To summarize it's a game of Chinese whispers. We all know that. Whenever anyone gets info when they pass that on it always changes slightly with your own bias or opinion thrown in. Even unknowingly.
There were whispers it was neves but it was never confirmed by any itk on here
I wouldn't take him at this point. He's hugely inconsistent, on massive wages and has the face of a slapped arse when he isn't playing - pretty sure he's had attitude problems over the years and is always moaning that he should play up front when he's not a no.9. Hard avoid.
I would have put it in the summer transfer rating thread myself mateI'm guessing this is the thread we're using to review the transfer window? because prepare for a novel
Summer Window
I think if there's one thing we learnt last year it's that it's foolish to say whether a transfer window was good or bad when it closes and you need a large part of the season to see if the window has left the club heading in the right trajectory. So I'd say the feeling I have is that we'll look back on this summer as a mostly positive window.
I think I'd give it a 6.5/10, 3 points for a superb job on the outgoings, 3 points for the quality of the signings we did make and a cheeky .5 additional because signing Romero, I think on last season you'd argue he was among the best inform CB's in the world so that is a coup.
I think to get the remaining 3.5, I'd say 2 points weren't gained because there's still gaps in the squad and the remaining 1.5 I think would have been had we filled those gaps with a top top signing like the Vlahovic's and Martinez's of the world.
Positives
So I think largely a summer where it's a step in the right direction for the long term future of the club and it makes clear that this is a transitional season with expectations low. I think all of us were of course hoping that we'd really push the boat out in order to close the gap on the top 4's quality and it's a shame it didn't.
I think every single signing we made on paper looks a good signing, I don't think we signed any player we are underwhelmed by and I think in Romero, Gill, Gollini and Sarr that we have signed some massive potential. I think as I said above outgoings were superb and there's not a single player who left who fans will necessary be ruing even if a few cult favourites did have to depart, we were aggressive in that area.
Another positive is that vs Watford on Sunday there was a glaring problem which was Japhet being the man in that danger area and we went out and bought a player which means we can adjust our system and fix that issue so I like seeing that approach to our business.
Negatives
The way I was looking at the final week of business was that over the first 3 games I could see a few areas glowing red which could cause problems in our season, I liken them to bullets in the chamber. I thought with certain business we could get a few bullets out of so that the odds of our season suffering from them would be significantly lowered.
I'd say they are 1. Although Dier and Sanchez have started strong defensively (long may it continue), we would be taking a risk to think that their mistakes won't rear their ugly head over the course in the season. Both have shown that they can have a good run of games and then all of a sudden a mistake is made and they go on a bad run. Of course we have Romero but we will need at least one of these CB's to keep their form consistently. For me this was the lowest risk of them all and I'd back Nuno in this department due to his time at Valencia, if there was a risk to take in not doing business then not signing an additional CB I think was the one to take but it's still a risk worth highlighting. My hope is that Sanchez fulfils the promise that caused us to sign him in the first place.
2. Trusting Lo Celso and Ndombele to be our centre midfield creative spark. I've banged the give these guys a chance drum as hard as anybody this summer, I hope they come good, I mean I'm desperate for it quite frankly but the reality is it's a huge risk to trust that one of these two will finally use their undoubted ability to consistently be the top player in the middle of the park we need. I think signing Aouar would have just given us peace of mind and I was hoping we'd pull the trigger there. It's time for these two to come good.
3. The lack of an additional goalscorer. The big one for me. I would love nothing more than Dane Scarlett to come in and absolutely smash it but I'm really concerned by the pressure we'd be putting on those young shoulders. We really should have done some business in this area, I think there's little excuse for it quite frankly. We saw how Son and Kane got crowded out vs Watford because they're well aware they're our only threats. If one gets injured then we will end up running the other into the ground. The Christmas period is going to be grueling on them and we're banking on players coming good to alleviate the pressure on them. I think this will cost us a lot of points whether they're injured or not and for me this was the mistake of the summer.
So those are the 3 areas we need a lot of luck, we need Kane and Son to stay fit and not be burnt into the ground, we need our creative midfielders to come good and we need our defenders to consistently show the fine form they've done so far this season.
The only other hair in the soup for me was disappointment with Paratici, all this talk about being on the phone 24/7 and multiple deals and options and this and that and in the end, the same thing happened as it always does. We go big for a player early in the summer (martinez 70 million) We then go for a player out of our reach and then the money we had for Martinez disappeared when it was time to pay up for Traore (If that was because Nuno agreed that he wasn't worth that then I'm fine with that) And there was no back up option when that fell flat. I thought Paratici was going to bring in a Kvaratskhelia or something along those lines when Traore inevitably fell flat. Somebody who fans would feel was the cheap option but end up coming good but that didn't happen. So I think overall Paratici had a great summer with a lot of deals but just that final bit where there wasn't a creative option I thought that was a shame as I thought that would be the difference he'd make compared to previous years.
Nuno
Regardless of the negatives and to be use an annoying Cliche, he's the biggest signing of the summer reallly isn't he. A transfer window can only be judged relative to what is already in the squad. The squad looked awful last year but in a matter of weeks Nuno has improved individuals. They're so many players who are not fulfilling their potential at the moment in the forward areas. They're players who should be adding our creative spark, have the ability to add 10 goals to their game a season. I think we're pinning it all on Nuno to extract every drop out of this squad. I think he's already proving himself to be a man who gets more out of the squad than the sum of his parts and there's a lot of parts that we have that are yet to be properly integrated so let's see what he can do.
Squad balance
At the start of the summer I made a thread that although we spend a lot of money, we seem to spend it in a stupid way which creates an unbalanced squad. I was about ready with my kermit gif when we had 4 rb's and 3 lb's but we came to an agreement with Aurier and I think given the style of Davies and Tanganga, if we switch to a back 3 then it looks okay but clearly having 6 fb's and 1 senior striker is not a good squad balance. What I'd say is that I think we came a long way this window to making a dent in the problem and that we have to accept that during a transitional season that the squad will not be perfectly balanced.
Next summer with Kane going, I reckon Ndombele will come good and we'll cash in, I think next summer we will make some big moves and I don't expect next summer to be considered a transition, I expect us to have a well balanced squad.
Overall
So yeah positive window I feel, one we'll look back on in a couple of years and think wow that window was when we planted the seeds with the players carrying the team today. I think that I'm not expecting too much attacking football this season. I think this season Nuno will be working with a system which is more needs must, based on solidity and not conceding and forcing the goals to get us over the line. I was annoyed all summer that Levy wasn't sticking to what he laid out to the fans but what I've seen so far, makes me happy to be a spurs fan again. Being 1-0 up and pinning back watford instead of dropping back 20 yards, that's what I was after. I'm happy with a more robust system as long as we're trying to take the game to them rather than clinging on.
Anyway sorry for the novel, I needed this off of my mind and by writing it all out, I'm hoping it's gone now
Made of glass too and another stroppy bugger
Seriously overrated player
I would have put it in the summer transfer rating thread myself mate
He's not. And they're light green
Yes, you’re right but N’Dom hasn’t played as he doesn’t fit the profile or the effort required.
