The Daily ITK Discussion Thread 3rd July

[Deleted member 29446]

Guess that rules out Martial/Bale, sad. Would prefer them any time of the week.

 

[Spurs' Pipe Dreams]

I disagree. You know who hasn't picked a team? My son. His friends. Pulisic is 19, he can be around for a very long time. If you hold a player like that for a decade, the long term market impact for the club can be a monster.

I winnered this but then realised you are failing in your indoctrination of your child, bad father

 

[Young Nasty Man]

Another American Yiddo here. A lot of things at play here that makes all of us Stateside excited at this ITK. As usual, thanks all for the info to get this page rockin'.

1. The kid is a hard worker which is the most important characteristic for Pochettino. Everywhere he has gone throughout youth and professional career he has had to deal with some type of adversity and has overcome it. He was the smallest guy in every league he played in, until he played in Germany, he always played with older groups (something crazy like he was 9 years old playing with 16 year olds), and moved to Germany as a 16 year-old with forced to live with language barrier and professional footballing barrier. Short of Freddy Adu, not many Americans have come that way. He comes from a footballing family: both his parents played in uni and his dad played professionally. Granted, it was indoor footy, which is not much to speak of. Regardless, good pipelines.

2. This kid can play a load of positions. While most would naturally think he competes on the wing or as a CAM, he can play nearly anywhere in the midfield and I can see Poch maybe turning him into a Box-to-Box with more of an offensive mindset. Could be a great compliment to both Wanyama and/or Dier. He has great skills on and off the ball. He has played in a pressing system before. This ticks every box in my opinion for a foreign talent. If he was Croatian (which he is by lineage), would this even be a question on whether or not he is talented?

3. Exposure is probably the biggest key aspect here, but I don't want that to take away from his footballing ability. Levy clearly has focused on the US for a lot of his career at Spurs. The NFL is a big aspect of the stadium, and it would only make sense for Levy to sign a known, and probably the most talented US player that I've ever seen, to be a feature signing for us. I don't think we can discount the sentiments that Spurs are a (for lack of a better term) rising club internationally, a club building on youth and hard work, and this signing caters to all of those and the US market. While Spurs have a much bigger following in the states than most would realize, this would certainly help for the younger generations (not related at all, but the US [and not military americans] have 4 people in the Bundesliga's Wonderkid XI - I pray this is the first of many coming to Spurs in the future).

 

[rez9000]

agreed - im speaking about on here specifically when Pulisic is mentioned, people can't run fast enough to be first to say - this is a commercial signing rather than looking at how good this guy actually is.

Granted I've not looked at every post in detail, but I've not seen anyone state that any putative Pulisic transfer is to be done purely for commercial interests. Ultimately, it pretty much goes without saying that a player who will cost a supposed £50 million is going to be a good player. Therefore if someone speaks of the commercial side of things, it's just highlighting one aspect of a possible transfer. That doesn't mean they don't know that the player is a good one. Like I say, the two are not mutually exclusive - just because one person may choose to mention the commercial possibilities only doesn't mean that's the only thing they know of the player.

 

[spacessships]

Granted I've not looked at every post in detail, but I've not seen anyone state that any putative Pulisic transfer is to be done purely for commercial interests. Ultimately, it pretty much goes without saying that a player who will cost a supposed £50 million is going to be a good player. Therefore if someone speaks of the commercial side of things, it's just highlighting one aspect of a possible transfer. That doesn't mean they don't know that the player is a good one. Like I say, the two are not mutually exclusive - just because one person only looks at the commercial possibilities doesn't mean that's the only thing they know of the player.

I think this is right. I don’t know anyone here who became a Spurs fan after Dempsey or Yedlin joined, and I think this forum may overweight the commercial potential of American players BUT it certainly wouldn’t hurt to sign a player who may be the highest potential star of one of the largest growing markets atm for many reasons—one of which is that he has shown himself to be a quality player at 19 on senior squads and still has further potential.

 

[Carson35]

Guess that rules out Martial/Bale, sad. Would prefer them any time if the week.

we have no chance to get Bale regardless. We simply can not afford him.

