Tottenham Hotspur FC 2013/14

[EJG1980]

Also other reports say that Spurs are interested in Richarlison particularly if Everton get relegated.

That's odd because I have been thinking for some time he might me a good fit at Spurs, especially if HK jumps ship. All he needs is better service in the last third than he gets at Everton and he could become the top goal scorer he has always had the potential to be.

The latest rumour has us being keen on Richarlison - and I like the sound of this, even though it seems to be sending some Spurs fans on Twitter into meltdown. Can lead the line or play wide as part of a three up-front, so would be able to cover for Kane or Son/Kulusevski, and has proven PL success....in two teams who have spent most of their time in the bottom half of the table.

Yeah, I can't understand anyone complaining about us wanting to sign him, for all the reasons you've both mentioned (and he's still only 25 years old too). Richarlison has been in England for five seasons now, so let's compare his five seasons to Son's first five seasons for us:

Son - Played 160 Scored 53

Ric - Played 173 Scored 48

A record not far off one of the best players in the league, and as you both say, doing it for Watford and Everton teams that were much worse that the Spurs teams Son played in. Surround him with better players and have him being trained by Conte every day, and he could very well get even better. We need better squad depth and the ability to rotate without a big drop off in quality, and he'd bring that.

Another vote here for Ben Davies, who was awesome in the last 10-12 games of the season, and was also excellent in Wales's game against Ukraine. Interesting that we're apparently after another left-sided central defender - allegedly keen in spending a lot of money on the Inter player Bastoni, who seems rather keen on staying where he is, and one or two other defenders.

Ben Davies block of that Salah shot against Liverpool at Anfield is right up there as one of my favourite moments of last season, magnificent.

I would love us to sign Bastoni though, class player who's only going to get better, with the advantage that he's worked with Conte before. And while Ben Davies has been excellent we definitely need another for the left side of the back three; as Conte has said, if you want to challenge for the big trophies you really need two very good options for every position.

I've seen us linked too with Pau Torres of Villarreal who also plays in that position. Might be an easier deal to do as they want to sign Lo Celso from us after his loan there last season, so we cold end up paying a lower cash fee + Lo Celso. I'd still prefer Bastoni but either would really strengthen the squad.

An interesting few weeks await, although how many of the rumours will even be for players we are genuinely after, let alone come true, will be one surprise after another probably! But it does feel rather exciting - allegedly money to spend, a desire to spend it before August 31st and no rumours about our best player leaving. This is still Tottenham, right?

Newspapers, online football sites, etc., are going to love us this summer, clickbait links galore

I've seen a few reports that Conte wants his first choice big singings wrapped up before we go on our South Korean tour, so they can get a full pre-season. The first match is on 13th July, so there could be a lot of activity over the next thirty days or so. Should be exciting!

[fallenangle]

Hell's teeth that England game against Hungary yesterday was embarrassing.

Reason I posted here was because the performance reminded me so much of Spurs ..................................on a bad Spurs day. Loads of possession but barely a credible attempt on goal and leaving themselves undermanned at the back when pressing forwards. I threw my hands up in the air in despair because I knew they were going to score every time long before the ball was actually in the back of the net. They looked so clinical with their finishing.

One mitigation was that second yellow card for Stones and subsequent sending off. It was an abject piece of refereeing - the Hungarian basically bumped into his shoulder. But if he had not given away the unnecessarily first yellow it wouldn't have mattered.

Richarlison possible move to Spurs looks like it might be progressing but I think Everton are having a laugh asking £50m for him. Serious chance that Christian Eriksen will be returning as well just hope they don't dump Lucas Moura to pay for him along with the other 7 or 8 players Conte apparently wants to off-load.

[EJG1980]

Spurs being linked with lots of players in various positions but it looks like the next transfer in will be Yves Bissouma from Brighton. Reported a couple of days ago on pretty much every news outlet, including the BBC, that we’d agreed a deal for him and today it’s been reported that he’s flown back from Mali in order to have his medical tomorrow.

So unless there’s some dramatic last minute twist we should probably get an announcement on Friday, after they do the medical and all the media shoots tomorrow.

Would be a brilliant signing imho, I was going to say he’s the best midfielder not playing for a top six club (along with Rice at West Ham) but I think there’s a few already at top six clubs that he’s better than. Always been hugely impressed with him whenever I’ve seen Brighton play.

Assuming we do sign him we’d have Bissouma, Hojbjerg, Bentancur, and Skipp as the options for the midfield two in Conte’s preferred formation, which would be great strength in depth for that position. You could mix and match any two of them depending on the opposition, and always have a quality pairing.

Add Christian Eriksen to that group and you’ve got the creative player you need to switch to a three man midfield too. Fingers well and truly crossed as I would love to see Eriksen come back to Spurs.

As for England… I think I’ll concentrate on Spurs for now, it’s a tad more fun

[EJG1980]

Premier League fixtures for next season are out. Yup, already!

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[fallenangle]

Even with that early meeting with Chelsea (A) it looks like a good spread of fixtures with no particular concentration of, potentially, hard games. Only the late April: MU (H) then Liverpool (A) in a four day period standing out as a possibly tough, likely season position defining pair of fixtures.

