Tottenham in the Summer Transfer window - 2013 edition!

Not for me. He is the enemy, he is ancient, he is on about £10m a week, his face annoys me, most his goals are penalties (which we don't get)

 

We could definitely do with a big signing and I can't see Benteke being available at a good value and with Remy we'd arguably be doing the samething we've done several times before by spending a decent amount on a player that might be good for us or spending that bit extra and getting someone really good in. If we were going to take a punt on any Premier League striker at the moment I'd rather we went for Cisse at Newcastle. But with the likes of Cavani, Falcao, Suarez, Higuain, Lewandowski and no doubt others being linked with moves I think we'll see some good strikers becoming surplus across Europe.

As I said before I feel it's still too early to make decisions on who you want to go and come in, especially with CL money undecided.

Out of our main squad, I think we'll see Benny and Gallas leave for certain. I'd like to see Naughton, Parker and Ade follow them out of the door in the summer, although I can't see us managing to shift Ade. More contraversially if we needed some cash for new signings I wouldn't be against any of Dawson, Falque, Sigurdsson, Dempsey or Rose leaving too.

In terms of signings, I'm not really sure, obviously someone like Baines would be a great signing and much welcome but other than that I can't really think of anyone in particular that would suit us well. Diame would make a good cheap signing if we sold Parker although I expect his wages might not be so cheap, personally I really like Reinartz and Wanyama as players and the latter is already quite similar to Sandro. Alternatively, I still think it's a decent shout to try for Richards and have him competing with Walker and back up for Sandro, which would also give Livermore some more chances, I expect. On the wings maybe we could take a punt on N'Zogbia or Hoilett, I can't really thing of anyone else and it would defenitely be a punt as they've been poor since their transfers but we definitely need a proper winger in addition to Townsend, Lennon and (sometimes) Bale. Upfront Kiessling would be brilliant but I can't see him wanting to come if we're not in the CL and we almost certainly won't be able to afford him if we can't sell Ade.

So in short, I hope our scouts are much more clued up than me!

 

I'm not sure that the ancient at 34 tag really applies to some of today's players. Giggs is 40 in a couple of months. And Sheringham was still making worthwhile contributions, well into his thirties.

 

He'd never do it to Chelsea as he's a legend there, plus there would be far bigger offers from abroad. I think he'll be given another year contract though, especially if Mourinho's back in charge.

 

The HBIC Summer Shopping List
(All values quoted from Transfermarkt, unless stated otherwise)

HASTE!!! - Last summer we sorted out Vertonghen and Sigurdsson quickly, but dawdled elsewhere. This summer we need to sort out one striker and a creative midfielder by the mid-July.

Strikers, for the love of Cthulhu, strikers!!! - We've been short in this area all season, and this needs to be sorted. We've been linked to numerous players - Christian Benteke (£12m-18m, depending on which paper and if he scored that weekend), Roberto Soldado (quoted as available for £7m, as Valencia are broke), Loic Remy has an £8m release clause ready to activate, and every transfer window needs a Leandro Daimao story (£19.5m) We need to be signing two of these players, simple as that.

A creative midfielder - We've lacked a player who can unlock stubborn defences and be the metronome of our attacking threat. We've been linked with a few Joan Moutinho (available for £20m, according to Porto), Christian Eriksen (£14m), and need to sort this out.

A left back - Andre doesn't seem to rate Benny, Naughton has been poor, and Rose's may stay or may go (an £8m bid from Sunderland has been bandied about this morning) - judging by the rumours going around, Andre agrees as we've been liked with Fabio Countrao (available for £15m), Leighton Baines (£12m is a figure the papers are agreeing on) and Bruno Martins Indi (£4m), plus Not606ers like Luke Shaw (£4m)

Competition at right back - Walker's been iffy this season, and Naughton has been preferred at right back. We've been repeatedly linked to Sebastien Corchia (£2.6m, although competition with Roma and Arsenal will push that value up), Daryl Janmaat (£3.1m) as well as right back/centre back Stefan de Vrij (£4.4m), whilst a few on here are talking up Micah Richards (£14m)

Back-up goalkeeper - Lloris has the number one jersey sewn up, Gomes is likely off in the summer, and Friedel can't be around forever (...can he?), yet this is an area we haven't been linked to anyone and, frankly, Jordan Archer isn't ready yet. For the sake of a name, I'll say Jack Butland (£4.4m), although he says he'll only move for first team football, so I'll just chuck in a few names because they're good on FM13 but aren;t ter Stegen, Courtois, Leno or Koval: Lukas Zima (£175k), Ali Ahamada (£3.5m), Zacharie Boucher (£750k), Stefanos Kapino (£1.3m), Nicola Liali (£1.3m), Francesco bardi (£3.5m), Jan Oblak (£2.1m).

Youngsters to get a chance - Andros Townsend certainly deserves more games, whilst Tom Carroll, Adam Smith and Harry Kane should be regulars in the COC this season to give them experience (and there's a sentence I wasn't expecting to use when I woke up this morning...)

To go - Gomes, Gallas, Naughton, Bentley, Adebayor.

 

Dempsey was signed as a striker. He spent half the season on and off in a central role. The only reason he's often out "wide" now is because he failed to deliver.
Bale is a winger who has saved our bacon because he's world class. Imagine if he hadn't gone central? he would have half the goals. - would anybody else have really scored the others he's got, to make the difference up? I seriously doubt it.

