January 2021 Transfer Thread

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Isn’t it the case that the clubs who have no HG problems, have, well, no HG problems? Meaning they can operate with a greater flexibility in the market? We have a problem with it.

We also need to maintain a large squad in case of injury or Covid, as well as the number of matches we are playing. We would also need to persuade one of the players you mentioned to leave the club, where they seem happy at. And persuade some other team that they are good enough to buy but not good enough for us.

Then we need to find a HG player that we can afford, that would improve our first team. Very very few spring to mind. No point in selling a decent squad player to buy another. Unless we are also planning to buy a top quality first team foreign player? If that’s the case, where’s the money coming from?

I don’t think transfers and squad balancing / building is as easy a fix as many believe. Especially not in January.

Here are some easy solutions we could have done to have HG not be an issue. Not all of them are necessary ideal and some may not have been possible but the point is that we have HG issues because the club has chose to not care about it and handcuff themselves:

Buy Bowen instead of Bergwijn
Buy White instead of Rodon
Buy Eze and move any one of Lamela, Moura, Sissoko
Keep KWP
Buy Watkins instead of Vinicius
Buy Lamptey
Buy Demari Gray and move one of Lamela, Moura, Sissoko
Buy Jude Bellingham

These are all possible moves based on players that have recently moved. I am sure there are more that I missed and some that we could have made that we as fans don't know about. The point is that there are always options to make moves on HG players. The complaint that it is hard or can't be done is false. We have chose to put ourselves in this position as a club, there are always options to bring in HG players, especially when the team has so many foreign players- Lamela, Moura, Sissoko, Gedson, Sanchez, Doherty/Aurier that it could easily move and not miss a beat.
 
Isn’t it the case that the clubs who have no HG problems, have, well, no HG problems? Meaning they can operate with a greater flexibility in the market? We have a problem with it.

We also need to maintain a large squad in case of injury or Covid, as well as the number of matches we are playing. We would also need to persuade one of the players you mentioned to leave the club, where they seem happy at. And persuade some other team that they are good enough to buy but not good enough for us.
Not to mention that most players want to at least keep their established salary when moving. And as much as people joke about us not paying well we actually pay the 6th highest salaries in the league or something like that.

It is by no means as easy as some seem to think. There are a lot of pieces that have to fall into place for a transfer to happen. It is easier to do in the summer because you in general have more time to work with.
 
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Here are some easy solutions we could have done to have HG not be an issue. Not all of them are necessary ideal and some may not have been possible but the point is that we have HG issues because the club has chose to not care about it and handcuff themselves:

Buy Bowen instead of Bergwijn
Buy White instead of Rodon
Buy Eze and move any one of Lamela, Moura, Sissoko
Keep KWP
Buy Watkins instead of Vinicius
Buy Lamptey
Buy Demari Gray and move one of Lamela, Moura, Sissoko
Buy Jude Bellingham
One of, but not the only reason i was banging the drum all summer for Aarons, Godfrey, Eze and Watkins. Our squad would be in a much healthier state if we'd have added 3 of them and not just on the homegrown side of things.
 
Here are some easy solutions we could have done to have HG not be an issue. Not all of them are necessary ideal and some may not have been possible but the point is that we have HG issues because the club has chose to not care about it and handcuff themselves:

Buy Bowen instead of Bergwijn
Buy White instead of Rodon
Buy Eze and move any one of Lamela, Moura, Sissoko
Keep KWP
Buy Watkins instead of Vinicius
Buy Lamptey
Buy Demari Gray and move one of Lamela, Moura, Sissoko
Buy Jude Bellingham

These are all possible moves based on players that have recently moved. I am sure there are more that I missed and some that we could have made that we as fans don't know about. The point is that there are always options to make moves on HG players. The complaint that it is hard or can't be done is false. We have chose to put ourselves in this position as a club, there are always options to bring in HG players, especially when the team has so many foreign players- Lamela, Moura, Sissoko, Gedson, Sanchez, Doherty/Aurier that it could easily move and not miss a beat.
My comment about Ally bringing up HG is not that it's an "only Spurs issue" it's that it is an issue the club has that needs to be addressed whenever making transfers. No other journalists mention that, they just throw out rumors that Spurs want to buy X from Spain. Ally breaks it down saying Spurs would buy X BUT need to move Y from the squad first.

