I think a lot of this stuff is from agents playing the new contract game add to that the need for sports writers to be entertaining and most of the rumours are accounted for.
I think the McCarthy reaction on here reveals more about how desperate we are to sign anyone for the DM position than anything about his actual quality. Never worth the money Everton were (supposedly) holding out for and glad we avoided that one. I think we should go all out for Illarramendi. Class player, even though he hasn't had regular football for a few years. Would also be within our wage bracket as I believe he's only ('only') on around 60k per week. Nearing his peak but under contract until 2019 so will cost a fortune. Now that 'Cheery Cheese' has gone, we need a new name for David Pleat to sodomise. Although, knowing how our 'special' relationship with Real goes, they'll probably insert a clause into the deal that states he can join the team who finishes immediately above us on a free at the end of the season.
The more players we sign, the longer it will be till our academy players dominate our PL teams. So the better they are, the fewer players we should buy. I agree McCarthy is a bullet dodged. I’m not at all convinced N’Jie is better than Onomah in AM or Chadli at forward.
Not bothered too much by getting a DM with the midfield youth we appear to have coming through. Yeah, they all seem a bit attacky but we gotta give these lads some games to see if they mature/develop. Maybe we can reintroduce the "famous 5", but with 6. We need another forward though, because right now one Charlie Adam-esque tackle could see us finishing in the bottom half.
There's a few calls for us to line up against Man Utd with a Bentaleb/Alli pivot...which is already being called BentAlli, in the hopes that it catches in in a way that Mentaleb didn't last season. The thing is, for some games we clearly would need a dedicated destroyer in midfield, which is what Bender/Kramer/Vogt would be, because outside of a repurposed Veljkovic we don't have any players who can fulfill that role coming through our Academy. I mentioned it a couple of days ago, and it's a tad convoluted: http://www.not606.com/threads/totte...ndow-2015-edition.301729/page-59#post-8207250
Illarramendi would be a great signing, even if it's on loan. Infact a quality midfielder on loan could be just what we need now. With the likes of Winks, Veljkovic, Onomah and Alli all coming through, surely one of two of them is going to establish themselves over the next 12-18months so I don't think there's much point in spending big on a permanent deal.
Agreed, although I'd put the development target closer to 24 months. A loan deal would be perfect, although Real would probably insert an option-to-buy clause for Arsenal to sign him for £2.75 and a mars bar at the end of the season.
Squad numbers released. Soldado keeps the No.9 shirt. So, looks like he's not going anywhere just yet.
And Adebayor has had his number taken off him suggesting we certainly won't be using him whether we bin him or not.
A couple more need to be added: Tomislav Gomelt joined Bari on a free transfer last month. On the subject of our players joining clubs for nothing, Khumalo has rejoined Supersport 1 Hugo Lloris 2 Kyle Walker 3 Danny Rose 4 Toby Alderweireld 5 Jan Vertonghen 6 Nabil Bentaleb 8 Ryan Mason 9 Roberto Soldado 10 Harry Kane 11 Erik Lamela 12 DeAndre Yedlin 13 Michel Vorm 15 Eric Dier 16 Kieran Trippier 17 Andros Townsend 19 Mousa Dembele 20 Dele Alli 21 Federico Fazio 22 Nacer Chadli 23 Christian Eriksen 24 Alex Pritchard 25 Josh Onomah 27 Kevin Wimmer 28 Tom Carroll 29 Harry Winks 31 Luke McGee 33 Ben Davies The obvious talking points are there's nobody with the No.7 shirt, Soldado has a number while Adebayor and Lennon don't, and the obvious reason nobody has the No.14 shirt is because we're keeping a deal for Modric under wraps until Deadline Day...because if we were Man Utd, that's exactly what the tabloid 'tards would be reporting.
"It's unfair for me to talk about him. He's a (club) player and I can't speculate on where he might go. He's still their player and that's it. He was here and we spoke, but he's a (club) player. We had discussion and he's still a (club) player, so something went wrong." - Harry Redknapp It's actually Sherwood talking about Adebayor, but he's really channeling the spirit of 'Arry on that one. Triffic. He went on to add: "If it can be revived and we think it's necessary, two parties have got to agree on it. At the moment, there's no agreement and he's a Tottenham player. I am really happy with the four we have here at the moment, but if there is something that becomes available and it's better than what we've got, then you look to improve. It would have to be some good quality of striker to be better than what we have." It's off, but it might be on. Or something.
My wild conjecture based on the release of the squad numbers today is as follows: 1. we're still in for a striker (Berahino, N'Jie, Austin, Werner) as 18 is free but Soldado is probably staying so we're only in for one 2. we're maybe still in for a midfielder (Kramer, Illarramendi) as Alli who wore 14 at MK has taken 20, and Carroll who had 14 on loan at Swansea last year has taken 28 - I think its probably the lowest priority for us but one of them would surely have wanted the shirt as they both appear to be in our plans, so we must have left it free for a reason 3. we're in for a wide/versatile forward (Yarmolenko, Shaqiri, N'Jie) as 7 is free 4. Lennon and Ade are definitely off, and if they're not then they might as well be because they won't be playing
I wonder if anyone bought a new kit and got screwed by the number changes? Someone needs to tell Bentaleb and Alderweireld that they got theirs mixed up, too.
Various media bullshitters are claiming that West Brom are signing Salomon Rondon from Zenit for £15m. Our old mate Villas-Boas might help us out there, as he's a striker, which would take West Brom's total in that position up to about 5. Rondon, Lambert, Brown, Anichebe... Berahino?
Does that make him a Double Modric? For that matter, I wouldn't be surprised if AVB did us a solid by suggesting that Baldini join him at Zenit come September 3rd.
