good to hear. some ITK at SC was saying that he was quite keen on Madrid, but that they see him more as a squaddie, and were not even approaching the more elite valuation that Dan'l has for him. the kicker was that Eriksen is supposedly starting to get pissy about it - not that there's any telling what that's supposed to mean, let alone whether it's true. regardless, in light of such rumors (true or not), it's quite good to see that he's at training. it's when the player tries to force the club's hand that things tend to get ugly.
Their priority is Pogba, and if they get him that would leave Juventus really as the only option, but I understood he was keen on going to Barcelonal or Real. I think he assumed that he was off to Madrid, he had sold his house in London before the CL final and as per Real's custom, made the media statement that he wanted to leave. My concern is that this could drag on up to the deadline of August 8th, which would not give us much time to find a replacement. Hopefully it will be a Modric like situation where we squeeze one more year out of him before selling him.
Interesting report that Spurs have contacted Dani Alves' agent. Despite his age of 36, he would be a great addition as we have so few players who have won anything in the squad and he did have a very good Copa America for Brazil.
Estadio Deportivo in Spain is reporting that Spurs have agreed a 150K pound a week contract with Giovani Lo Celso of Betis, but the clubs have not yet agreed on a fee, Betis wanting 62 million.
Not for the €12m Roma think they are going to get him for. Our not-regretted former technical director Franco Baldini is in London to conduct the negotiations. I think Toby is getting bad advice from his agent, Roma is not offering much more in wages than Spurs.
I have vague recollections Italy has a more favorable tax system than England, because yeah moving to a worse team, in a worse league for a minor pay rise seems odd.
If they aren't even going to match the buyout clause in his contract, we may as well keep him and try to win something this year. Is anyone else surprised at how little (apparent) interest there has been? TA had a good year.
Teams have until the 25th to activate the clause so they may think they can beat the price down with a late bid (although they obviously don't know Levy). Otherwise, they can get him on a free starting in January as he is entering the last year of his contract and will be 31 at the end of the season. Not many teams would fork over 25 million pounds for a 30 year old and then pay him high wages.
Wow, that was 2007, right? I have a lot of things to be bitter about as a Spurs supporter, but that is not high on my list.
it sucked. and they went on to win it. the bitter lives on with me, too. … nowhere near the top of the bitter list, mind … but it's on it.
a Spurs bitter list would be long, indeed. I honestly think - actually, I know - the worst I've ever felt after a Spurs match was the Portsmouth FA cup semi (thanks Jum). I was at work and monitoring it on one of those matchtracker things. we were dominating, but the longer it went at nil-nil, the more you'd think what was coming. when they went up a goal in extra time you knew it wasn't going to be; but I continued monitoring, not only in the hope of an equalizer, but to insure that we got through the match without Wilson Palacios collecting a yellow. One more yellow would have meant missing upcoming games v Arsenal and Chelsea in our run in for fourth. Then, at around 118', they got a penalty. Game over, then ... but worse yet, it was Palacios who committed the foul, earning him a yellow. Not only had we pissed away an FA Cup final, but it seemed we pretty much threw in the towel on our pursuit of a Champions League place. The signing of Palacios the preceding season had been immense and our back four were immeasurably better with him sitting in front of it. My misery was misplaced as we went on to beat both the Arse and Chelsea without Sgt Wilson and qualified for the CL regardless. But after that semi, I was inconsolable. Lasagnagate's in with a strong shout for second, though. Ugh … I don't wanna get thinking about this too long.
Yes, the Portsmouth semi was bad, I can remember after their goal we scored a perfectly good equalizer from a Crouchie header but the twat referee Alan Wiley (and that was never a pen by Palacios he bottled that decision as well) ruled out the goal for a mystery foul on Crouchie. There was a great replay where David James was laughing basically umplying that Pompey got let off.
Trippier has been sold to Atletico Madrid for £20 million. Considering we got him for £3 million from Burnley and how poor he was last season, that is a steal. MARCA is reporting that Spurs have contacted Real Madrid about a deal where we would purchase Gareth Bale for £45-55 million and pay half his net wages which would be about £150K/week. Bale turned 30 today. Who knows if there is anything to this story, but it would be a risk-reward signing: the risk being his injury history and his age, but the reward being we would have one of the best attacks in the PL if he stays healthy.
I’d love to have Bale back on loan, but £50m is far too much for a player as injury prone as he is. La Liga is far less physically demanding than the Premiere League and he’s just getting older/more broken, the likelihood he manages more than 50% of the season seems low.
Depth and rotation could make all the forwards and attacking mids better. That is, the £50m would not just buy Bale's services, but maybe make Kane et al become less worn down during the season. Also, his return would sell tons of jerseys and put butts in seats. All that is good for financial health of the organization.
Load management anyone? Elsewhere, Danny Rose has not travelled with the team to Singapore so it looks like the club are willing to sell him with 2 years left on his contract. They are hoping for £25 million, which won't be an easy sale seeing as the 2 Manchester clubs, with whom he was linked in the past, have their LB situations sorted. Looks like Levy is desperate to raise funds to push the Lo Celso and Sessegnon transfers over the line now that the expected windfall for Eriksen has not materialized.
I have a vision of him racing at the Arsenal defense in the last minute of the NLD at the Emirates and driving a winner into the top corner in front of the away support. Then I have another vision of him injuring his foot in the next game and missing the next 4 months...
Aurier and KWP, or new RB incoming? Max Aarons from Norwich, one of the Sessegnons from Fulham are the names in the frame. Along with... only the most decorated player in the whole history of football, Dani bloody Alves! Best of luck to Tripps. Great player on his day and fantastic crosser from wide, but this last season wasn't up to scratch.
Also, I'd pass on Bale, sad as it makes me to say that. What a player in his prime, but at the money being talked about, I think there's more we could do with it.
to be fair, some of his behavior at Madrid has been atrocious. his interview after his last CL final was embarrassing, and his most recent "I'll stay and play golf" is cringeworthy. Madrid and their fans are the biggest load of tw*twaffles in the world, and I can certainly see why he feels aggrieved there … but he really does come off a spoiled young multimillionaire shit. thing is, I can see him coming back to a 'better' environment and being more like what he was - or not. we'd really be rolling the dice with Bale, and not just regarding injuries.