The Daily ITK Discussion Thread - 11 July 2011

[Archibald&Crooks]

You'd think that there would have been plenty of ITK over the weekend wouldn't you? Sorry, but no, there wasn't much at all. In fact, we had to wait until Sunday for our first hit.

Saturday however, my wife got asked for identification when trying to buy a bottle of wine in the supermarket.

"You can't be serious," I asked the assistant.

"I'm afraid I am," he replied.

"She's got a beard for fuck sake."

I know Modric (again) is going to be the topic of the day, but not in here please. Its been done to death and is going to continue to be done to death, did we really think those with a vested interest were going to let this die?

THERE ARE SEVERAL MODRIC THREADS ALREADY RUNNING. PLEASE USE THEM, NOT THIS THREAD. THANK YOU!

Webegin with Scout on Modric

Reports of a 7m bid off the mark. We don't want to pay much more than half that. He wants to stay in London so he won't go to Villa unless no London clubs come in for him

PLEASE DO NOT POST
TWITTER IN HERE.​

THERE IS A THREAD EXISTING FOR
TWITTER PLEASE USE THAT.​

Monday morsels:

The Daily Mail: Midfielder Scott Parker's exit from West Ham will be finalised this week with Aston Villa and Tottenham vying for his signature.

The Mirror: Tottenham have moved ahead of Arsenal in the pursuit of Blackburn defender Chris Samba.

SC needs your help! Do you sit on here spamming the life out of the thread? Is this the first thing you log onto when you get to work in the mornings? Then please help us keep it going by making a donation!​

EVERY LITTLE HELPS!
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[ExpatFan]

Seems to have gone quiet re Leandro, Rossi, Vucinic etc. Is this good news or bad?

 

[Joe091]

Seems to have gone quiet re Leandro, Rossi, Vucinic etc. Is this good news or bad?

I think all the Modric talk is overshadowing everything else. Hopefully we'll have more news on other targets today. Someone who I think posts some ITK from time to time capitalized a "g" and an "r" in their post yesterday, and I took that as a hint that things with Rossi are still moving in the right direction.

 

[TH1239]

The time for haggling and cheap talk should now be over. It is now time for concrete and bold action in the transfer market. We need Daniel Levy to make amends for not making the necessary striker signing in January, and step up to the plate NOW and take the initiative in bringing in a top flight goal-scorer.

The Modric situation has expedited our need to make an influential signing. Waiting around until the end of the summer, so we can raise some minimal funds from outgoing deadwood transfers simply isn't going to achieve our ultimate aims. In fact, given our difficult schedule to start the season, we risk alienating even more star players by not showing our ambition well before the end of August.

The top strikers that are potentially available will have moved by then (Falcao, Llorente) or won't be sold by their clubs due to replacements not being ready to be brought in (Rossi, Vucinic).

With Modric possibly leaving in the near future and ample cash to likely be brought in, there are simply no excuses as to why we can't break our transfer record in the coming few weeks. We won't "do a Leeds" if we pay over the odds for a Falcao or Rossi, because even if neither light the EPL on fire, other high value players we currently have will potentially seek the exit, too, and Chairman Levy will make enough profit on the likes of Bale to offset whatever cash he stumps up this summer.

The alternative to not taking a calculated risk is to slowly watch our top players leave while we continue to look for bargain basement deals. It's not without precedent, considering the Berbatov saga and the lack of an eventual replacement, even many years later.

Given Redknapp's various off-the-pitch issues, a slow start to the season, with the Modric fiasco hanging over our heads, would be an unmitigated disaster.

 

[andyp8080]

its all very depressing at the moment :-(

 

[nedley]

I reckon todays the day we'll see an incoming transfer.

 

[ackie]

I am sure that Daniel Levy will sign players. I just hope that it is not a lastminute.com where we failed.
Diarra and another from RM should do the trick.

 

[spurslenny]

Whatever we're gonna do, and whoever we'regonna sign, can we just hurry up and do it!?

The longer this whole sorry mess drags on for (the M situation and lack of incoming) the more edgy we all are becoming, and the players will probably be thinking 'ambition: do we have any?).

If you're gonna sell, just sell. And for the love of god, please sign some players that will increase our chances of regaining the top4 spot.

I know it's not a straight forward operation, I know it cost money, I know we don't have the infrastructure to pay massive wages, BUT our wage to turnover ratio is relatively low compared to other clubs, and surely a modest increase in the wages we pay is hardly going to see us go the way of Leeds.

