Well, well, well, look who's back in the first team, one Vincent Janssen! Yes, the same Vincent Janssen who Poch said wasn't in his plans a few days ago. Not sure what to make of our transfer policy, if there is one...Here are my musings: 1. The Stadium Factor: Are we living the same experience as Arsenal when they went into the Emirates and Wenger was told there would be no new money until the stadium was paid off? On the surface, that appears to be the case, although when Arsenal moved into their new ground, the PL TV money was nowhere near what it is now. Plus Daniel Levy has gone on record as saying that the new stadium will not affect transfers. However, it was clear in the summer that Poch's ability to bring in new signings hinged on the planned sale of Alderweireld, Rose and Dembele, which never materialised. So I am still not convinced on this one, as the statements from Levy and the actions of the club are contradictory. 2. Who has the final say on transfers? For the longest time, it was clear that Daniel Levy was at the beginning and end of all of our transfer activity, often to the dismay of the various managers who have worked under him. His ideal set up is to have a first team coach working under a director of football, but the 3 who he has employed, Frank Arneson, Damien Comolli and Franco Baldini, were all unmitigated disasters (Hossam Ghaly, David Bentley, Vlad Chiriches anyone?). When Poch came to the club, Baldini was still in situ, but soon to be axed after blowing the Gareth Bale money (only Lamela and Eriksen remain from the 7 players signed with the Bale winfall). Since 2015, Poch has slowly consolidated his power at the club, to the point that his title is now Manager and not First Team Coach and he now has the final say on who goes in and out of the club, which is one of the reasons he may decide to stay at Tottenham, because he will never get that power at United or Real. Although Levy still controls the purse strings, gone are the days of the last minute signings out of the blue and over the head of the manager. So is Poch being overly fussy over who he brings in, or is Levy turning off the faucet? Again, to me it's not clear. Bottom line, we have gone 2 windows with no signings, which is unconscionable for a CL team that is now ranked 10th in the world in the Deloitte money league. It is great to be moving into a new stadium and generating club record revenues (even while playing at Wembley), but if the club are not gong to invest in the squad, it won't be long before we become another Newcastle, a team with a great stadium and support, but no investment from its ownership.
It will be interesting to see if Janssen gets any playing time. If they want to sell him, they need to play him so he can show he's worth buying. But what I read, MP just said that there are 2 spots in the first team open, so sure, why not Janssen? Whoever is calling the shots on transfers, I think we can all agree that they really need to bring in some players over the summer.
guys, one thing i don't understand is - there's a lot of statements about the projected sale of toby, rose and moussa in the summer, but do we have the slightest confirmation that that was the case with these 3 players? don't think so...
this is pretty much where I come down on it, and is why I really don't disparage Levy on where the funds go - the stadium? new signings? new contracts for our best players? enic? we just don't know, do we? it's a good post - no quarrels; but I will say, in my gut - and again, we don't know - but I don't fear the Newcastle analogy. There is a gap a mile wide between what Mike Ashley and Daniel Levy project as their clubs' aspirations'. Even if Poch were to leave, I just don't see Daniel muddling on through with whomever. I do suspect Levy's ultimate priority is the value of the club, so fair enough; but it seems as though success on the pitch is among the fundamental components for him - and rather unlike Ashley. and I completely agree with the bit about the DoFs and Poch's consolidation of the roles. the only minor point I would counter is that the only thing disastrous about Arnesen was that he was poached by Chelsea. When Arnesen and Jol were working together, they seemed to be on the same page, and the split roles were working fine. that was when we started bringing in loads of promising young british talent - Lennon from Leeds, Huddlestone from Derby, Jenas from Newcastle*, etc. It was only when he was replaced by Comolli that things went wrong. I've said for years that it is imperative that the Coach and the DoF be on the same page … and what better way than if they're the same bloke? I only have one final point to add to this post. I've had my wisdom teeth extracted a few hours ago, and am rather drugged up**. So if I'm making less sense than normal, feel free to do the generous thing and attribute it to external considerations. *actually, I think Jenas may have come in after Arnesen had gone (both happened in the summer of '05), but I'm pretty sure that he'd been one of Arnesen's targets. **but posting through the pain, such are my commitments to Spurs and blathering.
Having had my wisdom teeth removed - and all 4 of them at the same time - I am impressed by the coherence of your post! My Newcastle analogy actually refers to the Newcastle of the turn of the century under Sir Bobby Robson that was playing in the CL. Similar to us, they party-crashed the establishment with 4th and 3rd place finishes in 2001-02 and 2002-03, but could not sustain it. In those days, nobody fancied a game at St. James's Park. It looks like Alderweireld is all but out the door this summer, Dembele is already gone and Eriksen has still not signed his new contract. It only takes a few key players to leave with insufficient recruitment to go from top 4 to mid-table. The Frank Arneson poaching is interesting because there is an indirect link to Leicester's title win in 2015-16. Chelsea were ordered to compensate us for tapping up (which would explain some of the animosity between Levy and Abramovich) and they offered us the choice of taking a) Robert Huth and Glen Johnson OR b) 10 million pounds. Guess what Levy chose? Who knows how the title race would have ended in 2015-16 had Levy chosen option A...