As for your "easy" fixes. None of those would have been easy unless you want the squad to be worse than it is. Bergwijn is better than Bowen. White was not for sale. Eze I would have liked but Jose didn't rate him, same with KWP. Watkins was too expensive so Vinny was on loan, Lamptey is too expensive, Gray is no better than who we have and Jude was too expensive after the other signings and loans we did.

Moving players like Lucas, Lamela, and Sissoko are not easy either. They need to move somewhere that will continue paying their wages and also somewhere they would choose to go. Nothing in the transfer world is "easy"
 
My comment about Ally bringing up HG is not that it's an "only Spurs issue" it's that it is an issue the club has that needs to be addressed whenever making transfers. No other journalists mention that, they just throw out rumors that Spurs want to buy X from Spain. Ally breaks it down saying Spurs would buy X BUT need to move Y from the squad first.

As for your "easy" fixes. None of those would have been easy unless you want the squad to be worse than it is. Bergwijn is better than Bowen. White was not for sale. Eze I would have liked but Jose didn't rate him, same with KWP. Watkins was too expensive so Vinny was on loan, Lamptey is too expensive, Gray is no better than who we have and Jude was too expensive after the other signings and loans we did.

Moving players like Lucas, Lamela, and Sissoko are not easy either. They need to move somewhere that will continue paying their wages and also somewhere they would choose to go. Nothing in the transfer world is "easy"

I think it is highly debatable that Bergwijn is better than Bowen, and the difference is fairly marginal. Plus Bergwijn has spent a lot of time as a back-up here so replacing him with Bowen likely has a fairly small impact on our performance.

Of guys are too expensive, again debatable, then it isn't a HG issue it is a financial issue. Although if Watkins, Lamptey are too expensive for us then we have bigger issues than HG numbers.

Again the club not rating players shows that it is not a HG issue but the club making choices not to go for them. The options are out there the club chooses not to make them. That is much different than it being too hard to bring in HG players.

Gray is better than Moura and Lamela for sure. Considering he would be coming in as a back-up and allowing you to upgrade a starter spot then the team is likely better with say Sabitzer starting and Gray backing up than Sissoko starting and Moura as a back-up even if you think that Moura is better than Gray.

Guys playing for teams like Brighton are almost always for sale to bigger clubs.

Edit:

Also the nothing is the transfer world is easy is such a BS cop out. We are supposed to be a big club. Their are professionals that are paid a lot of money to make transfer decisions. Pretending that it is too hard to do what the vast majority of EPL clubs, many with less resources than us, is false.
 
Here are some easy solutions we could have done to have HG not be an issue. Not all of them are necessary ideal and some may not have been possible but the point is that we have HG issues because the club has chose to not care about it and handcuff themselves:

Buy Bowen instead of Bergwijn
Buy White instead of Rodon
Buy Eze and move any one of Lamela, Moura, Sissoko
Keep KWP
Buy Watkins instead of Vinicius
Buy Lamptey
Buy Demari Gray and move one of Lamela, Moura, Sissoko
Buy Jude Bellingham

These are all possible moves based on players that have recently moved. I am sure there are more that I missed and some that we could have made that we as fans don't know about. The point is that there are always options to make moves on HG players. The complaint that it is hard or can't be done is false. We have chose to put ourselves in this position as a club, there are always options to bring in HG players, especially when the team has so many foreign players- Lamela, Moura, Sissoko, Gedson, Sanchez, Doherty/Aurier that it could easily move and not miss a beat.
Bellingham was over priced White is no better than Rodon...actually think he is worse. Gray is not good enough for Lecister. Not at all convinced that Watkins with playing time is any better than Vinicius either. Keeping KWP probably kills the PEH deal.Hearty no thanks to all the above Eze ill give and a tree is adequate replacement for Gedson...don't be greedy
 
Here are some easy solutions we could have done to have HG not be an issue. Not all of them are necessary ideal and some may not have been possible but the point is that we have HG issues because the club has chose to not care about it and handcuff themselves:

