Our scouts seem to have been popping between France and Germany for a while - one minute they're in France looking at Rabiot, next they're in Germany looking at Wimmer and Werner, then they're back in France looking at Martial, Carrasco and Veretout. I'm guessing they got a cheap pass from Voyages SNCF.
The problem this window has been that we've actually been prompt at clearing most of the deadwood out (only a few outs remain really - Adebayor, Chiriches, Lennon and maybe Soldado). Normally, we take our time buying people (like this window) and also struggle to clear out the rubbish. At least there, you retain cover for key positions. Now, in this window, I feel we're left quite short in the DM position and upfront. Hopefully, we see some transfers in soon...
From what I can gather, Vertout is a bit like Holtby but not as skillful, and doesn’t try as hard. He was on the France U-19 squad where Holtby was captain of the Germany U-21s. According to WhoScored he shares Mason’s and Bentaleb’s lack of concentration, but unlike them, tackles poorly. If we were worried our midfielders were providing too good a shield for our defenders, it looks like he could step right in and shirk defensive responsibilities. His Who Scored strength is free kicks, which he probably wouldn’t get much chance to do. His productivity numbers are a bit like Lamela’s would be if Lamela took pens, except they were achieved in a weaker league. He can also play CAM, though not as well as Eriksen, Pritchard, Soldado and Lamela, I’d say. His highlights show a player who isn’t particularly fast, or one who dribbles particularly well. He does run hard, is direct and looks effective on the counter. So maybe he would be a good squad player for Liverpool. It would make a lot more sense to buy back Holtby or Paulinho, since we wouldn’t have to waste valuable minutes on finding out he’s not good enough. I don’t see the point of getting a player who seems so unlikely to help us much.
Here's a more in-depth report on Veretout: http://outsideoftheboot.com/2015/06/14/scout-report-jordan-veretout-nantes/ The obvious thing to take from that is he sounds remarkably similar to Bentaleb, which then asks a question: a pivot of Bentaleb and one of Schneiderlin/Kondogbia/Imbula/Rabiot makes sense, as Bentaleb would be the playmaker while the other would be on defensive duties - but if we had a Bentaleb/Veretout pivot, which would defend and which would be the playmaker? Or would we be attempting some kind of Total Football setup? ***EDIT*** ...however, there's also talk of Spurs sending a delegation to Germany to look at Christoph Kramer and Sven Bender, both of whom are more traditional defensive midfielders - as well as rekindling our interest in Timo Werner.
The Express are claiming that Berahino's going to join in the next 48 hours for £15m. He's supposedly turning down West Brom's contract offer and they're going to accept the bid, as he only has 2 years left on his current deal. I'd be happy with that, but it's all speculation, as far as I can see.
Eveyone’s a risk, but Berahino is one of the players I’d most like to get. 15 million seems like a good price as well. The German trio all seem as if, on balance, they’d be good acquisitions (though we presumably wouldn’t get both Bender and Kramer.) Bender’s injury record is a concern, especially as our history of injured DMs is not good.
Guy on a trip to Ibiza: Closest La Liga clubs to that island? Valencia, Levante and Villarreal. Valencia's his former club, of course, and he's been linked fairly heavily with Villarreal recently.
One game he looked amazing and was man of the match, I think it was against Man Utd. He's got ability but lacks focus and always looks like he's got a big mistake in him.
[QUOTE="PleaseNotPoll, post: 8168073, member: 15096282466557952[/MEDIA] Closest La Liga clubs to that island? Valencia, Levante and Villarreal. Valencia's his former club, of course, and he's been linked fairly heavily with Villarreal recently.[/QUOTE]
Somebody claims Liverpool is trying to hijack our bid for Veretout, so I’m in the midst of writing him an email explaining why he ought to prefer Liverpool to Spurs. But I’m stuck.
Front row seats to Brendan Rodgers' inspirational team talks, such as this one: "****! How am I going to fit all these strikers into my starting line-up???" and "Who's job was it to sign some defenders?"
Twitter is suggesting Lamela to Porto on loan for a year with an option to buy for €7.5m While it would represent us taking a financial hit (albeit one we could probably afford to take) and see us giving up on someone who the club has so far stuck by, it would remove a big elephant from the Spurs room. If there's anything in it then you never know - a year starting in a league you would think to be more suited to him might do him a world of good. Twitter also seems dead set on us selling Vlad to Napoli for €6m, which frankly would be very good business.
Selling lamela for €7.5m? As in about £5.5m? Seriously? That would be a moronically bad deal...even with his short comings that would be a piss poor price.
Talk of both Bolasie and Berahinho coming. In my opinion, a top three of Bolasie, Kane and Berahino would be a very good strike force option to have. Don't see it happening though. Neither do I see Lamela going. Considering how much time we gave Bale, it would be foolish not to give Lamela more time. I'd also be disappointed if we don't one of get either Austin or Berahinho after the season they've had in the PL.
Even if there's truth in the loan part, I'd be massively surprised if we allowed a sell on option for just £5.5m. That'd represent a ridiculous loss, UNLESS the quoted £26m we paid for Lamela was mainly performance related, say a £15m fee up front with £11m in add-ons if he done this, that and the other. That way we wouldn't lose out too much, though Roma would be pissed! I still think we could get a lot more than £5.5m though, any team in Serie A would at least fork out circa £10m for a player who proved a big hit in Italy in his two seasons and I doubt Porto are that cash-strapped, especially as they just received a nice price for Martinez. As for Bolasie and Berahino, I'd welcome both. It adds competition for Kane and also competition at RW where we've struggled the past couple of seasons, also brings a good amount of pace to the side which is always handy.
The Standard said we couldn't afford both Bolasie and Berahino. Admittedly i was reading over someone's shoulder on the tube so didn't see the entire article.
