Transfer thread for 2016-17 season

What about west ham ?

 

Blowing their entire parachute payment on 1 player would be a brave thing for Big Sam to do. I reckon that it's more likely he'll sign Crouchie,

 

They'd claim to have an interest, only to be publicly told to get back in their box

Sort of like what happened several times over the summer.

 

Since he has hardly started a game this season, bookies are taking odds on where Daniel Sturridge will be playing come February, which currently break down as...
Liverpool 1/8
Arsenal 8/1
Spurs 12/1
Chelsea 14/1
West Scam 16/1
Man City 25/1

To put it bluntly, there's no way we're signing Sturridge - Poch wouldn't want someone so lazy in the squad, especially if they'd be asking for £120k a week.

 

He doesn't seem suited to any of the top sides in English football any more, apart from Arsenal? They seem to be willing to accommodate attacking players who don't work back with huge conviction. I wouldn't want him at Spurs and he is the antithesis of a Pochettino player.

He might suit Italian football where the pace is more forgiving or as a back-up player to one of the better Spanish sides where defending isn't so much of an issue. Failing that, he's looking at a Palace or West Ham if they stay up. West Ham? Yeah, that sounds about right.

 

Some were speculating that Poch discards players at the slightest hint of being injury prone (we'll ignore that can't be the case, because, Dembele), so why would we want Sturridge? Great finisher though.

 

Bid high for Sturridge come the winter, and the Spanners may take the bait.

 

Sturridge would do well in a pairing, as it would leave someone else to lead the line when he wanders.
The problem is, none of the teams that he'd be willing to join use that system.
Spain or Italy, perhaps?

 

An interesting story originating with The Times:

Tottenham boss Mauricio Pochettino has reportedly expressed his desire to have more of an input into the club’s transfer business.

Head of recruitment Paul Mitchell is set to leave the club in December two years after joining Pochettino from Southampton, andThe Times believe the Argentine manager has requested that a direct replacement is not be found as he ultimately wants to ditch the director of football model.

Daniel Levy is ready to grant his latest wish, with Pochettino understood to be confident that he can take on the extra workload before leaving transfer and contract negotiations to the chairman.

‘Pochettino feels he can cope without someone in that role and is planning to have a greater say in transfers,’ writes Matt Hughes.

‘With Tottenham the only unbeaten side in the Premier League this season after going close to winning the title last season, Levy is not minded to overrule the manager by insisting on an appointment, particularly as he likes to take a hands-on involvement in transfer and contract negotiations himself.

‘Any new appointment is likely to be a low-profile addition to Tottenham’s scouting team.’

It backs up the impression of Mauricio Pochettino as a control freak and someone who woouldn't fit at clubs like RM, Chelsea, etc where the level of control is minimal. Good news for us, I think, provided that he and Daniel don't fall out.

 

I'm not happy about this. Pochettino is a proven coach and tactician but that doesn't mean he can judge players strengths based on the limited time he will have to do that. I don't think it matters much because transfer deals are very hit and miss anyway.

 

Frankly if he picked himself at Centre Forward, I'd pretty much go along with it. Why would he not be good at selecting players to play his type of game? Rather than explaining it to a DoF and trusting him to understand Poch's needs for the team. The only worry I would have is would he have time to do it, it should be a full time role in itself.

 

I'd say in the modern era of inflated TV and sponsorship revenue, clubs which insist on a significant 'distance' between the manager and the recruitment process actually suffer more for the hit n miss dilemma you describe. Much of the business done by City, Utd, Liverpool and Chelsea over the past 3 years has frankly been shocking; they just don't feel it because of their financial muscle. We saw and boy did we feel it in the aftermath of Baldini's spending spree. Cutting out often incompetent middle men seems prudent if you aren't financed by leprechaun gold.

My only concern is that if this rumour is true, won't Poch need to spend significantly more time watching potential targets? And wouldnt that then detract from his ability to do what he is actually paid to do - be a bloody good coach?

 

Here we go again ...

There is no harm in a manager being aware of the talent that is out there,
but continually making yourself aware is NOT the day job of a manager or coach.
That is the remit of the scouting network (in this case to ensure that when your
actual manager takes a look in person, that player is highly likely to be desired by
the manager) .

 

There seems to be a problem of getting the right skill sets in one individual and balancing competing aims. From the summer's fallout it would appear that Paul Mitchell was good in front of a TV screen but poor in getting out and about and dealing with people.. Franco Baldini could charm the birds from the trees but scattered money around like confetti and some buys were plain poor. Commolli bought lots of talented footballers, many of them having minimal interest in training and very few of them being any bloody use to the first team manager because we were looking at making lots of money in a few years' time. Commolli didn't see that he needed to work for Jol as much as Levy.

Maybe having a scouting team to identify talent and reporting in to a manager giving the thumbs up to the ones that he wants and then the negotiations being in the hands of an experienced strong negotiator is the best approach? It smacks of Bill Nick, Fergie and how things used to be done. Mauricio Pochettino is a workaholic, obsessive like those warriors of old. If anyone could make it work.again, it would be him.

 

Quite possibly it is the best result achievable, but I don't think its the best achievable result. Only football clubs seem to have this problem, other organisations seem to work just fine with a team of people below the Chief Executive all contributing in their skill area. But perhaps Poch is the CEO

 

A DoF is supposed to be a conduit for all player acquisition/planning activity.

The manager says these are the positions I want better options for,
now or in 1-2 seasons time. DoF charges the scouting network accordingly.
Similarly if the current manager plays teams in a certain formation, then the DoF
needs to ensure the U21s etc are often playing in that manner should they be
called into the senior fold.

Then the DoF is responsibly for ensuring the academy is providing the
pipeline for future talent. If I say Vertonghen is done in 4 yrs, then who in the
Academy etc is on target in 4 yrs time to come into the seniors, given that
at 3 yrs time we would want them ideally to have a PL loan, 2 yrs time a loan
in the league below etc.

 

For the first time in what feels like eight months, we're being linked to someone who isn't a left back, namely Romanian central midfielder/right winger Razvan Marin

While he does look like someone with potential in highlight videos, coming across as a hybrid of Dembele and Alli (although that's the point of highlights videos, as they don't exist to give detailed analysis...) a whole bunch of questions need to be asked - mainly the obvious question about whether we need him, whether we need more central midfielders, or why we should drop the best part of £3m on someone if Harry Winks is so highly rated and has shown glimpses of quality in his short appearances thus far.

It's also worth noting that Marin has the same agent as Vlad Chiriches, but then again so does the entire Romanian national team, which immediately sounds somewhat dodgy...

 

Is he one of those players on computer games that are generated when you play for too many seasons?
Is he a Razvan Rat and Marco Marin composite?

 

I'd like this transfer to happen, if only because it might possibly enable us to use a song by The Dead Kennedy's as a chant - 'Moon Over Marin'. Okay, it's not going to happen because none of you Philistines are fans of their second album, are you?

Thought not. Do yourselves a favour, get on Youtube and learn to love them. It could be the best thing you ever do?

 

Best not mention I prefer the single version of Holiday in Cambodia to the album version...