The ITK Discussion Thread - 15th January 2022

Trix said:

How long ago was that Rob, and how many of the players quoted above have signed new contracts since then? An awful lot of players salaries now are tied to very achievable bonuses, are they taken into account or not? It really isn't that simple even if you have a baseline, and as you say that was how long ago. Things have moved on a lot salary wise over the last 4-5 years especially with regards to top earners.

I mean I could tell you quite specifically how much a certain top earner in the game was getting(you know who I mean) and it isn't close to some of the numbers in the press.

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Oooh
I dunno who you mean
Spill the beans aye

sam_mason said:

Jesus Christ there isn't half some shite written under the guise of Football journalism.

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The other day there was a headline on a story on Teamtalk that read "‘I’m convinced’ – next Antonio Conte club named as Tottenham tipped to lose out to ambitious project."

It was Antonio Cassano idly musing he could go to AC Milan. When you scrolled down you literally had this as the quote the story was based on:
“Can Conte return to Italy? I’m making a film myself. He won with Juve, he won with Inter. It occurred to me: I’m convinced that not now, but July 2023, I don’t know why, I don’t know anything, I see him at AC Milan."

Trix said:

Well from my understanding that's not correct. Doesn't change the fact we do need to clear some of these out asap. It's still a lot of money sat at home every Sat/Sun playing Fifa.

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Bang on and it's all part of the transition that Conte/FP will have agreed upon.

I'm guessing there is a balancing act between getting rid of the high earners and higher transfer fee players who are seen as expendable but perhaps not getting rid of all of them IF the perception is that we will then be very light in some areas and that would jeopardise our chances of finishing 4th. But if AC/FP have agreed that e.g. TN,GLC,DA are all not in the plans and Conte feels that with PEH,Skipp,Winks,White? and perhaps surely one new CM signing this Jan that is enough CM cover then absolutely as you say Trix we should be looking to clear these guys out asap whether on loan or permeant sales if possible because its a ton of wages and transfer value to have as you say sitting at home playing fifa/tik-toking each match

As we know, Conte always wants to have a project to win wherever he goes and he wants to be in a position to compete and win as soon as possible. He's said himself that he will need to be patient and the club will need to be patient and he is realistic that 1-2 transfer windows won't suddenly solve all of our problems however I think he's also been in football long enough and is experienced enough to know how to manage and re-shape a squad and if we have some budget but not a huge one then it is even more important to get these high earners off the books asap so then we can bulk up the budget for more players Conte DOES want.

If as you and other ITK's have said, we get 3 in that we want (we all know things change and it could end up being 0-3 in) looking like a RWB, CM and attacking player AND if we move on say 2-3 of TN,DA,GLC, ideally all 3 then that will have been a hugely successful January in moving us a good chunk forwards to having more the type of squad that Conte wants, then we can look to add a good 4-5 in summer and I think we will then look a completely different and better outfit under Conte next season.

At this point the outgoings are almost as important as the incomings so a very big week ahead. Great to hear earlier from @Hotspur88 I think it was who said that we have more/serious interest than usual in the players who we want rid of as that has been a big issue previously.

COYS.

Rob said:

Yeah, that's why I said baseline. You can assume no one's salary went down. If Alli was on 80k 3 years ago, he's on more than that now and maybe significantly more (for example).

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Which is fair.

whitechina said:

Oooh
I dunno who you mean
Spill the beans aye

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Oh ok you've twisted my arm.

If we are going to start seeing people posting links from dubious sources then we're going to have a problem. Well, the people doing it are anyway. We've had three virtually one after the other in the last couple of hours.

If said dubious source is quoting a reliable source, then find it and use that.

Let's not allow this thread slide totally down the shitter so before it gets out of hand you have to play your part in that. Thanks.,

Trix said:

Has he actually said we need to sell in order to bring anyone in?

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Basically he kept emphasising a few weeks ago on a podcast, that we really need to sell first & business/opportunities won’t be done until the final week/days of window.

Trix said:

Was also reported by others as well. Might just be a bit of gun jumping going on, as it is very close.

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The minute i saw AT play for Wolves albeit for only 15mins i knew it hadn't been agreed lol

Archibald&Crooks said:

If we are going to start seeing people posting links from dubious sources then we're going to have a problem. Well, the people doing it are anyway. We've had three virtually one after the other in the last couple of hours.

If said dubious source is quoting a reliable source, then find it and use that.

Let's not allow this thread slide totally down the shitter so before it gets out of hand you have to play your part in that. Thanks.,

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I take it the ever-dubious SSN is now blacklisted then?

