Zaha signs for United

[Lilbaz]

How much was cazorla? There are better bargains out there.

 

[michaelden]

I've seen a fair bit of CP and Zaha is overrated

 

[Khilari]

Fuck. that.

Virtually guaranteed £18m.

But that's ok, no? £18m for an International who's playing and scoring for us and young isn't bad!

 

[CJMurray]

But that's ok, no? £18m for an International who's playing and scoring for us and young isn't bad!

£5m for 5 goals? Thats almost certainty going to happen.
£5m for 5 caps? Thats definitely going to happen.

There's no value in that at all. He's not that good ya'know.

 

[Sarsipius]

Clearly not the finished article but the kid has serious potential.

£8-10 mill with performance related add-ons an immediate loan back til summer and next season he'll be understudy for either flank while continuing his footballing education under AVB and the coaches.

I like Townsend too but you don't hear of Fergie and Wenger drooling over him in any way.

 

[CJMurray]

Clearly not the finished article but the kid has serious potential.

£8-10 mill with performance related add-ons an immediate loan back til summer and next season he'll be understudy for either flank while continuing his footballing education under AVB and the coaches.

I like Townsend too but you don't hear of Fergie and Wenger drooling over him in any way.

This is such a key line for me.

Too often we're looking at these expensive players from lower league teams, when usually we've got as good as or even better players in our youth team that just haven't been given the opportunities that the Zaha's/Bostock's/Hughes' have.

We need to be giving our youth team players proper chances (Carroll/Townsend/Mason) before we go out spending rash amounts of money on other youngsters.

 

[Sarsipius]

This is such a key line for me.

Too often we're looking at these expensive players from lower league teams, when usually we've got as good as or even better players in our youth team that just haven't been given the opportunities that the Zaha's/Bostock's/Hughes' have.

We need to be giving our youth team players proper chances (Carroll/Townsend/Mason) before we go out spending rash amounts of money on other youngsters.

Yes, it's a key line because it's practically the only point I'm making in that post.

In my opinion (and seemingly in the opinions of Fergie and Wenger) Wilfried Zaha is going to be significantly better that Andros Townsend, hence the tizzy about him and not Townsend.

If your argument for not signing him is that we have Townsend then I presume you think he's going to be a better player down the line. Otherwise, why should we settle for inferior players just because they're homegrown?

Like always, time will tell, but I'd like to see a show of hands to see who thinks Townsend is or will be better than Zaha in a few years time.

 

[CJMurray]

Yes, it's a key line because it's practically the only point I'm making in that post.

In my opinion (and seemingly in the opinions of Fergie and Wenger) Wilfried Zaha is going to be significantly better that Andros Townsend, hence the tizzy about him and not Townsend.

If your argument for not signing him is that we have Townsend then I presume you think he's going to be a better player down the line. Otherwise, why should we settle for inferior players just because they're homegrown?

Like always, time will tell, but I'd like to see a show of hands to see who thinks Townsend is or will be better than Zaha in a few years time.

Yeah my bad, I didn't properly address that bit (when off on a tangent).

You'll never see Ferguson and Wenger drooling over Townsend because a) he's not available and b) he's not proven himself in the championship as Zaha has done.

It's a similar situation to when we everyone wanted to sign Redmond - purely because he was being given regular gametime in the championship and excelling. Townsend remains a better player (IMO) who's just not given the opportunities that Redmond has. It's because these players are constantly in the limelight that they're so highly rated. Why not give our own youngsters a go before we look at spending something ridiculous on Zaha?

 

[Sarsipius]

I respect your opinion bro.

As I said before, I like Townsend and I think he can be a decent Prem player. Although, I disagree with your point that he's not had the opportunity to shine in the lower leagues. He's had plenty of championship loan spells where he's done well but not brilliantly I'd say.

Zaha on the other hand has shown he has the potential (not that this is always fulfilled) to become an absolute star.

£10 mill plus, may represent a gamble (a la Bale when we signed him for a similar amount) but if he continues to develop we may rue not stumping up that sum, especially if GB decides he prefers paella to Balti pies any time soon.

 

[wishkah]

knowing me, knowing youuuuu. Zaha!

 

[cyclonus]

knowing me, knowing youuuuu. Zaha!

Better off going for Tom Ince scored alot more goals(23) to Zaha's (5)

 

[Rogmeister]

knowing me, knowing youuuuu. Zaha!

I just walked through my office and sang this out loud. Proper camped the place up and got some looks.

Thank for getting it stuck on my head you bastard!
Hahaha

 

[FreddieYid]

for around £8-10M I'd say he"s worth chasing.

If carroll was a Palace youngster he'd be playing week in week out and probably have us and the scum drooling over him. We shouldn't overlook our own youngsters for others that are getting plaudits because they're getting game time, when ours aren't, purely because they're not getting the chances.

 

[Sarsipius]

The discussion on this thread seems to have gotten a little confused.

I don't think anyone here is advocating that we should, as a policy, overlook our own youth players in favour of signing youth at other clubs just because they are getting regular game-time. That would be absurd, obviously.

However, the coaching staff, along with the scouting staff, must constantly weigh up whether other clubs are holding on to better prospects than what we are developing and if they believe this is so, we try to snap them up (Zeki Fryers). This is not based solely on game performances, but also the estimations of player potential across all sorts of attributes (physical, technical, mental etc).

