-unsure
-hope it's true
-bs

Recent stories say Dzeko in for 25m, J Cole in, Jenas out, Keane out for 15m, Pav possibly to Lokomotive Moscow and Ledesma in for a little 1.5m sum.

Surely too good to be true.

Dzeko: Can't see him signing for us, but I think he would be a great signing because I see him as a player who can not only score goals, but also play alone up front (in the unlikely event that Arry will ever try it).

Cole: Can only see us signing him if Chelski get Modric in return, so I don't really fancy a deal here. Great player though, and if he wants to come without any strings attached then I'm all for it.

Keane: Might be headed for Villa, but I don't want him at a rival club. He may be finished at Spurs, but we shouldn't strengthen Villa - Keano is simply too good.

Pavlyuchenko: For a decent fee I wouldn't mind letting him go, but he is good enough to be part of our strike force.

Ideal: If we could really get Dzeko in and keep Gudjohnsen we could ship out Keane and Pav and have a more versatile strike force I think.

Keep Keane and get rid of Mr Offside instead

That would give us four strikers without pace or youth. Not a good plan.

... other than the up and coming youth players ... :wink:

I would be delighted if we get £15m for Keane. It wouldn't surprise me if Levy pulls that off. Sign Gudjohnsen for a fraction of that and we're talking of some great business there.

Would be thrilled if we 10 million for Keane as he is way past his prime and struggled for what 2 years now? John Hartson scored goals in the SPL so hard to judge that league at all.

As for Cole, would rather go young and bring in Turan or Jovetic but can see the positives of bringing someone over with as much experience in the Champions League as Cole has, he also has something to prove as his last year coming back from injury has been less than inspiring.

I'm delighted to note I'm not the only one who despairs of Defoe's pitiful grasp of the offside law, the understanding of which should be a prerequisite for even a Conference striker.

Not up to Chelsea, is it? He's out of contract, so he'll come if he wants to, which I find pretty plausible apart from the potential stumbling block on wages.

If Cole and Dzeko did come, I'd feel like we were one experienced and versatile defender away from a perfect summer.

Everyone keeps forgetting that Cole is on a free!!!

Cole in - great - where he would be put?, left side of mid. So, Modie in the middle, with ? - Hudd/Sanny/Wilson not to mention Jenas/O'Hara who are still here.

Would be great though - only stumbling block could be wages, unless given that we are now we are Champs League, that will be upped.

Cole, Dzeko and Richards were who I (realistically) wanted. Would that count?

cole on free transfer = massive wage expectations.

tottenham wage structure = cole going elsewhere

end of.

but the fact that he is coming in on a free may free up some money for more wages, much in the way that Judas got most of his "transfer fee" in wages over the course of his contract. i.e pay him an extra 5-10 million over the 4 years or so of his contract.

I think we'll brake the wage structure for that reason... Just this once of course and justify it by the fact he's coming in on a free... Wouldnt be oposed to it, as long as its made clear to other players that its a one off.

Cole's 'signing on' fee will make up most of his wage demands. Instead of paying him 120K a week give him a tidy little sum to sign with us and then we reduce the wage and keep it within the club's structure.

5M 'signing on' fee and 65,000 a week over 3 years. That matches the 100K a week over 3 years which is reportedly what he is asking for.

I'd add that there isn't a salary cap, in the sense of a strict maximum salary, at Tottenham. I've heard about this enough times, I think, to know how they do this. The overall wage bill is controlled, as a percentage of turnover. I read recently that we presently have wages at 53% of turnover, which is very low, compared to the other top Premiership clubs. It's a key indicator for financial health and makes us look worth investing in - more importantly for current purposes, it makes us a more attractive proposition for anyone who might want to lend money for a stadium development.

The reason why Levy avoids signing players on very high individual salaries is because of the "me-too" effect and how it would drive up the overall wage bill as a percentage of turnover.

That's why the signing-on fee idea is so attractive in this kind of circumstance. It doesn't count toward wages and it doesn't provoke quite so much "me-too", but it does get the player a comparable amount of money as he would have had on a higher headline wage.

This does make me chuckle about us fans, "keane is finished, not good enough anymore"

"But please don't sell him to a rival club, as he would strengthen them"

Please tell me , if he is not good enough for us, why would he strengthen a rival club???