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Winter Transfer Wishlist

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dtxspurs

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Regarding Diop I also remember something about Poch having high hopes for Oakley-Booth so we passed.
I remembered we passed cause we had "better options" we were working on. That turned out to be Barkley and.... no one.
 

dtxspurs

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While everyone is all agog of NDombele, a player we have no chance at so we should look elsewhere, there are other proper players at Lyon that could do a job now and truly grow into top players. Lyon's academy is excellent and Aulas' team picks up young players from less affluent teams a step or two before they become big and allows them to establish themselves at OL.

People complained about a potential Plea (ex-OL) deal but he doing very well in the BuLi. Nice replaced him with another young ex-OL player in Myziane Maolida (19) who is racking up the minutes while costing half a Janssen with a higher ceiling. Maolida is the type of player that could have been brought in to backup Kane and play outside...of course the usual suspects would have complained of 'french winger' and ligue 1 being weak etc etc.

A player OL have that we were rumored in for is Pape Cheikh Diop (6/8 hybrid but more 6) when he was leaving Celta 2 years ago. Because the Dier expt persisted i guess we let it pass. Lyon 'developed' him for a year in the u23s and now he is starting/rotating with their other academy breakout DM Lucas Tousart. We could have gotten him for like 7M back then but now it will be more, obviously, but significantly less than NDombele. Would be a significant upgrade in athleticism and ball playing from the DM for us. Re-watch the Man City - Lyon CL game and he was the other MF with NDombele as they switch Tousart for Cheikh to be more athletic and smothering of City's MF...and they were. Lyon has the most athletic, physical, ball playing midfield in Euro football I believe when they have NDombele, Cheikh, and Fekir/Aouar playing. Yeah, I said it. They are young but they are damn good.

Here is another Lyon player we should look at to regain our dominance at the FB position:

Lyon really are the most stacked they've been in a long time. If that team could stay together for a few years they could challenge most in Europe, they're crazy talented.

And I was very pro-Plea as well.
 
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Ghost Hardware

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Aug 31, 2012
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Fair enough. How's he doing there then?
Betis had a really poor start to the season and looked a mess for a while but in the last few games have started to pull it together, even tho they just lost to Atleti. I think they are up to 12th now. Celso was carrying a knock at the start of the season and has been eased into games, often starting in CM. Recently he has started a few matches and is looking good, scored in the Europa league. I think he will be integral to their season but i dont see them having the funds to buy him come summer.
 
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Ghost Hardware

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Aug 31, 2012
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Ziyech is a good call (we have been linked in the past) and I thought he looked good in the World Cup which was all I’ve seen of him.
He has been in insane form this season, absolutely killing it. Think he's got 4 goals and 4 assists in 6 games so far and is generally integral to everything good Ajax do.

Couldn't find a highlights reel from this season yet, but these are the sort of goals he's scoring...
https://www.record.pt/multimedia/videos/detalhe/a-atencao-do-benfica-o-grande-golo-de-ziyech-ajax
 

heelspurs

Le filet mignon est un bastion de rosbif
Jul 25, 2012
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Regarding Diop I also remember something about Poch having high hopes for Oakley-Booth so we passed.
Didn't know that. I wonder how that has worked out for him, whether or not he regrets that decision, and if he has learned to be more critical of his own assessment because he got that one wrong. One player is featuring in a MF that is making City look Europa league quality in a CL game while the other has yet to feature for us IIRC...3 seasons down the line.

Another possibility is that info was bullshit PR spin being peddled to cover hierarchical failings. Who knows really? What we do know is that they are not similar players as Cheikh is more 6/8 and TOB is more 8/10. And beyond that one player has significantly outperformed the other and we, as a team, are still light in MF.
 

heelspurs

Le filet mignon est un bastion de rosbif
Jul 25, 2012
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He has been in insane form this season, absolutely killing it. Think he's got 4 goals and 4 assists in 6 games so far and is generally integral to everything good Ajax do.

Couldn't find a highlights reel from this season yet, but these are the sort of goals he's scoring...
https://www.record.pt/multimedia/videos/detalhe/a-atencao-do-benfica-o-grande-golo-de-ziyech-ajax
Three or four seasons ago (the year we were after Batshuayi and it looked like we were going to actually improve the squad) I mentioned this guy because Twente were in a world of financial hurt and needed to offload. Of course Ajax were the beneficiaries of that but it sounded like a DL special. Now we are in a Spurs special catch 22 as we won't/can't afford him, and even if we could he won't come to play backup as he's now like 25 and more established. It's just like trying to find backup/comp for Harry. And the excuse will be we are hoping on Edwards or some other academy product that won't cut it. There is a leadership issue.
 

dtxspurs

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Report coming out Ajax looking for 130mil combined for De Jong and De Ligt. I think we can officially cancel Ajax as our favorite feeder club.
 

doctor stefan Freud

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Sep 2, 2013
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I'd pay that.

