Virgil Van Dijk

[Jordinho]

SPURS are set to enter the January transfer chase for Celtic’s £10million-rated defender Virgil Van Dijk.

White Hart Lane boss Mauricio Pochettino will try to prise the Dutch-man away from the Scottish champions during the transfer window.

And key to the plan is Spurs’ new head of recruitment and analysis – former Southampton star finder Paul Mitchell.

Mitchell was behind Southampton’s failed £8m bid for Van Dijk in the summer.

He was also responsible for Saints spending £22m on Celtic stars Victor Wanyama and Fraser Forster in the past 18 months. Now that he has quit Saints to overhaul Spurs’ recruitment drive, Mitchell is set to pursue Van Dijk again.

Spurs will face competition from Premier League rivals Swansea, Southampton, Saudi Sportswashing Machine, Arsenal and Emirates Marketing Project for the 23-year-old, who joined Celts from Groningen for £2.6m in 2013.

Van Dijk has admitted his head was scrambled with talk of a summer move that failed to materialise – but this time around he will be better placed to handle the talk which will increase in the coming weeks.

http://www.express.co.uk/sport/football/544823/Spurs-chased-10M-Van-Dijk

 

[P.D.]

Any good?

 

[Cochise]

He was linked with a lot of clubs over the summer, was suprised nothing materialised. I hear he's highly rated, but I have not seen enough of him to make an assessment.

 

[indianspur]

Rossi22 will be happy with this news

 

[Rorschach]

Just seen him the once and thought he was bit slow (speed that is , not in the head)

 

[braineclipse]

Rossi22 will be happy with this news

And GB will be unhappy, if it means no Moreno at least.

At least I'm guessing we won't sign more than one centre back in January, if we sign anyone at all that is.

 

[Finney Is Back]

And GB will be unhappy, if it means no Moreno at least.

At least I'm guessing we won't sign more than one centre back in January, if we sign anyone at all that is.

I wonder whether Moreno would suffer in the same way that Chiriches does in England in that he possibly isn't big or physical enough to deal with powerful, physical centre forwards?

 

[Gutter Boy]

And GB will be unhappy, if it means no Moreno at least.

At least I'm guessing we won't sign more than one centre back in January, if we sign anyone at all that is.

I quite like the idea of having a player called Virgil (being a paid-up member of the Classical Association!)

The thing I particularly like about Moreno is his composure and leadership qualities - I think he'd be a Naybet-esque figure. I'm not sure signing another young CB is what we need at the moment (if Dier is already going to be one of our 4)

 

[Gutter Boy]

I wonder whether Moreno would suffer in the same way that Chiriches does in England in that he possibly isn't big or physical enough to deal with powerful, physical centre forwards?

I don't think Chiriches suffers because his size. He suffers because of his poor decision-making when in possession.

Teams with big CFs (Chelsea, Everton, West Ham, Villa and Swansea) only play one of them. So you can just put one of our three 6'2"+ CBs (Fazio, Dier and Verts) on them, and let Moreno (or Chiriches) pick up the quicker more agile forwards.

 

[indianspur]

So could it be Poch wants Moreno, Mitchell's analysis recommends Dijk, and probably Baldini has a name his contacts have put forward. Who wins?

 

[Gutter Boy]

So could it be Poch wants Moreno, Mitchell's analysis recommends Dijk, and probably Baldini has a name his contacts have put forward. Who wins?

I'd say it's more likely that:

- Poch wants Moreno and a deal is already in place with Espanyol. Levy is happy because he is relatively cheap
- Mitchell is analysing the stats of teenage CFs from South America
- Baldini is wining and dining in Paris trying to broker a deal for that Rabiot kid
- Some crap journalist wrote a story about Dijk based solely on the fact that Southampton looked at him as a replacement for Lovren last summer, but then went for Alderweireld instead

 

[Spurmac1974]

Have watched this guy 6 or 7 times for Celtic this season and hes brutal! If he is the answer then i'm not sure of the question.

 

[Finney Is Back]

I don't think Chiriches suffers because his size. He suffers because of his poor decision-making when in possession.

He does.... He was getting bullied by both Berahino and Sessegnon against WBA. It was embarrassing to watch.

Teams with big CFs (Chelsea, Everton, West Ham, Villa and Swansea) only play one of them. So you can just put one of our three 6'2"+ CBs (Fazio, Dier and Verts) on them, and let Moreno (or Chiriches) pick up the quicker more agile forwards.

Which is fine for corners and set pieces where we can man to man mark but a nightmare otherwise as centre halves tend to mark zonally from any crosses delivered in open play situations. It can also create defensive problems when the ball is delivered forward as if the bigger centre half has to always track the powerful centre forward then it leaves a big gap to be exploited on the odd occasion when (let's say) Fazio doesn't win the duel.

You also forgot about Giroud at Arsenal by the way....
Oh and Pele at Southampton....
Not to mention Wickham and Altidore at Sunderland....
Oh and of course Crouch at Stoke....
And did I mention Austin at QPR....
What about Lambert at Liverpool?....
Or perhaps Vokes and Jutkiewicz at Burnley....
Or Sammy Ameobi at Saudi Sportswashing Machine?....
Or maybe Hernandez and Jelavic at Hull....
How about Ulloa at Leicester?....
And how could I forget Anichebe at West Brom?....

So effectively it is every team in the Premiership other than Man Utd and Palace that have at least one big forward - and even at Man Utd I would expect both Rooney and Falcao to be able to bully Chiriches physically.

Are you beginning to see the problem yet GB?

 

[monkeybarry]

The modern day CB needs to have a bit of everything, including great strength and agility or exceptional reading of the game.

This is because modern ' big CFs' are rarely just battering rams - they have skill, strength and pace, so can outrun a CB when the ball is good, out skill them or just bully them.
And gone are the days when a CB could kick a CF up in the air as a tactic - the role of a modern CB is a very tough one which needs a decent all round game