Leandro Damiao

[haxman]

If true, so much for our "partnership" with Inter. Outside of the Sandro deal which also took ages to sort, it seems all it's brought is extra difficulty in transfer negotiations.

There's got to be other options out there that are easier to get.

 

[SteveH]

Dont get all these inter-club deals they dont seem to work on the surface.

I dont think we can afford the lad. So we try to haggle and Levy tries to do the best with money at his disposal. But this leads to all this anti Levy rubbish when it fails.

We are not shopping in the same market as Wenger did for the likes Olivier Giroud. We are trying to go upmarket for the Joao Moutinho's and dont think we cannot afford this, thus a lot of ducking diving and our fans go ape when this does not work i.e. loosing out on Leandro Damiao.

We 'the fan' are not living in the real world. Levy tries and sometimes fails, I'm fine with this.

 

[Hitch]

I wish that we could have just gone out and got Luuk De Jong or someone like that. I'm sure that he's probably not of the same standard as Leandro, and others will probably have better suggestions, but he's at least of a good quality and would have fulfilled an essential need. If he doesn't quite reach the level we want then due to his age he won't have lost too much value, thus we can move him on and try again. Better that than forever going into every season with square pegs for round holes in key areas. If we can't bring in any superstars then let's just at least make sure that we have a well rounded, complete looking squad full of young players with upside, ready to challenge through the duration of the 50-65 games ahead.

What annoys me so much about our targeting of players like Leandro, Llorente and Moutinho is not that we try to get them in the first place, but that we fail bring in any alternatives when those deals fail. We're now, once again, left entirely reliant upon a brainless midget to act as chief back up for a lone striking role that he is entirely unsuited for. Sure we might have a better chance of getting Leandro or whoever by waiting until the next window but that's at minimum another 4-5 months lost. That could cost us the extra few points needed to make the CL which then in turn makes signing top players next summer equally difficult. It also increases the likelihood of losing players like Gareth Bale. A copy of what happened last summer and the one before that basically. Frustrating, because we have a squad that's so close to challenging but we're always missing out those vital couple of cogs that could make all the difference. It's an endless cycle atm that we need to get out of.

 

[beats1]

Rooney in decline? Hernandez only good as a sub?

Please don't apply to be a football scout.

Rooney has been shit in preseason and for the first team, I never saw why Fergie wanted RVP but I understood as soon as I saw rooney play this season and he was rubbish vs Barca and his slice when missing a open goal was shocking and surprising

 

[chinaman]

Trying to punch above our weight only leads to bloodied nose.

 

[Toela65]

Only found all this out yesterday so thought I'd share as I know how linked you have been with Leandro.

L'pool were contacted by Damiao's Agent and a Rep of Inter to see if we were interested to take him on loan to help him develop his game for European football. They only wanted to give us first refusal but we managed to get them to agree a fixed price of about £18m as well as a 2m loan fee. However, all three parties had to agree to transfer at end of loan in Summer though.

We spent hours on this on deadline day as it came totally out the blue and we were desperate for a young striker that fitted FSGs transfer rules/criteria.

Just when we thought it was done the Inter President fella got involved and increased the loan fee and the fixed fee for the option to buy permanently. After more haggling Ayre was sick of him, thought he was arsing around and pulled out. Shame as it was a lot closer than anyone realises. Liverpool weren't the only club to be offered him, and I reckon he may of been offered Utd too (just my opinion).

We were planning on going in back in January but we believe Inter are already in negotiations with Utd now who are desperate to get him due to the issues with Rooney, so were not going to bother again unless Utd decide to pull out or a deal breaks down which, with that dick head President, definitely could happen. If a top 4 team comes in, we pull out now.

Be very interesting to see what happpens with this lad in January now but I reckon with that President, and with a good few clubs interested, he could start asking ridiculous prices for him.

Him plus Levy and the way he is, is probably why Spurs have never managed to get the transfer over the line.

 

[SandroClegane]

Only found all this out yesterday so thought I'd share as I know how linked you have been with Leandro.

L'pool were contacted by Damiao's Agent and a Rep of Inter to see if we were interested to take him on loan to help him develop his game for European football. They only wanted to give us first refusal but we managed to get them to agree a fixed price of about £18m as well as a 2m loan fee. However, all three parties had to agree to transfer at end of loan in Summer though.

