Tottenham reignite Yevhen Konoplyanka interest as they eye cut price January deal

[Japhet]

I think we'll be all over Jay Rodriguez first. However, if that bears no fruit I could see this as a back up option.

 

[rocklink]

I think kono is a faster version of jay rod

 

[spursfan77]

There are apparently a few question marks over his attitude and willingness to do the drudge work but there can be little doubt about his ability. He is a class above any of our current outfield players and at £5M an absolute steal. I'd love to see him in a Spurs shirt but the ITKs have pooh-poohed our interest in him recently so this might just be lazy journalism.

I think so. Hasn't there been reports that there's some third party issues.

I've never been that convinced by him really.

 

[guy]

There are apparently a few question marks over his attitude and willingness to do the drudge work but there can be little doubt about his ability. He is a class above any of our current outfield players and at £5M an absolute steal. I'd love to see him in a Spurs shirt but the ITKs have pooh-poohed our interest in him recently so this might just be lazy journalism.

What the heck, you're crazy!

He's only ever averaged 6-8 goals and 3-5 assists per season. Hardly prolific, even more damming is the fact it's in a rubbish league.

I'd say he's a class below a lot of our squad, and that's not just from looking at his stats. He has bags of pace but not much end product.

 

[SpursManChris]

If we look at the big five leagues, I find it hard to believe he would deliberately choose to go anywhere that would have him in Spain.

Messi would like to know how you can think negatively of La Liga.

 

[SpursManChris]

I don't see any of the teams that he would choose over us offering him starting positions.

I'm interested in how you know what teams he would choose. I'm sure you're thinking of any team who play better football than us, which at present, must surely be quite a number of teams in the Bundeliga. And why wouldn't he go to France or Spain? I love this myth that the Premier League is so much better than all the other leagues and all players want to play in it. If that's the case, then why do so many of the world's top 2, 5 or 10 players not play in it? They're quite comfortable where they are, with no desire to leave.

Leaving only England

How very presumptuous, that it leaves ONLY England.

So really, I can't see him going anywhere but Spurs

Optimism of the year there mate.

 

[Blake Griffin]

You're joking aren't you? Because Pritchard is so much more promising?

how do you know he's not? i hate to sound like tim but assuming big name foreign players are so much better than the players we're producing has shown to be a bit of a fallacy lately.

 

[mill]

Depends if poch really wants him or levy is doing his buy all the under market value players thing and expect to fashion a team to get fourth out of it

 

[SpursManChris]

how do you know he's not? i hate to sound like tim but assuming big name foreign players are so much better than the players we're producing has shown to be a bit of a fallacy lately.

I don't know for sure, but it's usually a safer bet at least in the context of a single season (comparing the two different levels of experience.) Longer term, sure, Prichard could be a better player, we'll have to wait and see.

 

[nightgoat]

You're joking aren't you?

No.

 

[nightgoat]

Yes, but many of these youth who could potentially punch through do not play this position. The only one who has the potential to help us soon is Pritchard, and I don't think he's quite of the quality yet to push us on. I think we need an immediate attacker upgrade/addition, and Pritch himself needs this full season in the Championship for his own development and confidence.

It's worth noting that last season Pritchard and Mason were playing for the same League One team. Pritchard was voted Young Player of the Year and runner-up in Player of the Year. Whilst it would be presumptuous to suggest that because Mason has settled into our first team relatively easily Pritchard would do the same, Pritchard was by far the more impressive and has played well in the Championship so far in a team playing 'proper' football. It would have been beneficial for him to have been given more than seven minutes of our last two league games last season to see how he adapted to PL football.

Also our 25 man Premier League squad is only 23 players because we don't have enough homegrown players. If we were to sign Konoplyanka he would have to first be offset by selling one of our non-homegrown players to free up a place in the squad, whereas Pritchard is already listed amongst the eligible under 21 players and could play straight away after being recalled.

 

[Wirral Spurs]

Key words = cut price

 

[RichieS]

Further to my post earlier in the thread, I would not be at all averse to Konoplyanka in, Lennon, Townsend and Paulinho out. That would leave us with Lamela, Eriksen, Chadli, Konoplyanka and Ceballos to choose from in the three behind the striker, with Kane, Mason and Dembélé all providing further options. Increase in available quality? Check. Profit? Check. Reduced wage bill? Check. Streamlined squad? Check.

Then in the summer move on Ceballos and promote Pritchard.

 

[nightgoat]

Further to my post earlier in the thread, I would not be at all averse to Konoplyanka in, Lennon, Townsend and Paulinho out. That would leave us with Lamela, Eriksen, Chadli, Konoplyanka and Ceballos to choose from in the three behind the striker, with Kane, Mason and Dembélé all providing further options. Increase in available quality? Check. Profit? Check. Reduced wage bill? Check. Streamlined squad? Check.

Then in the summer move on Ceballos and promote Pritchard.

Not able to do that due to Premier League homegrown player rules? Check.

 

[fatpiranha]

What the heck, you're crazy!

He's only ever averaged 6-8 goals and 3-5 assists per season. Hardly prolific, even more damming is the fact it's in a rubbish league.

I'd say he's a class below a lot of our squad, and that's not just from looking at his stats. He has bags of pace but not much end product.

A rather disingenuous use of statistics. He's been at Dnipro since the age of 16 so if you take into account his early 5 minute sub appearances it does rather water down his stats. Last season he scored 13 goals in 36 appearances for Dnipro and he also averages a goal every 5 games for the national team. He's also pretty versatile so doesn't always get to play his best position.

