Keita Baldé Diao

[SpartanSpur]

JJ has now confirmed Ice cream/Cornetto was not a cryptic, as you were...

 

[thebenjamin]

Ok fine, so what are you angry about? The fact that Arsenal are signing Lemar and we're not?

Yes of course, even when they finish out of cl and we have our best league season in half a century, they win a trophy and sign 2 great players, we win fuck all and sit on our hands.

 

[SpartanSpur]

Yes of course, even when they finish out of cl and we have our best league season in half a century, they win a trophy and sign 2 great players, we win fuck all and sit on our hands.

They could easily be losing their best player however...

 

[TEESSIDE1]

JJ has now confirmed Ice cream/Cornetto was not a cryptic, as you were...

Would have been a decent one for the young Lyon forward Cornet lol

 

[arunspurs]

They could easily be losing their best player however...

Thats the only hope; As good as Lemar is, he has been only a support cast in Monaco. If they lose Sanchez thats 24 goals & 11 assists lost.

But if they do keep Sanchez thats a different proposition. But then, given Wenger's past record of not improving any youngsters, I would go & on say Lemar & Lacazette will lose their shine & become average like several recent signings have been for Wenger

 

[sly1]

Though it seems that JJ's "ice cream" and "cornetto" references are simply allusions to a player being Italian, I did notice that there is a mention on wikipedia of this player being involved in an episode concerning an "ice cube" while at Barcelona's academy. It's probably unrelated, but something to think about perhaps...

 

[JonnySpurs]

Yes of course, even when they finish out of cl and we have our best league season in half a century, they win a trophy and sign 2 great players, we win fuck all and sit on our hands.

Yeah but they have been in the CL for the last 15 years straight, or however long it's been, they have a stadium twice the size or ours with the highest ticket prices in the league so the revenue they have and are still generating is way above ours. They can afford to do this right now, we can't and as we've all seen, it no longers matters to players whether you're in the CL or not, if you can pay them the most money then you can get anyone.

I get that it's frustrating but it's not Spurs' fault as a club, we're just not there yet and Levy is smart, he won't spend money we don't have - just as he explained yesterday at Nasdaq. If he did then we'd simply be gambling like Leeds did all those years ago and look at them now.

 

[JonnySpurs]

I tried asking JJ last night on twitter if the player from Italy in his ITK was an italian national or if he just plays in Serie A. Does anyone know if he's ever clarified this because it could naturally change things if he hasn't specified.

 

[yido_number1]

I tried asking JJ last night on twitter if the player from Italy in his ITK was an italian national or if he just plays in Serie A. Does anyone know if he's ever clarified this because it could naturally change things if he hasn't specified.

He's never specified. He has only hinted that the player is from Italy and is not a right back as of last night.

 

[[email protected]]

Yeah but they have been in the CL for the last 15 years straight, or however long it's been, they have a stadium twice the size or ours with the highest ticket prices in the league so the revenue they have and are still generating is way above ours. They can afford to do this right now, we can't and as we've all seen, it no longers matters to players whether you're in the CL or not, if you can pay them the most money then you can get anyone.

I get that it's frustrating but it's not Spurs' fault as a club, we're just not there yet and Levy is smart, he won't spend money we don't have - just as he explained yesterday at Nasdaq. If he did then we'd simply be gambling like Leeds did all those years ago and look at them now.

Respectfully disagree with this Jonny. I had an exchange with Trix yesterday, and he explained that it's not a question of us not having money to spend - we most certainly do - it's more a question of WHEN we spend. In the past, we've lost targets that were all-but-signed because we were guzumped by the super-rich clubs like Chelsea (William) and United (Martial). So it's not that we don't have a (financially) strong hand to play, it's more about when we show that hand. (I hope Trix doesn't mind me paraphrasing his words in that way, but I think that's the thrust of what he was saying). So I'm guessing we're playing a waiting game, mate, to ensure that the mega rich have snared their targets, before we make a play for Keita, or whoever this "Italian" player may be.

 

[rossdapep]

Respectfully disagree with this Jonny. I had an exchange with Trix yesterday, and he explained that it's not a question of us not having money to spend - we most certainly do - it's more a question of WHEN we spend. In the past, we've lost targets that were all-but-signed because we were guzumped by the super-rich clubs like Chelsea (William) and United (Martial). So it's not that we don't have a (financially) strong hand to play, it's more about when we show that hand. (I hope Trix doesn't mind me paraphrasing his words in that way, but I think that's the thrust of what he was saying). So I'm guessing we're playing a waiting game, mate, to ensure that the mega rich have snared their targets, before we make a play for Keita, or whoever this "Italian" player may be.

Exactly. Bid £20m for a top target and we expose ourselves to the selling club making others aware starting a bidding war in which we can't compete or risk agents touting their player out in the hope that a Chelsea can come in with even bigger wages.

It's frustrating as it's taken us so long to become an attractive destination for the world's best only for the landscape of the market to change, preventing us from being able to convince players on ambition alone.

 

[JonnySpurs]

He's never specified. He has only hinted that the player is from Italy and is not a right back as of last night.

