The Summer Transfer Window POST MORTEM THREAD

[Finchyid]

Last season we finished a distant 3rd in the league and were generally competitive in the cups, if we genuinely wanted to progress beyond that, then I think it is clear our squad needed strengthening and a couple of key man risks needed addressing. In particular we have been extremely lucky Eriksen has not had any serious injuries and in my view we have no real cover for him and he is also largely the only real creative player we have.

For me the only rational explanation for our total lack of activity in the TW is that we are under serious financial constraints - that is the stadium costs are going through the roof. Stories of poor contracting, ever changing requirements and contract management issues in relation to the stadium project have even found their way down to NZ. If it's not the stadium then hey we were just inept in identifying genuine gettable targets and executing.

Distant 3rd,? Everyone was distant from city but were only 4 points behind utd

 

[ToDarrenIsToDo]

Liverpool in a serious trouble to clear out their unwanted players

You mean players like Karius, Mignolet, Klavan, Matip, Grujic, Markovic & Origi that don't get in their first XI when everyone's fit and available anymore, aren't exactly hot prospects and they struggle to move unless it's a linked to a possible loan?

I think they've got 19 nonHG so have to move on at least 3 of those before they can get a nonHG in again. Luckily for them they have so many fringe players that are English but not a lot of them stake a genuine claim for a first team place (except Gomez, Alexander-Arnold and Henderson realistically with the players they've got)

Liverpool have a lot of great players, but they've also got a lot of nonHG shit like the other teams will have in a couple of years if their gambles haven't paid off. For example who's going to buy Richarlison for the ££ they'd want and the ££ he's on if he turns out to be a flop?

Of the nonHG players we have, Janssen, Nkoudou & Llorente are the weak links and Alderweireld, Vorm, Dembele, Vertonghen & Llorente all have their current contracts expiring in a seasons time so our targets won't have to be restricted to just homegrown with our numbers guaranteed to come down to 14 in the Prem should we not renew any of the guys expiring and struggle to shift Vincent & GKN. The sting we felt this summer is just around the corner for quite a lot of clubs we are competing with both for league position and financially

 

[ToDarrenIsToDo]

and their cousings the toffees as well

Everton now have 21 nonHG so before any other future foreign activity have to move on at least 5 of them and this year before a ball is even kicked have to leave 4 of them out of their season long 25 man squad

 

[Flashspur]

To the negative posters on here, I don’t think you’ve been taken for mugs. A bit of over dramatization. Lets look forward to Newcastle and move on!

 

[JayB]

I wasn't able to follow this deadline day (or really window in general) nearly as closely as I have done in years past due to work obligations, so I'm only now getting a chance to read through the day's posts and try to digest what happened. Even now, hours after the window closed, I'm sat here in stunned disbelief at an almost incomprehensible failure. The only club in the fifteen year history of the summer transfer window to not complete a single transfer.

Despite all the warning signs I remained totally calm right up until the last few days of the window out of the absolute conviction that the money was there to spend. We generated upwards of £144m in Premier League earnings last season, and an additional £50m from the Champions League, not to mention commercial deals. We have the most expensive ticket prices in world football. We're one of the ten richest clubs in the world. We have the fucking money to spend.

At the outset of the window it seemed as though all of the stars had aligned for us to finally kick on and demonstrate a bit of ambition in the market. We managed to hold onto our manager despite intense interest from Real Fucking Madrid and signed the world's most in-demand striker to a six year contract, two things one would not have thought possible unless there were assurances of that ambition being shown. We needed one single, solitary signing in central midfield to round out the first XI. And yet, nothing.

I understand that between the World Cup and the one-off difference between the English and European windows the market has probably never been more difficult than it was this summer. Yet clubs like Southampton, Brighton, Wolves, Fulham, and West Ham all managed to spend between £45-85 million. Net. There can be no fucking excuse.

I fear for us over the next three weeks, and for the long-term future thereafter. JJ has seemed to indicate that selling Toby is still very much on the table. If Modric manages to force his way out of Madrid, who could possibly blame Eriksen for trying to do the same to us after the absolute shambles we have just witnessed? We're probably fucked with those two world class players in the squad, just imagine us without them.

Even if we do manage to keep hold of everyone, it's impossible to imagine that this betrayal has not shaken the faith of Poch and of every ambitious player in the squad, up to and including Kane, who has always maintained that he would remain loyal as long as the club remained ambitious and the project continued moving forward. Who could possibly argue that it has?

