Scouting

[THOWIG]

Kagawa at Dortmund has impressed me so far, good on the ball and a decent eye for goal. Will be good to see if he can keep up this current form.

He has looked impressive, but Sahin has been the stand out player so far in the Bundesliga.

 

[spursandbarca]

dont know why spurs didnt buy llorente in 2009 he is a beats of a number 9 and hed be ideal for english football. he gave pique fits sat night.

 

[Marty]

dont know why spurs didnt buy llorente in 2009 he is a beats of a number 9 and hed be ideal for english football. he gave pique fits sat night.

Because just going out and buying a player isn't that simple. Agree that he's a good player though.

 

[spursandbarca]

spurs are a far bit bigger than bilbao. have champions league football and can surely pay him higher wages

 

[spursandbarca]

and did juventus really sell diego back for 12 million euros, the bloke is class

 

[Marty]

spurs are a far bit bigger than bilbao. have champions league football and can surely pay him higher wages

Those criteria don't make a signing a formality though, even if we did show interest. A transfer is so much more complicated than people on message boards tend to think, with agents seemingly enjoying screwing everyone over, selling clubs demanding insane money/moving goalposts and then you've got the simple fact, in Llorente's case, does he want to leave Spain? In fact, does he even want to leave Bilbao, them being effectively the Basque national team?

 

[jimmy-jojo]

spurs are a far bit bigger than bilbao. have champions league football and can surely pay him higher wages

We weren't in the CL in 2009...

 

[lilywhitecurtis]

I've caught a bit of Drenthe since he's been loaned out to Hercules and he looks very sharp. I think he'd make a great prem signing, but to be honest we're probably pretty covered on the left side.

 

[RickyVilla]

Christian Eriksen at Ajax. Now I have only see him play for Denmark but he looks a real talent.

 

[nickchrissi]

A kid called Gareth Bale - apparently he's different class and being looked at by Real Madrid

 

[Bill_Oddie]

Looking to Italy, I've seen a little and heard a lot more that Edison Cavani is looking magic since his move this summer. Arguably one of the very, very few players we could (maybe, possibly, perhaps) have got this summer albeit at a high fee and even higher risk of not adapting to the PL, but is surely one we will be continuing to monitor.

 

[Partizan]

Just watched Pastore score a sublime goal. The kid is destined for great things

 

[RickyVilla]

Where does he play Partizan? I am a bit of a novice when it comes to European footie unless it is Denmark

 

[Partizan]

21 year old argentinian playing for Palermo. He's an ACM and has Hoddlesque technique. I bet you can find compilations of him on youtube

 

[BringBack_leGin]

Vasilios Koutsianikoulis. He is still young, and being slowly eased in by PAOK because he's not the biggest, but his pace, touch and skill are there in abundance. Despite not having played that much, many in Greece felt he should have been in the Greek World Cup team, but Rehagel the dinosaur wanted to stick with his trusted OAPs on the basis of something they did 6 years ago.

Also in Greece, and far better known, Sotiris Ninis at Panathinaikos. He has some dribbling, a bit of pace and he scores a few, but he's best quality is his ability to pick a pass and the technique he has to pull it off. Younger than Koutsianikoulis, he is a superb prospect and I hope he leaves Greece for an environment where his skill can full flourish because I think he'll end up one of the best playmakers in Europe. Only 20 but he would not look out of pace in any of Europes best passing sides.

 

[stemark44]

21 year old argentinian playing for Palermo. He's an ACM and has Hoddlesque technique. I bet you can find compilations of him on youtube

I saw 10 minutes of him during the World Cup and that was enough to tell that he will be a class player.

 

[Lanh]

Should really be watching the South and Central American leagues and trying to get some of their youngsters into our development squad like some of the Portugese and Spanish clubs do.

We could have had di Maria, the dude Real paid €25m (+€11m) to Benfica for this summer, for a mere €8m total. So many great players over there, that get snapped up by teams willing to take a gamble, and while many don't pay off, when they do pay off, they pay off big time.

 

[ShelfSide18]

Bugger me he's even in general football now! This is not Lanh.

You're right though, the amount of talent in those far flung leagues must be huge, but also a big risk taking them from an entirely different footballing (and social) culture, but I'm sure there are some gems out there to be had.

 

[danielneeds]

Should really be watching the South and Central American leagues and trying to get some of their youngsters into our development squad like some of the Portugese and Spanish clubs do.

We could have had di Maria, the dude Real paid €25m (+€11m) to Benfica for this summer, for a mere €8m total. So many great players over there, that get snapped up by teams willing to take a gamble, and while many don't pay off, when they do pay off, they pay off big time.

Remember its more difficult to get work permits for uncapped young South Americans in this country than it is in say Portugal, where Brazilians can get work permits easily.

 

[Lanh]

Remember its more difficult to get work permits for uncapped young South Americans in this country than it is in say Portugal, where Brazilians can get work permits easily.

True, but there are players out there who have dual-nationality with a European country, plus there is nothing at all from stopping us buying them and sending them on loan for three years somewhere so they gain an EU passport.