 

[Japhet]

I'd only view the commercial aspects of buying Pulisic as a very handy, and hopefully lucrative offset against the fee and wages. First and foremost, he's a highly talented, young player who has experience at a high level of exactly the type of football Pochettino demands. Any secondary financial considerations are simply a huge dollop of icing on the cake.

 

[LexingtonSpurs]

Granted I've not looked at every post in detail, but I've not seen anyone state that any putative Pulisic transfer is to be done purely for commercial interests. Ultimately, it pretty much goes without saying that a player who will cost a supposed £50 million is going to be a good player. Therefore if someone speaks of the commercial side of things, it's just highlighting one aspect of a possible transfer. That doesn't mean they don't know that the player is a good one. Like I say, the two are not mutually exclusive - just because one person may choose to mention the commercial possibilities only doesn't mean that's the only thing they know of the player.

It harkens back to Yedlin, and to a lesser extent Dempsey.

Many people see "American" and assume "commercial" - I don't think that is an unfair reaction. But, i think most people misunderstand the American market - nobody will root for a player just because he is American. The only way to make the commercial side pay off, is if the footballing side pays off.

Pulisic is a little more than just hype - Yedlin was all hype. Pulisic has moved his way into substantial minutes for one of Europes bigger clubs. Pulisic has performed well in CL. Its always a gamble when a player switches leagues, but if we sign Pulisic, its to compete and challenge for a spot in the starting XI this season. No different than signing Lucas - they would both here to earn minutes.

 

[MichaelPawson]

Depends if he becomes a megastar imo. I’m no expert but I’ve seen a tonne of people jumping ship to the Lakers, following LeBron - obviously he’ll almost definitely never get to that level, but could see at least 5/6 people jumping over to full time coysers.

You Americans have no loyalty. *

*I’m still salty at the war of independence

There's a really great point here. Young(ish) Americans are very aware of the Premier League and have readier access to broadcasts than anyone (even the English), but fan culture here is different. More and more, American fans follow individuals rather than teams, and their loyalty to teams will change as soon as their favorite player signs a new contract. In college, I roomed with a die-hard Lebron fan who's gone from supporting the Cavaliers to the Heat, back to the Cavs and now to the Lakers; now, I room with a huge Kevin Durant fan who went from the Supersonics to the Thunder to the Warriors. It's just the way athletes are marketed now, and how they can form distinct brands separate from whatever team they play for.

I think Pulisic could definitely draw some American fans to Spurs, based on his name recognition and the fact that he was the only American who didn't shit the bed during this most recent WCQ cycle. That being said, if he doesn't make it here (or even if he goes through the type of "adjustment" season a lot of our new signings seem to need), Americans will get impatient and start to resent Spurs, which is obviously not ideal. I rate Pulisic, but I don't think he's what Spurs need, and I'd rather he stick with a club like Dortmund over seeing him stuck on the bench for my favorite club.

EDIT SO I CAN MAKE THIS ON-TOPIC: I wonder if the contract clauses the Goat was talking about dovetails with the Herc ITK from earlier where he hinted that low-fuss deals were out there if Spurs worked smart? Maybe not Pulisic in particular, but as the transfer window drags on, I wonder if the club's approach will change to take advantage of those deals.

 

[SpartanSpur]

we have no chance to get Bale regardless. We simply can not afford him.

Except there has been ITK saying a deal can be done, albeit a very low chance of success. Even media links saying he'd be willing to accept the same basic as Kane.

Amazing how teams can find a way to pay for these kind of transfers, look at Juventus with C.Ronaldo, the fee mentioned is much higher than their norm and the wages will be multiple times that of their best paid player.

Do I think it'll happen? Not at all, but to say we 'simply can't afford' him may be a bit too bold unless you have inside info stating otherwise.

 

[SandroClegane]

Guess that rules out Martial/Bale, sad. Would prefer them any time of the week.

I'd rather have Pulisic than Martial

 

[jay2040]

I disagree. You know who hasn't picked a team? My son. His friends. Pulisic is 19, he can be around for a very long time. If you hold a player like that for a decade, the long term market impact for the club can be a monster.