We spent hours on this on deadline day as it came totally out the blue and we were desperate for a young striker that fitted FSGs transfer rules/criteria.

Just when we thought it was done the Inter President fella got involved and increased the loan fee and the fixed fee for the option to buy permanently. After more haggling Ayre was sick of him, thought he was arsing around and pulled out. Shame as it was a lot closer than anyone realises. Liverpool weren't the only club to be offered him, and I reckon he may of been offered Utd too (just my opinion).

We were planning on going in back in January but we believe Inter are already in negotiations with Utd now who are desperate to get him due to the issues with Rooney, so were not going to bother again unless Utd decide to pull out or a deal breaks down which, with that dick head President, definitely could happen. If a top 4 team comes in, we pull out now.

Be very interesting to see what happpens with this lad in January now but I reckon with that President, and with a good few clubs interested, he could start asking ridiculous prices for him.

Him plus Levy and the way he is, is probably why Spurs have never managed to get the transfer over the line.

So they wouldn't accept an offer to buy from Spurs of over 20mil but were willing to accept 18mil to buy after a loan?

 

[InOffMeLeftShin]

Rooney has been shit in preseason and for the first team, I never saw why Fergie wanted RVP but I understood as soon as I saw rooney play this season and he was rubbish vs Barca and his slice when missing a open goal was shocking and surprising

Just a slow start. Rooney seems to go through these patches where he doesn't seem to play that well. Then in a month or so time he'll hit form and you can pretty much guarantee that it'll be at around the time they play us.

 

[Toela65]

So they wouldn't accept an offer to buy from Spurs of over 20mil but were willing to accept 18mil to buy after a loan?

Plus add-ons. I might be getting those figures wrong though I have a poor memory and I don't know if they were speaking Euro's, Dollars or punds to be honest. They were pretty desperate to move him out for some reason and Ian Ayre thought, just like Sahin the first time, it was done and told the main LFC journos that which is where I got this info from. Your problem is Levy and the Inter fella's relationship.

Its also came from 3 seperate places so I'm as confident as can be that this is all spot on, besides possibly the figures.

All this is straight from Ian Ayre so it certainly ain't bullshit.

Don't really matter as he'll go to Utd in January. I'd put money on it.

 

[InOffMeLeftShin]

Plus add-ons. I might be getting those figures wrong though I have a poor memory and I don't know if they were speaking Euro's, Dollars or punds to be honest. They were pretty desperate to move him out for some reason and Ian Ayre thought, just like Sahin the first time, it was done and told the main LFC journos that which is where I got this info from. Your problem is Levy and the Inter fella's relationship.

Its also came from 3 seperate places so I'm as confident as can be that this is all spot on, besides possibly the figures.

All this is straight from Ian Ayre so it certainly ain't bullshit.

Don't really matter as he'll go to Utd in January. I'd put money on it.

But United have Van Persie, Rooney, Wellbeck, Hernandez, Kagawa, Nani, Valencia, Young. Not exactly short of attacking options are they. Don't see why they'd spend £20m+ on him when their best central midfielder is still Paul Scholes and their second best has a chronic bowel disorder...

 

[beats1]

But United have Van Persie, Rooney, Wellbeck, Hernandez, Kagawa, Nani, Valencia, Young. Not exactly short of attacking options are they. Don't see why they'd spend £20m+ on him when their best central midfielder is still Paul Scholes and their second best has a chronic bowel disorder...

add to that Macheda, Henriquez and the highly rated Keane, all of these players are strikers

 

[sunnydelight786]

http://www1.skysports.com/football/news/11667/8055453/Damiao-reveals-offer

Leandro Damiao has confirmed that he had a 'very good' offer to leave Brazil, but is more than happy to stay at Internacional.
The Brazilian striker is one of the most in-demand players outside of Europe and his reputation was enhanced as he top-scored at the 2012 Olympic football tournament.
Tottenham have made numerous bids for the 23-year-old over the past two years, but recent weeks have seen Manchester United also linked along with Inter Milan and Real Madrid.
Internacional president Giovanni Luigi insisted throughout the summer, and he reiterated it this week, that the club was not looking to sell and would only do so if somebody met his buy-out clause which is over £40million.
The player has now admitted that he did have an offer on the table to leave Inter - but he would not reveal the club in question.
"The value of the offer was very good for me and for Internacional," he revealed to BandSports.
"But it didn't happen. I think Giovanni Luigi is a great president and he knows what he's doing.
"I'm very happy to be playing in Brazil. I'll certainly leave at some point for sure, but not today."

