Tottenham 2018/19: Transfers? Who needs transfers?

More CL football in the shiny new digs. Poch hanging around. Rumors of some summer signings. A USA tour. It's a good time to be a Tottenham fan.

Anyway, a link: https://cartilagefreecaptain.sbnati...y-martial-toby-alderweireld-manchester-united

ManU wants Toby. Spurs maybe want Martial. ManU doesn't want to sell to rival.

 

Poch 5 year contract extension is HUGE. Suggests he and Levy are on the same page w/r/t summer ins and outs.
Looks like primary targets are Martial, Pulisic and De Ligt (young Ajax CB). But they absolutely need a top class CM to replace Dembele, if he goes (which appears likely).
Also looking at selling: Toby (ugh), Sissoko, Vorm (out of contract), Janssen, Llorente, Aurier? Rose?

 

We’re on to CL Pot #2!

 

Tottenham looking into Pulisic? Yes please.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/footbal...hristian-pulisic-move-ryansessegnon-likelier/

 

My rational brain’s all like “AM is not Spurs biggest need” and “Pulisic had a bit of a down season compared to the year before” and “maybe he should stay at Dortmund and get more guaranteed minutes there”.

But then the other part of my brain is just making a high pitched “eeeeeeeeeeeee!” sound.

 

I think it's going to be hard to hold on to both Ali and Eriksen (assuming they'll do whatever it takes to keep Kane). AM very well might be a need at some point next season.

 

Rumor is Eriksen was seen dining with Poch in last few days and the vibe is positive that he'll be back.

And CP was down a bit for Dortmund, but the whole team struggled a bit this year.

 

If they brought in Pulisic, he would fit well in a 4-3-3.

something like:
- Lloris -
- Trippier - Sanchez - Vertonghen - Rose -
- Dele - Dier - Eriksen -
- Pulisic - Kane - Son

 

Where does Bale fit an a 4-3-3 tho?

 

Slots in for Kane, who drops back to GK

 

Keep your hands off Pulisic. He needs to play and he won’t get regular time at Spurs. Son has been really good the last few seasons and he can’t get a regular spot.

 

Son played in 53 of 55 Spurs games this season. 37 of 38 in PL, 7 of 8 in CL, and every FA and EFL game. He averaged more than 63 min/game.

 

Which is underuse of an exciting and impactful player.

 

Son was playing less prior to the Kane injury which helped get him more time. Regardless, the intent of my post that I maybe didn’t make clear Is that a very good player is already in place and taking minutes. That doesn’t even get into Lamela and Lucas. I think Spurs are fairly well stocked in the positions Pulled sI c takes up and he’s struggle to beat these players for regular starts

 

http://www.espn.com/soccer/real-mad...-candidate-to-replace-zinedine-zidane-reports

So Poch is, not surprisingly I suppose, being linked tot the Real job. And he's not exactly shooting the rumors down. That would suck as I really think he deserves a lot of credit for the development of our young core.

 

https://www.theguardian.com/footbal...madrid-call-listen-tottenham-manager-contract

Today's quotes don't really sound like someone who is bursting at the seams to leave

I mean, he didn't explicitly say "I am not going to switch clubs this season" and back it up with a document signed in blood, which in transfer window newspaper terms means he's one foot out the door, but there's not a lot actually in that that puts me on anything higher than yellow alert.

 

Poch (likely) not going to Madrid: https://cartilagefreecaptain.sbnati...ttino-real-madrid-given-up-hire-spurs-manager

 

This is huge:



Signing a new contract isn't always a guarantee the player will stay (Walker signed a 5-year deal one year before wanting out), but Kane seems genuinely committed to Spurs.

 

Stretching it out to 6 years is a pretty powerful signal that Kane is committed to Tottenham. Will be interesting to see the wages.

 

Word is that it is double his current wage, which is around 100,000 pounds per week.

 

Well he was probably the most underpaid player in the world last season; so he certainly deserves a big raise.

Time to go buy that Kane jersey baby!

 

https://cartilagefreecaptain.sbnati...news-rumors-lyon-tanguy-ndombele-negotiations

 

Normally this would be true since it has the effect of increasing his transfer fee to prospective buyers making imhim harder to sell. But I don't think that really applies in this case since the world of prospective Harry Kane buyers are the clubs for whom money is no object. So here it could just be a no brainer win win for bith sides. Kane guarantees income and Tottenham squeeze that much more out of Real (if/when the time comes). Realistically how many soccer contracts reach 5 or 6 years for a player in their prime?

