How might we line up next season?

There's been a lot of talk over various threads recently about the good and bad performances of certain players, the fact that we're missing a striker, we shouldn't have let Townsend go out on loan, whether Rose is good enough, Benny possibly leaving.... - This list goes on.

Let's also take into consideration our recent history of transfers and the disappointment we've all had to go through in missing out on a striker or 2, as well as not strengthening/getting sufficient cover for other positions.

Therefore, who do you think are possible (as well as likely) signings this summer? And what would your Match day squad be?
How many players will we bring in? Who will be departing?

Please keep this realistic guys, and think like the club. Not who you want in a dream team!

I envisage the sale/departures of:
Huddlestone or Livermore - Don't think AVB is particularly keen on either and would rather replace. £5m?
Gomes - Spurs career over a long time ago. £500,000?
Dempsey - DL may be keen to get rid whilst he can get some money back on him, after a poor season. £4-5m?
BAE - getting older & been a good player. - DL could look at this as the time to sell. If reports are true, he's not AVB favourite. - £8-10m?
Gallas - Likely to retire?
Bostock - same as Gomes - £100,000?
Bentley - Same as Gomes - doesn't his contract expire?
Adebayor. - Not been good enough and need better strikers - £5m?

We may not see all of these leave during the summer, but for those who do remain at the club beyond this point, I can't see them being here after Christmas. There may be others, but I've lost track of some of the "dead wood" to be honest. Do we even have Khumalo anymore?!
Anyway, I make that approximately £20-25m in sales.

I guess a lot of it will come down to whether Bale leaves. With the club's recent history of not making a net spend, I can't see that £20-25m going very far in today's market. + the fact that we've actually got to sell them all, which could take all summer knowing Levy!!!

Therefore I see Bale being sold for £50m approx, in order for us to bring in the players we need.

I see us capitalising on young players once again, as well as taking advantage of clubs who go down, or perhaps don't have the "umph" to keep their better players.

Leandro Damiao has long been a target (supposedly), but failure to qualify for the CL would write that one off, IMO. Also, the lack of CL revenue will likely mean that we'll be going down the bargain-ish route again.

There's no doubt that if Bale leaves, he's going to be extremely hard, if not impossible to replace. However, despite the club being very shrewd with money, I don't think we're stupid enough to not get a quality replacement in for him by using a fair chunk of that money. That player might not be a like for like player, but it will be someone of raw up and coming talent, IMO. - Last season we were happy to spend £15m on Dembele after the sale of Modric, so I think we'll see at least this figure spend on a Bale "replacement", if not a fair bit more.

Taking all of this into consideration, I see 3 likely signings this summer.

Remy - apparently we had a strong interest prior to his move to QPR. Will come pretty cheap for a striker. - £10m?
Benteke - Affordable, young, and exactly what we are missing. - won't cost too much - £12-15m?
Eriksen - We're in need of more creativity and the Bale money could well be used to fund this one. We're very keen supposedly. £20m?
Total: £45m

As I mentioned, i also feel that we'll be after some youngsters, a bit like our deals for Fryers and Holtby.

Luke Shaw is a name that's being mentioned at the moment, so it wouldn't surprised me if we saw his arrival.

The other option, as I mentioned yesterday, is a deal with Real Madrid over Bale, but one which includes a player or two that we may be interested in.
We will not spend £25m or so on a top striker, it just won't happen. However, this could be an opportunity to get someone of genuine class, that otherwise we may not have stood a chance with. - Gonzalo Higuain. Sounds daft, eh?
Well, RM are supposedly desperate for Bale and Higuain appears to be second choice to Benzema. - If they want Bale that badly... you never know what deal Levy might be able to conjure up!

Although I think a top 4-6 challenge will be a lot to ask of Andros Townsend right now, he deserves a chance. Tom Carroll has made a big impact in the few times we've seen him this season. Townsend has played exceptionally well for QPR, so perhaps he needs to be given a chance as our LW solution? - i think that's the way the club will look at it too.

My biggest fear this summer, is that we won't learn have learned our lesson over squad depth. We've been very short in a few positions and really need to address this. Too many times this season, we've been without a player like Lennon and our game plan has been shot to pieces. I'd like to see us use all of the money that we make from sales this year, to help the squad depth, even if once again, we don't make a bloody net spend. It's a huge factor in standing a chance at CL qualification, IMO.

My starting Line up for next season (presuming we lose Bale), and including those I feel we may sign:

Lloris
Walker Verts Kaboul Shaw
Dembele Sandro
Lennon Eriksen Townsend
Benteke

Subs: Friedel, Holtby, Remy, Dawson, Parker, Defoe, Sig, Carroll, Caulker etc etc. (obviously the subs will change very frequently.)


Based on what we've witnessed over recent seasons, who do you genuinely think we'll bring in? Who will we see depart? And how do you think we'll set ourselves up?

 

This is what I think as Levy takes years to get rid of deadwood.

