The good thing is every player has a little bit of competition now that's better than it was last year. Winks has another year under his belt vs Dembele, Wanyama now has direct competition with Dier for that CM slot after our investments in Sanchez and Foyth freed him up from his defensive duties and if things aren't working out for Alli or Eriksen in. Game we have the capabilities of switching to a 4-4-2 with Llorente the target man and Kane dropping a little deeper like he sometimes does when starved of the ball in matches. With Kane's ability to drop wide or deep and Llorentes hold up play/ power in the air it gives more power back to the manager which is vital for Mauricio as we have less issues when a player is in bad form/ don't training well , or has a bad attitude etc.
Top of Pochettinos wish list to his scouting network should be a GK that's about 23,24 who can take over from Hugo in a couple of seasons time/ when his reflexes start waning, a young Maura udon for LB/ LWB to compete with Danny Rose as of next summer, a young CM to compete with Dembele (I think this will end up being Barkley and I think he'll flourish in a slightly different role to what he's used to doing this), a young DM that is as close to (I hate to say it) Viera as possible.
The next Dele Alli, Sancho seemed perfect for this but we move on as Man City seem to have stitched us up, and the next Christian Eriksen in case he starts feeling like he needs the next stage of his career to kick in. I'd love him to stay but ultimately it'll be down to Christian if he wants to stay or do, the same applies to Dele but a couple of years down the line, he really shouldn't even be considering a move for at least 3 more years.
Kane, well Llorente is a great short term option and the right guy for the next step I feel. Prem experience, legs are going a bit, nice hold up play and I read somewhere he's 6ft5. Tall, strong, good feet and intelligent with an array of medals that demonstrate he commands respects from the dressing room. If we can get 2 years out of Llorente wonderful but I feel he'll be here for a year and end up somewhere like the MLS for his career send off. All we ask Fernando is that you work hard, keep that hunger and do all you can to bring us our first title in over 50 years. You'll forever go down as a legend if you are able to do so.
Lloris/ New GK/ Gazzaniga
Aurier/ KWP
Rose/ New young LB
Sanchez/ Alderweireld/ Vertonghen/ Foyth
Dier/ New young Defensive CM
Dembele/ New young Box to Box Mid / Winks
Eriksen/ New young creative mid
Alli/ new next Dele/ new young speedy winger
Kane/ New hot young striker (18 year old etc) / Llorente
7 players, all coming in as backup but all earmarked for the first team in the future when their senior rivals/ colleagues start fading a little. The most important thing is that Tottenham Hotspur don't find themselves in a situation where if they lose a player like in the past with Bale etc, the hard work done so far purely turns into profit. We should have ready made players to step in if we lose someone like Eriksen or Dele one day where if they don't come off how we hoped they would we can go and buy, similar to the Walker/ Trippier/ Aurier situation.
For me the players who will find themselves on the fringes by the end of the season will be:
Vorm, Trippier, Davies, Wanyama, Sissoko, GKN, Son, Janssen (Son will be up there with Giroud and Martial as one of the best impact players in the league and will start a lot of games but inevitably will become a squad rotation player as our calibre of quality when attracting a defender grows) will one day turn a tidy profit of roughly £140-£150m if they are unable to offer much as we evolve a year or two down the line and with that money, along with the stadium revenue we should be able to get the best youngsters in the world to come, learn and grow like we have seen Rose, Walker, Eriksen, Dele and Kane do.
I'm getting ahead of myself (clearly
) but after seeing Spurs damaged in the past due to players leaving as well as it becoming obvious that we look to balance the books as much as we balance the team, I reckon Poch should be and will be focusing on these areas for his scouting network to identify the right talent and attitudes over the next couple of windows. If the players I've mentioned regarding moving on perform then great, I just see them as the ones whose talent can be replaced easiest and whose value will start dropping if they aren't playing (and we all know Levy loves to get maximum profits out of players that have served the club for their purpose and potential).
OK that's sorted my start to the morning, now for a fry up
ochlol:
