The Daily ITK Discussion Thread - The Home Gnomelone Edition 30th July 2013

[Little Squatman]

And you know he's staying how? From a bunch of strangers on an Internet forum putting their fingers in their ears and sorting lalalalalalala.
Even the itk's are leaning towards the inevitable.
madrid's dirty tactics have won again.

So they're a 'bunch of strangers' if they say he's staying, but 'itk' if they lean towards him going?

Why are you so determined to bring everyone down with you? As nayimfrom50 said above, it'd be extremely naive not to have expected this happening this summer. Saturday will tell us a lot in my opinion, if he plays I'll feel a lot better. If he doesn't this will just run and run

 

[Moonie]

Whatever happens guys, well always have each other

 

[Eric_s]

And you know he's staying how? From a bunch of strangers on an Internet forum putting their fingers in their ears and sorting lalalalalalala.
Even the itk's are leaning towards the inevitable.
madrid's dirty tactics have won again.

No. It's because we can differentiate facts from fabricated crap, reality from fantasy. It's not that difficult actually.

 

[razor1981]

And you know he's staying how? From a bunch of strangers on an Internet forum putting their fingers in their ears and sorting lalalalalalala.
Even the itk's are leaning towards the inevitable.
madrid's dirty tactics have won again.

If this is a foregone conclusion then you might as well remortgage your house and get down to the bookies now. They're currently offering a "risk-free" AER of 22,000% on Bale leaving this summer.

 

[nicdic]

When Madrid finally decide to make an actual bid we'll know about it. Everything so far is conjecture and rumour.

 

[ItsBoris]

I don't know what to believe anymore.

 

[Joeyboey]

If we are certain that Bale is leaving then I hope Baldini is going all out for Bernard. Even if Bale stays for an extra season we need a player who can be ready to step up as our next catalyst.

Either way Bale will leave in the next season or so and we should really already be working on replacements now before prices become inflated/extortionate. Getting Benrard this transfer window fits the bill regardless of Bales immediate future...

 

[fatpiranha]

If Levy can sign Soldado and get Bale to sign a new contract it would likely mean Perez would buy Suarez which would scupper Wenger's hopes and leave both Arsenal and Liverpool with a big bag of cash and no decent strikers available to spend it on.

I picture a bald, Jewish, dwarf cackling maniacally as he slips on the shoulder length porcupine hide gloves in preparation for simultaneously fisting both Real Madrid and our two main CL rivals .

 

[ItsBoris]

Whatever happens guys, well always have each other

Awww .

It's true though, no matter how bad things could possibly get, we can always come on here and have a heartfelt moan with each other.

Anyway I don't think Bale leaving would be a disaster, we could potentially build a more balanced team. I do hope he stays though.

 

[TottenhamMattSpur]

I don't know that he is. I am hoping, like most poeple on here, but you seem to say it so matter of fact like you know. When you can't know. It's all a guessing game.

Ok for the sake of brevity it is entirely my opinion. I am not itk.

However in my opinion the writing is on the wall in 50ft neon lights folks.

I would add two points here though. Id be extremely happy to be wrong.
If I'm right, as long as the money is both obscene and reinvested I would be to worried.
We were a one man team last year. To turn that one man into 3 would be good in my opinion.

 

[TheChosenOne]

Can the word of the day be changed to ..
"patients" ?

 

[Moonie]

I still see no harm Levy sending Bale into a small room with Sandro, lock the doors and let Sandro "convince" bale to stay. I'm sure he could make him see sense.

 

[nayimfrom50]

When you actually look at the press reports over the last week I reckon any sane person can separate the truths from the nonsense.

Do Real Madrid want Bale? Yes
Will it cost a world record to get him? Yes
Will Levy utterly rinse them over every element of a hypothetical deal? Yes

So far, well done you expert journalists..

Does Bale one day want to play in Spain? Yes

Did Mrs Bale stomp around Hotspur Way yesterday with a handbag full of rocks looking for Levy's office demanding he sell her son? Oh just fuck off with this nonsense.

He doesn't have any burning desire to leave this summer. Anyone can see that. Might it still happen? Yes. But Bale isn't pissing and moaning. The best thing we can do as a club is lockdown and let it run its course in the press. For me, the lack of any genuinely confident ITK on any of this speaks volumes. I think they've already closed up.

