The General Transfer Rumours and Speculation Thread

[glorygloryeze]

Liverpool are where we were 12-18 months ago.

Klopp will now have a massive clear-out, almost halve the squad size, and promote some of Inglethorpe's protegees. But they are still at the Paulinho, Ade and Chiriches hanging around and holding them back stage.

So how is their squad "poisonous" or "divided"? That's different to saying they have some squad players who are underperforming etc.

Btw, who are their Paulinho, Ade and Chiriches in your opinion? Not disagreeing with you on this last thing just curious...

 

[glorygloryeze]

But that's not exotic, and people need to be entertained between June and August

Second tier chequebook signing has been failing us for 25 years, yet people still want that over the recently very successful Dier/Alli/Wimmer route.

In your opinion is Toby Alderweireld our player of the season?

 

[NaijaSpurs]

Let me clarify, Kane is world class, so my concern is not that we do not sign another world class player but rather the gulf in class between Kane and the new signing.

 

[Gutter Boy]

We did well with Alli and have been lucky that he has shone so soon; thanks to Poch's coaching and our scouting research.
Poch/the scouting have identifeid both players - What makes you think Dembele will have a greater impact than Batshuayi (forgetting the difference in the transfer fees)?

I don't think there's a great deal of difference in terms of potential (Dembele is obviously 3 years younger)

For me it's more about maintaining squad harmony/balance, and that Dembele is more malleable and will be afforded more space to grow into the role

 

[NaijaSpurs]

For all of City's big money spending on striker after striker after striker and only ending up with one truly top quality striker in Aguero what has actually worked out for them as an option up front is a youngster signed for their academy in Iheanacho.

I don't get why a similar approach for us, a club with an actual history of succeeding with developing young players, isn't a decent idea.

Ironically I mentioned above Emirates Marketing Project not having adequate back up for City, but when I think of my compatriot Kelechi Iheanacho I think this kid has the potential to be world class.

 

[braineclipse]

No, because Potch has indicated that with the right players he would consider playing up front, the simple case is Potch has never had 2 decent strikers at Spurs.

I was also concerned there were a few times this season when Kane was not on his game we had nothing.

I wouldn't mind playing two strikers up front. But right now that means dropping either Lamela, Alli or Eriksen. And it means Son and Clinton dropping even further down the pecking order. And it would leave Chadli (who i rate) and young talents like Onomah and Pritchard way way behind.

I just don't think playing 2 strikers over our current line-ups would give us enough of a benefit to warrant that.

I've said all along this season that Kane should be first choice come hell or high water. He predictably recovered his scoring form and I'm delighted we didn't have another manager in charge who would perhaps have dropped him for an expensive inferior player earlier this season.

We did well with Alli and have been lucky that he has shone so soon; thanks to Poch's coaching and our scouting research.
Poch/the scouting have identifeid both players - What makes you think Dembele will have a greater impact than Batshuayi (forgetting the difference in the transfer fees)?

Dembele is obviously not a guaranteed success. And neither is Batshuayi.

We have given ourselves options. Alli had a huge impact, but if not for him having that impact we would have had Son, Clinton, Chadli, Bentaleb (with Dembele pushing up).

Next season, regardless of who we sign, we will have options up front in Son and Clinton. We need perhaps one more, but we're not in a position where we need to make a signing that makes an immediate impact.

(and, again, I'm not against signing Batshuayi)

 

[NaijaSpurs]

I don't think there's a great deal of difference in terms of potential (Dembele is obviously 3 years younger)

For me it's more about maintaining squad harmony/balance, and that Dembele is more malleable and will be afforded more space to grow into the role

I am curious, why do you think Batshuayi will disrupt squad harmony?

 

[Gutter Boy]

In your opinion is Toby Alderweireld our player of the season?

Yes. But he was also a cheap, under the radar signing (Atheltico outcast) who replaced Fazio. We don't have such weaknesses in our starting 11 - our need now is for a CF understudy

 

[NaijaSpurs]

I wouldn't mind playing two strikers up front. But right now that means dropping either Lamela, Alli or Eriksen. And it means Son and Clinton dropping even further down the pecking order. And it would leave Chadli (who i rate) and young talents like Onomah and Pritchard way way behind.

I think it would be a match by match basis, sometimes 1 up front other times 2 up front

 

[braineclipse]

Ironically I mentioned above Emirates Marketing Project not having adequate back up for City, but when I think of my compatriot Kelechi Iheanacho I think this kid has the potential to be world class.

And in him they have a player happy with his squad and team role. Someone pushing every day to improve because perhaps one day he "will be Aguero". He's not in a position where he's collecting huge money to Aguero's backup until he figures out he wants to play regular football again or is shipped out against his will. As a long line of very expensive backup signings at City have seemingly been.

Why shouldn't we look for someone that will be happy... That will work their socks of in training every day to perhaps some day "be Harry Kane". Why is the "sign a high profile backup" option better than the cheaper, young player with potential option?

