lennon??? siggy ain't much more than a squad rotation player with a crisp shot....but lennon????I edited the post above, but no I think we could do with both for the future!
Koke can play DM, CM, AM and on the wings hence his interest being high, he is no way a replacement for Lamela.
I personally would consider letting Lennon and Siggy go
personally the way he is playing and how totally unsuited he looks to the EPL, I wouldn't be adverse to grabbing £20m from somewhere and moving on, because if he keeps playing like he is his value will continue to spiral downwards and we will be left with another Bentley.
Levy is nothing if not pragmatic.
yep would be a big decision to make but if the opinion of those who matter is that he wont make it, and AVB is clearly as yet not convinced, then I can certainly see Levy cutting his losses as I imagine he was waking up everyday for the last 5 yrs in a cold sweat seeing Bentleys face.
Still won't get a premier league start any time soon though I bet.However, AVB insists the Argentinian is going nowhere saying there was "no chance" of a loan happening in the new year when asked about it following Thursday's 4-1 win over Anzhi. He also expressed his satisfaction at Lamela's performance in the game, while conceding he remains some way off his very best. "It was still not his best we can see but still a good performance," the Spurs boss added. "He had a big chance on the header and this last shot to brighten a little bit more his performance but I was extremely happy with how he played."
Read more at: http://www.clubcall.com/tottenham-hotspur/spurs-boss-rules-out-lamela-move-1678713.html?
Still won't get a premier league start any time soon though I bet.
For a player trying to acclimatise and not playing well.
He has 5 assists and a goal which is the best assist ratio with Holbty for tottenham this season.
Loaned out my arse, more like more games here.
£25 mill in todays market for world class potential is cheap.
How much do 15 goals a season midfielders cost nowdays?
I massively, massively agree with you. I just wish he was a regular starter by now. People say he is still too slight, or the adjustment between the Serie A and PL is significant but look at Coutinho. He is just as slight as Lamela and not as talented yet Rodgers stuck him right into it and it clearly did wonders for his confidence. Lamela needs to be starting.which is a waste - regular football is a must for the lad and he wont get that with us ATM.
I'm from Argentina and I'm been following Argentines in Europe since 2006.
Erik Lamela is considered by thomas vickery (south american columnist) to being the best Argentine youngster. Better than iturbe, Ocampos, and Icardi. He is believed to be the next number 10 for Argentina.
He scored 15 goals and had 5 assist last season. Sabella (Argentina's manager) didn't want to call him up to the national team, the only reason why he got a called up was because Sabella job was in question. The skill, the talent, and the potential are all there.
Argentines with big hype generally do poor in England their first season. Aguero is the expectation. The reason why Aguero did so well in his first season was because he had tevez, zabaleta, and other spanish speakers in the squad.
Tevez and Macherano were 22 years old when he joined west ham in 2006.I don't know if some of you remember but they were very poor in the first few months.
Mascherano played poorly in the three months at west ham before leaving for Liverpool where he succeed under a spanish speaking manager and spanish players.
Many people would say Tevez stay at West Ham was successful. In some way it was, he leaded west ham out of the regelation zone and scored the winning goal against man utd in Manchester in the final match day to save them from the drop. However Tevez took a long time to score his first goal for west ham. He didn't score a goal for west ham until March. He finished the season with 7 goals.
With that said, some columnist in Argentina believe that Erik Lamela will surpass Tevez in terms of being a great player. And saying he is the best player river produced in a long time.
Erik Lamela main position, the position he grew up playing was playing in the attacking midfield role. Even though he played on the wing at Roma, it's still new to him to play on the wing. At Roma he was being breed to take Totti's role after Totti's retirement. They wanted him learn to play on the wing. I think Roma (?) got a new president or director(?) and decided to cash Lamela in, because they always want to turn a profit. (I'm not too sure but I remember reading that the American owners want to make a profit every year)
Lamela transferred to England, a nation in which most Argentines grew up having a great distaste for. (Football Rivarly and Falklands.) According to the Argentina media, he wanted the move because it was the next step in his career to move to what he thinks is a bigger club. When he got there he was overwhelmed with the pressure in replacing the 100 million pound man. He really did experience culture shock. Culture shock is more than feeling out of place. You can feel depressed and experience other mental issues such as anxiety. The reason why he got it so bad was the pressure of replacing bale and having really no one in the squad who speaks spanish besides the 29 year old soldado who is also new.
