Summer 2022 Window Scouting Thread

[Japhet]

According to Romano, Jesus is Arsenal's top transfer target for this window and they have already started negotiations. If we are actually interested, and this isn't just a ploy by his agent to get a better deal, then he'd still probably just be another one on the long list of options for us you would imagine. At Arsenal he would be their mane man and i wouldn't be surprised if they offered a better contract as well. Dybala and Lautaro will always be my number one and two picks for this window, but as both seem to be off the table for different reasons then I think my next three choices would be Nunez, CDK and Raspadori. If we don't want to spend too much money then i would much rather we risk it with CDK then take Jesus personally. Ether way, personally I will be surprised if Jesus doesn't go to Arsenal.

All players I'd prefer to Jesus. I only picked Depay because he's more comparable to Depay and supposedly available too.

 

[Flobadob]

just look at the way every single player/backroom staff have eyes on him & are listening! you can tell they all buy into his plan, compare that with the all or nothing doc and you seen players, head down not listening to mourinho etc. conte is absolutely fucking elite! cant wait for the rumours to go into over drive!

Yeah this is a dressing room that respects him completely and wants to listen to every word as they feel they can learn from everything he says. I think in management no matter how good a manager is it also helps when they have played because you know they’ve been there and done that and know exactly what it’s like, you know you can learn from them and it will be 100% applicable to your situations you come across yourself. I had one season as a youth where all 3 coaches in my year group had played professionally and the level of respect and concentration towards everything they said was noticeably higher than any other season I can remember. Was absolute quality learning from them and the fact 2 of the 3 were still young and good enough to step on the training field and show us up went a long way too! Conte seems to go with that style too putting in 2 footed tackles in training ?

 

[jpascavitz]

My dream list:

GK: Johnstone
LCB: Bastoni/Gvardiol/Ndicka
CB: Bremer
RWB: Hakimi or more likely one of Frimpong/Spence/Singo
LWB: Raum/Sosa/Kostic
CM: Bissouma/Neves
CAM: Eriksen
FWD: Nkunku/Jesus

Positions with multiple options are in order of preference.

Would say that my list is quite similar. I think any big fees can actually be justified by making both parties (Conte and the Club) happy. Bastoni, Gvardiol, Raum, Nkunku, Isak are all 24 or younger, have international and league experience, but won't be the cheapest options.

Then I would supplement any bigger signings like that with signings that have 1-2 years left on deal or free. There's enough quality in that pool this Summer. Conte gets players he wants, club still gets some players with the ability to grow in value, and the squad gets better overall.

 

[Inq]

I don't rate him at all I think his finishing is erratic he seems to play for himself far to often and he is not that good a footballer in the build up - all those things are ok at City with the side they have but stick him in a lesser side I think he struggles

fair point. Didn’t really consider the team around him to be honest. Mainly just based it off the fact he hits the back of the net in this league. Which isn’t easy for many strikers we have bought recently.

 

[cider spurs]

just look at the way every single player/backroom staff have eyes on him & are listening! you can tell they all buy into his plan, compare that with the all or nothing doc and you seen players, head down not listening to mourinho etc. conte is absolutely fucking elite! cant wait for the rumours to go into over drive!

I wonder what he’s saying there.

If you eata, anymore fuckin' Nachos, I cutta of your hands. Capisci.

 

[Snarfalicious]

Standard Matt Law. The man must live under a black cloud.

Tottenham Hotspur chairman Daniel Levy should thank Antonio Conte every single day of this summer, however high the Italian’s demands are or however expensive meeting his ambition might be.

Securing fourth place and Champions League qualification has handed Levy and Tottenham a huge opportunity, but it will be the 60-year-old, rather than Conte, who has questions to answer when the pair meet to decide what happens next.

Does Levy really want to make Tottenham a football club that can compete with the best again? Or is he content with Harry Kane sharing top billing with Lady Gaga on the ‘stadium events’ section of the club’s website?