 

I disagree that money is no object. Even Real Madrid and Man Utd would struggle to pay a 200m fee. The only clubs for whom money is truly no object are the state-owned petroclubs (PSG and Man City); because their spending is part of a larger political project, there is no need (apart from FFP) to link it to revenues (and we' see if that proves to be sustainable). The ceiling on revenue-linked fees is right around 100m euros (Pogba, Lukaku, Bale), and there's no way Levy sells Kane for anything like that.

 

No, I agree with all of this. The point though is the extra year of the contract pays him another £10 million and the marginal impact of buying out that year on his transfer fee is negligible for those clubs.

 

Well, its also about signaling to the mega-clubs: 6 years suggests Kane is less interested in moving. If Kane had used his leverage for sign a 4 year deal, this would be widely seen as "come get me plea" (in over-heat silly season jargon).

The more interesting aspect is how this reshapes Spurs' wage structure. The revenue projections from the new stadium along with the growing TV money plus the Champions League...it all must look pretty great. Eriksen, Son, and Lamela are all expiring in 2020. Wonder if Levy will match Kane's wages for Eriksen and play hardball with the other two?

 

Guys.

 

It's silly season so I'm not getting excited or upset about any news. That being said, YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAS!

 

It seems like the EPL will be like the SEC. more money means the teams will all keep better and deeper.


Would be great if CP plays in England. I doubt he can start for Spurs most days right now but seems reasonable investment for next three years.

 

Carty Free doesn't seem to think much of the source, but other tweets say it's pretty good for German news. They're trying to run down more info.

 

Tottenham leading suitor for Jack Grealish:

https://cartilagefreecaptain.sbnati...s-rumors-jack-grealish-aston-villa-midfielder

Birmingham Mail says Villa is valuing him at £30M, Tottenham around 15.

EDIT: Correction

 

Villa not Birmingham

 

Bah, paper was Birmingham Mail. I get confused easily.

 

Grealish (and Pulisic) needs to play. If Grealish wants to jump to Prem, he needs to find a team that plays some attacking football at mid table or lower levels not go play a bit part at Spurs. These kids can’t spend all their time waiting for a chance at a Prem side they’ll never make it

 

Grealish will also be 23 in a few months. Certainly not old but not really a kid or a promising youngster anymore. He has also only started 18 top division matches in his life, none of which came in the last two years. I haven't watched him enough to possess an informed opinion on him as a player but its an odd career trajectory for sure and not a very promising one.

 

For the record, Carty Free is reporting that there’s still no actual story about the Pulisic bid, either on the site or print version of the German paper that was credited with it. Grain of salt.

https://cartilagefreecaptain.sbnati...s-christian-pulisic-dortmund-kicker-unfounded

 

Wilmar Barrios: https://cartilagefreecaptain.sbnati...s-rumors-wilmar-barrios-boca-juniors-colombia

 

Do we need to worry about Kane to Real?

 

If i cared about Tottenham, i would worry about the short summer for all those guys still playing...

 

Not to mention South Korea winning the next Asia Games in August.

 

Next season's kits officially released
Yuck.

Nothing yet on the transfer front. Grealish looks close to a lock,but beyond that, all speculation.
Rumored outgoings: Alderweireld (bridges too burnt, apparently), Dembele, Nkoudou, Janssen, Llorente

 

So remember when Poch signed his extension in May there was all this talk from him and Levy about the importance of getting signings done early so the new players could integrate with the team?

The season starts in three weeks and Spurs still haven't signed anyone.

IOW, Levy gonna Levy.

 

He was clear about needing a long time to integrate into the team and learn all the tactics.

So welcome new signing Lucas Moura.

 

Spurs were apparently going to sign Pavard (last seen playing for France in WC) but Bayern is swooping in.

Also, Spurs played Southend in closed door scrimmage and won 6-0. Lamela in preseason form, with a hat trick.

Moura and Llorente also scored.

 

It really wouldn't be the end of the world if Spurs don't make too many changes before the start of the season. A healthy Toby, an integrated Moura, and another year of seasoning for Winks would all point towards an improvement over last year. I still think the club needs to try and find a young striker to get Arry some real rest occasionally. Llorente certainly didn't get it done last year, and I am fairly happy with the depth at every other position.

 

I think Kane should rest more as well, but Spurs look better going with Son in a false 9 then. Gives guys like Lamela and Moura more opportunity to be creative and tougher for defenses to position tactically. There's just not a lot of strikers that are willing to sit as much as you need to sit behind Kane.

I think Martial, if it had come to fruition, would have been nice because he could slot into that false 9 as well.

 

Son is going to miss the first handful of games to play for SK in the Asia Games... Doesn't help matters (in short term. Long term: if they win gold, he's exempted from 2 year military service that otherwise starts after the season...)