The plan was to sell the 3 of them and recoup 130-150 million pounds (which I always thought was a big stretch) because: 1. Toby refused to sign a new contract and we were likely to lose him this summer. 2. The club were not impressed with Rose's comments about the club transfer policy. 3. Dembele was starting to break down.
ah, gotcha! a much better analogy than what I'd been thinking. in retrospect, I can't seem to recall what went wrong for them, though I certainly remember what went wrong at Leeds, when they tried to stay up with the big boys around the same time. I also can't recall the conversation that I had with the dental assistant upon coming out of anesthesia. But I've been informed since by the person commissioned to drive me home (my 84-year-old mother) that it involved me inviting her out for a pint of Guinness tonight. jeebus. maybe i'd better look back through any previous posts today to see if I've done any other damage. Crikey! I've been monitoring a '62 Austin-Healey being auctioned online the last few days … I'd better go make sure I haven't bought it!
What happened at Newcastle? I think it started when they made the fatal mistake of sacking Sir Bobby and after that it all went downhill, ending with Ashley coming in to buy the club. Leeds just spent beyond their means by gambling on staying in the CL, but when they finished 5th in 2001-2002, they were doomed and were forced to sell off all their good bits and eventually got relegated. Fortunately for us, Levy has always kept the wage to turnover ratio at a reasonable level, and with the financial windfall from the massive TV contracts (which didn't exist back in the day), he has been able to slowly increase the wage bill to keep most of our top players. I can remember the days where the top earner on the club was Robby Keane at 75,000 pounds a week!
I keep trying to understand this situation and would like someone to explain it. Does he want to leave? If so, why? Does the club want him to leave? If so, why?
He refused to re-sign with us, and we didn't sell when we could've. The upshot is that he wants more money than we can afford to pay him. So he'll get it elsewhere.
... more than we can afford? more than we are willing to pay him... IMO, he's one of the finest center backs in the world. We should pay him whatever the heck he wants... or better said, what the market will bear. We should ask for a right to match the best offer he gets on the market. Heck, even pay him something for that right. I'll bet we can find a way to match it.
I bet we can't. Do you realize that Juventus has just put Aaron Ramsey on 400k pounds a week? Aaron Ramsey! Can we afford more than we've offered him? Maybe. But we'll never have pockets as deep as some of the behemoths.
I have read reports that said he wanted anywhere from 150-180 pounds a week and Levy was not willing to go beyond 130. Just for context, Kane is on 200 and Dele is on 150. As for selling him, Levy wanted ar least 55 million, which nobody was going to give him, with the knowledge that they could trigger his buyout in the summer for 25 mil.
if we could sign him for 150k/week, I'd be a lot closer to what balance is saying. not that I know what we can spend, of course. but we won't replace him for less.
been reading suggestions in Real, specially with Zidane back in the seat, Eriksen might be the top of their wish-list, and seen suggestions floating around that they're willing to say Bale+€50m for him, as an starting offer
Assuming that's true - not that there's any reason to - I would take that quite seriously. Eriksen's contract is up in 2020 (I think). Put a nice fat offer on the table … try to re-sign him. But if he won't re-up, I would take Bale and 50m in a heartbeat. Not that we could afford Bale's wages, of course. I'm just sayin'. It's fine you fellas worrying about spending the money poorly or not spending it, at all. But my worry is that we don't get any. The Alderweireld model (assuming he walks on a free) is the real example of how not to do it. We need to tie Eriksen up or move him on.
That’s what I was thinking too. Bale for all his injuries would be a match changing/winning player to match Kane (and we’d get to call them Bane as a portmanteau so bonus). €50m might not find you a CAM as good as Eriksen, but it’d get you close. Code: Kane Bale - Ali - Son CAM Winks - Dier Verts - Alderweireld - Sanchez Bale’s wages make it a moot point, but that line up, assuming the CAM was serviceable I think would challenge for the league title.
There is no way Levy will let Eriksen walk out the door for only €50m. It would be madness to take Bale, his injuries and his wages when you could get 3x the amount for selling Eriksen and reinvest more wisely in the squad. My understanding is Eriksen is happy with the terms offered, it is just a question of whether he wants a different opportunity at this stage of his career. Toby can walk for 25m this summer and if he does, we are going to need a quality CB. We also need to replace Dembele and take a serious look at the GK and fullback positions, which have simply not been good enough this season. And we will need a creative attacking mid if Eriksen goes. Poch is going to earn his corn as manager this summer as the squad needs a major revamping.
I just got an email from my German mate Vinnie informing me that HSV is not going to re-sign Lewis Holtby. You heard me right - he's available on a free! c'mon Poch, just do the right thing, admit you were wrong, and bring him back. hell, whilst atoning for your errors, you might as well bring Michael Dawson back, too. all will be forgiven.