It's not so much the difficulty of finding them ( eg. Cambiasso) it's more having a manager and Levy who's interested. Levy is attracted by young players with sell on potential and often does not seem keen to 'invest' in an older head that WILL cost him money, so unless we have a manager like Redknapp who will make the case for the need for the experienced head we just wont go for them.
It infuriates me no end. This is probably a discussion for the Rival thread, but I really do think the FA should pass some sort of legislation capping the number of players a team can send out on loan, as well as investigating and restricting the extremely dodgy process whereby an owner (such as Abramovich) with stakes in another, smaller club, essentially uses that club as a 'B team' for his primary investment (such as Chelsea) in order to either develop youngsters or (as is more often the case) keep them in the shop window for when they are inevitably sold 2 years later having never actually kicked a ball in a Chelsea shirt. Other than it being unfair on smaller clubs, it just seems like a highly unethical way of operating. They are countless trade and consumer laws to prevent any one retailer monopolising a particular sector, why should football be any different?
Chelsea see it as a fairly cost effective way to do things and it's actually working out very well for them. Their youth teams are exceptionally strong and they're selling a lot of players on for big money. They're not bringing through very many, though. There are some exceptions, but it's very hard to break into their squad. As CK points out, it seems to be pretty unreasonable on those attempting to compete with them and needs to be addressed. You'd hope that some of the parents would take the long view, but it must be very tempting for them.
Van der Vaart has spoken to the media about his exit from the club. Says it was down to AVB and that he regrets leaving. He's old and injury prone but I'd have him back for sure. Probably my favourite player at Tottenham
Some youth teams seem to be run purely to make a profit, because the clubs involved can buy top players for the first team so they don't need to develop so much.
I used to see it in the City, PNP. All the big banks would take on a stack of bright graduates every year. I can remember groups of them being taken around and all looking very pleased with themselves that they'd "made it" What nobody ever told them was that 75-80% of them would not be accepted and they were back out on the street in 6 months. Some would end up at smaller banks, just as these youngsters end up at smaller clubs. But, I guess the lure of the big guns is always there in any occupation.
Yet another reason to wonder why the hell Levy employed the dick to be our manager...he was a top 6 version of christian gross imo...and every bit as embarrassing.
To advocate the devil: Pochetiino’s system relies to a very considerable extent on outworking the other team. No one’s likelier to do that than a player in search of his first million. When you add in the fact that Oduwa has been the star of our preseason games, with Alli and Onomah in the forefront, there is a real case for not getting more midfielders. Like any attempt to do something new, it can fail. But younger players working harder has been a successful strategy in various sports. It also makes a lot of sense financially, which is no doubt one reason why it seems a worthwhile gamble. When the younger players are of the quality of Kane, Bentaleb and Mason, and apparently of Oduwa, Onomah and Alli, it might just work. Having said that, I still expect at least one midfielder to come in. And surely Coulthirst being our only striker today indicates we need to buy another proven striker.
Where are our strikers? Kane, presumably, is only just back and working on fitness and Adebayor is hopefully having a look round the Bullring, but what about Soldado? I think he could have a big year - even as the experienced head around the place.
Soldado has always looked good when he’s played for us...except when he flails with a banjo. If Dembele is a defensive number 10, could Soldado be a playmaking number nine? It does seem to me that he has the kind of skills that our talented group of midfielders could learn from. He moves so intelligently. But neither hide nor hair of him at this point indicates he’s probably heading somewhere. Seville, some rumors have it.
Anyone know if the club's got an eye on Dzeko's situation? I would gnaw off my unspeakables to see him in a Spurs shirt.
SSN saying that we're after Bolasie. From what I've seen of him, he's a bit unpredictable, but pretty much unplayable when he's in the mood.
There is remarkably little gossip about incoming players. Considering how many have left and the gaps that we might have in the squad now, I would be expecting us to be linked with new players every day but there's nothing much in the mass media (Njie earlier in the week Bolassie today), and a few oddments on social media but nothing to really get the excitement levels rising. Either we really going to just have faith in our young players or the new recruitment team are going about there business in a much more stealthy manner and trying to keep any interest under wraps until we are actually likely to complete a deal. Its just a bit dull at the moment!
MP plays a better game of Poker perhaps, the polar opposite of some of our recent mangers who couldn't wait for the chat with the media.
