Vital Spurs Debate Section

2021 Transfer Thread – Something Else Spurs Need To Get Right This Summer

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With Tottenham Hotspur securing seventh place in the Premier League table for 2020/21 with our final day victory over Leicester City, we of course pipped rivals Arsenal by a point which was a good reason to smile.

There’s no denying though that this is now a huge summer for the club, we have the ongoing managerial search, there will be the distraction of the European Championships and then, not only will fans be focusing heavily on how we choose to strengthen the group, a big topic of talk this summer will be whether or not Harry Kane finally moves on.

If Kane does leave, he surely goes with the best wishes of most, but a move abroad would be more palatable for fans who wouldn’t want to see him lining up against us. A departure would significantly boost our transfer kitty, but it would also be another major headache to solve – not just in terms of finding a quality replacement, but it might see others address their own futures, so the calibre of our incomings would also need to send a message that minus Kane, we are still looking to break that ceiling.

Let silly season begin…

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  • Tom@spurs says:

    Do u guys rate Donnarumma? I wish we get him hes leaving ac milan as free agent this summer, hes only 22 with lot of experience

    • BelgianSpur says:

      Yes, but the reason he is leaving Milan is that he is apparently holding out for massive wages. Milan fans nickname him Dollarumma.

      Somehow, I don’t see him as a Daniel Levy-type of target ;-).

      • TQ2Spurs says:

        Italian players generally don’t like playing in England so it’s unlikely we’ll be seeing him in the PL any time soon. Most likely to end up at PSG, Bayern, RM or Barca.

  • Hot Tottingham says:

    There is a lot of fantasising from Spurs supporters about the club needing, and so having this big rebuild.

    There’s no time for such a thing. Whoever comes in as our next manager will need to/have to, get things improving and on the up, right from the start. Probably in much the same ay as Pochettino did.

    I fully believe we still have a strong squad. But yes, of course, new blood is needed and some players will have to step down or will have to go.

    The new manager will need to know from the very off, exactly what he wants, who he can work with and also have a strong tactical identity and plan. The players will then need to accept this and work with it. The changes though will have to be gradual. But whilst somehow showing instant improvement.

    For me it’s not so much a rebuild as a reshuffle. A reset. And far, far away from what Jose imposed on the team. Please!

    I think the right boss and a couple of fresh heads in the team can see us back in the top 4 again, playing good football next season and without too much pain. I am optimistic.

    We really ain’t that bad!

  • BelgianSpur says:

    HT – I disagree totally with most of that.

    Where I do agree with you, is that a total rebuild may indeed be a fan fantasy. But not because we don’t need one. It’s because DL probably will be unwilling or unable to oversee it.

    As things stand, you may think we are there or thereabouts because you are factoring Harry Kane into the equation. But it seems pretty evident to me that unless the club show massive ambition this summer, he is as good as gone. Said rebuild will be a prerequisite for him staying. And if he goes, it only amplifies the need for a rebuild…

    There are already plenty of questions about our ability to challenge for top 4 with Harry Kane in the team, so expecting us to be in that conversation without him seems hugely improbable to me.

    I think we are likely headed for one, or several, seasons of transition. I think it’s unrealistic to expect to see us challenging for top 4 in the near future. How soon we challenge will be down to how fast the club can rebuild the squad.

    Our last games under Mason may have provided some mild encouragement, but we also have 2 rather shocking results when top 4 was still a possibility. Granted, it’s a small sample size, but I think it drove home the point that our struggles weren’t all down to JM. Plenty of teams are ahead of us at present, and I think it’s unrealistic to expect a manager to single handedly change all of that, especially if we lose our best player.

    We really ain’t that close!

  • TQ2Spurs says:

    A good overall summary HT, we have looked much poorer on the eye than we have on paper, I think the right manager and 2 or 3 recruits in specific positions can get us challenging for top 4 again. We will need to improve in other positions over time though if we want to be competing for the top prizes.

  • TQ2Spurs says:

    BS….we were only 2 wins from finishing 4th and displacing Chelsea, that’s really not too far away on paper.

  • TQ2Spurs says:

    Especially when you consider how much they have spent over the last 2 or 3 windows.

