Transfer Rumours transfer thread fact and fiction

Rumours of a fall out over partners

 

Oh, I thought that was put to bed ages ago. Was there ever actually anything in that?

 

Verts put the kibosh on that one

 

The Vertonghen stuff was a fake rumour. It literally started on Twitter. Shows how powerful a lie can be though when spread.

As for Eriksen - or any player - for me it's just a simple decision making process, can he improve this current squad? To determine that judge him alongside the players who play in his positions, we either play 4231 or 433 with two CMs supported by a DM. The former is his preferred formation as CAM is his primary role but in a three man midfield he'd definitely work so long as Hojbjerg was there. Therefore those who'd be his direct competition are:

CAM - Lo Celso, Dele and Lamela. He's better than all three but Lo Celso's form (outside of injuries) is better.
CM - Lo Celso, Ndombele, Winks, Sissoko and Gedson. Again form wise, Lo Celso and Ndombele are better, the others not a patch, either in form or just general ability.

Therefore if Eriksen joined he'd be better than five of the seven players who play in his primary or secondary positions. To me that would make him a good signing for the club as at the very least it improves the squad, whereas if he rediscovered his best form he'd definitely make the XI as there are few better in Europe when he's on it.

As I said earlier though, it's not happening. The Romano stuff was also taken out of context by the way, we (apparently) asked briefly about him in the summer over a loan, it was rebuffed by Inter. There's nothing so far to suggest we'll go back in in January.

 

The obvious thing with Erikson's situation at Inter is that so much of it boils down to Conte being a hair's breadth away from being an example of nominative determinism

The fact that he often lines up with Nicolo Barella as a trequartista when anyone with a brain would have him alongside one of Vidal, Brozovic or Vecino in central midfield says it all

 

Madrid supposedly only willing to offer Ramos a new one year deal, he wants two.

Be right back, just gonna knock on Levy's door and put a gun to his head.

 

Sergio Ramos?

Jeez, he’s the definition of playing like a smart **** and born winner

 

Let me guess, we'll loan them Kim Min-jae to get the fee down?

 

Sonny's got new representatives

 

The also represent Alli, as well as a few of our former players, including Kyle Walker and Josh Onomah.
Plus about 5,000 other players: https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/base-soccer-agency-ltd/beraterfirma/berater/674

 

Interesting that so many of our players from around 2015 are on there: Dele, Walker, Rose, Onomah, Edwards (although, IIRC, Edwards signed with them last year shortly before joining Guimaraes)

 

From AJ Tracey's Snapchat

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Gazet van Antwerpen report that Toby Alderweireld has bought land in Ekeren, which just so happens to be where the club he started his career - Germinal Beerschot - are based, leading to speculation that he'll be returning to Belgium

Obviously this won't be for a couple of years, given he's contracted to us until 2023...well, that and Germinal Beerschot don't exist anymore, as they were dissolved in 2013 due to bankruptcy and absorbed by Wilrijk, and the replacement club (which renamed as Beerschot in 2019 to make things extra confusing) have only just been promoted to the Belgian top flight for this season

Either way, pencil in the sirens for the 2022-23 season

 

Anybody else think that Bissouma at Brighton would be a decent addition to our squad? The way he can bring the ball forward and ride a tackle reminded me a little of Dembele.

 

David Alaba is reportedly unhappy at Bayern not offering him a new contract

Let's see: can play LB, DM and CB, is clearly top quality and potentially available for a fraction of what he's worth in January?

Somebody light the Levy signal!!!

 

Think we were actually linked with him before he joined Brighton. Not a bad player.

Our squad is massive at the moment though, especially with non-HG players so I think January will be more focused on binning deadwood before we look at any incomings.

 

Tottenham owner Joe Lewis has given the green light for South Korea forward Son Heung-min, 28, to be handed a contract worth £200,000 a week, plus performance-related bonuses. (Football Insider)

 

Does Joe Lewis know this yet?

 

"Inter to swap ____________ for Tottenham's ____________" Watch
Because we haven't been linked with an Inter player for...oohhhhhhhhhhhh I want to say two weeks, Calcio Mercato are reporting that the possibility of a January swap deal with Dele headed to Inter wheile Christian Eriksen comes crawling back is on the cards

So what's the list now? Skriniar, Brozovic, Perisic and Eriksen?

Rando Watch
90mins (yes, I know I can probably stop here) are linking us with Cruz Azul midfield Orbelin Pineda, with a fee of £10m being bandied about

What interests me, other than the fact that most of what I know about him is from creating Liga MX on PES, is that while most headlines describe him as a winger he really isn't, as he mainly played as a CM at Guadalajara operating either as a Modric-style metronome or a box-to-box midfielder, and the reason he plays as a winger at Cruz Azul is because of his pace and skill

That being said, his returns aren't great, with 1 goal and 1 assist in 15 games this season, while last season it was 4 and 2 in 27 games, all of which makes him look like a utility signing - which is where the main issue is, given the glut of wide players we have which is already limiting Bergwijn's playing time, and he's not particularly sound defensively so wouldn't contribute to our soft midfield-not-named-Hojbjerg, so the only other option is to deploy him as an AM...but with Lo Celso in play he'd be an understudy, and that's neatly sidestepping the first part of this post

 

And the reason that so many clubs are supposedly looking at him?
Contract expires: 31.12.2021

It's either his agent trying to get things moving or a lot of vultures. 50/50, I think.