Transfer Rumours transfer thread fact and fiction

Sure, but it speaks of intent. I am going to rip out the bits that aren't working and rebuild it. I don't see our current group of players winning the League or CL next season. So, time to throw the dice and see if we can't improve. MP talked about being brave. I see this as pretty much going down that road.

I like it.

 

It's the nature of the Premier League. Move forward or die.

 

So, Pochettino or Wenger? Levy or Kroenke? Tottenham or 'Them'?

 

I know the circumstances are different this time, but a cull of 7 or 8 players in one fell swoop frightens me tbh.
I just don’t see as many players coming into the fold and just clicking, especially with our history of how late we make most of our purchases.
Many of us have said that when we made wholesale changes for cup games we looked disjointed. A brand new group of players all in 1 go will have even less experience with their team mates, and we could end up facing the same situation, imo.
Perhaps getting rid of a few now, and few in January could be a better option?

If we are going to sell them all in this window, we need the replacements in early for preseason, to give ourselves the best chance of success in the next campaign.

I just don’t see it happening. I wish I had @Dier Hard ’s optimism.

 

I'd be worried if they were regular starters, but a group of fringe players is less of an issue, in my opinion.

Alderweireld would be a big loss, but even he missed most of the season after the 1st of November.
Dembele's the next best player on the list and his fitness has been a real issue for some time.
Sissoko quietly did pretty well for us, but was far from a key player.

Rose, Aurier and Llorente were back-up players who had a handful of good games, unfortunately.
Janssen and N'Koudou were out on loan.

It would be a big shakeup and a risk, but I think it would be fairly manageable, if and only if we get our business done early.
Using the U23s for integration and to increase familiarity would be a big help too, in my opinion.

 

If were to sell that lot (but not Lamela) and add De Ligt, Sessegnon, Shaw, plus perhaps Modric and Bale or similar then we'd have a chance to win the PL.
Any front four selected from Kane, Dele, Eriksen, Bale, Lamela, Son, Moura and Sessegnon would be a handful.
I'm a bit nervous in selling Janssen though as he still looks to have potential.

 

Had no internet between 6:30 last night and 12 this afternoon. Can anyone confirm how many random Turkish players we've been linked with in that time?

 

Sort of echoing what PNP said, mate.

Only Toby and Lamela would be significant losses, previous seasons' form of Dembele and Rose too but they've been shadows of themselves this season.

Say we did sell all of those - which to be honest is quite unlikely - some won't even need to be replaced but if we went into the new season with a squad looking roughly like:

Hugo, Gazza, Vorm (thought his deal was up but seems otherwise according to Prem release lists)

Tripps, KWP
Jan, Dave, de Ligt, CCV, Foyth
Davies, new 2nd choice LB

Dier, Wanyama
Seri/ Milinkovic-Savic/ Top class CM, Winks, Onomah

Eriksen, Alli, Son, Lucas, Pulisic, Sessegnon

Kane, new 2nd choice ST

I'd say that would be considerably stronger than this season's squad providing the new signings settled in well, only CM would be where we'd need an immediate impact anyway. I've already got a bet with Spurly that we'll make a marquee signing, loser gets to change the others' avator or sig (not sure for what duration yet lol), I'd personally say Seri/ Savic/ Pulisic would come under that marquee bracket but you lot will have to have the deciding factor, maybe bring an outsider or two - Luke and BobbyD perhaps - for neutral purposes lol. But anyway, have a bit of faith, Roo, we'll do some decent business this summer, I'm pretty confident of that.

 

Or @Spurlocks supplies!

 

Well that confirms Toby’s exit.....

Just hope it’s not to a PL rival....

 

Now reports are saying that city have also had a €60 million offer accepted.
If we’re competing against them... we’ll, we’re not competing are we?!

 

Hacing a go at @"Thanks for that Brian"'s list

...no, not in that definition of "Having a go"

Toby Alderweireld
Hardly a revelation that somebody who's playing silly buggers over a new contract is seen as someone who can be let go, as most people on this board have been resigned to him being shipped off in the summer and I'm sure Poch et al made their minds up about this long before we had. But here's the issue: we absolutely, positively need to get someone in who can slot straight into the team, either as part of a back three or to partner Sanchez/Verts if we're playing four at the back. De Ligt ticks a lot of the right boxes (although Mino "****" Raiola appears to be trying to get involved) while of the players we've been linked to Tah, Pavard and Diop all have their advantages - although if we sell Toby and either throw Foyth and/or CCV in at the deep end to see if they float, or bring in the Takeshi Morishima lookalike from Jeonbuk, Levy would be wise to skip the first few matches at New Stadium...