  • TQ2Spurs says:

    Fernandes looked pretty demoralised last night, maybe we should put in a cheeky bid! 🙂

  • BelgianSpur says:

    TQ2Spurs – we were “only” 2 wins away, but as this team has taught us many times over the last few years, those 2 crucial wins are often unsurmountable for this group of players.

    In other words, we have often faltered at the last, and I feel fixing that particular problem is a bigger challenge than what the table suggests.

    It should also be pointed out that again, looking at the last table also accounts for Kane’s contributions – a campaign in which he led the league in both goals and assists. As things currently stand, it’s looking unlikely that he’ll be there next year, so expecting regression is only reasonable.

  • TQ2Spurs says:

    Breaking news from Jim White…..Spurs are reported to be in talks to bring Pochettino back. Could be it’s the only scenario that might persuade Kane to stay if there is a promise of financial backing to go with it.

    • BelgianSpur says:

      MP holds a special place in our hearts but I can’t help but feel that this is a bad mistake. It just feels like we are going back to where we were when MP got sacked.

      MP still hasn’t lost his reputation of “nearly man” after his stint at PSG – in fact it arguably has only reinforced it.

      Most of the squad that arguably got MP sacked in the first place are still there.

      I also worry that the dynamics of the relationship between DL and MP will be an issue.

      In short, I think this will end in tears if it happens. I hope I am proven wrong.

      • TQ2Spurs says:

        I’m not sure there would be a problem between DL and MP, they looked to have a very good personal relationship and for this reason, as I remember, Levy said it was one of the hardest things he had ever had to do in letting Poch go. You only have to look at those photos of them together following the CL semi-final to see they had a good personal relationship.

        I think we will need to see Poch backed financially if he does come back but he will also maybe need to be a bit more realistic in his transfer targets and understand that you can’t always get a specific target for any number of reasons.

        • BelgianSpur says:

          They may get along just fine personally, but it seems they didn’t always work well together. The 2 aren’t necessarily linked.

          MP being unwilling to compromise on his targets, him ruing the fact that he had little say in transfers (the “head coach” rant)…

          During the first couple seasons, I think MP was always mindful of saying the right things in public and being a good “company man”. Eventually it got to be too much, the dirty laundry started being disucssed in public and the relationship soured quickly.

          I’d be hugely mindful of being taken seriously if I was MP. If DL thinks that things can go back to the way they were at first, when MP didn’t cause trouble but was essentially a puppet, it’s a recipe for disaster. DL may have liked it better when MP didn’t question the direction of the club, but that was at the detriment of the club.

          For it to work, and for the club to benefit, a new relaitionship needs to develop, and that’s always a very difficult exercise when there is history involved.

  • BelgianSpur says:

    Not to mention, I don’t think it’s unreasonable to expect some progression from several of our rivals.

    Chelsea had to integrate a lot of new players who were new to the PL, but would it really be unexpected to see the likes of Ziyech, Werner and Havertz perform better now that they know the league?

    Liverpool have had a ton of injuries, but it’s reasonable to expect them to bounce back somewhat if they get full seasons from Gomez, VVD and others.

    The Manchester clubs will spend big again and not rest on their laurels, and the likes of Leicester and West Ham will be encouraged by their position in the final table, with European football on offer.

    Even if we perform slightly better than this year, there is no guarnatee the bar won’t be set higher.

  • TQ2Spurs says:

    BS….what you point out is why we as fans find it so frustrating, I think over the season we dropped the most points from winning positions? If we weren’t so ‘Spursy’ we might have converted a couple of those losses into wins. To be honest, I really don’t get how our squad of players seem to uniquely lack sufficient fight and mental strength to get over the line in games we really should be winning. I think it is the fact that this seems to be ingrained throughout the squad that we need to change so many.

  • TQ2Spurs says:

    BS…the bar is also raising from the bottom up, we haven’t seen any record points scores this season because of the improvement lower down the league where we now have more teams causing upsets against the top sides.

  • TQ2Spurs says:

    You could easily see Conte to RM, ZZ to PSG, and Poch back to Spurs.

  • TQ2Spurs says:

    For me, if Poch is as eager to come back as it seems it shows he has a love for our club as we do and is for me a good basis on which to accept him back if it happens. I don’t think anyone underestimates the difficulty in trying to compete with the oil rich owners but at least he knows DL and how he operates so he isn’t in for any surprises. We can only hope that DL has had a lights on moment and realised Poch was right all along and backs his strategy for future success.