Buy Bowen instead of Bergwijn
Buy White instead of Rodon
Buy Eze and move any one of Lamela, Moura, Sissoko
Keep KWP
Buy Watkins instead of Vinicius
Buy Lamptey
Buy Demari Gray and move one of Lamela, Moura, Sissoko
Buy Jude Bellingham

These are all possible moves based on players that have recently moved. I am sure there are more that I missed and some that we could have made that we as fans don't know about. The point is that there are always options to make moves on HG players. The complaint that it is hard or can't be done is false. We have chose to put ourselves in this position as a club, there are always options to bring in HG players, especially when the team has so many foreign players- Lamela, Moura, Sissoko, Gedson, Sanchez, Doherty/Aurier that it could easily move and not miss a beat.
That’s just a load of stuff we could have done in the past. What good does that do us now? As others have posted too, almost all would have made us weaker. Maybe with the exception of Ese or Lamptey, but only in hindsight. Absolutely no point in saying we should have scouted Newell’s twenty years ago and picked up Messi.

What do we do now to solve the problem? Who do we sell? To whom? For how much? And who do we then buy? It’s easy, after all.
 
That’s just a load of stuff we could have done in the past. What good does that do us now? As others have posted too, almost all would have made us weaker. Maybe with the exception of Ese or Lamptey, but only in hindsight. Absolutely no point in saying we should have scouted Newell’s twenty years ago and picked up Messi.

What do we do now to solve the problem? Who do we sell? To whom? For how much? And who do we then buy? It’s easy, after all.

Do you think those transfer windows were unique and now there is no HG talent anymore?

And the point of that was to show that getting HG talent is not hard as many try to make it out to be it is a choice that this club has made to not properly address it.

And most of those moves are upgrades or at worst lateral moves and that doesn’t consider the options it opens us up to improve using foreign players.

Easiest move that I can see right now is replacing one of Lamela, Moura (ideally) or Bergwijn with Gray. His contract is up so he is cheap, he is very much available and as a back-up option he is no worse than the 3 guys I mentioned for him to replace.
 
Bellingham was over priced White is no better than Rodon...actually think he is worse. Gray is not good enough for Lecister. Not at all convinced that Watkins with playing time is any better than Vinicius either. Keeping KWP probably kills the PEH deal.Hearty no thanks to all the above Eze ill give and a tree is adequate replacement for Gedson...don't be greedy

As mentioned those issues are not a lack of HG options but other problems then and all are very debatable if not outright crap.
 
Do you think those transfer windows were unique and now there is no HG talent anymore?

And the point of that was to show that getting HG talent is not hard as many try to make it out to be it is a choice that this club has made to not properly address it.

And most of those moves are upgrades or at worst lateral moves and that doesn’t consider the options it opens us up to improve using foreign players.

Easiest move that I can see right now is replacing one of Lamela, Moura (ideally) or Bergwijn with Gray. His contract is up so he is cheap, he is very much available and as a back-up option he is no worse than the 3 guys I mentioned for him to replace.
I think this window is more difficult than any other previously, yes.

More clubs will want to keep their squad intact. Less players will feel a move is right for them or their family. More clubs in the league (where the vast majority of HG are) have more money than previously, so can afford to keep hold of players. So yes, I think this particular window is a nightmare of difficulty.

So looking back at what could have been is not helpful. Although, you have come up with Gray as a possibility and I’ve no huge issue with that move. I don’t think he’s any better than than any of the three you’ve mentioned, but he’s not markedly worse. Not even sure why I think that as he’s not exactly prolific in scoring or assisting, but he is a decent HG option.

I’m not going to ask for more to prove your “this is easy” point, as that would be cunty, but out of everyone we could afford that would even improve the squad, I came up with Gray and Lewis fucking Dunk. Maybe Tammy Abraham if the rumours of him and fatty falling out are true. Kalvin Phillips as a massively, massively unlikely option.
 
I think this window is more difficult than any other previously, yes.

More clubs will want to keep their squad intact. Less players will feel a move is right for them or their family. More clubs in the league (where the vast majority of HG are) have more money than previously, so can afford to keep hold of players. So yes, I think this particular window is a nightmare of difficulty.

