Transfer thread for 2016-17 season

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I'd like to dedicate this happy occasion to my hero and inspiration, John Terry.

 

To be fair, Chelsea also does for plenty of footballers in their prime what Maggie Thatcher did for our mining industry (or David Cameron did for what Thatcher left of our steel industry) - Asmir Begovic, Scott Parker and Marko Marin all spring to mind for that one.

 

Must give Southampton credit, they DO find some good managers like their latest. Sadly for Saints he'll go the way of his predecessors.

 

Personal apology to Ben Davies:

Sorry, sir. Your displays for Wales should have alerted me to the fact that we don't just have Kevin Wimmer capable of playing centre half (especially as part of a 3 which we become when Eric Dier drops in between the centre halves). You couldn't play right footed as well, could you?

 

Id go as far as saying when Jan came into the team last season, we started to lose discipline. I honestly think Jan can be replaced with Kev easily. The guy is class, not a nasty basterd but solid as a rock.

For me, Jan is a cock.

 

If anything we should've dropped Rose for Davies in the last few games, as Rose's discipline went off a cliff - noticeably in the Kvetch Brom and Chav games.

 

I'm not sure I'd go quite so far Dona

Jan's a good defender there's no doubt about it. Enhanced tremendously by Toby's arrival and yes he's rather arrogant and aloof but quality when he wants to be.

What I like about Kev is that he is a nice foil for Toby's cultured, ball to feet, dribbling out from the back approach. Don't get me wrong, Kev seems very calm and cultured on the ball too but he strikes me as more of a 'no nonsense', 'you'll know I'm there when I find you' approach of the top centre backs of old. Too often, we concede possession in dangerous areas because a combination of Hugo's abysmal distribution with Jan and Toby wanting to play everything on the floor leads to too much fannying about and sharper, hungrier opponents readily take advantage.

As long as Fazio is in the squad, I'm afraid the 'Cock' title is very much taken

Loving the new profile picture by the way

 

Pritchard and Carroll (as well as Trippier and Clinton) are back for pre-season training

 

Sorry mate, but Dona is right, I can confirm Vertonghen is indeed a cock.

 

I don't actually want him to leave, but do you think that Carroll knows that his contract's run out?

 

At the very least, Carroll is on our Retain list this summer, along with anyone not named Emmanuel Sonupe.

 

Link from Guardian website: "Vincent Janssen says he is "disappointed" the club have rejected a £16.5m bid from Tottenham and that he "would like to make the move"

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2016/jun/30/tottenham-vincent-janssen-disappointed-az-alkmaar

 

Before reading this next post, make sure that you are at least five feet away from your monitor, as you may feel the sudden urge to put your fist through it

It appears that the reason AZ are starting to play silly buggers (a way of behaving that shall henceforth be referred to as "doing a Marseilles") is because of one of AZ's consultants, namely Billy Beane. Some of you may have heard of Beane, as Brad Pitt played him in Moneyball - and this is the moment where your fist is no doubt clenching as you can tell what is coming next.

It is Beane and Beane alone who is holding the process up, saying that AZ should reject any offer under €20m (roughly £16.5m - although if you give it a week it'll be more like £73m...), hence Janseen vented to the press a couple of days ago because he feels the offer we have made is fair and he wants to take the next step in his career, and most importantly AZ let Janssen come to Tottenham to have discussions over a potential move, yet some Yank is looking at a spreadsheet rather than paying attention.

And now for the part that's most likely to lead to your monitor getting obliterated...

Beane is close friends with Damien Comolli.

 

Comolli uses the same system.
That's why he targeted statistically good youngsters.

 

The club have set their value on the player.
The player has no right to say what his market worth to his club is and is not.
The Comolli link is just coincidental.

Time will tell whether they have a vandenBerahino on their hands.

 

Except they had not, as his quoted value was in the €12-14m range when he was allowed to meet with Spurs to discuss terms two weeks ago
The player has the right to be aggrieved that negotiations had begun in good faith two weeks ago, before AZ started doing a Marseilles
The link is not coincidental, because Comolli is a firm believer in Beane's strategy - and the inevitable pissing up the wall of tens of millions of pounds that inevitably follows

Comolli would be better off working out if the players would be able to improve the team, play first team football on a regular basis, or even be a player that the manager wanted - something he spectacularly failed to do at Spurs, Saint-Etienne and Liverpool.

 

Yep. He's actually fairly decent at spotting talented players, but there's more to the job than that.
There's no overall plan guiding his hand, so he unbalances squads and overloads one area, while ignoring another.
Stats also tell you nothing about a player's attitude or off-field activities, so he buys wildcards.

This strategy can work and he'll try to take credit for the likes of Bale, Modric and Suarez, for example.
They're all rather debatable as to whether he brought them in, but that's probably another issue.
You also end up with your Taarabt, Boateng, Bentley and Dos Santos' of this world, though.
All very capable talents, who can and have turned games on their own, but utterly disruptive and a bit mental, frankly.

 

What is the procedure ??

1. Clubs have an agreement in principle on the transfer fee, before the player can discuss personal terms ??
2. Vice versa ??
3. Clubs and player decide the order ??

I assume the order is usually #2.

 

What gets me about Comolli is his claiming he unearthed Bale or Suarez is an outright lie: both were known commodities some time before their signings, so much so that several clubs were vying for their signatures before they signed for Spurs and Liverpool respectively, yet he acts like he found some kid in a Belo Horizonte favela having to use a bundle of socks as a ball whose name was Neymar.

What stands out most is his inability to follow simple instructions: Jol said that, if Mido and Defoe were sold, he wants a third striker - but Comolli spunked £16.5m on Barren Dent, even though we still had Defoe; Jol wanted a defensive midfielder - but Comolli signed KPB, who isn't a defensive midfielder; Jol wanted a left winger who could go straight into the team - but Comolli signed Taarabt. The list goes on.

He comes across as the guy playing Football Manager who heard about these great prospects in the game, hoovered them up...and then remembered he was using Barcelona, meaning that to get the most out of this Venezuelan striker he paid a couple of million for he'd have to drop one of Messi, Suarez or Neymar.

You'd be wrong to assume that, as personal terms are usually discussed once a fee has been agreed between the two clubs, mainly because there's a term for a club meeting with another club's player to discuss terms without a deal being agreed: tapping-up.

 

So you are saying a club X cannot give permission for a player to talk to a potential buyer Y,
until X and Y have agreed a transfer fee beforehand ??