Just as Conte quickly stripped away an excuse-culturethat had developed within Tottenham’s squad, he has left Levy with no legitimate grounds, other than a lack of ambition, not to reward his brilliant head coach with big-name arrivals.

In dragging Spurs into the top four, Conte has, crucially, added value - to Tottenham’s bank balance, to the squad, to the stadium and to Levy, whose stock was nosediving rapidly until the appointment of the former Chelsea man. His own reputation has also been enhanced.

If ever there was a summer in which to speculate to accumulate then this is it for Levy, who passed up similar opportunities handed to him by Mauricio Pochettino when building the club’s £1billion stadium was the number one priority.

Talents such as Paulo Dybala, Bruno Fernandes, Sadio Mane, Jack Grealish, James Ward-Prowse and, most recently, Luis Diaz have all slipped through the fingers of Tottenham and Levy over recent years.

Now is the time for Levy to prove that the stadium, which cost the club some of those eye-catching signings, was built for real football glory and not just the record revenue and profits the Champions League, together with this summer’s headline acts Lady Gaga and Guns N’Roses, will ensure.

Levy should take credit for acting quickly to replace Nuno Espirito Santo with Conte and giving the green light to the January signings of Dejan Kulusevski and Rodrigo Bentancur. Hitting the panic button ultimately worked, but stopping there would be an enormous waste.

Convincing Conte to stay would give Tottenham stability at a time when Manchester United are preparing for yet another transitional period under a new head coach and Chelsea are facing a summer of playing catch-up under a new ownership. Even with Todd Boehly’s billions, it will be years before the Blues can rebuild Stamford Bridge and cash in on the Champions League to the extent Spurs are now able to.

Building a squad capable of keeping their place in the top four for at least another season would give Tottenham the possibility of cementing themselves in the Champions League for much longer, with five places likely to go to Premier League clubs from 2024 as part of an expansion of the competition.

That is not to say this will be a straightforward summer, with Tottenham still facing challenges to try to shape the squad in such a way that Conte will believe it is worth sticking around and aiming for the next goal - a real trophy, rather than the metaphorical one he felt Champions League qualification represented.

Spurs are already committed to spending around £100million on Cristian Romero and Dejan Kulusevski, who initially arrived on loan deals, as well as left back Sergio Reguilon, for whom Levy negotiated a transfer that only required payment to be made in his third summer at the club.

That means, despite Champions League qualification, the size of the transfer budget Levy can promise to Conte, when the pair meet for talks, will still be somewhat reliant outgoings and securing good fees for the likes of Giovani Lo Celso, Tanguy Ndombele, Steven Bergwijn, Harry Winks, Joe Rodon and possibly even Reguilon.


Tottenham’s transfer strategy will also have to account for Uefa’s foreign player rule, as Rodon, Eric Dier, Matt Doherty and Ben Davies all take a place on the overseas list that only permits clubs to name 17 foreign players in their Champions League squads.

There is currently not much room for manoeuvre, which is why signing Fraser Forster or Sam Johnstone to replace Pierluigi Gollini as number two goalkeeper to Hugo Lloris makes so much sense.

Conte believes he needs six to eight new signings to build a squad capable of combining Premier League and Champions League campaigns, having reiterated on numerous occasions that Tottenham had secured a top-four place against the odds with a squad of just 14 players. The fact clubs will be allowed to make five substitutes next season must also be factored in.

Such an overhaul would not be unprecedented, as Tottenham signed six new first-team players for Jose Mourinho in the 2020 summer transfer window, although Gareth Bale was the choice of Levy rather than the Portuguese.

Levy can expect Conte’s top targets to be considerably more expensive than the likes of Doherty, Reguilon and Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg.

There was honesty from both sides, when Levy appointed Conte in November last year. The Tottenham chairman made it clear there would not be fortunes to spend in the January transfer window and the Italian informed Levy that he would demand changes to working practices and the running of the football side of the club.