[EJG1980]

So unless there’s some dramatic last minute twist we should probably get an announcement on Friday, after they do the medical and all the media shoots tomorrow.

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There we go, lovely.

[EJG1980]

And now some strength-in-depth up front too. Excellent signing, really good summer transfer window so far, and it looks like there are at least a couple more still to come.

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https://www.tottenhamhotspur.com/news/2022/june/richarlison-joins-from-everton/

[fallenangle]

Hope Richarlison learns to smile at Spurs - I don't think I've ever seen a photo of him where either the smile looks forced or more often he's sporting a look, like that pic ^, which suggests annoyance teetering on the edge of barely controlled anger.

https://twitter.com/finkitch/status/1180612500150194177

[EJG1980]

If he plays well and helps Spurs improve, I'd give him permission to smile as much or as little as he wants

Edit: speaking of things to smile about, it was good to see England U19s win the European Championship last night, with a big part played throughout the tournament by two Spurs lads, Alfie Devine and Dane Scarlett. It'd be nice to see them make a couple of appearances for the first team next season, unless of course they're out on loan for the duration.

[EJG1980]

A departure to start the day with, Steven Bergwijn has been sold to Ajax:

https://www.tottenhamhotspur.com/news/2022/july/bergwijn-departs-for-ajax/

It's a shame it didn't work out as I think he's very talented, one of those players where you think that if a couple of situations had gone differently he might have become a success for us. With the way things have gone though, and the fact that he's stated in interviews that he's wanted to leave since before even Conte was appointed, it's the correct decision to sell him.

Seems like a decent bloke and he never lacked any effort on the pitch, so I hope he does really well at Ajax (I think he will, and might get another move abroad in a couple of seasons time). And no matter how the rest of his time went, he'll always be remembered fondly for those crazy few minutes against Leicester.

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And a signing to end the day with:

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A little bit more of a risky signing than our previous signings this summer, but it could end up being a very clever move.

He was superb at Sevilla and also did well in his first couple of season at Barca, but lost his way a little bit, fans got on his back, and he hasn't been at his best for a season or two. It hasn't helped that Barca have been a complete s***show as a club for the past couple of years either.

If a change of environment and coaching from Conte can get him back to his best, then he could be very very good for us. And it's another player added to the squad with loads of experience of winning at the top level. I'm assuming he's going to be competition / cover for Davies on the left side of the back three, though I think he could cover Dier in the middle too.

I've seen conflicting reports about whether we have an option to buy at the end of the loan, or if it's a straight loan; the BBC say there IS an option to buy, a couple of journalists (Alasdair Gold and Fabrizio Romano) say there isn't. An option would be nice but it's not the end of the world if there isn't one.

(I've just looked at the official Barca announcement on their web site and it says we have no option to buy, so I guess that settles that).

[EJG1980]

Giovani Lo Celso, Tanguy Ndombele, Sergio Reguilon, and Harry Winks have all been left out of the South Korea tour squad. It seemed likely that they'd be on our "for sale" list this summer but that's a bit of extra confirmation that they're not in Conte's plans for next season.

[fallenangle]

Reguillon and Harry Winks I feel are the most hard done by; Reguillon in particular I think is likely only on the for sale list because we're good on that left-hand side and he is just surplus to requirements now.

Lo Celso and Ndombele were very good at their best but not consistently good. I think that is what Conte is trying to prune from the Spurs squad, the unreliability of certain players. Bergwijn, already gone, comes to mind too.

[EJG1980]

Reguillon and Harry Winks I feel are the most hard done by; Reguillon in particular I think is likely only on the for sale list because we're good on that left-hand side and he is just surplus to requirements now.

Lo Celso and Ndombele were very good at their best but not consistently good. I think that is what Conte is trying to prune from the Spurs squad, the unreliability of certain players. Bergwijn, already gone, comes to mind too.

I agree that with Reguilon and Winks it's not a case of "you're useless, we've got to get rid of you", just that there are now too many players ahead of them in the pecking order so they're unlikely to get any game time at all if they stay.

We had good moments and little spells here and there from Lo Celso and Ndombele, but as you said, far too fleeting for us to rely on them. I think we should be able to move on Lo Celso to a Spanish club without too much trouble, but I worry a bit about Ndombele as he's on a hefty wage which could block a lot of the clubs who want to sign him from doing so. It might end up being another loan for him with us having to subsidise a chunk of his wages.

[EJG1980]

Fun friendly earlier today in South Korea. Goal of the day goes to top international striker... Eric Dier?? He was really channeling his inner Kane or Son with that one. Nice goal from the actual Harry Kane too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJ_4VHxUf2I

Slightly annoying news that two of our new signings, Forster and Bissouma, have both tested positive for Covid. They have to isolate in the team hotel for seven days so they'll have to fly back home a couple of days later than the rest of the squad.

[fallenangle]

I think our defence still needs some work.

Apart from that - good game highlights so thanks for the link.

The Eric Dier goal was indeed exceptional as was HK's first, beautifully slotted home and he gets the assist for the own goal too. Pity it didn't reach Richarlison, that would have been a good, confidence boosting way to start his Spurs career.