It might be a rubbish league but he has looked the best player on the pitch often enough in Europe and in Internationals to demonstrate he's a big fish in a small pond. Plenty of great players started off in rubbish leagues.

 

[mill]

Not able to do that due to Premier League homegrown player rules? Check.

Surely Kono would just take Paulinho's place and we'd just have a smaller squad?

That's if I'm right in thinking Ceballos is registered in the PL and not EL, not the other way round

 

[DaSpurs]

I'm interested in how you know what teams he would choose. I'm sure you're thinking of any team who play better football than us, which at present, must surely be quite a number of teams in the Bundeliga. And why wouldn't he go to France or Spain? I love this myth that the Premier League is so much better than all the other leagues and all players want to play in it. If that's the case, then why do so many of the world's top 2, 5 or 10 players not play in it? They're quite comfortable where they are, with no desire to leave.


How very presumptuous, that it leaves ONLY England.


Optimism of the year there mate.

Honestly a bit at a loss with how to respond to this, rather stunned.

Those two players are there because they are Portuguese and Argentinian playing in a Spanish league. Conversely, how many players from Russia or Ukraine flock to play in Spain or France? Has more to do with comfort than playing style. Has nothing to do with "superiority."

"Presumptuous?" Process of elimination. Started with five. I had eliminated Spain, Italy, and France; and then reasoned through why I don't think anyone in Germany would be interested. That's five minus four, leaving only England. Simple stuff.

"Optimism?" Did you follow the process of elimination or simply follow it bit by bit?

Messi would like to know how you can think negatively of La Liga.

Now this is presumptuous.

 

[fatpiranha]

It's worth noting that last season Pritchard and Mason were playing for the same League One team. Pritchard was voted Young Player of the Year and runner-up in Player of the Year. Whilst it would be presumptuous to suggest that because Mason has settled into our first team relatively easily Pritchard would do the same, Pritchard was by far the more impressive and has played well in the Championship so far in a team playing 'proper' football. It would have been beneficial for him to have been given more than seven minutes of our last two league games last season to see how he adapted to PL football.

Also our 25 man Premier League squad is only 23 players because we don't have enough homegrown players. If we were to sign Konoplyanka he would have to first be offset by selling one of our non-homegrown players to free up a place in the squad, whereas Pritchard is already listed amongst the eligible under 21 players and could play straight away after being recalled.

Mason was injured almost the entire season. I rate Pritchard as probably the most talented of all our prospects but he isn't as physically and mentally mature as Mason or Kane. He certainly isn't at Konoplyanka's level yet.

 

[DaSpurs]

A rather disingenuous use of statistics. He's been at Dnipro since the age of 16 so if you take into account his early 5 minute sub appearances it does rather water down his stats. Last season he scored 13 goals in 36 appearances for Dnipro and he also averages a goal every 5 games for the national team. He's also pretty versatile so doesn't always get to play his best position.

It might be a rubbish league but he has looked the best player on the pitch often enough in Europe and in Internationals to demonstrate he's a big fish in a small pond. Plenty of great players started off in rubbish leagues.

It's also worth knowing he didn't start out at Dnipro as a winger, but as a deep-lying playmaker. As DLP's typically score less goals than do wingers, this also has some effect on his long term average.

Also, as for the international numbers, it's worth noting that since the 2012 Euros in which he started catching the eyes of big league clubs, he's averaged a goal in every 3 games for Ukraine.

It would seem in both categories this is a player on the rise in his abilities rather than a plateau of mediocrity.

 

[DaSpurs]

It's worth noting that last season Pritchard and Mason were playing for the same League One team. Pritchard was voted Young Player of the Year and runner-up in Player of the Year. Whilst it would be presumptuous to suggest that because Mason has settled into our first team relatively easily Pritchard would do the same, Pritchard was by far the more impressive and has played well in the Championship so far in a team playing 'proper' football. It would have been beneficial for him to have been given more than seven minutes of our last two league games last season to see how he adapted to PL football.

Also our 25 man Premier League squad is only 23 players because we don't have enough homegrown players. If we were to sign Konoplyanka he would have to first be offset by selling one of our non-homegrown players to free up a place in the squad, whereas Pritchard is already listed amongst the eligible under 21 players and could play straight away after being recalled.

Good post and well-made points. I'm aware of this though, but even then I would still prefer we do what it takes to make Kono happen given the gulf in immediate quality. I think it's rather apparent Paulinho is hardly in the plans of Poch, and at least to a level satisfiable to Paulinho at least, so I've no doubt he's included in immediate plans for change. So either way, I'm sure we could find a slot for him if need be.

I agree that I'd have liked to see Pritch play a bit more than he did in those final two games, but I've no doubt Levy was applying pressure on Sherwood to qualify for the Europa and Man U were hot on the heels. So unfortunately, I'm sure he had to play it safe in those final two matches. Nonetheless, was delighted to see his debut against Villa, especially since it was at the Lane.

The difference between Mason and Pritch though is that Mason isn't needed to provide outright quality, but rather an element so heavily lacking in our game in midfield: forward passing and movement. It wasn't the quality that's improved us and earned him his spot (although he's clearly a talented player), but rather offering what is the most essential component of making Poch's system work. So while you're certainly making a good point, I don't think we can make a levelized comparison between the two.