  • TQ2Spurs says:

    Reports suggest Allegri will be signing a new contract with Juventus 2 years after leaving, seems everyone is at it!

  • TK says:

    I’ll take Poch back in a heartbeat. Of course, he cannot work miracles alone and will need an infusion of cash to buy contracts. He’ll have to duel DL for a written assurances that he’ll have some financial backing. Something that will cost DL real money if he goes back on the promise.

    Come home, Mauricio. We’ve missed you. You’re the best we’ve had in decades. And you won’t have the warped ego of Neymar here. that’s some real inducement.

  • BelgianSpur says:

    TQ2Spurs – That for me is the big one – shaking the “Spursy” tag.

    But let’s be honest, MP has not only experienced some of those meltdowns, he has overseen quite a few of them and has contributed to the reputation. He had 5 years to do something about it and couldn’t fix it.

    And his last few months at PSG do raise eyebrows as well…

    I jut think the club would be better served with a “clean break” from it all, with a new manager and a massive influx of “fresh blood”, to put old demons to bed. Going back to someone who has been so actively involved in many of those “snatching defeat from the jaws of victory” moments scares me. How can the club turn the page?

    It just seems like the last yard is the hardest to run. As recent months have shown us, JM wasn’t the answer, but I still think we need someone who has”been there and done that”, seen teams over the line, someone who has the ability and the credibility to reassure players when things start going wrong. JM was the wrong personal fit, fair enough. But surely there is someone else out there with the right credentials?

    It may not seem like a big gap to bridge, but I think this “mentality reset” is going to be a lot harder to execute than most fans realise. And made even harder without the world’s best striker sometimes single handedly carrying the team on his back.

  • 123spurs says:

    So if all the big hitters are going else where, what are we left with, take take chance with an unknown or likes of Rodgers, martinez etc, will might aswell get poch back.

  • TQ2Spurs says:

    BS….that was my thinking originally i.e. we need a fresh start or reset. I think our experience in hiring a known successful manager has shown that the problem lies mainly with the players, perhaps this is what Poch and Levy fell out over, we know Poch had indicated to DL that a rebuild was necessary, maybe he was frightened by the number of changes that Poch suggested was needed to remove the weak mentality from the squad?

    I think we possibly have a better squad now than when Poch left in some respects but there is still quite a few that need to go. I feel the likes of Reguilon, Lo Celso, Bergwijn and even Hojbjerg might flourish under a more positive coach who shows them a little bit of love! 🙂

  • TK says:

    An ode to BS and demons:

    LOL, BS. I love the line that includes ‘fresh blood’ and putting demons to bed. The problem with putting demons to bed is that when the sun goes down they tend to awaken and look for some more fresh blood to drink. That’s been a theme of witchcraft, demon worship, and magic for thousands of years from Ur to Babylonia to Egypt to ancient and medieval Rome to us. Even in the 17th century when the scientific revolution and the philosophical enlightenment were in bloom, the greatest era of witch burnings took place. I love your imagery. Much thanks for your historical referents.

    Poch is not demon. We had a demon on the pitch line, but he’s been put to bed. Predictable, as a demon, it didn’t take long for him to awaken in the dark nights of Rome–a city with a long history of demons ancient and medieval–and he’s already roaming the dark night in search of blood to drink. At least Rome has a long history with exorcisms. Makes one’s head spin to think about it.

    Poch will look the demons in the eye and give them a wink. Maybe he’ll even resurrect Winks after an exorcism. LOL.

    I’ll take Poch back. He’s the non-devil that we already know. Give him the support that he was denied last time, and the sun can shine. Nothing is better at chasing the demons than a man with a smile in the sunshine.

    Be well, and don’t look under the bed in the dark of night. Keep the amulets polished. Memorize the incantations and repeat and rinse them regularly. They’re incantations, gargle them and spit.

    Riding in with hot spurs is the best chaser for a demon. Be gallant. Be daring. Do. Be. Do. Turn the devil’s hooves to glue.

    • BelgianSpur says:

      TK – MP may not be a demon, but he’s not a winner either.

      We can’t say for sure whether he was part of the problem in recent years or not, but we can’t rule it out either.

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