Asier Illarramendi (to Real Sociedad)

[muppetman]

Surely our selling point over Liverpool would be that he would be guaranteed playing time which wouldn't be the case at pool? Isn't that essentially why he is leaving Madrid?

 

[PT]

Real Sociadad are in for him according to sources on Twitter.

 

[THFCSPURS19]

Real Sociadad are in for him according to sources on Twitter.

Apparently Southampton want him as well.

Every Spanish media outlet says something different, some say he is close to Sociedad, other say he wants to play in the PL and nothing about Sociedad. No idea who to believe.

Hopefully it goes to a 2-team chase between us and Southampton so we can fuck them over again.

 

[guy]

DailyMail reporting Soton in for him

Would be brilliant to piss off liverpool and soton in one go!

 

[y1dk1d]

Not worried about Southampton. Just because they had a couple of decent seasons and now think they're top 4 contenders it doesn't mean it's true

 

[Firekid]

Not worried about Southampton. Just because they had a couple of decent seasons and now think they're top 4 contenders it doesn't mean it's true

Surly the same could be said of us!?

 

[spursfan77]

Have we been mentioned in the press as being after him?

 

[Drexl]

If he has a choice of liverpool or us he will choose them

They are title contenders, we are fighting for 5th/6th

They have City/Chelsea levels of money to spend

They have Spanish players to help him settle in

They are on another level wages wise

 

[King of the Lane]

Surly the same could be said of us!?

Difference is we have achieved 4th twice in recent years and they haven't.

 

[matthew.absurdum]

If he has a choice of liverpool or us he will choose them

They are title contenders, we are fighting for 5th/6th

Liverpool at best are top4 contenders

 

[yido_number1]

Surly the same could be said of us!?

We've finished 5 or 4 most of the last 6 seasons. We can definitely claim to be top four "contenders" just not actual top four.

 

[Buster18]

Andrew Gaffney ‏@GaffneyVLC 9m9 minutes ago
It’s looking increasingly likely that Illarramendi will return to Real Sociedad this month and NOT join #LFC, #SaintsFC or #COYS.

 

[Drexl]

Liverpool at best are top4 contenders

Disagree tbh

They are starting to gel as a team, were a nightmare to play against last night, outplayed Arsenal (supposedly title contenders) on their own manor, but for Cech and the bar they would have won easily

 

[dave5150]

Difference is we have achieved 4th twice in recent years and they haven't.

Not to talk up another club (especially Liverpool) but they finished second two seasons ago.
We haven't finished second since 62/63.

 

[Spurslove]

If he has a choice of liverpool or us he will choose them

They are title contenders, we are fighting for 5th/6th

They have City/Chelsea levels of money to spend

They have Spanish players to help him settle in

They are on another level wages wise

Title contenders? Really? No, sorry, I just don't see it.

I think we'll be fighting each other for 5th place but I don't see them as top 4.

 

[alfie103]

Surly the same could be said of us!?

You make a fair point but I think we have had a lot more european exposure due to our CL run in 2010/11 and our consistent EL appearances. Plus we have finished in the top 4 twice in the last 6 or 7 years.

 

[Spurslove]

Not to talk up another club (especially Liverpool) but they finished second two seasons ago.
We haven't finished second since 62/63.

Not done much since though, despite having a fantastic global identity and loads of money from the Suarez sale.

 

[Wellspurs]

Not to talk up another club (especially Liverpool) but they finished second two seasons ago.
We haven't finished second since 62/63.

Two factors for this;
1 They had suarez.
2 They didn't have european football.

 

[King of the Lane]

Not to talk up another club (especially Liverpool) but they finished second two seasons ago.
We haven't finished second since 62/63.

We were talking about Soton...not liverpool

 

[Pochie]

Having followed Marca closely over the years, and lived in Madrid myself many years ago, I tend to find their transfer speculation when it comes to both major Madrid clubs pretty reliable. Their latest bit on Illara essentially says that Sociedad desperately want him, but he prefers a move to England. For the second time in the last week or so, Marca seem to strongly intimate that Liverpool are not only interested, but that they are front runners

(http://www.marca.com/en/2015/08/24/en/football/real_madrid/1440407340.html).

Frankly, I can see why the move to Liverpool over us would make sense for him. They have the better squad on paper right now. They have the ability to engage in net spending to improve their squad for the foreseeable future. They will probably offer him bigger wages than us. They have his Spanish U-21 teammate, Alberto Moreno, in their squad to help with the transition to a new country (they won the U-21 Euros together in 2013 and don't underestimate how important something like this can be, as Pedro just cited his relationship with Fabgregas as a factor in why he chose Chelsea). There is also the Xabi Alonso connection.

The other issue for us is where are we going to get the money to sign him on top of Berahino? We haven't had a net spend in 10+ transfer windows. We have about 15 million pounds surplus currently. Even with Fazio and Lennon leaving, that'll barely be enough to cover Berahino. We know Liverpool have no problem spending. Will we?

I think we had our chance to bring in a quality CM, but missed out on Imbula, Mario Suarez, and Cabaye for what appear to be various reasons.

'This is nuts. Levy and Lewis are rolling in dough. Don't be fooled, they just don't like spending. Didn't even spend all the Bale money.