The Daily ITK Discussion Thread - POST MORTEM

[LeSoupeKitchen]

I like the positive noises but January and next summer is a long long way away in footballing terms. The mood around different clubs can change dramatically in that time. I'm not even sure I'll want Spurs in January. It might only take three more journeys on Chiltern trains.

 

[Dirty Ewok]

First off thanks to @Hercules, @Trix ,@Grey Fox, @JJetset and others i probably missed for providing a peak behind the curtain. Thanks to the greatest whore in the land @dovahkiin. Not to be forgotten is @THFCSPURS19 who seems to be able to find press information on anything and ensure i have mindless news and rumours to read.

I think the window was pretty good, a quality RB, a couple promising CBs, a legitimate proven backup striker is a good haul and will help us through the season. I would have loved to have seen some additional pace brought in for the wing and another strong attacking option but i think we have enough pieces to survive without them immediately.

I am curious to hear who we were trying to get that fell through (seems like Moura was one but the work permit sounds like a BS reason) if for no other reason that i would like to have a idea of what our strategy is.

All that said, i made a donation yesterday and @Archibald&Crooks said i would get to see Natalie topless, that hasn't happened.

Can that happen now?....please?

@Rob surely you can make something happen

 

[knowlespurs]

Thanks @Hercules and all the rest of the ITK.

Based on his post, I'm going to take a wild guess: Zaha was the one we thought we would get. Probably had an agreement w the player, thought we could talk Crystal Palace to release at the 35M (or a little more) number now, and Crystal Palace didn't cave.

bearing in mind Zaha signed a contract in the summer and Palace have lost their 1st 3 games there was a zero chance we would ever get him in this window

 

[Syn_13]

I know Poch publicly stated that he wasn't good enough...

Shame. Reckon he's pretty good. Oh wells.

 

[djee]

I have a few thoughts on the window. I will split this into Outgoing and Inbound (will post later). Hope this isn't too long or boring.

Outgoings

Whilst we are so focused on inbound transfers, it is perhaps readily overlooked that we have held on to all but one of our first team players. This is rather significant when you consider how many of our stars have been coveted by bigger sides, especially those with exceptionally deeper pockets. I have been hearing for 3 years that our team would be ripped apart but this prophecy has not been fulfilled. In fact, invariably, our best players have committed to long term deals and are bought into the vision. Furthermore, this year was arguably more important than ever to hang onto the likes of Alli, Eriksen, and Kane as even if we do not reach the heights of last season, there is little chance any would be allowed or even willing to leave before at least sampling a year in the new stadium. An increase in the wages, commensurate with the bigger revenues should also incentivise them to stay around.

Levy has brought some sanity to football economics and introduced a mechanism of incremental wage increases that reflect and reward performances. This meritocratic approach arguably gets the best out of players giving them the drive to succeed. Players at other clubs have stagnated as they have been remunerated too highly, too quickly and without much justification. It is outrageous that Utd can pay Martial who was under 20 at the time and had scored 11 goals in his career before, over £110k per week. This screws up the market and makes it hard for such players to ever move; it sadly means they are content to sit on the bench and regress. Finally, on this point, I find it ridiculous when people accuse Spurs of paying too little in wages a) no-one forces players to sign long term deals b) it is financially prudent and sustainable c) we will never compete with the likes of CFC, City, and PSG who financially dope the market. Even if we offered Rose say, £150k per week, one of those sides would go in at £250k - where does it end? Indeed it is not inconceivable that some players will be on £500k or even a £1m a week in the next 3-5 years. It is akin to an 'arms race' we can not win and is truly dreadfully wrong in the game. I'd go further by predicting 2-3 current PL clubs will be out of business in that timeframe.

If however, a player does wish to leave then we have shown we will only accept on our terms i.e. a massive, record fee. I appreciate that Dele may leave us in 2-3 years for one of the big boys, but the Neymar transfer has inflated prices across the board and I am confident we could command a similar if not bigger amount. I also think that Southampton and Liverpool have done remarkably well to insist that VVD and Coutinho have stayed despite the efforts of the players to force the hands of their clubs. Controversially, I would also say that Arsenal's approach with Sanchez (although they should have never been in such a dreadful position) is also admirable as they refused to sell unless they found a replacement - much to the despair of the Chilean. Of course, we did this with Rose. This is encouraging for other sides and shows that player power may be waning. In many ways, due to these factors, I suspect that we have every chance of keeping our side together for a long while. Moreover, lots of these clubs have been buying and developing talents that are as good, if not better than what we have. Put this way, I could not see Dele forcing his way into a Madrid first 11 anytime soon, would PSG need Kane?

Individual:

- Walker was headed for the exit door at the turn of the year. It is a real shame as after almost 8 years of service he leaves at the peak of his career to a rival. It was huge money and we received as much as we could. I have heard 'snake' bandied around but he was a great servant to us who worked hard on his game to win round the (at times outrageously critical) fans. He gave us some great memories and actually kept his counsel throughout his move.

- I am happy for Wimmer and £18m is a decent return and sounds about right for a good player who needs regular football.

- Obviously, Bentaleb and Fazio went officially over the past few months and for decent money. It is a pity about Nabil and Fazio was a better player than some gave him credit for.

- Very happy that Onomah is taking his chances at Villa and hope that the experience will help him force his way into our setup next year. Let's see if CCV can pull up any trees at Sheffield Utd - surely his last chance.

