Exactly. Might as well look elsewhere from the beginning or else we'll just end up with nothing like in the summer. Porto have absolutely no reason what so ever to sell unless a silly huge offer comes in, which Tottenham can't give. They just sold Hulk for ridiculous money, so they're in no financial need, and why would they get rid of such an influential player when they're competing for the domestic title, and the CL? They'll want time to bring in a replacement (in the summer), or enough money that they can straight up buy a replacement/upgrade this window. I'm hoping AVB has other, cheaper targets in mind that are actually available.
In terms of outgoings: - Jenas, Bentley: These 2 go without saying if we can do deals for them. The 2 ex-England internationals also serve as proof that Levy's MO of holding out for the highest price doesn't work so well when a) there is no demand from b) teams with any money - Gomes: Bye bye octopus - loan or sale - Dawson: Kaboul started on opening day and will be back shortly, leaving us with 5 first team CBs. I expect 'Arry will shift sufficient deadwood to get Daws the money he wants and AvB will let him go to QPR - Huddlestone: Failed to shine while Dembele was out and AvB clearly has plans for Tom Carroll. In my opinion, his collapsed move to Stoke over the summer was a blessing in disguise for Tom - who I can't see doing well in Stoke's style of play. I've always thought he'd thrive in a slower paced league (e.g. Serie A) but English players seldom have any desire to play abroad - Livermore: If it were me, an offer in the 4M GBP region would compel me to sell outright. A loan spell may show that Jake is not a premiership quality starter, which would hamper a future sale - Townsend, Falque: Bale's recent absences showed that AvB will slot Siggy/Deuce in on the left as a second option. Therefore the 2 young wingers should go out on loan to gain experience. Hopefully Andros has shown enough to secure a spell at a premiership club, building on his Brum experience (Southampton or Reading may find him useful and play the right system although Reading have modified over Christmas). Falque needs to be playing full stop - he only has 1 full season of professional football under his belt - with Valencia B in 2010/11 Nothing revolutionary above. Longer shots to leave? If I had to pick someone, I'll go with Siggy. While a new signing, he was made before AvB joined. Both he and Deuce have also failed to impress AvB in the 10 position to the extent that he has abandoned his favoured 4-2-3-1 and is playing 4-4-2 instead (Defoe's good form is another big reason for this). Finally, unlike Deuce, he didn't come directly from another Prem side so I believe he could move to another prem team this season (I may be wrong). This doesn't mean I'd personally sell him, but then I probably wouldn't sell Daws either.
4M??? Who would be dumb enough to pay that much for a 23 year old who's developed into nothing? Skilled young talented kids with a lot of potential have gone for less... I would be happy to just get him off the wage books.
A 23 year old Englishman who made his international debut this year? A few transfers from the past 12 months (all in GBP): - Matthew Lowton to Villa: 3.1M (23 years old, zero u-21 appearances) - Joe Bennett to Villa: 2.8M (22 years old, three u-21 appearances) - Nathaniel Clyne to Soton: 2.5M (21 years old, four u-21 appearances) - Ryan Bennett to Norwich: 3M (22 years old, two u-21 appearances) None of these guys had 'developed' to the point where they received full England recognition at the time of transfer, which justified or not, Livermore has achieved this season. And all went in the 2.5M-3M range while being lesser known than Livermore. Is 4M that much of a stretch? How many of them were English? I bet Daniel Levy disagrees.
Good points. I guess if there are teams willing to spend big on mediocre English talent (liverpool), than there are teams that will pay a few million on crap English players based solely on their pedigree Mind you, the logic of it beyond me.
Parker another likely outgoing, although if Hudd and Livermore both leave he may be kept. I'd personally keep him ahead of either of those, but then I'm not in charge.
Letting Parker go is only an option if we get a similar (but younger) player to replace him. If we lose him, Sandro will be the only defensively sound midfielder on the squad. Having Hudd and Livermore as his backups doesn't exactly fill me with confidence. But if we need the money to sign a world class midflielder, than I'd be okay with it
without comment on the price tag, loaning him out is a gamble i'd take. i mean, i'd be much more inclined to think a loan would show that he is a prem-quality midfielder, as opposed to the opposite. hell, AVB's system(s) have sigurdsson and dempsey looking worse than in their preceding situations ... why should livermore's struggle to come to terms be more all-encompassing than theirs? even if AVB has determined that livermore won't do, i'd guess that loaning him out would be more likely to drive his value up than down. he's not shit, despite his current situation.
It appears that AVB wants Willian and Damiao. Willian would be a good buy, but expensive. Damiao on the other hand, has the potential to backfire big time. It's not uncommon for Brazilian strikers to struggle in Europe. Some teams can afford to take that risk, but at the fee that he will likely command, Tottenham cannot. For the fee that it would take to bring him here (my guess would be ~20m), we could probably get a quality goal scorer who's already doing well in a European system. Or get a player who can play both on the wing and at striker
I read somewhere that Gomes would be used to get Damiao. It makes sense, since he'll want a shot to play for Brazil in 2014, and he needs to be playing.
Hopefully that brings down the transfer fee quite a bit. IMO Tottenham should be targeting Wilfried Bony, who apparently wants to move on from Vitesse to the EPL. He's really strong, has good control, an excellent shot, and can finish. He's also currently the top scorer in the Eredivisie Goals from last season:
Considering Liverpool just wasted loads of money on Sturridge and on so many other players, I reckon Liverpool could come in for him for 4M
Damiao has been scouted and linked to the club for 2 years solid now, also the club already made attempts to buy him in the past. They know his value and what they're getting. AVB said in his interview that we're still watching him but depends on his value coming down from what it was after the Olympics.
Ok, time for my feeling. I have a feeling we'll end up with a striker. Not sure who yet, I need to let this feeling ferment a bit more.
I'm not shocked by this report but from espn: "Fernando Llorente looks set to join Juventus on a free transfer, with the striker’s current club Athletic Bilbao announcing on Thursday that the Serie A champions are in talks to sign him next summer."
Any know anything about this guy? 14:24 GMT: Sky Sports are reporting that Spurs are after Al Ittihad midfielder Anas Sharbini. The player's agent is quoted saying: "His club and Tottenham are in talks about a transfer and I can only say that Spurs really wants Anas. It is now up to clubs to agree transfer."
Zeki Fryers is our first signing: http://www.tottenhamhotspur.com/spurs/News/fryers-joins-from-standard-liege-03012013.page
Damaio and Willian seem to be top priorities. We need CM coverage more. Can't complain about finding more real wide players though and a striker. Defoe was great but now with him paired with Ade he just doesn't seem to click