Transfers The Summer Transfer Edging Thread 2025

[FightingIllini]

Five seasons of spend, spend, spend, for what, an FA Cup?

They spent a fortune 22/23 and 23/24 to gain 0.1 point a game.

Then last season reduced that by 0.3 of a point per game.

Throwing money at the problem just doesn't work, their run in the CL again failed, despite spending huge sums of money.

"We won the EL because we were in it" is a daft statement, a team can only beat the opposition that they face whatever the competition.

The year Woolwich won the FA Cup in some rounds they faced such stellar opposition such as Leeds, Bournemouth, Pompey, Sheffield United, Man City and Chelsea. Hardly tough games up until the semi-finals.

Perspective needed.

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Woolwich are streets beyond us on the pitch, with the gap in investment being a critical factor.

Woolwich are also caught in a cul-de-sac as a "nearly" team with an increasingly absurd set of culture and tactics around a bottle job manager and money alone probably can't fix that.

Both things can be true.

 

[LeParisien]

Frank has agreed to the signing of Tel, Takei and looks like he will add Kudus as well.

Frank is in his fourth week, Arteta is entering his sixth season.

Currently Woolwich are possibly two levels above us, but which side won silverware last season despite being decimated by injuries?

It's not about how much you spend or how quickly, it's all about on who you spend it on, or were N'Dombele, Soldado, Paulhino, Chiriches and the like ( the latter all brought in one swoop) the answer to glory.

We have never, and will never buy from the very top tier, and looking for potential such as DJ, Bergvall, Gray, Udogie, Micky and a couple of seasons ago Romero is where we are and will remain at.

If anyone wants to judge a team by the size of their cheque book, then perhaps they are following the wrong club?

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Amazing.

The same people who said the only metric to judge a club by is trophies… are now pumping up the big 6 club who has gone the longest without a trophy.



Fans who care more about the transfer window than the season.

 

[Rebrov_Likes]

Players who became elite at 24 or later?

Raheem Sterling, Harry Kane, Virgil Van Dijk, Luka Modric, it happens.

Sterling is a good example of the trajectory we would hope for Kudus.

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Sterling was unreal for Liverpool in their Gerrard no slip season.

 

[Notabadsquad]

Frank has agreed to the signing of Tel, Takei and looks like he will add Kudus as well.

Frank is in his fourth week, Arteta is entering his sixth season.

Currently Woolwich are possibly two levels above us, but which side won silverware last season despite being decimated by injuries?

It's not about how much you spend or how quickly, it's all about on who you spend it on, or were N'Dombele, Soldado, Paulhino, Chiriches and the like ( the latter all brought in one swoop) the answer to glory.

We have never, and will never buy from the very top tier, and looking for potential such as DJ, Bergvall, Gray, Udogie, Micky and a couple of seasons ago Romero is where we are and will remain at.

If anyone wants to judge a team by the size of their cheque book, then perhaps they are following the wrong club?

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Good post. Understand.

I wasn't saying we should be where Arsemal are,but it's also wrong to talk of clubs only in relation to the tenure of a manager.

A strategy or a direction.can't be solely an assessment based on managerial change.

On the Europa, I will never ever move from that law of large numbers. We had to win something at some point, and because it was us, of course it arrived when Nostradocglou gave his 2nd year prediction.

I want to see us in that top 6 next season, as well as doing something of note in the cups, even if we don't win one.

That means a better transfer window than the best signing being Kudus, in my opinion.

I also hope some of our other players develop quickly under Frank, which is the one big unknown.

 

[Richard Arlison]

People are gushing over Gyokeres like he's 21 and has a reason for being totally absent from top flight football, but 27 year old Dom is on the decline from here...

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Gyokeres is 27 as well

 

[FightingIllini]

Sterling was always good, pretty much.

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Kudus is GOOD. But like the young Sterling he can dribble past anybody then doesn't make a strong impact thereafter.

Sterling was unreal for Liverpool in their Gerrard no slip season.

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Unreal for an 18/19 year old.

It was under Pep's tutelage that he (briefly) became a superstar.

 

[Deleted member 19340]

People are gushing over Gyokeres like he's 21 and has a reason for being totally absent from top flight football, but 27 year old Dom is on the decline from here...

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Dunno where I said he’s in decline, just that he’s likely as good as he’ll ever be right now, but ok.

 

[ThePreacher]

Jesus man you are reading the wrong stuff online. Do you know what happened with Bissouma? Wasn't even him

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Yves Bissouma can breathe a sigh of relief. Tottenham's recent new signing has been completely acquitted of sexual assault allegations back in 2021.

Bissouma was arrested on 6th October 2021 at a night club in Brighton, while he was still playing for the 'seagulls'. Finally, after a three month long investigation, he has been acquitted.

"A man in his twenties, in Brighton, who was arrested on suspicion of sexual assualt, has been released without action being taken", a spokesperson from Sussex police told the 'Daily Mail'.

Another person was involved and, in fact, still is: "A man in his 40s, from Brighton, who was arrested on suspicion of sexual assault, has had his conditional bail extended until July 4, 2022."

 

[FightingIllini]

Dunno where I said he’s in decline, just that he’s likely as good as he’ll ever be right now, but ok.

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Right, and the same is true of Gyokeres, the critical difference being that Gyokeres is MUCH better right now.

We'll see. I hope PL defending causes him to fall to pieces. But we've seen this kind of "kick a hole through the net" basher in Haaland before and even as a very technically limited player he's pretty devastating.

 

[Ed Vanderlay]

Frank has agreed to the signing of Tel, Takei and looks like he will add Kudus as well.