Offset the fee with the sale of Nkoudou.
N’Koudou and Sissoko- what a window. And now we can’t find any fucker to buy them. I’m praying the line isn’t trotted out again that we can’t buy until we sell because we’re more fucked than a pheasant in a toff’s garden if that’s the case
 

dtxspurs

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N’Koudou and Sissoko- what a window. And now we can’t find any fucker to buy them. I’m praying the line isn’t trotted out again that we can’t buy until we sell because we’re more fucked than a pheasant in a toff’s garden if that’s the case
Don't forget Janssen..
 

mill

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May 21, 2007
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i wouldn’t actually mind if we were not making signings but making proper efforts to bring the kids through, I’d be excited about it. at least then you could say we had a proper plan rather than winging it and just see what bargains fall in our lap on our terms. That’s what it feels like atm

Agree on ziyech being a good player
 

heelspurs

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Thanks for that. I'm holding my breath and not going to get frustrated in the slightest every time I watch Lyon play...which is every game they play.

This still doesn't/didn't make sense from a squad building perspective when you consider the age differences of TOB and Cheikh and the players we would have expected to 'age out' and be replaced. And in hindsight it looks even less wise. But thanks for the source.
 

dtxspurs

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Thanks for that. I'm holding my breath and not going to get frustrated in the slightest every time I watch Lyon play...which is every game they play.

This still doesn't/didn't make sense from a squad building perspective when you consider the age differences of TOB and Cheikh and the players we would have expected to 'age out' and be replaced. And in hindsight it looks even less wise. But thanks for the source.

If we're still penny pushing we really need to do a better job of finding these players before they make it to the PSV's, Porto's, Leverkusens, Sevillas, Lyons of the world. We should be after more players like Berge, Foyth, Diop, Arp, etc. if that is still the arena we play in financially. Hell how much better would we feel about future GK if we got Lafont or the kid Madrid bought to develop for the future vs what Chelsea and Liverpool paid for keepers.

I think we got teased a bit with the info early on and how it felt like we really spent in the market the year before bringing in Sanchez, Foyth, Llorente, Aurier & Lucas.
 

heelspurs

Le filet mignon est un bastion de rosbif
Jul 25, 2012
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Lyon really are the most stacked they've been in a long time. If that team could stay together for a few years they could challenge most in Europe, they're crazy talented.

And I was very pro-Plea as well.
They were paying off the stadium and selling all their academy talent. They are free and clear now and their just released financials show they are in fine fettle. They may now be beyond us as a 'shopping' club. Aulas has his detractors but his successes can't be denied.

I said in the preseason thread (and repeated here) that they will monster any MF in Euro with the quality and athleticism they have. It is f*cking amazing. They just need Genesio to buck up his ideas.

They have another young MF (Martins-Periera?) that just came back from loan that is also in the mold of NDombele and Cheikh as a 6/8 hybrid. He impressed in the preseason. And of course Tousart is a very good player who would improve our MF mobility but isn't quite on par with the others' athleticism. He just needs to stop getting sent off. And all of this is without mention Fekir (should have gone in when he was fat after the knee injury) and Aouar who will beyond our financial might. That is until we get reports of the 250M we have to splash out.:rolleyes:
 

doctor stefan Freud

the tired tread of sad biology
Sep 2, 2013
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If we're still penny pushing we really need to do a better job of finding these players before they make it to the PSV's, Porto's, Leverkusens, Sevillas, Lyons of the world. We should be after more players like Berge, Foyth, Diop, Arp, etc. if that is still the arena we play in financially. Hell how much better would we feel about future GK if we got Lafont or the kid Madrid bought to develop for the future vs what Chelsea and Liverpool paid for keepers.

I think we got teased a bit with the info early on and how it felt like we really spent in the market the year before bringing in Sanchez, Foyth, Llorente, Aurier & Lucas.
We spent approximately 42 million on Sanchez- that was a signing with a message. By market value, it wouldn’t be unrealistic then for us to spend 55-60 million on a CM a year later, given that is the going rate for very good midfielders.
That’s the real issue I suppose- that we spent the going rate for a good, young CB with lots of potential, and this was an area needed covering so strategically made a lot of sense. The same approach for a central midfielder seemed so sensible and necessary, especially given how some of our rivals were going about their business. And then nothing. Sweet, gentle fuck all for an area of the team that had been creaking for a while. For me, anyway, I find that baffling.
 
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