 

[Colonel Dax]

I'm amazed some people are trying to spin a potential Bale sale as a good thing?

"Oh as long as AVB gets the money to reinvest in the squad it'll be ok..."

Bollocks it will. RM don't have enough cash available to pay even half the fee upfront. Most likely we'll end up with £20m-£30m upfront with the rest in add ons over the next 5 years - similar to the Modric deal.

To make matters worse, any replacement for Bale will cost a fortune as the selling club will think we're flush with cash.

I will be gutted if Levy sells Bale this summer.

 

[TH1239]

Again, anyone who would be accepting of just straight cash (even 100 million) for Bale needs to explain how we will re-invest that money into the squad in a way that makes us just as good as we'd currently be with the addition of Soldado.

We would have roughly 2 weeks before the start of the season to re-invest (and that's if we sold Bale this week, which won't happen), and we'd have to negotiate massive deals with the likes of Roma for Lamela, which would constitute lots of haggling, and may not even come off. Or we'd have to just buy a Bernard type, who isn't remotely proven in European play, and who I could see AVB slowly embedding into the squad. I really hate that path and think it's a surefire way to see us off to a poor start.

Either Bale stays, or we bring in multiple replacements at the same time he's sold. Nothing else is acceptable, as far as I'm concerned. If Bale is sold and we don't bring in an elite replacement and go with just Chadli, Lennon, and Townsend, I'll have lost all faith in Levy. I think more highly of him though, and don't think that'll be the case.

 

[EJWTartanSpur]

Madrid do not want Suarez, imo.

 

[FibreOpticJesus]

If Bale stays, this team can win the title with just the Soldado signing. Our first 11 would be the best we've had in the history of the EPL era. Pure quality all over the pitch.

To sell Bale would set us back massively. The only way I'd be remotely okay with it is if we pulled out the impossible and convinced Coentrao and Di Maria to join us in a player swap, and took a chunk of the additional cash Madrid gave us up front (an absolute must) and bought Lamela immediately. Other than that, there is no scenario in which I would be remotely accepting of Bale going.

Frankly, I'm quite worried about us getting off to a slow start. We don't know the status of Sandro and Kaboul, Vertonghen is hurt, and AVB has shown he has no problem keeping newer players on the bench, so I dread a scenario where our best players aren't all on the pitch together until October.

I hope the silence from the Levy team is because we are working behind the scenes to bring in the players we need to replace Bale. its going to happen so deal with it. We dont want RM unwanted players. Di Maria is a diving cheat who spends most of his time laying on the grass and rolling about. i would much rather we went after Rooney and Shaw (i dont know much about Lemala is he any good and what position)

As you say cash up front and declared so that the media can see. Why are the media not picking up that they still owe us for Ratboy so how coulda they afford£100m?

 

[Sum Monsterism]

Whatever happens guys, well always have each other

You're making me feel worse, not better.

 

[Sum Monsterism]

. Why are the media not picking up that they still owe us for Ratboy so how coulda they afford£100m?

because for the reasonable reader, that would suggest that RM can't afford to take Bale from us - and the sensationalist stories: RM MAKE WORLD RECORD BID FOR BALE, won't hold up so well if they did.

 

[Keith Morris]

Again, anyone who would be accepting of just straight cash (even 100 million) for Bale needs to explain how we will re-invest that money into the squad in a way that makes us just as good as we'd currently be with the addition of Soldado.

We would have roughly 2 weeks before the start of the season to re-invest (and that's if we sold Bale this week, which won't happen), and we'd have to negotiate massive deals with the likes of Roma for Lamela, which would constitute lots of haggling, and may not even come off. Or we'd have to just buy a Bernard type, who isn't remotely proven in European play, and who I could see AVB slowly embedding into the squad. I really hate that path and think it's a surefire way to see us off to a poor start.

Either Bale stays, or we bring in multiple replacements at the same time he's sold. Nothing else is acceptable, as far as I'm concerned. If Bale is sold and we don't bring in an elite replacement and go with just Chadli, Lennon, and Townsend, I'll have lost all faith in Levy. I think more highly of him though, and don't think that'll be the case.

If bale goes which I believe he most probably will, and goes for the reported world record, THFC are gonna wanna publicise this as to soften the blow, however any replacements have an extra £10m placed on their price tag!