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Summer transfer wish list - 2018

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SpursSince1980

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Jan 23, 2011
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There's two or three distinct philosophies on recruitment going into this summer:

1. Stay young, focus on potential, get a good deal, and fits in with the Pochetino mold of player. Build for longer-term sustainability, relying on the coach and his staff to squeeze the most from the talent available. Financially prudent. But may frustrate the coach and the more talented members of the squad who'd like to win something. Therefore agitate to leave.
2. Bring in players with experience competing and winning at the highest level. Short term approach, focused on winning and winning now. Player(s) may or may not sync well with Poch. Meaning they or the coach will need to be flexible. Financially whimsical. Depending on who comes in, could somewhat satisfy the coach, as it's a sign of ambition. The squad talent will feel satisfied by the gesture and decides to hang about for a while longer. But could seriously put us in a financial mess.
3. A blend of the above.

Seriously tough decisions to make this summer. In fact, I'd say that this might be the most important window we've had over the last decade. We're at a critical inflection point at the club. Stick or twist?
 

coys200

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May 22, 2017
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I think whatever happens the club seem intent on making some sort of statement. It’s exciting that In essence the squad is already very strong and will only be stronger come Aug 2018. Pretty sure will be best Spurs squad I’ve ever seen going into a fantastic new stadium. For all the disappointment on Saturday it’s still exciting times.
 

Bus-Conductor

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Flashspur

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Jul 28, 2012
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You won’t win anything with Tripps and Davies as first choice FBs. That should be bleeding obvious to any fucknuckle with two brain cells to rub together. I think we’ve done well this season considering.
 

Bus-Conductor

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I don't mean to be alarmist but the fact of the matter is that our recruitment has been very poor since we have been back in the CL.

In those two summer windows we brought in Wanyama, Janssen, N'koudou, Sissoko, Sanchez, Foyth, Aurier, Llorente and a third choice keeper. Of that list only two (Wanyama and Sanchez) can really be considered unambiguous successes at this point in time, and they both came in to compete in positions where we were relatively strong before they ever arrived. Foyth is one for the future so no problems there, the jury is out on Aurier (though the early signs don't exactly fill you with optimism), and the rest have been unmitigated disasters.

How much better off would we have been if we had stumped up 30m for Batshuayi -- the player Poch actually wanted -- and given our brilliant coach the opportunity to coax the kind of performance level he's shown at Dortmund out of him as opposed to wasting 29m on Janssen and Llorente? How much better off would we be if we'd done what it took to bring in Zaha -- the player Poch has actually wanted for years now -- as opposed to spunking something like 55m (not to mention wages for three players) on Njie, Nkoudou, and Sissoko in a failed attempt to fill the remit of pacey winger?

When you compare our recruitment to Liverpool's over the same time the failure of our approach becomes clear. They went out into the market and were willing to pay the fees and wages that were required to bring in proven quality at positions of need, and have been richly rewarded with performances that have seen the value of those players absolutely skyrocket (how much would Mane and Salah bring in now versus the 70m plus wages that they spent to get them?). We on the other hand have flushed a comparable amount of money down the drain on punt after punt who never had the quality to challenge our first team regulars, and have seen the value of those players decline precipitously.

I understand that we have been hamstrung by our wage budget, but with regular CL football and the new stadium that should no longer be a valid excuse. It's clear that we have reached a point where settling for bargain basement second- or third-choice targets simply isn't getting the job done either on the pitch or from a business perspective. With the seemingly imminent departures of Alderweireld, Rose, and Dembele there will be lots of business to be done in the summer, and we need to look to fill those holes with genuine Champions League level quality as opposed to the squad players we have largely brought in over the past two years.


I think this is the reason why we should be very wary of letting Pochettino have too much control of the recruitment. Players like Aurier, Llorente and Sissoko and to an extent, Nkoudou and Njie are all his signings or influenced by his craving for a certain type of player.

Batshuyai is a very good finisher, but he's doing well because he's playing games, he's not the sort of player that can play any other role, his hold up play isn't even that strong, so with Kane here, he'd start relatively few games and wouldn't be as useful or successful and if he did brilliantly he'd be off pretty quickly to play first team football somewhere.

Liverpool have had some good recent windows, but lets be clear, it was easier for them to do that because they had a weak squad that was easier to improve than ours has been the last couple of years. Salah was a Son type of signing, Klopp didn't even want him (another example of why managers shouldn't have too much recruitment clout) a player who'd shown talent but never anything like what he's shown this season. Son hasn't hit those heights obviously, but they represented the same type of potential, that's the gamble of all transfers, occasionally they really pay off big and we've had those too, which is probably why we've finished above them the last few years.
 

JayB

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Aug 24, 2011
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I think this is the reason why we should be very wary of letting Pochettino have too much control of the recruitment. Players like Aurier, Llorente and Sissoko and to an extent, Nkoudou and Njie are all his signings or influenced by his craving for a certain type of player.

Batshuyai is a very good finisher, but he's doing well because he's playing games, he's not the sort of player that can play any other role, his hold up play isn't even that strong, so with Kane here, he'd start relatively few games and wouldn't be as useful or successful and if he did brilliantly he'd be off pretty quickly to play first team football somewhere.

