The recent investment in Villa will not affect at all the fact they need to sell players, this is what people need to realise what FFP actually means.
Did you even pay attention to the Villa crisis? Their FFP issues were well documented before, however they were unable to pay the day to day expenses of the club and they even missed a deadline to pay the tax bill. There were serious issues of them being being winded up, they had an urgent need of cash. But now they're out of that danger, due to the takeover. They do need to sell players now but they can wait a bit now and allow a bidding war over Grealish, which will only raise his price.
They still need to sell players? As far as I am concerned there has been no other interest in JG, why would investment make his price higher? They need £30-40m to be clear and I don’t see that coming from other player sales.
The reality is that there are only 4 trophies available (and seriously - the fecking League Cup is barely a "trophy" in my eyes) and of those 1 of them is probably out of Spurs reach (Champions League) and another would be very close to being out of reach (Premier League). That leaves the two cups with 5 other talent stocked teams all wanting to win them as well.
Very well said.
I think this window is unique due to the fact Pochettino made it really clear what he wanted. He spoke of being brave, stressed how vital it was to sign early etc. He couldn't have been more clear.
The thing is though there is a lot of speculation here, we have no idea what is going on behind the scenes, Poch has continually said that the move to the big stadium would automatically change our strategy. Poch could have handed Levy a list and Levy could be trying to get the names on that list, only to be told no, or quoted a price to high. Again the window this summer means the European clubs have a massive advantage and can wait, they have nothing to lose and all to gain by holding out, that accompanied by the WC has all been factors.
When does your tour start?
Thursday against Roma.
We have a few players I think we would like to shift on before signing, Sissoko being the main one. I don’t think it’s fair to say we’re not pushing on, we pushed on in the FA Cup and the CL.
Oh ok - seems a bit late.
We only have four matches.
I can tell you plenty Levy has gotten wrong, a decent list, Pochettino too for that matter.
Finding an upgrade on an already excellent first team - which is most definitely what Spurs have - is a difficult task even when you're granted an unlimited budget i.e City, United and Liverpool. Now, that task is made considerably more difficult when your budget is limited to a shoestring such as the one Poch has at his disposal. Spurs just don't have the necessary funds required to upgrade their first team. They have been making squad upgrades for the last 2-3 seasons now which has helped them sustain a top 4 position, but until they can afford to properly upgrade and replace their first team players, they will stagnate or, worse still, regress. That's my view on the situation anyway.
Good post
you got meWhat we rely on is unearthing a few gems which can come in and improve the starting 11 without being hugely expensive, but obviously this kind of strategy leads to taking more risks than sides that can afford to target more proven players. The likes of Son, Alderweireld, Wanyama, Trippier etc all came in for reasonable prices and have nailed down starting spots in the side at some point, then you have a signing like Alli who cost peanuts and is an extremely important player for us. I think somebody posted in another thread about how Pochettino has had quite a few 'flop' signings, but I would put this down to the fact that we do have to target the less established players, and inevitably you will end up with a Janssen or two who were successful at a lower level but can't step up.
Look, I think you and other fans are just going to accept you can't compete with us anymore. The new stadium will have a Sainsbury's ffs, Martial's handing in a transfer request on this basis alone! You can't say no to a post-match meal deal, it's just not possible.
Pass the joint, son.
Don't forget our cheese selection.
Give in to what? The club will surely sell Martial if He doesn't want to be here and isn't willing to do his best. It's not 'giving in' if You want to get rid of a player. But United isn't in rush to sell and Martial to Spurs have always been paper's bollocks. But keep going with your fantasy.
I guess I meant a title challenge and/or reaching the latter stages of the CL. Poch has been there long enough for you to expect that sooner rather than later in my opinion.
Yeah I kind of agree with this, but lets be real here, Grealish is a downgrade from Dembele, not an upgrade. He's a championship midfielder who has potential, Dembele on his day is a boss who can make the best midfielders in the game struggle to get the ball back. But Spurs couldnt even get Grealish done, and why are no other teams having issues signing players?
All this assumes several things:
I'll admit to knowing very little of Grealish and his footballing ability, but I am unconvinced that he is capable of filling the boots of world cup winning captain Dembele. That's a big ask for an established player of genuine quality, let alone one that has only ever experienced championship standard football at best. He may very well be a huge talent (I bow to Poch's judgement on this front) but is he ready to enter a side that has aspirations of finishing in the top 4 of one of the worlds most competitive leagues? I'm sceptical about this.
Martial for Alderwiereld plus cash is surely out of the question. Given the recent history between the clubs in regards to transfers, one way or t'other, Woody will be highly reluctant to make a deal with Spurs that does not heavily favour United. Same could be said for Levy in reverse.
Definitely this
Do you think Spurs should be more active in the window, and are there any areas of the team you'd like to see improved? Lloris is a bit hit and miss isn't he?
Naah, too cool for that
I don't think we'd replace Dembele with Grealish, at least if we were to do that I'd be extremely disappointed. We would need at least another CM if we sold him, potentially somebody like Ndombele or a similar player with the physicality to be able to replicate the role that Dembele has in our team. His ability to resist the press and retain possession is otherwordly and I doubt very much whether Grealish would be signed in his place, it would be incredibly naive to do a like for like swap.
He is, but I'd argue the least of our worries. He could potentially benefit from a younger keeper coming in to keep him on his toes, but there aren't any better keepers we could realistically attain. He's prone to a few errors in a season (and had a particularly poor last campaign) but is still mostly a very good goalkeeper, one of the better ones in the league though I'd say clearly behind Courtois and De Gea.
I think there is all extremes in the Spurs fan base, there are certainly plenty that hate Levy and can’t wait for him to sell.