 

[braineclipse]

I think it would be a match by match basis, sometimes 1 up front other times 2 up front

I think Harry Kane's versatility gives us that option. If the right striker is available for the right price that would give us those options we want and be a top level backup for Kane in a 4-2-3-1 I'm obviously not against it. I'm just not sure if Batshuayi is that player. And I know whoever we sign there's a solid chance it fails. And I'm not convinced that's the only good option for us in this summer transfer window.

 

[Gutter Boy]

I am curious, why do you think Batshuayi will disrupt squad harmony?

Because for £30m+, he's not going to be content sitting on the bench getting a few games in lesser cup fixtures. And #9 is such a specialist position now that decent ones aren't usually that suited to being WF options

 

[NaijaSpurs]

I've said all along this season that Kane should be first choice come hell or high water. He predictably recovered his scoring form and I'm delighted we didn't have another manager in charge who would perhaps have dropped him for an expensive inferior player earlier this season.

I have never doubted his ability this season, remember I am the person who started the countdown on the Harry Kane thread, I just fear that we are taking for granted what a beast he is, and I fear if we were to lose him for a long period of time without the right player to step up we could be in deep trouble

 

[NaijaSpurs]

Because for £30m+, he's not going to be content sitting on the bench getting a few games in lesser cup fixtures. And #9 is such a specialist position now that decent ones aren't usually that suited to being WF options

The fact that you are regurgitating "sitting on the bench getting a few games in lesser cup fixtures" means you are not really paying attention to what I have been saying

 

[glorygloryeze]

Yes. But he was also a cheap, under the radar signing (Atheltico outcast) who replaced Fazio. We don't have such weaknesses in our starting 11 - our need now is for a CF understudy

He was also the target you wailed against us signing the most; so i see a similar pattern emerging with your attitude to Batshuayi. Perhaps Poch will sign and you'll be eating humble pie again next year...

 

[braineclipse]

I have never doubted his ability this season, remember I am the person who started the countdown on the Harry Kane thread, I just fear that we are taking for granted what a beast he is, and I fear if we were to lose him for a long period of time without the right player to step up we could be in deep trouble

Yeah. Just like City without Aguero. Chelsea without Costa. Real Madrid without Benzema. Barca without Messi. Arguably Bayern without Lewandowski (possible the one exception, not sure).

I'm yet to really see a team successfully have a backup to their best and most impactful attacking player and keep players happy over time. It might be my memory, but it at least seems rare. It seems a bit of a fools errand to me to try to protect against what one can't protect oneself against (the negative impact of losing your best striker through injury).

We can minimize that impact, but we can do that without spending big money on someone we think might be as good as Kane. But what we cannot do, is go into Emirates Marketing Project mode and buy striker after striker to have a backup for Aguero only for no one to actually be good enough whilst wasting a ton of money. We can't afford that.

 

[braineclipse]

The fact that you are regurgitating "sitting on the bench getting a few games in lesser cup fixtures" means you are not really paying attention to what I have been saying

You have to accept that with the quality we have in Kane, Eriksen, Alli and Lamela as well as the obvious talent in Son, Clinton, Onomah and others that the "sitting on the bench getting a few games in lesser cup fixtures" is a possibly outcome. Even a fairly likely one based on how often clubs outright succeed with their big money striker signings.

You paint a very nice picture of how Batshuayi or someone like him will ideally work out. But that is only one possible outcome of actually signing him (or another high profile expensive striker). The struggles of other clubs trying to do what you're advocating indicates that what GB is presenting is at least somewhat likely, perhaps even the most likely outcome. You can't just pretend that's not the case.

 

[Gutter Boy]

He was also the target you wailed against us signing the most; so i see a similar pattern emerging with your attitude to Batshuayi. Perhaps Poch will sign and you'll be eating humble pie again next year...

My specific concerns there were - I) he'd been dreadful in Spain and average at Southampton, 2) neither him or Verts were particularly outstanding in the air, 3) I was worried about Dier's path being blocked.

As it turns out 1) we obviously did good scouting, 2) this is still a concern against certain teams - Arsenal, West Brom and Chelsea for example, 3) Poch had his secret Dier for CM plan


I don't mind Batshuayi at all. My specific concerns are 1) that he doesn't currently press very effectively and will need time to learn Poch-ball and 2) the price tag, heightened expectations and problem of Kane being so established in his position.

 

[glorygloryeze]

My specific concerns there were - I) he'd been dreadful in Spain and average at Southampton, 2) neither him or Verts were particularly outstanding in the air, 3) I was worried about Dier's path being blocked.

As it turns out 1) we obviously did good scouting, 2) this is still a concern against certain teams - Arsenal, West Brom and Chelsea for example, 3) Poch had his secret Dier for CM plan


I don't mind Batshuayi at all. My specific concerns are 1) that he doesn't currently press very effectively and will need time to learn Poch-ball and 2) the price tag, heightened expectations and problem of Kane being so established in his position.

Ok, i stopped reading there...

 

[Grays_1890]

Toby although used fleeting was in the team that won league and got to final of Champions League, not a bad claim to have.