 

[Rob]

Just when you thought it was over... Sissoko to Valencia?

 

[Jamturk]

Just when you thought it was over... Sissoko to Valencia?

Really think we should keep him, 1 season isn't enough time for a definitive judgement.

Maybe he is agitating for the move.

 

[c_jones1978]

Well it's been another rollercoaster. I'm pleased with our dealings. Much less disappointing than previous years and lovely to see Arsenal have a mare. I don't contribute with posts much as a newbie but it's been (mostly) a great read! Donating another tenner. Thanks ITK's for bothering as ever. Rob, A&C and all the admin - you deserve a medal. Getting on the site over the last couple of days has been so much easier than previous years. Let's hope Aurier doesn't turn out to be a complete tit.

 

[Rob]

I have a few thoughts on the window. I will split this into Outgoing and Inbound (will post later). Hope this isn't too long or boring.

Outgoings

Whilst we are so focused on inbound transfers, it is perhaps readily overlooked that we have held on to all but one of our first team players. This is rather significant when you consider how many of our stars have been coveted by bigger sides, especially those with exceptionally deeper pockets. I have been hearing for 3 years that our team would be ripped apart but this prophecy has not been fulfilled. In fact, invariably, our best players have committed to long term deals and are bought into the vision. Furthermore, this year was arguably more important than ever to hang onto the likes of Alli, Eriksen, and Kane as even if we do not reach the heights of last season, there is little chance any would be allowed or even willing to leave before at least sampling a year in the new stadium. An increase in the wages, commensurate with the bigger revenues should also incentivise them to stay around.
.

I know you deleted it but I was in the middle of replying so I undeleted it

One thing that strikes me is that, Arsenal's best and most expensive player is only worth as much as one of our "worst" first team players.

Our utility player and right back (generally the two cheapest positions) were valued around £50m. I don't think Arsenal have any £50m+ players left now. In contrast, we've got several players (Kane and Alli) who'd fetch over £100m in the current market and a fair few who'd be up in the £60m+ bracket (Eriksen, etc).

Keeping hold of those players and not losing them to the big clubs is pretty massive.

 

[Basil Brush]

Defence: Easily best in the league

Strikers: Easily top 4 in league

Central Midfield: This is Wanyama, Dier, Dembele, Winks etc. Possibly best in league.

Attacking midfield/Forward players: Eriksen, Son, Lamela, Sissoko, Alli etc. My main area of concern. Great when all fit but I worry about Lamela coming back and Alli suspended in Europe. Sissoko just not that good.

Anyway, in summary, was a decent enough window. There a lot of supporters of other clubs who have more to worry about than us.

 

[philll]

Really think we should keep him, 1 season isn't enough time for a definitive judgement.

Maybe he is agitating for the move.

This suggests otherwise, although I guess he could've meant leaving permanently.

 

[dwicker7]

Random potentially dumb question: Are Spanish clubs restricted to compensating clubs with cash now? For example, if Barcelona were still working on Coutinho and they offer Liverpool a fee plus a player, can Liverpool accept that?

Apologies if this is the wrong place for this question as well, someone asked me this and I wasn't sure.

 

[rossdapep]

We heard at least 5 or 6 different names from different sources. Personally I think that points to a bit of a scatter gun approach once we lost out on our number one target (Balde). Most of these names were kids (U18s) playing in France/Italy, basically in the N'Jie/N'Koudou mould. Zaha was also mentioned several times.

Does seem that Zaha is the one Poch really really wants.

 

[SpartanSpur]

Just when you thought it was over... Sissoko to Valencia?

While I'd rather keep the numbers, the thought of removing Sissoko as an option for Poch is quite tempting to me! So far if Sissoko is the answer we certainly haven't found the question, aside from maybe the last 10 minutes at Palace last year keeping the ball in the corner.

 

[Klinsmannesque]

Just when you thought it was over... Sissoko to Valencia?

I wouldn't even entertain it. We haven't upgraded that area, no point in making us lighter. One more season to see if Poch can coach him into the performance levels he showed for France - he has a big pitch now which plays to his best attribute - his athletisiscm - lets get behind him see how he gets on

 

[SpartanSpur]

Random potentially dumb question: Are Spanish clubs restricted to compensating clubs with cash now? For example, if Barcelona were still working on Coutinho and they offer Liverpool a fee plus a player, can Liverpool accept that?

Apologies if this is the wrong place for this question as well, someone asked me this and I wasn't sure.

PL teams can't register a player until 1 January unless they are a free agent.

 

[alex3]

If a cash offer comes in for sissoko sell our youth players surely can't be worse than that

 

[Westmorland]

Really think we should keep him, 1 season isn't enough time for a definitive judgement.

Maybe he is agitating for the move.

I think we have seen enough of Sissoko. He has become an embarrassment to the club. Would KWP or Nkoudou have been worse than him, I think not. Now we will have Edwards fit for the season to show what he can do on the right.

 

[dwicker7]

PL teams can't register a player until 1 January unless they are a free agent.

So then if a Spanish club bought out a player's contract to release him (a la Neymar to PSG), and they made the receiving club refund the release clause as part of the transfer fee for a player they would be receiving, you could still legally bring someone in through that agreement?

 

[Wellspurs]

Just when you thought it was over... Sissoko to Valencia?

How much.... do we have to give them?