Talks over this summer’s plans are likely to be just as frank and a split still cannot be completely ruled out, given Conte almost left Chelsea after winning the Premier League title and decided the time was right to leave Inter Milan behind after achieving Serie A success and seeing stars such as Romelu Lukaku and Achraf Hakimi sold.

Tottenham have prepared themselves for such a scenario by making Brighton manager Graham Potter their top choice to succeed Conte, should he decide it is his way or the highway, but Levy’s first choice is to meet his head coach somewhere in the middle and embark on a full season together.

With or without Conte, however, Levy must recognise that the onus is now on him to grasp the opportunity he has been so fortunate to receive. If he fails to, then the Champions League will only represent the same as Lady Gaga, Guns N’Roses and the NFL - lucrative stadium events.

There was some dialogue happening on Twitter about those writing about clubs should not openly "support" them and Matt Law was the originator of the conversation. That's not necessarily controversial, but looking at in from a Matt-Law-Perspective (shudder) I think he's simply the type of guy that thinks being critical is doing his job. We all want to believe he "has it out" for Tottenham, but I don't think that's the case. I think it's more that he's a dickbag that thinks being good at his job is finding stories, being critical and drumming up interest in what otherwise would be the mundane as that results in further conversation, clicks, etc. And, hey, it's working.

 

[Spurvert]

Wondering if Ruben Neves could work in a Conte team?

Someone mentioned him already but Nkunku is someone I rate highly. Would love to see him at Spurs. Players like him and Bastoni/Bremer are the kinds of players we should be going for first this summer.

 

[Snarfalicious]

Sosa would be an incredible purchase. Between him and Sessegnon that's some supreme attacking output.

 

[Ghost Hardware]

Parrot should not be our back up striker.

I'd have no issue with him being a bench option as long as we bring in a quality forward as well. If we had Son, Kane, Kulu, Gil, Nunez (example), Lucas and Parrot say i think that would be a great selection of options. If you swapped Nunez for Dybala, Schick, CDK or whoever it wouldn't matter. I think having Parrot there and actually giving him minutes wouldn't be a bad thing by any means. If Conte thinks he's capable of playing a role next season then i'd be pretty happy tbh. Obviously I agree I wouldn't want him to be our sole addition to the front three but i very much doubt he would be.

 

[jpascavitz]

According to Romano, Jesus is Arsenal's top transfer target for this window and they have already started negotiations. If we are actually interested, and this isn't just a ploy by his agent to get a better deal, then he'd still probably just be another one on the long list of options for us you would imagine. At Arsenal he would be their mane man and i wouldn't be surprised if they offered a better contract as well. Dybala and Lautaro will always be my number one and two picks for this window, but as both seem to be off the table for different reasons then I think my next three choices would be Nunez, CDK and Raspadori. If we don't want to spend too much money then i would much rather we risk it with CDK then take Jesus personally. Ether way, personally I will be surprised if Jesus doesn't go to Arsenal.

If the price is right (big if) I just keep coming back to Isak after the mediocre season he's had, I think that's where the opportunity presents ittself to get him under the radar. Everyone wants players when they're hot, but at 22 he's had experience in La Liga, Bundesliga, and on the national level.

Obviously, whatever Conte wants but it seems as if he has the physical tools, and the potential to add to the side straight away while boasting the long-term potential to be the guy. Plus who doesn't want the Swedish link up!?

 

[jpascavitz]

Wondering if Ruben Neves could work in a Conte team?

Someone mentioned him already but Nkunku is someone I rate highly. Would love to see him at Spurs. Players like him and Bastoni/Bremer are the kinds of players we should be going for first this summer.

Realistically, RB Leipzig made comments already that he's staying and a new contract will be offered, as per their club model. They also qualified for UCL, which if they didn't I could see a break in that structure. It would take silly money for him to move this Summer I think.

Besides that, I totally agree with you and think he'd fit in our attack perfectly, however I just don't think it's realistic this Summer sadly.