 

[AngerManagement]

Wasn't there a time where we were interested and we were refusing to pay around £12m because he was not really established and hadn't yet been called up to the Brazil squad?

You know them ones where you have to take a gamble? We can't afford him now, he's too high profile.

Falcoa we apparently looked at before he signed for Porto.....ok he may well have chosen to sign for them anyway even had we made a move, but it speaks volumes that we signed Crouch instead.

Rossi came to the Lane and put on a master class, by all accounts we were quoted around £10m to sign him.....declined and then supposedly tried to sign him for three times that shortly after.

We're not a rich enough or a big enough club to attract or afford players of established quality, we have to take a gamble here and there and hope to get lucky. Moves the Man U's and Chelsea's of this world will not make i.e. Modric, Bale, Berbatov because we simply cannot compete for these players once they are established.

Correct me if I am wrong but I don't think we have really made such a signing (except perhaps Sandro) since DL assumed control of the DOF position?!? I really think we need to get a man in place who is an expert at this role and can leave DL to doing what he does best, taking care of the business side of things and let a football man do the football related work.

 

[$hoguN]

Wasn't there a time where we were interested and we were refusing to pay around £12m because he was not really established and hadn't yet been called up to the Brazil squad?

You know them ones where you have to take a gamble? We can't afford him now, he's too high profile.

Falcoa we apparently looked at before he signed for Porto.....ok he may well have chosen to sign for them anyway even had we made a move, but it speaks volumes that we signed Crouch instead.

Rossi came to the Lane and put on a master class, by all accounts we were quoted around £10m to sign him.....declined and then supposedly tried to sign him for three times that shortly after.

We're not a rich enough or a big enough club to attract or afford players of established quality, we have to take a gamble here and there and hope to get lucky. Moves the Man U's and Chelsea's of this world will not make i.e. Modric, Bale, Berbatov because we simply cannot compete for these players once they are established.

Correct me if I am wrong but I don't think we have really made such a signing (except perhaps Sandro) since DL assumed control of the DOF position?!? I really think we need to get a man in place who is an expert at this role and can leave DL to doing what he does best, taking care of the business side of things and let a football man do the football related work.

Sigurdsson and Dembele both kind of fit that mould, as do Falque and Celaballos (or however you spell the guys name). We need to wait a couple more years before we judge how well Levy has done in terms of finding gems imo. Also if you look at the list of players we signed under Arnesen and Comolli, yes there was a few successes (Berbatov, Modric, Lennon and Bale) but there was an awful lot of dross too (Ghaly, Atouba, etc.)

 

[hellava_tough]

Sigurdsson and Dembele both kind of fit that mould, as do Falque and Celaballos (or however you spell the guys name). We need to wait a couple more years before we judge how well Levy has done in terms of finding gems imo. Also if you look at the list of players we signed under Arnesen and Comolli, yes there was a few successes (Berbatov, Modric, Lennon and Bale) but there was an awful lot of dross too (Ghaly, Atouba, etc.)

Although saying that, most of the dross were pretty cheap

And the dross that wasn't, we managed to sell on again (Bentley notwithstanding)

 

[michaelden]

But United have Van Persie, Rooney, Wellbeck, Hernandez, Kagawa, Nani, Valencia, Young. Not exactly short of attacking options are they. Don't see why they'd spend £20m+ on him when their best central midfielder is still Paul Scholes and their second best has a chronic bowel disorder...

he's a big shit?

 

[AngerManagement]

Sigurdsson and Dembele both kind of fit that mould, as do Falque and Celaballos (or however you spell the guys name). We need to wait a couple more years before we judge how well Levy has done in terms of finding gems imo. Also if you look at the list of players we signed under Arnesen and Comolli, yes there was a few successes (Berbatov, Modric, Lennon and Bale) but there was an awful lot of dross too (Ghaly, Atouba, etc.)

Yes that's very true, although Dembele and Sig were both PL proven but I suppose if they go on to reach the levels of Bale and Modric the fact we were able to sign them ahead of the likes of City, Chelsea and Man U will make your point correct.

What I was really trying to say is we haven't unearthed any gems as such, even if these guys go on to be much better they were still reasonably well known and at least had some experience and success playing out our level.

