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Transfers Summer 2016 Transfer Window Thread

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Thin Lilywhite Duke said:
I think you're bringing sentiment into it a little too much. I agree that we shouldn't be kicking out players who deserve a shot unless necessary - but the list you gave there are mostly general CMs as opposed to specific CDMs in the mould of Dier himself.

Dier - number one choice, of course

Dembele - thriving playing alongside the CDM and carrying the ball forward

Carroll and Winks - CMs, and neither appear to have particularly good defensive capabilities

Mason - seems like a good utility player, and has some CDM-like qualities... But I think his ceiling may be about as high as his best displays last season (which I think we could aim for better) and is injury prone. Would rather he slotted in at CM rather than CDM to be honest.

Bentaleb - disconcerting to see his current form post-injury, but have faith he'll come back well. Of these listed, has the best attributes for playing CDM. Would have to see how Poch uses him moving forward.

So considering all that, I think only Dier and Bentaleb are good fits for the CDM position - but the latter has hardly been covering himself in glory recently.
Dier, of course, can also be one of our CB back ups, meaning that depth in CDM is key for times where he needs to be slotted in the back.

TL;DR - if we're in the Champions League next year, I think it's key to add another CDM in - as the long list of midfielders you mentioned are really fighting it out for the other position in central midfield. At least they are if we want to maintain our excellent defensive showings.
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I think you're underselling mason and benteleb. Mason was very very good at the beginning of the year. In terms of number of games played, he's still a young player due to the number of injuries he's had and I believe he can still improve. Especially considering he has only been a CM for a year and a half now. Benteleb obviously has potential, shame he has been injured but he seems determined.

I actually am not a huge Carroll fan. If we had to get rid of someone id say him. He's so suspect defensively and isn't so good offensively to make up for it. If we had the chance to relate Carroll with someone obviously better I would but otherwise I'd be happy to keep him.

Winks deserves a shot and died and dembele don't even have to be talked about.
 
Thin Lilywhite Duke said:
I think you're bringing sentiment into it a little too much. I agree that we shouldn't be kicking out players who deserve a shot unless necessary - but the list you gave there are mostly general CMs as opposed to specific CDMs in the mould of Dier himself.

Dier - number one choice, of course

Dembele - thriving playing alongside the CDM and carrying the ball forward

Carroll and Winks - CMs, and neither appear to have particularly good defensive capabilities

Mason - seems like a good utility player, and has some CDM-like qualities... But I think his ceiling may be about as high as his best displays last season (which I think we could aim for better) and is injury prone. Would rather he slotted in at CM rather than CDM to be honest.

Bentaleb - disconcerting to see his current form post-injury, but have faith he'll come back well. Of these listed, has the best attributes for playing CDM. Would have to see how Poch uses him moving forward.

So considering all that, I think only Dier and Bentaleb are good fits for the CDM position - but the latter has hardly been covering himself in glory recently.
Dier, of course, can also be one of our CB back ups, meaning that depth in CDM is key for times where he needs to be slotted in the back.

TL;DR - if we're in the Champions League next year, I think it's key to add another CDM in - as the long list of midfielders you mentioned are really fighting it out for the other position in central midfield. At least they are if we want to maintain our excellent defensive showings.
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"mostly general CMs as opposed to specific CDMs"

I'm still not one to buy into positions/roles which this is turning into. For someone who isn't a CDM, for example, Mason made a massive amount of tackles and interceptions last year, which is what a CDM does, but he isn't one.

I think a lot of the time we use terms like CDM to help us understand their role, rather than the player doing/having something special. Poch doesn't seem to rate positions/roles that much either; our front 4 rotate like crazy and he insists that Chadli and Son are strikers. That path just leads to disagreements over definitions, which is pretty dull, so I'll stick to more practical questions.

Who would you get rid of, and how would you justify it to the other members of the squad? Do you think this could damage morale (Interesting situation; the squad togetherness is so high that improving the squad could damage it mentally)? Any ideas on the replacement?
 
TDub said:
I think you're underselling mason and benteleb. Mason was very very good at the beginning of the year. In terms of number of games played, he's still a young player due to the number of injuries he's had and I believe he can still improve. Especially considering he has only been a CM for a year and a half now. Benteleb obviously has potential, shame he has been injured but he seems determined.

