Sergej Milinkovic-Savic

[Ghost Hardware]

He's not defensively disciplined enough to play in a 2 right? If so then I doubt we'll go for him, unfortunately.

There was a point when people thought he could be moulded into a b2b because of his stature/build and that he’s actually a decent tackler but yeah, his positioning and defensive reading of the game isn’t the best and if anything he is now more of a AM then anything having played almost all last seas there. I certainly wouldn’t feel comfortable playing him in a 2 along PEH against any team in the PL.

 

[djhotspur]

Why couldn’t we afford him. I thought we had the £150m boost, plus player sales, plus UCL money/existing budget… or something like that according to Ali Gold.

Our net spend to date hasn’t been too high. When that news broke at the beginning of the summer, I envisaged we’d be spending more than we have already.

Because we need 3 more players in… no chance we spend that much on a player who doesn’t play in a double pivot and will be used in rotation. That’s huge money!£

 

[djhotspur]

He’s a fantastic player but he’s very much a AM/CM and we don’t really seem to be looking for one of those. And I agree, I don’t see us spending €70 mil on any one player at this point.

Agreed. Only player I could see us spending that in is a gvardiol, bastoni level cb.

 

[Ghost Hardware]

Apart from the info from Dragon yesterday in the ITK thread declaring Conte wants a mid, and an attacking midfielder.

My understanding of that was the AM would be more in the Zaniolo mould who can play on the wings and a CM. SMS can’t play on ether wing and I wouldn’t bring him in as a CM for the reasons I state above as he is more a AM these days. Anyway, no chance we spend what he would cost alongside a CD and AM.

 

[Impspur1]

I must admit that as good as our window has been so far, this would be a real statement signing and could really put us in the mix for a pop at the title.

 

[Hotspur88]

Fantastic player and would be a brilliant signing for us.

I know we are huge admirers of him and believe we made an enquiry early doors but the price to get him was huge (from what I heard we were talking £75m+). No idea if that has changed as the window has progressed but the reported price is significantly lower.

Would personally love us to just go all out and sign him as I think he covers the CM and AM in one due to his goal and assist return (22 in total last season).

Not heard anything on this for the record but would absolutely love it.

 

[Aphex]

I'm convinced we have at least one major signing left in us for this window.

It probably won't be this guy, but either at CB or AM. I looked at us on Sunday and I still feel we are short on elite quality.

 

[Trix]

I must admit that as good as our window has been so far, this would be a real statement signing and could really put us in the mix for a pop at the title.

Don't get blindsided by the fact he is a very good player. The way a player will fit into Conte's system and plans is more important than a players overall ability.

 

[Timberwolf]

Doubt it would happen, but if we were to sign him where would he play?

Surely it would mean adjusting to a 3-5-2 when he's on the pitch, right? Would be a departure from a signing like Zaniolo who very neatly fits into our current system.

 

[Ghost Hardware]

Fantastic player and would be a brilliant signing for us.

I know we are huge admirers of him and believe we made an enquiry early doors but the price to get him was huge (from what I heard we were talking £75m+). No idea if that has changed as the window has progressed but the reported price is significantly lower.

Would personally love us to just go all out and sign him as I think he covers the CM and AM in one due to his goal and assist return (22 in total last season).

Not heard anything on this for the record but would absolutely love it.

The most exciting thing if we got SMS is that it means we will start swapping between a 2 and a 3 in midfield which for me, after what happened on the weekend, has to happen at some point. As mentioned before, SMS for all his qualities just wouldn’t be ideal in a CM 2.

Unfortunately I just don’t see it happening, Lotito, Lazio’s president, said this recently when asked “Milinkovic for €50 million? At that amount, I don’t sell him, he is worth much more. Our market is thus complete and finished.” Again it suggests he’s available but only at the right price which will likely be more in the €70/80 mil range. They are in no need to sell.

 

[Ghost Hardware]

Doubt it would happen, but if we were to sign him where would he play?

Surely it would mean adjusting to a 3-5-2 when he's on the pitch, right? Would be a departure from a signing like Zaniolo who very neatly fits into our current system.

Yeah it would mean swapping to 352, which tbh we should start doing in some games where we are outnumbered in midfield. Having that option would be really beneficial imo. But spending £60+ mil on a player that only works in a 352 I just don’t see it regardless how good he is. And I am a big fan of his.

 

[BENNO]

Because we need 3 more players in… no chance we spend that much on a player who doesn’t play in a double pivot and will be used in rotation. That’s huge money!£

Isn't the £150m cash injection, well, cash ?