I hate to be alarmist but I can't help but feel that this is the beginning of the end of the Pochettino project. When Val, whose info I rate just as highly as JJ's, comes out and says that Poch and Levy weren't even on speaking terms as recently as weeks ago it's impossible to feel any other way. Mourinho and Lopetegui, the latter of whom is clearly being set up as a fall man for the restructuring of Madrid, are both in highly precarious positions at two of the biggest clubs in the world, and Poch is the apple of both of the chairmen's eyes. He's shown his loyalty to us once, and quite literally got absolutely fuck all in return. It's hard to believe he'll do it again.

 

[Flashspur]

ITK is taken with a pinch of salt. Where is the supporting info to show DL and Poch have fallen out?

 

[JayB]

ITK is taken with a pinch of salt. Where is the supporting info to show DL and Poch have fallen out?

Val, in post #449 of this very thread:

And to add to what Hercs said, Poch and Levy werent talking a week ago or so....i hate being negative....

 

[ToDarrenIsToDo]

Val, in post #449 of this very thread:

The same ITKs said Eriksen & Dele had signed new deals a couple of months ago but that the news was being held back. if that's the case I don't think there's much to worry about. If teams want Pochettino they're going to have to pay £40m for him. I don't think a teams ever paid that kind of money for a manager.

If we get seriously good money from abroad for Toby I wouldn't be against it. It's either that or risk losing him to a Premier League club next summer for £25m & i think Dier & Foyth should be able to offer sufficient cover should Vertonghen & Sanchez need time out.

There's lots of balls up in the air but I'd be absolutely astonished if Daniel Levy finds himself not on talking terms with a man he's just given c£160k per week to. We'll see how stable the club is should Eriksen get the extension we as a club need him to sign

 

[JayB]

The same ITKs said Eriksen & Dele had signed new deals a couple of months ago but that the news was being held back. if that's the case I don't think there's much to worry about. If teams want Pochettino they're going to hack to pay £40m for him. I don't think a teams ever paid that kind of money for a manager.

If we get seriously good money from abroad for Toby I wouldn't be against it. It's either that or risk losing him to a Premier League club next summer for £25m & i think Dier & Foyth should be able to offer sufficient cover should Vertonghen & Sanchez need time out.

There's lots of balls up in the air but I'd be absolutely astonished if Daniel Levy finds himself not on talking terms with a man he's just given c£160k per week to. We'll see how stable the club is should Eriksen get the extension we as a club need him to sign

All of that remains to be seen.

I don't care about what has taken place behind the scenes, losing Toby with no chance of replacing him would undoubtedly weaken us in a season where we are already up against it.

Who knows whether Eriksen and Dele have actually put pen to paper or whether the deals were merely agreed in principle. If it's the latter, I for one wouldn't blame them one bit for reconsidering.

I'll be holding my breath until the European window has closed, because the vultures will surely be circling around our best players after the bombshell that just got dropped on us. One would hope that Levy would have a blanket two-word response to any inquiries, but after the window we've just had I have a hard time putting any faith in him whatsoever.

 

[ToDarrenIsToDo]

All of that remains to be seen.

I don't care about what has taken place behind the scenes, losing Toby with no chance of replacing him would undoubtedly weaken us in a season where we are already up against it.

Who knows whether Eriksen and Dele have actually put pen to paper or whether the deals were merely agreed in principle. If it's the latter, I for one wouldn't blame them one bit for reconsidering.

I'll be holding my breath until the European window has closed, because the vultures will surely be circling around our best players after the bombshell that just got dropped on us. One would hope that Levy would have a blanket two-word response to any inquiries, but after the window we've just had I have a hard time putting any faith in him whatsoever.

The next 3 weeks really are crucial for us for retaining players that are really needed this season now and ones that have pretty much no sell on value come 12 months time. Very peculiar game we are playing I hope Levy knows all the risks and rewards involved which I'm sure he does, he doesn't seem like a stupid guy

 

[Dillspur]

The same ITKs said Eriksen & Dele had signed new deals a couple of months ago but that the news was being held back. if that's the case I don't think there's much to worry about. If teams want Pochettino they're going to hack to pay £40m for him. I don't think a teams ever paid that kind of money for a manager.

If we get seriously good money from abroad for Toby I wouldn't be against it. It's either that or risk losing him to a Premier League club next summer for £25m & i think Dier & Foyth should be able to offer sufficient cover should Vertonghen & Sanchez need time out.

