The Daily ITK Discussion Thread 9th June 2016

[WiganSpur]

Here's what I know to be true:
1. Batshuayi visited us in March. My guy met him on the plane to London.
2. We agreed on terms and Batshuayi agreed to sign for us.
3. We knew all along the price was €40m.

This is supposition:
1. Knowing the price was €40m we thought we could play brinkmanship and take advantage of Marseille's financial predicament. We waited until the deadline came into view before making our move.
2. In the meantime we advanced discussions with other targets in an attempt to force Labrune's hand. In turn, Labrune leaked as much about subsequent bids as possible to force our hand.
3. We remained confident that because Batshuayi had told us he wanted to sign for us we could sit it out. Chelsea then moved late last night having presumably contacted Batshuayi's agent to see what we had offered him. They bettered it and sealed the deal and by the time we made our bid it was too late.

I know for an absolute certainty that my first three points are correct. I know someone who was close to Marseille at the time of the initial discussions. He is no longer involved hence why subsequent information has run dry.

I think he's overpriced don't get me wrong, but so much for Pochettino getting backed in the transfer market. It seems like we've dilly dallied here. I don't buy the stadium money argument anymore as the league's revenue has skyrocketed in recent years. Obviously there's limits of course, but there isn't much doubt that we could have afforded this one, especially if fucking Palace can.

Anyway here's hoping we don't pull the same trick with Janssen and by some miracle have a good striker signed for pre-season. We can't afford to have the average start like we did last season.

 

[tiger666]

It's quite obvious we will not pay 33 million and wages of 150k. It's over

We're doomed.

 

[LexingtonSpurs]

We could still sign him if we match Chelsea's terms with Marseille and the player, but that's hardly realistic is it?

Needed to act sooner instead of playing transfer chicken.

Again.

Acting sooner might not have meant anything - Agents are smart, and they are always looking out for themselves, and their pockets.

If Spurs had reached an agreement, a good agent would still look around for a better deal - so the idea of Chelsea, or another club, willing to outspend Spurs will always exist when it come to the marquee players.

 

[dagraham]

Acting sooner might not have meant anything - Agents are smart, and they are always looking out for themselves, and their pockets.

If Spurs had reached an agreement, a good agent would still look around for a better deal - so the idea of Chelsea, or another club, willing to outspend Spurs will always exist when it come to the marquee players.

I agree it's no guarantee, but from piecing all the ITK and the media snippets together it would seem that we hadn't come close to offering them what they wanted.

The more you procrastinate the greater the chances of missing out.

Anyway, good thing is it's still early in the window and Berahino's name hasn't been mentioned yet .

 

[mil1lion]

Nothing Daniel Levy can do about that. Even if we matched Chelsea it would still mean they drove the price up and we pay more than we should. He's not worth more than £30m at this stage of his career. He may become worth that money but it's just as likely he wont be worth the money. Until you prove yourself in a top league you're not worth silly money. We need to spend wisely, I think Janssen is the best option in terms of price for potential. Leave the likes of Chelsea and City to spend over the odds and take that gamble.

 

[Dave-F]

Err. Am I missing something here...can't see any sign in the press that Baty has gone to Chelsea. Why the certainty we've blown it?

The only target we were (previously) after that has gone elsewhere is the other Dembele to Celtic.

 

[voxy28]

I would choose Chelsea as well for 150k/wk.... No brainier for him. No need to compete in CL or prove he is a top player to get such a salary, why not? Most footballers that play CL gets only half of this amt.

Even Juve cannot compete..... Lol

 

[Ledley's Right Foot]

I cannot believe for a second that we have not had constant dialogue and have not reassured Bat since March that we still unreservedly want him as our number one target. It's also a 2 way thing, his agent must have let us know that he still wanted to join us.

If he has indeed now signed for Chelsea then surely their interest would have been known to us through the above channels. It's like this thing has suddenly come out of the blue, which it can't of. Surely any decent agent worth his salt would go back to Spurs and say my client has now had a better offer or want more money? 40 million euros isn't just a whim - it must be planned?

Edit - maybe we did not want to be part of this particular game and did withdraw. That's also not gambling, it's market rates and idea of worth etc.

But in return Chelsea could just say "it's Spurs, look at Berahino, do you want to take a risk that the deal doesn't happen? We will sign you now."

We have been known to court players then leave them high and dry as we wait for the right deal. I know there's only so much we can afford but there are plenty of nearly spurs players out there (Berahino, Dembele etc).

Shame, he's quality.