It must be disappointing that you have been unable to get your son to believe in the Spurs way . Surely that's the Real issue in your post!

 

[taidgh]

I'm an American Spurs fan also and I'm increasingly angry when I read the "Pulisic would help sell shirts & help our US exposure". Honestly, you can watch every single Premier League game each week and fans have already picked their teams for the most part but thats not what upsets me so much. What upsets me is Pulisic is a major talent. He would not be some signing that satisfies sponsors or opens up markets, he would be a major addition on the pitch. He is incredibly hard working, has a dash of creativity and spark while dribbling that only Dele, Eriksen & Lucas have on the ball and is direct and aggressive in his attacks going forward. He works hard for the team and doesnt ignore his defensive responsibilities. He would be a great signing for footballing reasons.

Sorry disagree with you. I recently went to the Dortmund LAFC game and there were so many Pulisic Dortmund tops around it was ridiculous. So either there are waaaaay more Dortmund fans in Los Angeles that happen to also have Pulisic as their favorite player than I previously thought, or US fans tend to follow teams that have star players. It's naive to think that Pulisic signing for Spurs wouldn't A) bring Spurs to the attention of more people in the US, B) Sell more Spurs shirts in the US and C) have some fans switch allegiance to Spurs.

No arguments with the rest of your post

 

[lazypoodle]

It must be disappointing that you have been unable to get your son to believe in the Spurs way . Surely that's the Real issue in your post!

Well, he's only 1 and other parents keep advising me that kids apparently have free will, so I can't be 100% sure he'll buy in. Now, did he watch all the games in a Son #7 shirt this season? Do we sing the songs and clap his hands during the match? Are we dragging him to the new stadium as soon as he's old enough? Do we run him around the house after a Kane goal shouting at the top of our lungs GOOOOOAAALLL?

Yes, to all of those things.

If he comes home wanting to support the Scum because one of his friends likes whatever horrid manager happens to be at the helm there when he's 5, we may have to move far away. Or take his friend to London to cure him of his mistake.

If Pulisic comes to Spurs though and has a long, successful career? No worries from me, he can infect all of his friends and the conversion will almost definitely be complete. Then someday, they'll all have children and the world will be a better place.

 

[totty]

If Pulisic happens, it’ll definitely be before the tour to the States, so no chance of this going to Levy Day!

 

[jimbo]

I'm not sure the commercial benefits discussion really belongs in here. I mean, maybe Pulisic and the NFL would attract a big American stadium sponsor, or maybe not. Regardless I think he'd be a good signing and hopefully "preparing" eventually leads to "completing" and, one day, "signing". But let's not get carried away.

 

[Blackrat1299]

What a lot of you are missing is that SPURS is a business, Just ask DL. 90% of what Spurs set out to do is financially orientated. If we are to catch up with the other top teams we need to make a great impact into the American market. Thats why we built the stadium, bums on seats money in the bank and a funny game of 'football' So guys drop your hurt feelings, look at the direction that we are going..........Forwards and Upwards. COYS.

 

[GetSpurredOn]

So what's the feeling, is Pulisic instead of Grealish, or instead of Martial/Plea, or aswell as both?

 

[Keefo]

WE HAVE ITK!

Who: The Goat
When: 5th July
Where: SC

The Goat hears that we're preparing a formal bid and that he has some contract clauses that are in our favour.

EDIT: This is about Pulisic btw. Thanks @Hotspur1978

I Remember Hercules saying something similar about his contract clauses being in our favor.

 

[Bcbud]

Haven't seen him much but when we played Dortmund last season, Pulisic scared the piss outta me

 

[doctor stefan Freud]

So what's the feeling, is Pulisic instead of Grealish, or instead of Martial/Plea, or aswell as both?

Grealish as a number 8, and a WF player like Pulisic or Martial. If we get Pulisic over Martial we are potentially short of a back up CF, a role Son or Martial can play, but we’d lose Son for a period this season which would leave us short for a while