 

[Klinsmannesque]

Spoke to a Croatian friend about Sosa -

Top 3 crosser in Bundesliga, great on the ball, hugs the sideline
Suspect quantity of defensive actions per match
If you know what youre buying him for, 25 mil is a great price

Can see us keeping Emerson and upgrading Doc for someone with better offensive output. Emerson has impressed me defensively and is the sort of player I can see Conte using in the big games vs someone with better attacking qualities who’ll be used for mid table / lower

 

[OpenHeartZoo]

My dream list:

GK: Johnstone
LCB: Bastoni/Gvardiol/Ndicka
CB: Bremer
RWB: Hakimi or more likely one of Frimpong/Spence/Singo
LWB: Raum/Sosa/Kostic
CM: Bissouma/Neves
CAM: Eriksen
FWD: Nkunku/Jesus

Positions with multiple options are in order of preference.

My dream list would be almost identical, only I’ve already reached the acceptance stage on it being Spence instead of Hakimi ?

I’d also throw Darwin Nunez in the forward pot instead of Jesus. He’s a risk because of the league he plays in but he‘s one of the only available options who could legitimately rotate with Kane and Son in my opinion. He has great pace, takes players on for fun, but is also 6ft2 and can hold the ball up for others. He’s a tad rough around the edges at times but the raw materials are all there. He’d be an expensive signing, but more realistically gettable than Nkunku probably.

 

[-Afri-Coy-]

Another day and another player. We can add Borna Sosa to the ever increasing list of players FP has spoken to/about.

I'm already upset that we haven't signed him.

 

[ralphs bald spot]

Depay's a different player now to what he was at Utd.. He's grown up a lot.

I agree of the two he is the better option - he has been ok for Barca this season but not really a player I think that either improves you that much or who offers you different options - I would prefer a younger more mobile forward who can maybe run the channels and offers pace in behind a bit which is something that we lack

 

[mattspur1986]

War chest ?

this is it, there is simply no way levy cant back him ( and we're being told he will ) thing certainly looking good!

 

[mattspur1986]

Parrot should not be our back up striker.

you can say that again....

 

[-Afri-Coy-]

I trust that with the whispers we've had here, and how the January window went, that we will back Conte.

The CL money will just help us even more.

 

[Ghost Hardware]

If the price is right (big if) I just keep coming back to Isak after the mediocre season he's had, I think that's where the opportunity presents ittself to get him under the radar. Everyone wants players when they're hot, but at 22 he's had experience in La Liga, Bundesliga, and on the national level.

Obviously, whatever Conte wants but it seems as if he has the physical tools, and the potential to add to the side straight away while boasting the long-term potential to be the guy. Plus who doesn't want the Swedish link up!?

Isak is an interesting one. Personally i have big question marks over certain aspects of his game and i'm really not sure how he would fair in the PL. The lad obviously has the talent but i think out of the other young options he would probably be quite far down on my list, for example Raspidori (22), Jonathan David (22), CDK (21) to me all look to have greater potential and are better physically suited to the PL then Isak. Like Isak, all three can play wide plus CDK and Raspidori can also play as a creative 10 behind the striker. Price wise, unless somethings changed which it could have done after this season, Real Sociedad value him quite highly so he wouldn't be any cheaper.

Isak is a curious one, and at his age he certainly shouldn't be written off because of his poor season. As you say, for the right club he could be a very interesting pick up. Im just not totally sold on him and personally feel there are better options out there for us. For me he would be far to much of a gamble. But like you say, if Paratici and Conte decided he was the forward they wanted, who would i be to argue.

 

[Japhet]

I agree of the two he is the better option - he has been ok for Barca this season but not really a player I think that either improves you that much or who offers you different options - I would prefer a younger more mobile forward who can maybe run the channels and offers pace in behind a bit which is something that we lack

That's pretty much what De[ay does though. He's got plenty of pace, good with both feet and is also a good penalty taker which might come in handy.