If we don't speculate now, while we have the currant squad we have, then as sure as night follows day, finishing 4th will become harder and harder to achieve as those above and around us will strengthen and push on further ahead of us.

Act NOW, or we can just look forward to the odd finish in the europacup places.

 

[Courtneyjd]

I reckon todays the day we'll see an incoming transfer.

I admire your optimism. I think I'd be as surprised as anybody.

Outgoings looking more likely at the minute, Hutton could be the one!

 

[TH1239]

Honda is a second striker like VdV, no point in buying him.

There are however numerous replacements for Modric.

1. Montolivo
2. D'Agostino
3. Defour
4. Nuri Sahin
5. Arturo Vidal
6. Milan Badelj
7. Banega
8. Borja Valero
9. Claudio Marchisio
10. Hamsik
11. Benoit Cheyrou
12. Angelo Palombo
13. Miguel Veloso

Having previously lived in Japan and followed Honda's career for some time, let me assure you that he is an incredibly versatile midfield player, who cannot be pigeonholed in one position (people ridiculously tried to do this with Suarez when we were linked to him by claiming he wasn't a forward). Honda can absolutely play the deep lying midfielder role for us and would be a terrific buy on several levels.

Of the players you list, only Vidal, Hamsik, and Banega would be suitable replacements in my mind. Napoli have slapped an insane pricetag on Hamsik, which has even made Milan balk. We don't have much of a chance there. Sahin has already moved to Madrid (Mourinho has done very well bringing in Ozil, Sahin, and Khedira for such modest sums).

Leverkusen are determined to get a massive fee for Vidal, who may only have eyes for Bayern. Banega would be a very interesting option, but there are other, bigger clubs purportedly chasing him. Would his fiery temper be an issue for us? Who knows..

The suggestion, though, that we can sell a world class player and seek a young replacement (for the future) who isn't ready to compete at the highest level in his first season, is very problematic, in my opinion. We need to push forward boldly with ready made replacements, or Modric will be the first of many departures.

Frankly, Falcao should've been our number #1 target as soon as the season ended. He has a buyout clause of 26 million and in my mind, he is one of the best pure goal-scorers in the world at the moment. Llorente is an absolute top-shelf striker and a perfect fit, but the politics involved with his club make it the most unrealistic incoming transfer of all the names being bandied about.

Unfortunately, the more time you wait, the more time other clubs have to enter the market and steal talent away. Who exactly will be left in August for us after everyone else has picked their lot? Overpaying for Odemwingie or Gyan as our "marquee" signings should be viewed as a failure, if it comes to that.

Hopefully, Levy has a plan.

 

[yido_number1]

Wenger being reported as saying Nasri and Fibreglass staying this year...

 

[Arkie]

Whilst Keane, Bassong, Hutton, Kranjar, Jenas prevaricate over a move (and we have potentially £25 - 30 mill transfer funds tied up, we wont be signing anybody.

 

[cookiemonster]

Javi Martinez is who we should go for

 

[CAS_GG]

Whilst Keane, Bassong, Hutton, Kranjar, Jenas prevaricate over a move (and we have potentially £25 - 30 mill transfer funds tied up, we wont be signing anybody.

You read too many papers, we took an additional £40m from CL last season :wink:

 

[lifeof...]

regardless of what we have earned, i cant seeing us buying much, until some are sold...itk tends to support this theory. parker is one we can afford to wait on, and therefore pay bottom dollar

 

[ackie]

regardless of what we have earned, i cant seeing us buying much, until some are sold...itk tends to support this theory. parker is one we can afford to wait on, and therefore pay bottom dollar

I think the problem is not with money but with a big squad of deadwood and if we bring players before they go, it'll just increase our wage bill.

 

[Clamour_Kid]

What frustrates me is that we hear of a fee being agreed for Palacios and then a possible fee agreed for Hutton yet it takes soo bloody long to finalise these things!

 

[Clamour_Kid]

I think the problem is not with money but with a big squad of deadwood and if we bring players before they go, it'll just increase our wage bill.

Yes but it is a balancing act. Take less money from the transfer, but get the huge wages off the bill!

Levy wants both and its messing us up at times.

 

[ackie]

Yes but it is a balancing act. Take less money from the transfer, but get the huge wages off the bill!

Levy wants both and its messing us up at times.

Yeah. In some things though he is correct. We don't want to sell them for peanuts.

 

[Hot-Spur]

My woman's intuition is tell me this is the week something will finally happen