Thanks dude, appreciate that.

 

[JonnySpurs]

Respectfully disagree with this Jonny. I had an exchange with Trix yesterday, and he explained that it's not a question of us not having money to spend - we most certainly do - it's more a question of WHEN we spend. In the past, we've lost targets that were all-but-signed because we were guzumped by the super-rich clubs like Chelsea (William) and United (Martial). So it's not that we don't have a (financially) strong hand to play, it's more about when we show that hand. (I hope Trix doesn't mind me paraphrasing his words in that way, but I think that's the thrust of what he was saying). So I'm guessing we're playing a waiting game, mate, to ensure that the mega rich have snared their targets, before we make a play for Keita, or whoever this "Italian" player may be.

I hear ya and that's fair enough if that is indeed what Trix was suggesting. My personal understanding of us missing out on targets in the past was that it was mainly (though not solely) because we haven't been able to match the wages being offered by the bigger clubs. For example, we tried to sign Martial from Monaco before Utd did and he ended up signing a new deal with Monaco which seemingly only facilitated Utd coming in and not only bidding way higher than we were willing to - and for that matter more than he was worth at the point of when we bid because he hadn't signed that new deal yet - and he is also likely on wages that are way higher than our 100k per week ceiling. With Willian, we had the deal done did we not, even down to personal terms, but Chelsea then rolled up on it at the last minute and I would imagine, offered far higher wages.

I've no doubt that we have money to spend but had we been in for Lacazette then we wouldn't have offered as much as Arsenal have to get a bid accepted and we also know for a fact that we wouldn't be paying him £150k a week, which I believe he's on.

I guess the question is, is Levy being frugal or is he being sensible and ensuring that we don't spend what we don't have? I don't have the answer, I can only go based on what I see. I do think you're right about the waiting game though and hopefully it pays off.

EDIT: Before anyone jumps on my 1st paragraph, yes I'm fully aware that we also missed out on some targets because of Levy's brinkmanship as well.

 

[[email protected]]

I hear ya and that's fair enough if that is indeed what Trix was suggesting. My personal understanding of us missing out on targets in the past was that it was mainly (though not solely) because we haven't been able to match the wages being offered by the bigger clubs. For example, we tried to sign Martial from Monaco before Utd did and he ended up signing a new deal with Monaco which seemingly only facilitated Utd coming in and not only bidding way higher than we were willing to - and for that matter more than he was worth at the point of when we bid because he hadn't signed that new deal yet - and he is also likely on wages that are way higher than our 100k per week ceiling. With Willian, we had the deal done did we not, even down to personal terms, but Chelsea then rolled up on it at the last minute and I would imagine, offered far higher wages.

I've no doubt that we have money to spend but had we been in for Lacazette then we wouldn't have offered as much as Arsenal have to get a bid accepted and we also know for a fact that we wouldn't be paying him £150k a week, which I believe he's on.

I guess the question is, is Levy being frugal or is he being sensible and ensuring that we don't spend what we don't have? I don't have the answer, I can only go based on what I see. I do think you're right about the waiting game though and hopefully it pays off.

EDIT: Before anyone jumps on my 1st paragraph, yes I'm fully aware that we also missed out on some targets because of Levy's brinkmanship as well.

Top post, Jonny! Without of course claiming to know anything for sure, I suspect you're on the money with everything you say there mate. Also mate, Trix explained that moving to secure a target early in the window almost inevitably required paying top-dollar both in terms of transfer/agent fees and in wages, and whilst we're clearly not short of a bob or two, it's obviously not something that we, or anyone other than the super-rich clubs, would rush to do. I just think, hope, that we're keeping our powder dry as the window unfolds mate, and the targets that Poch wants, remain very much in the pipeline. Or perhaps I'm just being naively optimistic, and Levy is pocketing all the cash mate!! I guess time will tell. I certainly got the sense that JJ seemed cautiously positive about the potential "Italian" incoming.

 

[Church]

Juventus's general manager has confirmed they have made an offer for Balde

 

[JonnySpurs]

Juventus's general manager has confirmed they have made an offer for Balde

That's this one done and dusted then

 

[S17PUR]

We've not been heavily linked with Balde have we? Reminds me of a young Cristiano Ronaldo from the little I've seen of him. Sounds like we won't be getting him anyway though if Juventus are involved. Frustratingly it seems like the only players we can get are the ones no one else at our level wants.

 

[JUSTINSIGNAL]

Juventus's general manager has confirmed they have made an offer for Balde

That's us out then

 

[JUSTINSIGNAL]

We've not been heavily linked with Balde have we? Reminds me of a young Cristiano Ronaldo from the little I've seen of him. Sounds like we won't be getting him anyway though if Juventus are involved. Frustratingly it seems like the only players we can get are the ones no one else at our level wants.

Yep because they can all pay more than us. We basically have a champions league standard team but are working to europa league budgets until the new stadium is built.

 

[DanielJohnCosta]

praying he is the 'italian' after bernadeshi going to Juve ruled him out this is the only other player I think would do well for us