I'd guess that having actual cash reserves may well play, and have already played a part in enticing selling clubs to do business with us offering a larger than normal 'cash up front' figure perhaps, but unless i'm hugely mistaken you can't use the £150m as an amount to deduct a players transfer figure from, as the total transfer outlay will definitely be payable in instalments over the players contract, not in an up front payment taken out of actual cash reserves (although happy to be corrected as that's just my understanding).

 

[Timberwolf]

Yeah it would mean swapping to 352, which tbh we should start doing in some games where we are outnumbered in midfield. Having that option would be really beneficial imo. But spending £60+ mil on a player that only works in a 352 I just don’t see it.

Yeah and after years of waiting for a move, I can't imagine him wanting to move to a team where he's not a guaranteed starter. He would start every week for most teams but not sure he'd get that at Spurs.

 

[djhotspur]

Isn't the £150m cash injection, well, cash ?

I'd guess that having actual cash reserves may well play, and have already played a part in enticing selling clubs to do business with us offering a larger than normal 'cash up front' figure perhaps, but unless i'm hugely mistaken you can't use the £150m as an amount to deduct a players transfer figure from, as the total transfer outlay will definitely be payable in instalments over the players contract, not in an up front payment taken out of actual cash reserves (although happy to be corrected as that's just my understanding).

I get that, but we’ve been told numerous times there’s finite money and that we can’t go spending huge sums on multiple players. You are correct in the way they are paid but you still can’t commit to those big outlay over the next few years constantly.
dragon has basically said we haven’t got much money left as we were expecting more money coming in for players than we’ve got and we are focusing on getting the wage bill down as we are run at a profit which is the reinvested into transfer going forward. If we can get regs, winks out for money then hopefully we can spend a fair bit more.
But given we want quality in at 3 positions, I can’t see us spending 60m on a cb, 80m on sms then 45 mil on zaniolo.

 

[JUSTINSIGNAL]

Doubt it would happen, but if we were to sign him where would he play?

Surely it would mean adjusting to a 3-5-2 when he's on the pitch, right? Would be a departure from a signing like Zaniolo who very neatly fits into our current system.

Agree.

We're not going to buy a £70m+ rotation option that means we have to depart from a formation that Conte has consistently played since he's been with us.

 

[Ghost Hardware]

Yeah and after years of waiting for a move, I can't imagine him wanting to move to a team where he's not a guaranteed starter. He would start every week for most teams but not sure he'd get that at Spurs.

Tbh if we were to get him it would be a marquee signing especially at the prices quoted and the reasons you mention. You just don’t spend that much on a player your not going to start most of the time. With that in mind I would expect 352 to become our primary system and 343 to be the alt.

Considering we haven’t see that happen once, even in pre season, i just don’t see it happening. Someone like Paqueta for example who can play CM, AM and RWF who is still young enough to be happy to rotate and fight for a starting role makes more sense, even if SMS is obviously the better player.

I obviously would be over the moon with SMS, but logically it doesn’t make sense to me consider the system we play and the price tag.

 

[mil1lion]

Interesting that dragon mentioned Conte wanting a midfielder as well as AM and CB. Maybe Savic is the midfielder he wants. I don't see why he can't play in a 2 if we're playing against a low block. It also gives us options to go 352 or 3412.

 

[Timberwolf]

Tbh if we were to get him it would be a marquee signing especially at the prices quoted and the reasons you mention. You just don’t spend that much on a player your not going to start most of the time. With that in mind I would expect 352 to become our primary system and 343 to be the alt.

Considering we haven’t see that happen once, even in pre season, i just don’t see it happening. Someone like Paqueta for example who can play CM, AM and RWF who is still young enough to be happy to rotate and fight for a starting role makes more sense, even if SMS is obviously the better player.

I obviously would be over the moon with SMS, but logically it doesn’t make sense to me consider the system we play and the price tag.

Yeah it's a tricky one as Kulusevski has been absolutely outstanding and a huge part of our improvement under Conte - signing SMS would likely mean benching him in half of our matches...or benching SMS, a marquee signing. A team like City can afford to do that, but not sure we can.

I get that it's a squad game and we need to be ambitious, but there's definitely a line beyond which you're disrupting squad harmony and allocating funds in a way that isn't optimal.

(Would be one hell of a statement signing and very exciting, though )

 

[Impspur1]

Don't get blindsided by the fact he is a very good player. The way a player will fit into Conte's system and plans is more important than a players overall ability.

Absolutely agree, would he not fit into our system? Seems to be a good all round ‘modern’ midfielder.

 

[WeGotLedley]

To be fair, we spent 50-60m gbp on richy, and he's def depth/rotation vs nailed on first XI, so that's basically same region as 70m euro.
(not saying we should do this BTW, just context vs saying we won't spend €50m+ on squad depth)