‏@FourthOfficial_ Everton are in advanced talks with Brugge about signing Vadis Odjidja-Ofeo on a permanent deal which will allow Hitzlsperger to leave #EFC
Well there has been talk of Lewis Holtby on LFC and here but the Spuds have got him he'll join them In July...
NEWS: David Villa signs for Villa, Antonio Valencia signs for Valencia, Nile Ranger signs for Rangers, and Danny ****tu signs for Everton.
Holtby would be a fantastic signing for anyone but spurs. They have about 13 Midfielders. Look at Dempsey and Siggurdsson and look at what happened to Bentley/Krancjar/Pienaar before.
Different manager now, Shogun. Villas-Boas doesn't mind rotating his players, when he has people available that can do a job. Redknapp basically picked his strongest available XI for every single game, which doesn't work out over the course of a season when you're in multiple competitions.
I do agree with you about Dempsey and Sigurdsson's future being brought into question by this. However, the players you listed got chances but Bentley was rubbish, Redknapp didn't know how to use Pienaar and Kranjcar's chances were reduced when we started playing two out and out wingers and signed VDV. I don't think we should stop signing quality players just because some of our backups are okay, we should always look to improve if there's a good bargain available. Huddlestone and Livermore look like they're on their way out so next season, as it stands we'll have Sandro and Parker as our defensive mids, Dembele and Holtby able to play next to them and Dempsey, Sigurdsson and Holtby able to play the no. 10 role. It might seem crowded at no. 10 but with Holtby covering another position and Sigurdsson being used out wide a lot it's probably manageable. The trouble comes when you consider that until Holtby joins we have no one good that can cover Dembele but then again we're still apparently in for Moutinho which causes problems again once Holtby arrives. I didn't mention Carroll as I think he needs at least a season out on loan if he's really going to compete for a place.
Aye but rotation or not, he's still going to get as many games as a player of his calibre should. I was saying it was a bad deal for him rather than Tottenham. Fair play to Spurs for having quality in midfield though you look lacklustre up top in my opinion. I don't doubt he'll get chances to get in but even if he does impress then AVB will still juggle between Siggs, Dempsey, Dembele, Parker, Sandro and for when you play 442 then Adebayor too. I just think had he went to Arsenal, Liverpool or Everton then he'd start week in week out. I don't think Dembele and Holtby will be content alternating with each other, can only cause problems in my opinion. Then again I think Levy only signed Holtby because it was such a good opportunity on a free transfer.
Lacklustre up top? Slightly, but Dempsey's finding some form and Adebayor's getting back to full fitness, though he may still piss off to the ACoN and he hasn't really gelled with Defoe. As for being overloaded in midfield, I guess Levy's looking to the future. The club's we're competing with have a lot of options in various position, so we need to match them. We're still in the Europa League and progressed against admittedly weak opposition in the FA Cup, so we require squad depth. We don't want to suffer from the same burnout that we did (in my opinion) under Redknapp in the past couple of campaigns. If we bring in Holtby early, then he'll have time to adjust to English football and start next season at full strength, too.
Arsenal similarly have a lot of centre mids which is probably why Wenger persists with Ramsey as a winger. I don't think for a second that AVB wants us to play 442 longterm and I'd actually argue that when Defoe and Ade start only one of them plays the striker role at a time in the match with the other dropping out of position. The trouble has been for us that Dempsey and Sigurdsson didn't enjoy great starts to the season so when Ade came back the best way for us to play appeared to be 2 upfront. It's a bit like Vertonghen playing at left back, the decision was driven by circumstance more than preference. Holtby is young and looks a bit lightweight even in the Bundesliga. He's not someone I'd want to rely on to adapt to the league straight away so I think it's good that there are other options for us next season. Caulker's in a similar boat, he's got bags of potential but he's still learning a lot so we wouldn't want to have him as an automatic starter but having him as 1 of 5 centre halves seems to give him the opportunity to get games and develop whilst we still have other quality options to play instead of him. I can actually see Dembele and Holtby sharing a role in the team if needed too actually, competing in Europe and across all the trophies requires players to be able to come in and out of the team, especially with Dembele having a hip problem that's threatening to be a longterm niggling injury. Stats don't tell the full picture but in league games Dembele has played in the season we're 11w 2d 1l and without him we're 1w 1d 5l, we can't just rely on him staying fit and I can't see his backup being left to gather dust.
Hitzelsperger has an extension till the end of the season I think he deserved that he has done well when called upon...Be nice to have a fresh face though but cant see It happening this window...
Good player to have in the squad Hitzlsperger. Experienced, stayed fit, content to be a squad player, not horrific. Could do with a couple of loans though, be surprised if we don't get one loan in. Last year we had four (Drenthe, Donovan, Straqualursi, and Pienaar) whereas this year we have none.
Apparently Fiorentina want Ossie for €4m. Never going to happen like. Forren looks set for Southampton after being closing to signing for Fulham, Everton, Liverpool and every one else.
Can't see it but the Independent are claiming that we are after Etienne Capoue from Toulouse. Shame we can't be spending about £10m on a player. oh and Fellaini is on his way out, like he has been everyday this transfer window