People will say Erik Lamela needs time to adjust to the pace of the premier league and I truly believe that isn't the case. Erik Lamela confidence is so shaky right now. It's all a confidence issue. He feels alone not only in London but with his teammates. Put yourself in his shoes, think about being 21 years old Englishmen and going to Argentina to replace Tevez or Maradona at Boca Jr's and having no other player speak english besides and older teammate who is also new. His family joined him in London which shows how bad he is in terms of his confidence and loneliness. He's learning English in order to fit in the team better. (Something Tevez never did). If tottenham looking for a new player in January, they should look into a spanish speaker around the same age as Lamela.
I've seen the last few games that Lamela played and he is playing like a shadow of himself. It seems like he trying too hard, and trying to do too much which is making him play even worse. When Lamela has the ball, it seems like he doesn't have a quarter of the confidence he had at Roma. Even off the field he seems upset and lonely. I remember seeing him walk into Manchester Citys' stadium and looked so shy, lonely and uncomfortable. He had his head down and just looked very timid. He looked like he was the new kid at school during lunch time. (It's on youtube, Under man city tottenham tunnel). This is coming from a guy who had the confidence to do the hand heart celebration after a goal.
He desperately wants to score a goal to show he isn't a bust, which leads to him drifting too far up and getting caught on the counter. When he played for Argentina against Bosnia last month he "whiffed" on a sitter and looked absolutely devastated. He is going through a rut, right now. Goals aren't really a big part of his game. He is usually more about creative dribble type of player than a goalscorer. He just wants to score to regain confidence.
Basically, he only played 6 premier league matches, only had 6 shots in the premier league this season and already have a couple of assist. There is no need to worry about him being a flop. He will be a great player for Tottenham and just last year, Roma fans and the Italian media said he could be as good if not better than Totti. He could very well be the next Totti but for Tottenham. It's going to take time.
Anyway, I just wanted to show you what is going on in his head. A quick way to help him out of his rut and rebuild his confidence, is to scream his name in White Hart Lane when he plays and show him lots of love and backing.
At £12-15m I can just about see the logic using "potential" as a selling point.
£25m get you Suarez and a nice pad in London with the change.
We may not like to admit it but he was considerably overpriced and what is really worrying not really suitable for the EPL.
It really is poor buy for us. I would love to know the thought and decision processes behind his purchase.
I believe he will go on to be an excellent player in Spain or Italy, indeed as he was at Roma.
I understand your point Steve.
Suarez didnt hit the floor running far from it, 4 in his first season and the 11 the next.
Henry cost 12 mill and how long ago was that?
Modric cost 16 mill for potential.
If Lamela scores against Fulham and should have done imo and scores against Anzi he would be the second coming.
Modric, Henry, Bale,Tevez, Giroud, Ronaldo(4 goals first season),Beratov, Pires all took time to settle and went on to become greats in the EPL.
Yes there have been failures, but werent judged on two games in the EPL.
I see the potential in Lamela and believe he will be a premiership great, but judge him after 20 games not 2.
I will hold my hands up and say he was a failure if thats how it ends up.
I personally dont believe it will be, but will be eating the largest slice of humble pie ever if he fails.
If we loaned him and Lennon, Townsend got injured, then what?Likewise I understand where your coming from. I still dont see the problem with a Swansea type loan for he lad to get him pitch time. I think this could, just could hasten his UK development, also I dont see what has to do with his purchase price.
Likewise I understand where your coming from. I still dont see the problem with a Swansea type loan for he lad to get him pitch time. I think this could, just could hasten his UK development, also I dont see what it has to do with his purchase price.