 

[Berbatonghen]

Gutted about this but not at all surprised. Batshuayi would of been a great signing but tbh it is a lot of money and if it means buying another forward and still having enough funds to improve elsewhere in our squad then I am all for it.

Lets just move on and tie down Janssen... And maybe even Canabria!!

I still believe come end of August we will have made signings that will really improve the squad.

 

[brasil_spur]

It's quite obvious we will not pay 33 million and wages of 150k. It's over

I disagree on the 33 million, we could go there in theory. As for the £150k - this was my point, if all he choses a higher wage over the uncertainty of Chelsea vs Spurs then i don't think he's for us anyway.

 

[npearl4spurs]

Y'all he is just one player worth 40m euros. 40m euros! That's not where we are going to be - face it! And frankly, that isn't where I want us to be either (although I know many of you disagree).

If what was said above is true, and we have no reason to believe it isn't, then we have simply been priced out of a player from the club side of things. And that isn't a bad thing! I'm happy out manager didn't pull a Liverpool and just stump up an outrageous amount of money for a player at first asking. He negotiated! Sometimes it would seem y'all just walk into a car dealership and pay asking price right then and there! How many of you have the cash and not a care in the world to do that?!

No, we walked up to the Marseille car dealership and new that they had to sell their most expensive car by the end of the month to meet quota. They sold another car or two to ease things up. We knew as the end of the month approached they would still have to sell so we stood firm to get the best deal for our club. Then our jealous and intimidated Mr. Vain Moneybags neighbor, who hates seeing us profit any at his expense, swooped on just as he did the last time we tried to buy a fancy foreign model.

Be gone then I say! Mitigates our risk for sure. Now there won't be any bitterness and sad jokes if he ever failed for us as Soldado unfortunately did...

 

[tony0379]

Well done Daniel Levy

Lessons indeed have been learnt, I hear you say.

 

[Dave-F]

Gutted about this but not at all surprised. Batshuayi would of been a great signing but tbh it is a lot of money and if it means buying another forward and still having enough funds to improve elsewhere in our squad then I am all for it.

Lets just move on and tie down Janssen... And maybe even Canabria!!

I still believe come end of August we will have made signings that will really improve the squad.

Agree. I'd be happy with Jansen and/or Senabaria (spelling?) instead of Baty (if both then Son probably goes unfortunately). Kane's still the main man. The other's are there to challenge for the crown. Baty may think he should come in and be first choice form the get go, which would force a change in formation/style.

And we already have one good signing. Wanyama gives us cover in DM and means Dier can slot in CD as cover as well. so far so good and the Euros haven't even finished, which is when things will really start cooking.

 

[millsey]

Chelsea first came in for him late last night. The deal is now agreed and personal term agreed. How long have we been trying? 6 months? Wow

 

[millsey]

Err. Am I missing something here...can't see any sign in the press that Baty has gone to Chelsea. Why the certainty we've blown it?

The only target we were (previously) after that has gone elsewhere is the other Dembele to Celtic.

Wait a couple of hours and you will see he's gone to Chelsea

 

[Stoof]

The difference between having endless pots of laundered money and, well, not.

 

[LexingtonSpurs]

Not really fussed about this, assuming it to be true. I would have liked to get Batshuayi - but I understand the art of the deal. Juve had not met OM's price either - it was too high. So, if a team is going to come in an pay an inflated price, I am not going to sit here and cry about spilt milk.

Chelsea have two of the three things Batshuayi would want - money and playing time. If we assume Conte is going to play with a 352 formation, Batshuayai has a much easier place to find playing time alongside Costa, rather than backing up Kane.

Not going to lose sleep over this one - time to move on to the next target.

 

[JonnySpurs]

It is what it is.

This could be seen as Levy pissing about as we know he has done in the past. Or it can be seen for what it is in that we did our best to move early to convince the player, which we did, and then hope that this would be enough to see us through OM's deadline and get him for the price that fit our transfer budget for this summer. Sadly this would always leave us open to clubs like Chelsea that have endless cash and it didn't work but one thing we know is that we were NEVER, EVER going to pay over £30m for Michy Batshuayi.

This shouldn't be seen the same way as other failed signings because for me, it's a very different situation.

I'm disappointed but I'm cool with it overall.

 

[ryantegan]

You cant blame Bats. Go where you feel wanted. If it takes 6 months for someone to put a bid in, i wouldnt hang about either

 

[Dave-F]

Wait a couple of hours and you will see he's gone to Chelsea

Ok. I will put my doubts to one side and wait. But I'm only a little bit bothered. Only a little bit as it's like Willian all over again, which is anoying. But as far as the player goes, not really. There's time and options.