There's lots of balls up in the air but I'd be absolutely astonished if Daniel Levy finds himself not on talking terms with a man he's just given c£160k per week to. We'll see how stable the club is should Eriksen get the extension we as a club need him to sign

Poch can just quit, right? Nothing's stopping him from walking away and us not getting any compensation?

 

[scat1620]

We know what happened with a Grealish, but the non-deal which baffles me is Zaha. We were told that two clubs - us and Chelsea - had deals agreed, and the player would choose.

Have any ITKs shed any light on how we fucked that one up?

I see this one as a case of needing to apply some salt to the ITK info: I struggle to believe that either Chelsea or ourselves got close enough to an agreement with Palace that it was Zaha himself who decided not to move - because I can't see him turning down the chance to join either club if it was a genuine option for him. More likely talks were had with Palace but never got to the stage where Zaha had a decision to make, IMO.

I reckon both we and Chelsea just didn't offer Palace an attractive enough deal. Which would be par for the course for us.

 

[yiddo]

FAILURE I think pretty much sums up the window in one word.

Whilst even when there was early ITK coming out of £150m was going to be spent, I cant say I really believed that was going to happen. But given there are only 2 periods a year that we are able to make improvements to the squad and 1 of those times is considered extremely difficult so we rarely are very active. In my eyes our "transfer decision group" which of course includes Levy & Poch but doesn't end with them should have been planning for this window for months, drafting up lists of targets, talking to agents, behind the scenes type moves that we all know go on.
In appears our preparation for this window has been nothing short of abysmal. Not necessarily due to effort, more that we are totally out of touch with how deals get done now. It was not down to luck or choice that we were the ONLY team in both the league and CL to not managed a single signing, we definitely tried but we failed.

At the end of last season I was hoping we would be targetting 1 or possibly 2 players along the lines of a Sessengon, De Ligt, Kovacic, Rabiot or Martial. I was also hoping that our scouting network had been working away and could help us land 1-2 less known top prospects for the future (e.g. like Foyth).
For whatever reasons we didn't secure or weren't interested in ANY of the above mentioned, but to also not land an option B or C and further that not bring in any good prospects for the future.... you wonder if we do have any scouts!!

I dont buy into the stories that Poch prefers to just fill the gaps with our youth, maybe at a push if we had Chelsea's youth. But currently ours is nowhere near comprehensive enough to cover the gaps we have, and with current trend of many leaving that is getting worse not better.

Poch is as ambitious as they come, you can see by quotes he has made that he wanted some additions, he has been let down badly.
I guess we just have to pray that he isnt too p*ssed off, people can choose not to believe it but its fact that many coaches have and do leave jobs when they are not provided the tools they feel they need to progress.

 

[Flashspur]

Val, in post #449 of this very thread:

Thanks mate. Still a pinch of salt.

 

[Liamyid28]

*know

Thnx

 

[allatsea]

Thanks mate. Still a pinch of salt.

So very grateful for our ITKs telling us what they can but if nothing else this Transfer Window has proved it must be taken with large doses of salt.

 

[Wils]

Wow just wow. A total shambles. At the end of last season when Poch made the statement about being brave they discussed it on Motd. Shearer was asked if Totrenham would change and he said no. At the time i thought typical pundit having a pop at Spurs and Levy cant be that Stupid. Cant believe how wrong I was ?.

 

[portgasz]

Imo, Levy can repent himself by signing marquee players early for January like Liverpool announced the signing of Keita before summer transfer windows. But will he do it? I think not.

 

[ToDarrenIsToDo]

Imo, Levy can repent himself by signing marquee players early for January like Liverpool announced the signing of Keita before summer transfer windows. But will he do it? I think not.

If Villas FFP situation still isn't resolved by then and they need money by March there's every chance we could go back in for him again in Jan. I really don't think people take into account how much a £1bn long term investment makes it difficult to balance things across the board. Our long term is set and that's a lot more than people can say of most teams at the moment. Our revenue will continuously become one of the best in the World now the stadium is built and money keeps on coming into the Prem. it'll mean any regulations that potentially come in in the future never harm us, the stadium is so much more important than an arena that gets more people to a game, it propels us long term even if we have to duck and dive a bit first

 

[ohtottenham!]

Thanks mate. Still a pinch of salt.

What's not a pinch of salt is that, at a minimum, Poch wanted our CM area sorted, that's glaringly obvious to anyone, and he had a right to get that resolved, so we can watch the best Tottenham team compete at the highest level. It didn't happen! Would not be surprised that Poch's just a little bit pissed!