Mousa Dembele
A year ago this would have been seen as unthinkable, but then Dembele had the season he just had and all of a sudden there's talk of him being on the decline. To be blunt he has had a lot of trouble with injuries during his time with us so it's not unreasonable to worry that they might catch up to him, but considering how important he is to the way we play we certainly need to be bold if we're to replace him, meaning a Seri or a Milinkovic-Savic and not a Stambouli

Danny Rose
The thing with Danny Rose is that, in the past season, he's done an awful lot to go from being a nailed-on starter to being easily replaced. First there was mouthing off to Murdoch's Hate Comic just before the season began, then there was the numerous injuries that gave Ben Davies an opportunity he made the most of to the point he was one of our players of the season, then there was how on the few occasions he did appear he was overweight and a shadow of the player he was in the previous two seasons. Yes, he did look back to the player he was at the end of the season, but during the season Sessegnon has gone from a possible understudy to a potential starter, and Rose is the player that stands to lose in that situation - but only that situation, or one very similar

Serge Aurier
Much like Rose, Aurier is a player that shouldn't be expendable but has managed to make himself expendable: he was immense against Dortmund, and had plenty of other promising performances early in the season, but he regressed horribly throughout the season to the point where he couldn't be trusted to take a throw-in, and after six months of coaching he was still hurling himself studs-first at opponents' ankles and getting booked for it. Because of this he's gone from being a Walker replacement who'd have Trippier pushing him to be at his best to somebody possibly getting in the way of KWP coming into the team and potentially pushing Trippier for a starting spot, and that's an obvious problem

Moussa Sissoko
The main issue with Sissoko is that he's actually shown he has his uses in the team, as the player to bring on to close out games - but that also reveals the biggest issue, as Teemus Tainio performed the same role in Martin Jol's team and he cost us £30m less than Sissoko did, and that's before considering the obvious wage difference. Yet, weirdly, Sissoko's the sort of player we might actually miss if we sold him, as a squad needs its workhorses and I'm not sure who we might have in mind to fill in that role. Onomah is one name that's been suggested, yet he's rarely ever played as a CM either at Spurs or on his loan at Villa so he's hardly experienced in that position outside the England youth setup

Fernando Llorente
Since the best defence for him all season was whether or not he was being used in a mentor role for the youngsters, because there was sod all reason to defend him for his general uselessness on the pitch, and with Bilbao interested in bringing him back into the fold this would be a departure we could generally shrug our shoulders at

Erik Lamela
His time at Spurs has been all over the place, from being expected to replace Bale immediately only for it to become exceptionally bloody obvious to anyone that he wasn't a similar type of player to Bale so was never going to replace him, to numerous injuries, to a key component of Poch's early sides, to even more injuries, to the point where his signature moment in a Spurs shirt - that rabona against Asperas - was overshadowed by that same game being the night Harry Kane truly arrived with his hat trick and subsequent stint in goal. While it's true that he's lost his first team place, with Eriksen/Alli/Son being the preferred attacking band, I have to say that Lamela's the one player on this list I'd most hate to lose as not only is he a workhorse, but his high pressing and Serie A-honed mean streak is something that can add an edge when playing teams such as Chelsea, Arsenal, City, and all manner of European competition...although by that same token, that also reveals he's not as effective against busparquet merchants

Vincent Janssen
If the loan didn't indicate his days were numbered the fact Fenerbahce's president disclosed the €5m loan fee it was clear that we were in full fee-recouping mode, as that's a quarter of what we paid for him taken care of (possibly more, if the initial deal contained add-ons) so his time is coming to an end. While he could have played his way back into contention if his loan at Fener worked out, he's hardly played due to injury so it's best for all parties if he had a fresh start

GKN
Essentially signed as a pacy option from the bench (replacing the other pacy option from the bench who also never seemed to play, Clinton N'Jie) his time was up the moment we signed Moura in January as not only is Moura a pacy option from the bench, he's a pacy option we can trust to start games. Not only is he expendable for footballing reasons, but also economic reasons too as he's reportedly on £35k a week (according to Football Manager) so why have him in the squad when we could use Shashoua in a similar role for a fraction of what GKN is paid?

 

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Just another example of :

 

Today's random rumour: Boca Juniors' Columbian defensive midfielder Wilmar Barrios - which reminds me that the "Spurs to ship out X many players this summer" list from last month had Wanyama on it, but the Standard's list from the other day obviously didn't.

 

That's the thing, it's very hard to be against the ideas of being brave, of spending more and of taking chances. They're all daring, aren't they?

But the skeptic in me manages, somehow. I don't know why we couldn't win the CL next year with this squad, when we outplayed both finalists this year. What we needed in the cups wasn't more talent, it was better performances at key moments.

The Premier League is a different story. The problem there is that no matter who we get, we need City to fall off considerably, and considering they've got all the dirty oil money in the world backing them, that's a big ask.

In any case, I can't see getting rid of Lamela. He has one of the best attitudes in the squad. He's been at the heart of some of our bigger victories. Rose is at or near the other extreme.

 

Despite the wum title, that's a great video. To think we got him because William stabbed us in the back (allegedly). Wouldn't swap them now.

 

Vulture Watch

Nice's final day loss to Lyon, coupled with Bordeaux's win over Metz and Rennes' draw with Montpelier, mean that Nice won't be playing European football next season - so if we mention this to Seri's representatives...