I actually am not a huge Carroll fan. If we had to get rid of someone id say him. He's so suspect defensively and isn't so good offensively to make up for it. If we had the chance to relate Carroll with someone obviously better I would but otherwise I'd be happy to keep him.

Winks deserves a shot and died and dembele don't even have to be talked about.
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Sorry. I don't want to come across as someone rubbishing any of our players in a malicious way. I love them all, and ideally want to see them flourish. My previous comment was erring on the pessimistic side of things - and I'd be happy if I'm wrong.

Jayc1 said:
"mostly general CMs as opposed to specific CDMs"

I'm still not one to buy into positions/roles which this is turning into. For someone who isn't a CDM, for example, Mason made a massive amount of tackles and interceptions last year, which is what a CDM does, but he isn't one.

I think a lot of the time we use terms like CDM to help us understand their role, rather than the player doing/having something special. Poch doesn't seem to rate positions/roles that much either; our front 4 rotate like crazy and he insists that Chadli and Son are strikers. That path just leads to disagreements over definitions, which is pretty dull, so I'll stick to more practical questions.

Who would you get rid of, and how would you justify it to the other members of the squad? Do you think this could damage morale (Interesting situation; the squad togetherness is so high that improving the squad could damage it mentally)? Any ideas on the replacement?
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To answer that: Carroll and Mason are likely the most expendable if players were brought in that the club thought would be improvements.
Not going to consider Winks in that simply because we've seen nothing of him so far.

I don't think there's any more justification to the other members of the squad needed than 'x player wasn't at the same level as y, wouldn't have got the playing time that he wanted, and so it was felt best they moved on. Just like with Townsend'.
'Oh, and if we're right about this, you'll have better team mates around you to let you excel at your roles'...

Improvements? I did previously mention Wanyama (sorry, but because I think he'd be able to slot in directly for Dier because of that specific CDM position), someone along the lines of Kante for Leicester, perhaps Kramer.

I think your comment on Poch rotating the attacking players so much demonstrates that he doesn't have anyone he thinks can play as the equivalent of Dier (as he's been played almost constantly) - hence the need to bring that person in.
 
Side note, Jayc1 Jayc1 - it's all a moot point really until we see what the transfer committee decides to do in the summer (and how our current players perform until then).

Here's hoping that we're in the champions league, and so have the lion's share of Europe's promising youth.
Onto tomorrow's game! May need a pint now to settle my nerves and get to sleep
:dier:
 
Jayc1 said:
Why on earth would we sign anyone who is happy or willing to sit on the bench?

Fuck that. I want a top class striker who will force Kane to his limits. I want a Walker/Trippier situation, where they spur each other on.

I want people to look at our bench and think, "Holy shit, they're bringing on that 20-30 goal a season striker as well as Kane". I don't want anyone looking at our bench and thinking, "Oh, they're bringing on their relegation striker" or someone of that ilk.

We're a big club. We can focus all our funds and efforts on one position. I want people to fear us. We can become the new United, and we're not going to do that by signing people who will "Make do".

There's no reason why we shouldn't go for "Batman" in France.
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You might want that mate, but I don't think you're going to get it. Poch has spoken several times of the precariousness of bringing in another center forward, without altering the harmony of the squad. Of course you don't want a washed up player who won't even push Kane, but if you're banking on us signing a Lukaku type figure, then I think you'll be disappointed.

Batshuayi perhaps is a good medium between ability and reputation.
 
Batshuayi and Griezmann; we will win the league with these additions, with maybe a young defensive midfielder such as Diego Poyet of Spam to bolster defensive options, saw him play a few times earlier in the season, being from MK and all, very very solid. This is coming from the guy who prayed for Alli last January btw. Lewis Cook of Leeds, Sam Morsy of Wigan and Karol Linetty of Lech Poznań would also be great options from lower or inferior leagues.
 
