modric will leave in favour of it) do you think you might have to lower your aspirations a little or are you confident you can financially support the acquisition of the Galactico style signings you may have bought with CL in the bag? For ourselves, we never really expected Europe never mind CL so our targets are all long-time-linked youngsters from 'lesser' european leagues, continuing with our current style of investing in potential more so than the finished product. Do you see yourselves adopting a similar strategy or will undeniably effective 'quick-fix' players like Adebayore be on the radar instead? Finally, with whispered speculation over Harry's future (only 1 year of his contract left, I think?) do you think this will hinder you at all in the summer window?
Vertonghen has openly and directly said the fact we don't have CL football does not change his mind at all. Remy said before the CL final that he'd only join us if Redknapp is still manager, and Bayern won the final. But since the final he seems to have changed his mind somewhat and is still open to a move. Obviously no CL would completely rule us out of someone like Llorente who perhaps we could have gone after.
Morning I think it may have affected us. We were alleged to have sounded out Hazard over a move when we were third but seeing the fees and wages being banded around for his move to Chelsea, we would never have realistically got him. VDV has already committed his future to us and specifically mentioned that a lack of CL football would not make him leave. I think everyone expects Bale to stay for at least another season and Levy's supposed to be lining up a new deal. Modric is in doubt as usual but I don't think he'll be getting relentlessly tapped up by Chelsea like last summer now so I'm quietly confident that we will keep him, although if United become interested again we could have another fight on our hands. As for targets, it might mean that we have to negotiate a bit harder and get rid of a few players before we sign all the players we want to. We have clear holes in our squad though and need to fill them with experienced players who are ready to be put straight into our side. Adebayor would be a very important signing if we can keep him permanently because he's the perfect kind of striker for us but even then we're going to need to find another 1 or 2 strikers who can lead the line, as backup. If there was ever any truth to the rumours that Ba has a release clause, he'd be ideal but I'm doubtful of it happening. Hopefully we will manage to move on some of the fringe players that we've being trying to get rid of for ages and get in some of the players we really need. After that I'd expect our priority will become improving and extending the contracts of our best players rather than investing in young talent or a big one off signing.