Lioris
Walker Verts Kaboul Naughton
Dembele Sandro
Lennon, Hudd, Dempsey/sig
Ade/Remy Benteke

watching that lot will be like a wet weekend in Margate.
Bale will be sold at the last minute so Levy will have an excuse not to spend big.

 

Who knows? Personally, I think Bale will stay unless a ridiculous bid comes in. Remy reportedly has an £8mil release clause if ( when) QPR are relegated. For that money, worth a look, IMO.

The only thing that is certain is that come the last day of the window we will have ALMOST signed somebody!...

 

If Bale goes, it won't be last minute. As much as Levy's antics in the window piss me off, he's not stupid. He'll give himself at least a couple of weeks to get the replacements in!
only problem? we've played about 3 prem games already with a weakened team!

 

I can't believe you forgot about Khumalo

Interestingly we've been linked with Oczipka from Frankfurt this morning, he's an exciting left back that we may be in for if Benny is going. I've always been impressed with him watching the highlights this season but never really thought we'd be in for a first choice left back for next season. Anyway he'd be a more ready made replacement for Benny and wouldn't cost as much as Coentrao or Shaw.

I think it's too early for all this transfer talk though, isn't the run in exciting enough for you? As for the CL, I don't think qualification will drastically change our transfer plans but it might lead to us going for maybe one big signing on top of other signings that we'd be able to make anyway.

 

I can't see Bale leaving this summer, from the stories coming out of Spurs he's happy, settled and loves being there. Add in the fact that he's got a young family and I can't see him leaving. Next summer will be different though!

Re Remy from QPR, good quality player but seems to have more than his fair share of injuries.

Ins I would like to see a good left back, poss even Danny Rose, mountiniho, benteke & Remy.

Outs, I'd expect Gomes & bentley as certainties , with BAE, Gallas, livermore & poss ade & Dempsey.

I'd line up with
Lloris
Walker, Kaboul, verts, Rose
Sandro, Mountiniho
Lennon, dembele, Bale
Remy/Bentdke

Which leaves
Brad, naughton, smith, caulker,Dawson
Carroll, Townsend, Parker, Thudd, siggy, holtby
Defoe,Remy/benteke on the bench

Plus there are a good crop of younger players coming through and at least 2 of them have the potential to step up to the 1st team squad.

One thing that is pretty certain, we'll end up with no new strikers but another midfielder and go close to signing a big player on the last day of the window as usual!!

 

It's never too early for transfer talk, YV. Tottenham could have a TV soap opera about it. Most of the conversations on here arise due to transfer activity, or lack of!

I tend to agree with you over transfer plans, except I'm starting to think it'll be the end of Bale in a Spurs shirt if we don't qualify.

 

Or even, how we might line up THIS season.

This is your tranfer thread in disguise Roo

Have you always liked musical chairs?

 

no...

I was just interested to find out who people realistically think could end up in a spurs shirt, rather than all these big names that we get excited about all summer which never happen, and how we'd line up with those individuals
If you like Spurf, you could say I was setting an example and trying to keep everyone's feet on the ground. Doing my bit to help others an'all that!

As for "The Transfer Thread" well... it'll just be paper and twitter gossip to wind you all up. I can't wait for that one!
SOS has been saying he can't take another summer like the last one... but he's just being over dramatic. He'll be all over it!!!! Right mate?!

 

We've got time to kill I suppose, it feels weird having over a week to talk before our next game without it being an international break and praying Bale doesn't get crocked playing for Wales. I'll spend it hoping Everton beat Arsenal by 1 goal, scoring less than 4, or that they draw.

As for Bale, I'm with J8, I think CL qualificiation would have more to do with him signing a new contract or not.

 

I think listing a team is a bit silly as we need to rotate better.

I would like a squad like this:

Goalkeeper
Lloris
NEW
Youngster

RB
Walker/Smith (Kaboom cover)

LB
Benny/Rose (Verts cover)

CB
Verts/Kaboom/Dawson/Caulker (Hudd emergency cover)

(Deeper lying) CM
Parker/Sandro/Dembele/Hudd

RW
Lennon/Townsend (Sig/Holtby cover)

LW
Bale/Townsend (Sig/Holtby cover)

No10
Holtby/Sig/Bale

Striker
Remy
Benteke
Defoe
Kane

Thats a squad of 24 and i don't think its too ambitious to achieve.
I wouldn't be averse to Erikson either, but i think he'll go elsewhere.

So, outs:
Ade, Brad, Dempsey, deadwood

Ins:
Benteke, Remy, goalkeeper

 

I also agree with J8. I've highlighted the same reasons in the past. However, if an offer comes in, I think levy will seriously consider it. Specualtion is one thing, but an official offer could really make him think.
Then we have to consider what Bale's advisers might be saying to him.
I don't think Bale himself would go out of his way to leave push a transfer through. its whether a combination of the 2 other parties I've mentioned, mean that end up leaving us.