Liverpool have had some good recent windows, but lets be clear, it was easier for them to do that because they had a weak squad that was easier to improve than ours has been the last couple of years. Salah was a Son type of signing, Klopp didn't even want him (another example of why managers shouldn't have too much recruitment clout) a player who'd shown talent but never anything like what he's shown this season. Son hasn't hit those heights obviously, but they represented the same type of potential, that's the gamble of all transfers, occasionally they really pay off big and we've had those too, which is probably why we've finished above them the last few years.
I don't want to get bogged down too much in debating the relative merits of various players we've been linked with as I don't know the first thing about scouting, but suffice to say I have little doubt that Zaha (who has a real talismanic quality constantly putting Palace on his back, something we could do with) and Batshuayi (who has a good scoring record at every club that didn't buy him simply to prevent him from going to a rival) would have been improvements on Njie/Nkoudou/Sissoko and Janssen/Llorente, respectively. We could hardly have done worse. So if Poch had been given his way, we'd be stronger overall.

There's also reason to doubt, based on ITK, media reports, and Poch's own book that he was the mastermind behind the Njie, Nkoudou, and Sissoko transfers. As for Aurier he was definitely our second choice (at best) after Ricardo Pereira. Llorente I will grant was a Poch choice.

Regardless, the broader point I'm trying to get across is that we need to begin to successfully close the deals on our first choice transfer targets now that we have the wage budget to do so. Bringing in our second and third choices on cheeky cut-rate deals at nearly every position we have targeted over the past four transfer windows has not done us any good whatsoever. The players we've bought have largely not been good enough to genuinely compete with our first team, have wound up languishing on the bench, and then bombing out of the club for lesser fees than we bought them for. The approach has to change.
 

St José Dominguez

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Jul 15, 2014
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Really bums me out when I think last year we had arguably the two best CB's, best left back and best right back in the Prem. Now next year looks like only one of those players will be a key member of that same group.

It's why we need/needed to strike while the iron is hot. Before we know it Eriksen, Kane, Dier and Son will be nearly 30 or gone, Dele will probably be gone, Vertonghen will have retired. Others gone or retired.

We've seen how hard it's been to replace Walker and if we were listing most important players last season he'd be well down the list. There's some odd feeling that Poch is key like we've got a bunch of non league players who he's made stars. This is/was a golden group of players who needed additions for the now.
It's why I'm really not sure about spending a massive chunk of our budget on a 17yr old Sessegnon when by time he reaches potential half this lot will be gone.

We need here and now signings because we don't know what the future will hold and if we'll ever see this much quality in same team again.
 

rocklink

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Aug 23, 2013
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FB_IMG_1524544825252.jpg


Chiellini is free next summer ...
 

allatsea

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Aug 31, 2012
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Bit of a left field shout. But if you want to go young I really like Calvert lewin. He’s really quick just needs quality around him imo. Reckon could get him pretty cheap £15m and he’d learn off kane.

Why would we want a 'striker' who doesn't score goals ?
 

Trix

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Jul 29, 2004
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View attachment 37688

Chiellini is free next summer ...
Brilliant CB but the the thought of a player that slow in our high line is the stuff of nightmares.

A couple of other bits.....

Bale is a no go, and we have an interest in Ndombele but there is concern about his in game choices. I'm told the concern is that he takes an awful lot of risks in bad areas, Something that won't show up on a highlights reel.
 

allatsea

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Aug 31, 2012
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Brilliant CB but the the thought of a player that slow in our high line is the stuff of nightmares.

A couple of other bits.....

Bale is a no go, and we have an interest in Ndombele but there is concern about his in game choices. I'm told the concern is that he takes an awful lot of risks in bad areas, Something that won't show up on a highlights reel.

Thanks Trix. If we are concerned with his in game choices why did we buy Aurier who has a shocking lack of judgement in defensive areas ?
 

Trix

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Jul 29, 2004
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Thanks Trix. If we are concerned with his in game choices why did we buy Aurier who has a shocking lack of judgement in defensive areas ?
Perhaps we thought we could iron them out? It may well be the same with Ndombele and we take a chance.
 

SpursD22

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Aug 3, 2017
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Bale is a no go, and we have an interest in Ndombele but there is concern about his in game choices. I'm told the concern is that he takes an awful lot of risks in bad areas, Something that won't show up on a highlights reel.

So true. I watched Lyon multiple times and he sometimes chooses to dribble in a dangerous area. I said this before if we sign a CM I want it to be someone who’s experienced and can take us to the next level. We don’t need to buy a young CM, trust Onomah and Winks
 
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rocklink

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Aug 23, 2013
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Perhaps we thought we could iron them out? It may well be the same with Ndombele and we take a chance.

Interesting point of view. So what is the future of aurier btw? Another point i want to make, rather buying young and upcoming potential, is it possible for us to buy a big name midfielder like arturo vidal if munich offloads him or modric or even someone like jorginho or savic..
 

rocklink

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Aug 23, 2013
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So true. I watched Lyon multiple times and he sometimes chooses to dribble in a dangerous area. I said this before if we sign a a CM I want it to be someone who’s experienced and can take us to the next level. We don’t need to buy a young CM, trust Onomah and Winks

Agree with you. Rather have onomah and winks instead of another upcoming, potential midfielders. Either we buy top class cm at his peak or we dont buy anyone
 

rocklink

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Aug 23, 2013
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SSC Napoli are expected to demand a minimum of €60m (£52.5m) for Jorginho (26). [Guardian football]
 
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