I think off the ball we're the best in the league, on the ball there's still a lot of work to be done.
We should primarily be focusing on attacking players (Dembele from Fulham) this summer. Another winger would also be a good addition, and perhaps a dm (should we decide to offload one of our midfielders) imo
 
Keeping Poch's squad together & resisting all attempts to sign our players will be the biggest coup of the lot. We can add quality if it's available but the squad is proving to a lot of people, myself included, that perhaps having a squad bursting with big names is not necessarily a guarantee of success in this league. Big name signings can come with the associated problems of big wages & egos that unsettle the group. As far as I'm concerned, whatever Poch says is the right way forward. He has most certainly earned that right this summer
 
The Romanian press have reported today that when Spurs signed Chiriches from Steaua Bucharest they also paid the Romanian side 1.5 million euros for first option on 21-year-old attacking midfielder Gabi Iancu.

At the time, Iancu was considered to be a big prospect but his career is still to fully take off and he is currently struggling to make his mark.

Currently, Iancu is on loan at Turkish second division side Karabükspor.

Chiriches signed for Spurs for 8 million euros. Tottenham and Steaua Bucharest agreed on the Iancu deal on the same day.

In January 2014, four months after agreeing a first option deal on Iancu, Spurs sent scouts to watch the midfielder, who can also play up front.

Spurs agreed to pay 15 million euros if they were to buy Iancu outright even if the Romanian side were to receive a higher bid for the player.

Speculation in the Romanian media is rife that the deal for Iancu was just a way to pay Steaua a little more for Chiriches.

No wonder Franco Baldini is no longer working at Spurs!

Video evidence of Gabi Iancu is below.

 
I haven't seen this posted. Some red hot transfer chat from Levy himself at the latest THST/THFC meeting. Full minutes here: THST/THFC Board to Board Meeting - 10 February 2016

Concerning the January window and transfers in general:

  • KF referenced the consistent message from DL throughout previous meetings in terms of THFC’s long term strategy. Back in November 2014, DL explained that MP would be assessing the squad for fitness, application, attitude etc. and several would be leaving the Club. That’s precisely what has transpired and a great example of how a consistent message can really help fans appreciate the approach
  • DL also explained that transfer funds would be available should MP identify a player he felt could improve our squad. Funds had been available in January. MP was not a manager who believed that by simply spending, the squad would be improved. The decision to not sign a striker was MP’s, and although he would have perhaps liked a young striker, he will only sign a player of the quality that can make a difference
  • DL explained how John McDermott was now in charge of everything below the first team, including the U21’s. There was regular dialogue with J McD and MP and Paul Mitchell regarding recruitment and talent
  • All 3 would be considering whether we have the talent under our first team that we could promote up. The approach is always to try and promote up if possible
  • DL referenced that the Fazio loan deal had been possible because MP, J McD and PM are confident in the abilities of a younger player to step up to the first team if required
  • DL reiterated that money remained available for transfers for the right players. THFC was effectively running 2 different businesses at present – the Football Club and the Stadium
  • In response to fan questions, THST asked when MP would be rewarded with a new contract? DL replied there are 3.5 years left on the current one at this stage
Edit: Just saw the separate thread for this! Anyway, here's the transfer stuff in the transfer thread.
 
sebcole said:
The Romanian press have reported today that when Spurs signed Chiriches from Steaua Bucharest they also paid the Romanian side 1.5 million euros for first option on 21-year-old attacking midfielder Gabi Iancu.

At the time, Iancu was considered to be a big prospect but his career is still to fully take off and he is currently struggling to make his mark.

Currently, Iancu is on loan at Turkish second division side Karabükspor.

Chiriches signed for Spurs for 8 million euros. Tottenham and Steaua Bucharest agreed on the Iancu deal on the same day.

In January 2014, four months after agreeing a first option deal on Iancu, Spurs sent scouts to watch the midfielder, who can also play up front.

Spurs agreed to pay 15 million euros if they were to buy Iancu outright even if the Romanian side were to receive a higher bid for the player.

Speculation in the Romanian media is rife that the deal for Iancu was just a way to pay Steaua a little more for Chiriches.

No wonder Franco Baldini is no longer working at Spurs!

Video evidence of Gabi Iancu is below.

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was a machine in football manager two years ago.
 
How much would it take to get gaitan off benfica? He's a bit older than our usual target range but he is bloody good at being a winger/wide forward. Very unlucky not to score as well.
 
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