Yes Arnesen and Comoli bought in a lot of poor players, but Arnesen had a big job on his hands and used something of a blanket bomb approach (but its undeniable that he brought us forward fairly quickly as a result)

Comoli did some good things but ultimately was just the wrong man for the job, as I think is Levy.

Personally I like the idea of a DOF especially while we have a continental coach who could well be less resistant to the process.

What I believe we need is a capable DOF who has the trust of Levy and the support of AVB, someone who can go about their own business with clearly defined targets and budgets to work within. Able to discuss targets with AVB so the manager is not out of the loop and the whole system can be cohesive.

I would never expect ever signing to be a massive success, but then I'd also expect an expert DOF to get our work done quicker in the transfer window and more effectively than Levy......and if we hired someone good at their job you wouldn't see the abortion deals like DC did for us and more recently Liverpool.

Put it this way, I don't think a successful DOF would have left us closing the last two transfer windows without that striker that would have most likely fired us to CL football and I don't think a DOF would spend all window chasing targets he could not sign while leaving us 2-3 games in to the new season dropping points directly linked to our transfer activities

 

[$hoguN]

Yes that's very true, although Dembele and Sig were both PL proven but I suppose if they go on to reach the levels of Bale and Modric the fact we were able to sign them ahead of the likes of City, Chelsea and Man U will make your point correct.

What I was really trying to say is we haven't unearthed any gems as such, even if these guys go on to be much better they were still reasonably well known and at least had some experience and success playing out our level.

Yes Arnesen and Comoli bought in a lot of poor players, but Arnesen had a big job on his hands and used something of a blanket bomb approach (but its undeniable that he brought us forward fairly quickly as a result)

Comoli did some good things but ultimately was just the wrong man for the job, as I think is Levy.

Personally I like the idea of a DOF especially while we have a continental coach who could well be less resistant to the process.

What I believe we need is a capable DOF who has the trust of Levy and the support of AVB, someone who can go about their own business with clearly defined targets and budgets to work within. Able to discuss targets with AVB so the manager is not out of the loop and the whole system can be cohesive.

I would never expect ever signing to be a massive success, but then I'd also expect an expert DOF to get our work done quicker in the transfer window and more effectively than Levy......and if we hired someone good at their job you wouldn't see the abortion deals like DC did for us and more recently Liverpool.

Put it this way, I don't think a successful DOF would have left us closing the last two transfer windows without that striker that would have most likely fired us to CL football and I don't think a DOF would spend all window chasing targets he could not sign while leaving us 2-3 games in to the new season dropping points directly linked to our transfer activities

I agree with this, however I think the nature of the transfer window means that some deals just can't be done till the last day like Lloris and Moutinho for various reasons.

 

[AngerManagement]

I agree with this, however I think the nature of the transfer window means that some deals just can't be done till the last day like Lloris and Moutinho for various reasons.

It certainly seems that was the case with those two, which is fine as long as they come off but I think its a dangerous and perhaps unnecessary game Mr Levy plays and perhaps over all our club would be better served if we had deadlines to agree such deals and moved on if it could not be done in time so we don't get left short (at least have a cheap tied over option until the next window)

I can only really think of VdV where this policy paid off for us where as we have been left without a proper striker 3-4 windows in a row which has cost us badly, lost points at the start of the season because our squad was threadbare and as we saw this window have been left without a direct replacement for our best manager.

For every million this activity saves us in transfer fees how much has it actually cost us in revenue from lost points in the league? prize money? CL prize money and advertising?

I honestly firmly believe that the last two Jan windows had we signed a goal scorer we would have been in our 3rd consecutive season in the CL right now for example.

I like Mr Levy and I think he does a good job over all, but I really wish he would focus on what he does well and appoint an expert to undertake the footballing aspects of running our club because in my opinion its not his game and has cost us substantially in recent times (not saying he is useless or hasn't done well, just that he could and probably should have done better and I believe a decent DOF would do so)

 

[max cady]

Sigurdsson and Dembele both kind of fit that mould, as do Falque and Celaballos (or however you spell the guys name). We need to wait a couple more years before we judge how well Levy has done in terms of finding gems imo. Also if you look at the list of players we signed under Arnesen and Comolli, yes there was a few successes (Berbatov, Modric, Lennon and Bale) but there was an awful lot of dross too (Ghaly, Atouba, etc.)

I would add Coulibaly to that list I have heard great things about him