Amadaeus
Pochémon Fan Club Chairman
Yea Pochettino is great at developing players and it shows with what he payed for these players and what their actual value is right now. However, I would like to see him develop players that are already highly rated and have huge egos. He has done well with Aurier, but at a bigger club he would have a team full of players with big egos.City were definitely in for Eriksen, could have easily outbid Spurs but Eriksen chose Spurs over City. Sit on the bench behind Silva at City or walk into the starting 11 for Spurs, playing games week in, week out. Easy to see why he chose Spurs. He has been a mainstay of the Spurs squad for years now and has really grown his game into the classy player he is now. Also think he has been sensible about his career trajectory not signing a new contract at Spurs leaving the door open if a big name like RM come calling.
I agree on Martial vs Son, also the fact Son at the time also had to complete his mandatory military service. Martial was the more sought after talent and singled out for big things. Son was seen as a good player but not in the same league as Martial.
I think Pochettino is very well regarded by young players looking to make a step up, Frenkie De Jong specifically cited Pochettino as a reason he considered long and hard about moving to Spurs last season. And it was why Alli chose to go there over Liverpool if im not mistaken.
I never said he wasn’t highly rated, just that he wasn’t highly regarded enough for the other top clubs to get him or for Spurs to spend a lot of money on him. If he was, Spurs would not have gotten him. At the time, you could compare Eriksen to Paqueta or Suso right now, who is highly rated, but not a polished player that is attracting a lot of interest from the top club. Also, I never said Eriksen was average, I said Son was average at the time Spurs purchased him.Eriksen had 20 odd Danish caps already when Spurs signed him, pretty decent for an average footballer, he was very highly rated when Spurs brought him, there's no revisionist history there.
Pogba cost a premium because of his high profile and the fact it was us buying him, a transfer fee has no bearing on how good the player actually is, Pogba was and is class, but the fact he cost a world record fee does not mean he was better than Eriksen or is better now.
Son had a very good scoring record in Germany before Spurs brought him, once again, just because he wasn't high profile (he actually was to be fair, he was the most expensive Asian player at the time, probably still is) doesn't mean he wasn't very good, it's just astute scouting by Spurs, something United lack. He had played more senior games than Martial when Spurs brought him, and in a better league.
No revisionist history here I'm afraid.
Pogba was better than Eriksen when we bought him and when Spurs bought Eriksen. Pogba was courted by all the top clubs in Europe, Eriksen wasn’t and shows the gap of talent between the two players then. Pogba is still the better player and if he was in a team that has a good footballing philosophy, there would be no question who is the better player. During the honeymoon period, a lot of the fans was saying Pogba was the best midfielder in the world , that is the type of player we have in Pogba. I don’t think I have seen anyone claim that with Eriksen.
There are a lot of decent goal scorer in the bundesliga and a lot of those players are not highly rated. 12 goals in 43 matches and 17 goals in 42 matches, is nothing to boast about when you have a player like Kevin Volland offering a better return; scoring 13 goals in 28 matches and 14 goals in 30 matches in another season for the same Leverkusen team. So that argument is a non-starter.
What do you think, should United go after Volland or Felix this summer???
Martial was like Felix at the time and he was more highly rated than Son, not because of his appearances or goal scoring capabilities, but because he was highly regarded but professional scouts across Europe. If Martial was playing under Pochettino, he would be even more highly regarded.