Furthermore, at Spurs we have actually seen a shift in youth development whereby players are sent out on loan a lot more and charged with performing well before being promised much game time with us. Take for example Steven Caulker. He was sent out on loan with carefully chosen clubs of increasing strength. First Yeovil town in League One where, by all accounts, he was most excellent (he won four out of five of their end of season awards), followed by Bristol City in the Championship where again he was highly rated (wining their young player of the year award) and obviously with Swansea last season where the majority of fans who don't follow the lower leagues much got to watch him in action and saw him contribute to their excellent season.

As a result of his continued successes he has been rewarded with a significant squad presence with 14 starts across all tournaments this season.

So I don't think you can say there is any danger that the club is going to overlook any of our home grown talents anytime soon.

CJMurray and others however, were previously arguing on this thread that we shouldn't spend so much money as the figure quoted on Zaha, because we have Townsend.

Townsend is obviously a little more enigmatic than Caulker if you are basing his projected ability solely on account of his loan spells. In total he has been sent on loan 8 times since the start of the 2009/10 season and so to say he has not had the chance to shine is not correct to start with. However, he has actually done quite well at some of those clubs but in the same breath some of those loan spells were cut short due to lack of game time (which says something). Furthermore, none of these were premiership clubs so it's hard to say whether he has what it takes at this level or not yet. The same of course is true of Zaha and I am not using that as my argument as to why we should sign him (before anyone tries to say otherwise).

Going back to your previous post CJMurray,

"You'll never see Ferguson and Wenger drooling over Townsend because a) he's not available and b) he's not proven himself in the championship as Zaha has done."

I don't actually understand either of those arguments.

a) Are you saying Townsend is not available because he is under contract? In what way therefore is Zaha available? Especially when Palace have said they value him at £20 million? Do we value Townsend at more than £20 million?! Or is there something that I've missed?

b) Indeed, you've just argued my point exactly, Townsend has not really proved himself at Championship level whereas Zaha has (in your opinion!). So again, what evidence are you pointing to that shows Townsend to be a better player than Zaha?

For the final time, let me reiterate, I like Townsend, I think the kid has some tekkers and some good physical attributes. I just think Zaha has more currently and will probably have a lot more down the line. Clearly, if we're looking to buy him then our coaching staff (as well as those of our rivals) do too.

The beauty of football is always the opinions it generates and the discussions it leads to. Let's come back to this in three years and we'll see how it pans out

 

[Snarfalicious]

So, I've decided that I will start watching him closely and will begin by checking out his FA Cup match against Stoke City.

Who better to get an idea from in terms of his ability then against one of, if not the, best defenses in the Prem.

I'll update later with my impressions.

There's also reports stating that we lead the chase for him but I don't really believe it.

 

[rabbikeane]

So again, what evidence are you pointing to that shows Townsend to be a better player than Zaha?

From what they do in the same England U team I rate Townsend above Ince,
Zaha I'm not sure about, but then again Townsend isn't our most promising wide man
- that's Alex Pritchard, a different type of player admittedly but also one that excite me more than any other England youth.

Our own duo doesn't get the game time they need,
the other duo cost as much combined as a Moutinho.

If we do go for Zaha, it might be a good signing,
then we should however off load Townsend as well.
Cause I can't see us giving enough game time for them all to progress.
Andros Townsend is born 1991, he'll be registered as a senior next season, no longer a youth player.

 

[Khilari]

Yo duuuudes!
Lifelong Spurs fan, relocated to S London and worked at Mayday Hospital in Croydon for a bit.
Ended up, when I couldn't get to Spurs matches going to Palace and AFC Wimbledon matches recently. Have only made 5 Spurs games this season. Townsend came on during one of them as a substitute for about 10mins and looked ok (but everyone moaned at the poor guy when he missed a last minute header in one of our early season WHL draws, bit unfairly)

I tell you without a shadow of a doubt that Zaha has incredible talent and he is most definitely better on the ball, has better vision and better close control. He looks much better than Townsend because
-he plays more
-he plays alongside crapper players and looks good
-he plays against crapper opposition and looks good

So comparing them is difficult, but you can only go by what you've seen. I really do think Zaha is better, but couldn't really say by how much because we've not really had the opportunity to see AT regularly for Spurs

The thing about Zaha is that he seems to have much more in his basket than just pace - he first touch is immense and his touches to keep possession really are impressive. He can also put together some passes well. And he can finish.

If we signed him, it'd be hard to know if he'd be a world beater but he'd certainly have something to offer a PL team.

Problem is, everyone now knows what Palace fans knew for a couple of seasons as he came up through the ranks. So £££ is a problem. If I was in AVB's / DL's shoes, I'd sign him up. He could be good enough to replace Bale in the future and certainly could be sold on for a reasonable fee if he didn't work out.

Sadly, he supports the Scum.

Just my thoughts.

 

[spursfan77]

Isn't zaha mainly right footed? Surely hed just be a Lennon back up?

 

[Hoddle&Waddle]

The Mirror reporting that we are due to have talks with Crystal Palace today http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/footb...ed-and-tottenham-are-in-bitter-battle-1521380

 

[tobi]

I've heard good things, I'm aware of his dribbling ability (which I love) but never seen him play.

Is he a confidence player like Lennon in the past?