Blimey Spurm, you're easy to please! - but what about if we do lose Bale? it's a game changer. how does that affect who you'd like us to sign?

 

Roo - i've been waiting so long for NEW STRIKER i think i might die of happiness if we actually got him/them, so yes, easy to please

Bringing in 4, 5, 6 first teamers at a go never really works, regardless of how good they are. If we lost Bale and did that i think we'd be in for a poor season. I think we are better off bringing in 2-3 per season/window (not sure if jan really works tbh but we all hope for transfers then too) regardless of Bale.
If Bale left i think we are covered for No10/striker with what we have plus Remy & Benteke that i already specified, but we'd be short on options out wide with only Townsend/Lennon with natural width. My knowledge of top quality wide men is pretty poor, but i'd expect to bring in 1 to replace Bale, hopefully in the 15-20m bracket.

 

The thing is Roo , I think he is stupid as come the team. Nobody in the Prem forgets 9 to 12 points each season , Striker problem year on, vanity saving transfers
that cost us every year.
What he is brilliant at , is looking after Enic's interests.

 

Going through the first team squad...

Lloris - Stay
Gomes - Sold
Friedel - Retired

Kaboul - Stay
Vertonghen - Stay
Walker - Stay
Dawson - Stay
Caulker - Stay
Gallas - Sold/Retired
Benny - 50/50
Naughton - 50/50

Bale - Stay*
Lennon - Stay
Sandro - Stay
Dembele - Stay
Parker - Stay
Siggy - Stay
Holtby - Stay
Carroll - Stay/Loaned
Dempsey - Sold/Cash + player deal
Livermore - Loaned
Huddlestone - Sold
Bentley - Sold/Out of contract

Defoe - Stay
Adebayor - Sold/cash + player deal

As for those out on loan...
Townsend - Stay
Kane - Stay/Loaned
Smith - Stay/Loaned
Falque - 50/50
Mason - 50/50
Rose - 50/50
Bostock - Sold
Khumalo - Sold/Released
Dawkins - Sold
Obika - 50/50
Luongo - Stay/Loaned
Byrne - 50/50
Pritchard - Stay/Loaned
Coulibaly - Stay
Miles - Stay
Parrett - 50/50
Stewart - 50/50

 

Ajax have been pushing a high value for Eriksen this summer, as it seems highly likely that he'll leave, but his contract will only have one season left to run.
He won't cost anyone £20m.

 

Blimey, you warming to him

 

he's come out this week and said him staying is 50/50. - which basically means he's leaving. You don't come out with a comment like that if you're genuinely staying at a club!
You're right, he may well be cheaper. Well, by Levynomics anyway!

Sidney, I agree with you over this policy as it costs us points at the start of every season. But after how poor our strikers have been, Levy will be aware of how the fans feel about that entire situation. everyone in the country calls us a 1 man team, so if bale is sold, even i trust that he won't leave us up **** creek. He'd nail his own coffin, despite all the great stuff he's done.

 

Using HBIC's list as a guide, here's my choice:

Lloris - Stay
Gomes - Sold
Friedel - Retired

Kaboul - Stay
Vertonghen - Stay
Walker - Stay
Dawson - Stay
Caulker - Stay
Gallas - Sold/Retired
Benny - Stay
Naughton - Sold

Bale - 50/50
Lennon - Stay
Sandro - Stay
Dembele - Stay
Parker - Stay
Siggy - Stay
Holtby - Stay
Carroll - Stay/Loaned
Dempsey - Sold/Cash + player deal
Livermore - Loaned/Sold
Huddlestone - 50/50 - 2 weeks ago would have been Sold
Bentley - Sold/Out of contract

Defoe - 50/50
Adebayor - 50/50

As for those out on loan...
Townsend - Stay
Kane - Stay/Loaned
Smith - Stay
Falque - 50/50
Mason - 50/50
Rose - Sold
Bostock - Sold
Khumalo - Sold/Released
Dawkins - Sold

(don't know enough about the other younger/loanees to comment)

So I reckon we need (at least) one new (young) keeper, another LB (Shaw?), a top creative CM, a possible replacement if Bale goes and a couple of new strikers to supplement, rather than replace.

 

I think we may move for Eriksen or Isco regardless of whether Bale goes or not, especially as Holtby seems to be edging towards being played deeper. If we had a '3' in a 4-2-3-1 of Lennon-Eriksen-Bale I could see that being very effective, one of them might give us that passing ability and vision that we've been lacking since Modric was sold. I'm not sure we'd get Eriksen though, both him and Isco seem quite highly sought after.

If Bale goes we need to spend well to get serious quality in to replace him. That doesn't necessarily mean spend big but it probably will, lets face it. Levy need to show some ambition either by not selling or reinvesting in a serious manner if we do sell.

This is all assuming we get CL of course. If we don't I don't know what we'll do. Especially because that means we're almost certain to lose Bale/be unable to sign quality.