Duke of Northumberland said:

Nothing changed? Bergwijn still deemed surplus? I thought it was disappointing yesterday again.

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Gosh! 17 disagrees! Looks like I got that wrong then!!

13VanDerBale13 said:

Basically he kept emphasising a few weeks ago on a podcast, that we really need to sell first & business/opportunities won’t be done until the final week/days of window.

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Well like I say as far as I've been told we don't need to sell to buy. As for the other bit's that's just January all over. Unless you are prepared to over pay or the selling club is desperate to get rid cheaply the last week is where it is always going to be done.

freeeki said:

I take it the ever-dubious SSN is now blacklisted then?

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No, I misread that.

Let's not get into what you take and where you take it

Duke of Northumberland said:

Gosh! 17 disagrees! Looks like I got that wrong then!!

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You certainly got which thread to post that in very wrong. Learn from that?

dovahkiin said:

valenciayid:
on signings: 2-3
I know you’d like that but….will tomorrow be Traore Tuesday
If the opportunity exists, We MUST get rid of Ndom, GLC and Dele, they are raping our budget

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Not a big fan of the club starting to brief against players like Alli. To be fair to him his form has just declined and he doesn't get picked. He tries hard and is hardly ever injured. Saying he's raping our budget is unfair.

Hope he gets a good move and as unlikely as it is finds that early career form again.

I may be contentious here but I don't believe for one moment we will intentionally lose out on a player we really want and have put in months of work on because we haven't closed a deal to get rid of someone we really don't.
We may drop out of a maybe if we haven't sorted the outs but that's different. Surely it's more that we want to confirm sales before we close deals to buy but that is surely just good practice.
What I am certain of is that the ITK is telling us in no uncertain terms that people are working their socks off to get deals done and are quite hopeful.
I'm down with that.

yido_number1 said:

Not a big fan of the club starting to brief against players like Alli. To be fair to him his form has just declined and he doesn't get picked. He tries hard and is hardly ever injured. Saying he's raping our budget is unfair.

Hope he gets a good move and as unlikely as it is finds that early career form again.

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Completely agree. And the language is terrible. A player getting paid what we agreed to pay him isn't "raping our budget". For me that statement means we have no additional budget and we are trying to blame current players for that.

yido_number1 said:

Not a big fan of the club starting to brief against players like Alli. To be fair to him his form has just declined and he doesn't get picked. He tries hard and is hardly ever injured. Saying he's raping our budget is unfair.

Hope he gets a good move and as unlikely as it is finds that early career form again.

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Totally agree. ??

Traore is doable, he is clearly a main target and it is going to get done, I have no doubts of that.

With regards other incomings, I am sure there are multiple options and there will be some more attractive ones that would likely depend on a few outgoings, even if it just a question of freeing up some wages. Particularly valid in January where loans can be a good option.

So Traore to be announced soon and then I suspect it will be a question of juggling lots of alternatives in both directions right until the final minutes of the window

dovahkiin said:

valenciayid:
on signings: 2-3
I know you’d like that but….will tomorrow be Traore Tuesday
If the opportunity exists, We MUST get rid of Ndom, GLC and Dele, they are raping our budget

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yido_number1 said:

Not a big fan of the club starting to brief against players like Alli. To be fair to him his form has just declined and he doesn't get picked. He tries hard and is hardly ever injured. Saying he's raping our budget is unfair.

Hope he gets a good move and as unlikely as it is finds that early career form again.

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Real_madyidd said:

Completely agree. And the language is terrible. A player getting paid what we agreed to pay him isn't "raping our budget". For me that statement means we have no additional budget and we are trying to blame current players for that.

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Unless I'm missing something here, this from Val isn't a quote from the club is it?

You're both reacting like this was an intentional briefing or statement from the club, but unless I'm mistaken seems to be the ITK's choice of words.

I assume (but I could be wrong, and always am as my wife would happily tell you) that selling these players/getting them off the payroll will allow us an even bigger potential spend under FFP should we secure the additional investment that was recently spoken about.

I believe valenciayid was saying that with dele and lo Celso on maybe 60-80k and ndombele around 150-200k they are raping our budget right now in terms of the structure. to have the 3 highest-paid midfielders in the club on the bench does create a fucked up situation and therefore without them leaving, they are fucking up our budget... that's just facts and nothing personal against them

If we are going for a new starting midfielder, that midfielder will just look at those 3 and expect to have a similar type of salary or even higher which makes the situation impossible in terms of negotiating a fair contract.