Totally agree notso.
But going back to spurm's comments about Holtby, I actually think he may end up becoming a deeper player for us, who might end up replacing Parker. Not as like for like, but Holtby has good defensive skills. he closes the ball down well, he's not afraid to get his foot in and he doesn't stop running. He also comes with the added bonus of some excellent forward passing!

It's very difficult to work out what we need. If Bale is to be purely central from now on, we need to give Townsend a chance. My only worry as I've said before is that it might be too big a step for him. Naughton was excellent at Norwich, but hasn't looked the same player with us, IMO. - I fear the same for Townsend, but that doesn't mean he shouldn't get chance. He's been brilliant at QPR.
But what if Townsend doesn't make the step up? we need options.

Therefore IMO, to solve this problem we must sign someone like Eriksen. Not to play him on the left, but to have in that central role offering us creativity when we get into dangerous positions. This way, he'll be able to feed the likes of Bale and Lennon who are by far our strongest wing options. Despite how good Bale is centrally, our best game is our wide counter attacking style, which is almost impossible for defenders to deal with. Eriksen would get so much time and space and I really think he'd be our new VDV type. - Which we've massively missed this season. But if Eriksen has a game that doesn't work out, Bale can go central and we can introduce Townsend. The versatility/depth and regular squad rotation will be what makes the difference next season. Also, it introduces Townsend in slowly as well as giving us competition for places. Surely Levy must realise that he left us short this season and needs to learn from it?

 

i can't remember who said it or where (it was on not606) but it was a great comment:
Levy's thinking: If we make 4th then no players needed. If we don't make 4th then we can't afford any players.

If we make 4th Levy probably won't see it as him leaving us short in the player department.

 

I like the way that all these plans include Bale staying next year, but is that very likely? It is starting to look like Europa again, and I can't see him staying another year.

 

If Benny leaves I would be more than happy to slot Rose straight in at left-back, he has been quality this season at Sunderland. Or take a punt on Shaw, I don't think Baines is in our reach, can see him replacing Cole at Chelsea or Evra at United.

Soldado would be an absolute dream, especially for £7m (!), he's a goal machine and right in his prime. Otherwise I'd be keen on any of Hernandez, Benteke or Remy, in that order.

Would love to see us sign Micah Richards too, as good going forward as Walker but an upgrade defensively.

 

Yes, I agree that IF Mourinho does go back there he will likely stay as Mourinh, quite rightly, rates him.
And yes, I agree that even if he does leave it's unlikely he'd agree to join us - but, if you don't ask!.....

 

It's all in Madrid's hands, no other team can afford our asking price, so we may be left with a sulking Welshman next season.

 

I can see Lampard heading to Italy, any of their big 3 would love to have him.

 

Again for me when you're assembling a squad to challenge for something, its normal to see where your goals are coming from, and to have a spread of players that can. AVB clearly thought Sig and Demps who have scored reasonably for previous clubs would have done so, but have failed in that aspect for us. Its almost like Bale, JD, and Ade have tried too hard at times to score themselves, which to a point you can understand when they know the others aren't chipping in. We've cursed a few times when other players have seemingly been in better positions, but not passed to by the 3 forwards, but you can see why.

 

I hate to say it but I totally agree. Kind of leaves you feeling helpless doesn't it!

 

"Strikers, for the love of Cthulhu"

I would love to have a truly evil striker like him.
However, he can be so indifferent to the fate of a puny human PL club
that he would make Adebayor seem 200% committed to the cause.

You have been warned.

 

"Levy is just trying to make the money work as hard as possible - buy for as little as possible, sell for as much. In economical terms, it makes perfect sense - plus it's good for the club (mostly) - he's careful with the wage structure and he recognises the limitations of our small stadium with how much he spends versus how much is coming in every week."

Still reckon Joe and Levy are like the Duke bros in Trading Places (the wager) .

 

So as long as AVB is our Billy Ray Valentine we'll be fine.

 

Haven't the Sunderland lot been saying for the best part of the season that Rose has been one of their best outfield players? I agree with what many have said - AVB clearly doesn't rate BAE, so Rose could well come in for us there. Naughton I'm willing to give the benefit of the doubt, he's clearly suffering form playing on his weak side, it's affecting his game and the balance of the team. I think he provides adequate cover for Walker on the right. However, if Smith is ready to step up and be the RB cover, then I think we can happily let Naughton go if we can get a good offer. Dempsey is an interesting one, because he's been rubbish at times but has scored over 10 goals for us, and they've been important ones for us as well - the goals against Utd spring to mind.

The absolute priority (apart from of course keeping Bale) is a striker of serious quality, followed by a proper creative midfielder in the Eriksen mould, and then a spare LB should BAE leave, either a starter if Rose won't be stepping up or a reserve/youth prospect, as from what I gather on Fryers he's nowhere near ready for the top flight in terms of his defensive game. Keeper backup would be good as well.

Still got to finish 4th though or everything changes regarding targets.

 

I was watching MOTD on sunday morning when Peter Crouch missed an open goal from about 6 yards out (it was subsequently offside, but no matter). Obviously my initial reaction was laugh hysterically, which i did. My next reaction was one i didn't expect and i did without thinking, i said out loud to myself "we should never have got rid of Crouch".

Just how BAD is the striker situation when you yearning for an ex-player who has just caused you to laugh hysterically through ineptitude?

 

Whilst I'm all for moving on Dempsey if we got a good bid (or as a cash + player option) the fact is if we sign another striker, or even two, they need time to settle in so having an option who can score for the early part of the season would be useful.

Then we sell him in January.

Having a striker who can cause those who oppose him to go insane, rather than a striker who drives us insane by being out of position or offside for the majority of chances we create, would be an improvement.