So looking back at what could have been is not helpful. Although, you have come up with Gray as a possibility and I’ve no huge issue with that move. I don’t think he’s any better than than any of the three you’ve mentioned, but he’s not markedly worse. Not even sure why I think that as he’s not exactly prolific in scoring or assisting, but he is a decent HG option.

I’m not going to ask for more to prove your “this is easy” point, as that would be cunty, but out of everyone we could afford that would even improve the squad, I came up with Gray and Lewis fucking Dunk. Maybe Tammy Abraham if the rumours of him and fatty falling out are true. Kalvin Phillips as a massively, massively unlikely option.

I think it is highly unlikely that we make any moves this window and yes in a vacuum making HG moves this window is tricky but it is because of our poor moves prior that has lead to that not the issue that HG players are tough to get like many constantly try to suggest.

The situation we are in regarding HG players is our own creation not based on outside factors making it tough to manage the HG numbers.
 
I think it is highly unlikely that we make any moves this window and yes in a vacuum making HG moves this window is tricky but it is because of our poor moves prior that has lead to that not the issue that HG players are tough to get like many constantly try to suggest.

The situation we are in regarding HG players is our own creation not based on outside factors making it tough to manage the HG numbers.
That’s fair. But we can only piss with the cock we’ve got, so no point in wishing it were different. It’s becoming tougher to get HG players every season, but we should have done more in the past. Seem to recall a few years ago, we had half a dozen in the England first eleven!

We are in this situation now and need to deal with it. Which will be extremely tough. And it’s why I despair every time I read “sell Winks” “sell Dele” on here. We aren’t selling anyone decent and HG for seasons to come.
 


Everton for £40M I could stomach, or PSG. Think he might work well with Richarlison.

Would like us to sign Sabitzer (or his better) or an Aouar type (again his better would be ideal, fit and agile, quick minded and good passing and tackling, not saying Aouar is all that) and damn the HG consequences (just push out whoever Mourinho deems lowest on his overseas list to accommodate, if sales fall through), or a top CB (that Madrid CB on loan with option would be ideal, making both £ possible from £40M I suspect, maybe £10M on top in 'rising to' clauses).

We could then offer Lamela to an Italian league team on loan, as he's clearly in the dog house (I'd like to keep, but he obviously refuses to read my shit on pH balancing principles and hence just cannot stay fit! And, he very likely wouldn't have caught COVID if he kept his upper fluid pH in a less acidic state as the mucous membrane would make so little get through if fully intact, making it easier for bodies to repel the virus ISO).

Sanchez to anyone for a sensible amount. Poch signed that striker for Southampton he failed with at Espanyol, he has form.
 
I don't think it's true. However:

Dele Alli has not been playing in the bigger matches because in general he has not been playing at his best level since the Covid break. You can argue that he showed some good signs lately (against Stoke and Marine) and that the way Jose handled his situation was not the best. But the truth is that it's not an absurd that he hasn't been given the number 10 role so far this season.

So when you say "I don't really think any of us can blame him", while I understand where you're coming from, you are accepting the way modern footballers deal with things - usually, just by being spoiled millionaires. Dele Alli is still a very young player and having a difficult time for 4 or 5 months of football shouldn't mean the end of the world for his Tottenham career - if he really wants to keep playing for Tottenham. It's up to him to work hard - like Ndombele did.

P.S: who knows, maybe Dele plays an important part in today's match, scores a goal coming from the bench and we'll see the end of these stories - for now. It really could happen.
You make very fair points, and I must stress that I'm not one who wants him to rush out the exit door (certainly not with home grown issues being one of our pressing concerns).

Hopefully there's some kind of pathway back into the first team should he take the opportunity - maybe increasingly competitive Europa League games if we go deep into the knockout stages could help him impress.

I still think there's something in Lamela going this window - José was very very careful in his wording in the last press conference when asked about him and said that he would 'legally' be available for tonight but wouldn't expand on the point further. I think our need to balance foreign player spots, Lamela's injury-prone nature, and the coronavirus silliness from a couple of weeks ago may bring his time at Spurs to an end.
 
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