Frank is in his fourth week, Arteta is entering his sixth season.

Currently Woolwich are possibly two levels above us, but which side won silverware last season despite being decimated by injuries?

It's not about how much you spend or how quickly, it's all about on who you spend it on, or were N'Dombele, Soldado, Paulhino, Chiriches and the like ( the latter all brought in one swoop) the answer to glory.

We have never, and will never buy from the very top tier, and looking for potential such as DJ, Bergvall, Gray, Udogie, Micky and a couple of seasons ago Romero is where we are and will remain at.

If anyone wants to judge a team by the size of their cheque book, then perhaps they are following the wrong club?

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Right club , wrong owners

 

[ThePreacher]

Years of ENIC have conditioned you into believing this. We are one of the richest clubs in Europe. Look at our fanbase at the trophy parade. We should be setting our sights much higher than "finishing above Brighton and Forest".

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"Look at our fanbase at the trophy parade"

More fans a season go through the turnstiles than were at the EL parade.

Brighton and Forest, along with Newcastle, Villa, are the teams we need to overcome next season, then be aiming at a top four.

We were never good enough to compete last season due to injuries and a flawed game plan and training regime from a manager who was totally out of his depth.

 

[dudu]

Jesus elevated them at a lower price point.

I'm also a longtime Havertz defender, but I take the point.

Still, and this gets to the Kudus thing, all of Jesus, Havertz, and Gyokeres had ceilings as elite players when Woolwich bought them.

Richy, Solanke and Kudus are all good players, but they have always been flawed in a way that means they will never even approach world class. I just don't see how it makes sense to be in that price range for players like that when just a *little* higher breaks into another tier.

Penny wise, pound foolish. All tactics, no strategy. The eternal refrains.

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Jesus kinda elevated them but he got injured and missed most of their games and has been pretty shit since, so i disagree on that one.

Also Jesus and Havertz were not seen as players with elite ceilings when Arsneal bought them - Havertz was when Chelsea bought him, perhaps..... but not when they sold him....

Havertz was also the biggest joke in football in his first season there.

He did ok - had a hot streak of what 13 goals over a few games, but Richarlison still scored more goals than him per 90 that season.....

I don't disagree RE Richy, Solanke - but Richy was bought while we still had Kane and Son at the club and the striker market last season was dead - no one bought anyone of any note up front - do you not think Woolwich would have last season had they could.....

 

[Notabadsquad]

Kudus is GOOD. But like the young Sterling he can dribble past anybody then doesn't make a strong impact thereafter.


Unreal for an 18/19 year old.

It was under Pep's tutelage that he (briefly) became a superstar.

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Sterling was very good before he turned 20. That's it. He was always going to do well, and it's quite a surprise he dipped so quickly.

2 more.

 

[CJJ]

Gyokeres is 27 as well

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That was the implied bit. People seem to talk about him like he was at Coventry at 18, rather than 25. Adam Armstrong got the same 21 in 46 in the Championship for Southampton the season after Gyokores left.

I could well be wrong, and I'm sure scoring for Southampton is harder than it would be at an Woolwich type club, but I get the feeling he's just a bit of a Vincent Janssen - an above average (but not at all great) player in a below average league

 

[ThePreacher]

Years of ENIC have conditioned you into believing this. We are one of the richest clubs in Europe. Look at our fanbase at the trophy parade. We should be setting our sights much higher than "finishing above Brighton and Forest".

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You could also argue that years of ENIC have conditioned many fans and put them into a denial mode of the way that ENIC operate.

After a quarter of a century of ownership if any Spurs fan fails to understand ENIC's business model then I truly feel sorry for them.

 

[Notabadsquad]

Gyokeres is 27 as well

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Yes, that's the risk, but also at thr point where 3 or 4 good years is gold dust to them.

It's whether the bloke can do it. It's an unknown but it's a risk I can understand them taking, at a time when premium strikers just don't exist.

That's why Levy was bang-on to stick the 150 million tag on Kane 3 years ago.

 

[FightingIllini]

We have never, and will never buy from the very top tier

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[Shotgunofmichalebrow]

Yves Bissouma can breathe a sigh of relief. Tottenham's recent new signing has been completely acquitted of sexual assault allegations back in 2021.

Bissouma was arrested on 6th October 2021 at a night club in Brighton, while he was still playing for the 'seagulls'. Finally, after a three month long investigation, he has been acquitted.

"A man in his twenties, in Brighton, who was arrested on suspicion of sexual assualt, has been released without action being taken", a spokesperson from Sussex police told the 'Daily Mail'.

Another person was involved and, in fact, still is: "A man in his 40s, from Brighton, who was arrested on suspicion of sexual assault, has had his conditional bail extended until July 4, 2022."

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They were both acquitted and Bissouma was never considered a suspect after the initial interview. It was some one touched my bottom as I heard it.

 

[Notabadsquad]

You could also argue that years of ENIC have conditioned many fans and put them into a denial mode of the way that ENIC operate.

After a quarter of a century of ownership if any Spurs fan fails to understand ENIC's business model then I truly feel sorry for them.

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I think I can be pragmatic and usually will argue for sense amidst the madness, but Levy created the demon of expectation with his "but we want to win the PL comment" which was completely unnecessary when he rightly sacked Postecoglou.

 

[Shotgunofmichalebrow]

I won't bother after a long day's work going back through this thread to see all the juciy links and lined up deals. If we are relitigating Bissouma non charge we must be back to in praise of Roman Abramovich and aren't Woolwich great. DEPRESSING.