Player Watch Player Watch: Micky van de Ven

djhotspur said:

And Davies is now even older and no faster, so why do you think now suddenly when playing a higher line will we suddenly be better at stopping a faster counter with slow CBs and factoring in we’ll be playing with very high fullbacks?
You live in some weird dream world and the fact you think finishing 8th again wouldn’t be a failure makes me think you’re a troll.
Davies just got exposed by plumbers in Singapore ffs

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Well he won’t, according to Ange, be playing as a CB. We won’t be playing a back 3 and will generally be playing a totally different brand of football. On top of that I imagine Davies, injuries permitting, won’t play to much over the course of the season

djhotspur said:

Yeah but that tweet is being backed up by trix… that’s why we are losing our shit. If Trix and other itk came in here saying dw it’s all fine we are close on the cbs and very nearly done we would be fine.

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With all due respect deals have been done without ITK popping up first. Like Phillips was reported to be having a medical but nothing was reported on that ahead of time. Also we've been told its all fine in the past and it not been the case plenty of times. Salt required and all that.

freeeki said:

We're not scoring 140 goals next season.

Happy to help.

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Cool.

Scot-Spur said:

Potentially, we need two CB’s however? So why not progress with the other while we sit around waiting.

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Ally Gold said we are highly likely to bid for Tosin so I guess that is the other CB.

I would love a corporate job at Spurs

basically you get paid for being awful at your job in most of the corporate functions with no accountability as your boss is useless too and his boss is an (alleged) crook

And your other boss that is now a consultant is also a crook

JUSTINSIGNAL said:

Ally Gold said we are highly likely to bid for Tosin so I guess that is the other CB.

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It has always pointed to Tosin plus one of VDV or Tapsoba. Then everything just seemed to grind to a halt as per.

THFCSPURS19 said:

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Not many alternatives?
By that I'm sure it means, there's no CB available at either a bargain basement price, significantly below market value or a deal structure that suits Levy & Spurs only.

What happened to our new 'data focused' scouting network & recruitment? There's a bucket load of high quality CBs available, we just need to pay the right price.

VDV, Tapsoba, Hanckom, Inancio, Disasi, Lukeba, Medina, Ito, Laporte and the list goes on. Granted they're not all a perfect fit but a damn site better than what we currently have.

Nothing short of negligence if we have to start the season with Dier or Davies in the XI.

mil1lion said:

With all due respect deals have been done without ITK popping up first. Like Phillips was reported to be having a medical but nothing was reported on that ahead of time. Also we've been told its all fine in the past and it not been the case plenty of times. Salt required and all that.

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Despite the constant advice to take ITK with salt. Despite the constant warnings to people to not confuse ITK with opinion you see it every day and it results in toys being thrown out of prams and dummies being spat out.

While I can understand why he did it, I don't think that any of this has been helped by taking everyone available on tour. If Rodon and Sanchez were just left at home from the outset, there's more likelihood imo that we'd be further along the line on someone coming in.

Whether it's liked or it's not, the club will only buy by getting players out of the squad list, so it would have been better to trim the few who are definitely going and sit them instead in their agents offices, while sending Dorrington out there.

As least it's done now and everyone is back by the weekend and Ange can make his final calls on players to their faces.

JUSTINSIGNAL said:

Ally Gold said we are highly likely to bid for Tosin so I guess that is the other CB.

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Yea I seen that, would make sense from a HG pov also.

Just strange as he has supposedly wanted out of Fulham since the end of the season. I think the Kane fiasco is slowing our plans.

It's got to be 3 weeks since we were told we'd have signed at least one new CB by the time the squad flew to Australia. To not have one going out on tour is bad enough but to not have one by the time the squad comes back is inexcusable. I know there's probably loads of stuff going on behind the scenes but from the outside looking in it feels like our transfer window juddered to a halt right after Solomon came in. From looking like there was a good chance we were going to get both VdV and Tapsoba, it now feels like we'll be lucky to get 1 of them.

ENIC don’t build squads - they collect footballers.

The thing is, Daniel Levy cannot expect to CONSTANTLY ‘win’ a transfer.
By all accounts, we set out with the aim of buying David Raya, knowing that in all likelihood Brentford would want close to £40 million. The manager preferred/accepted Vicario for £17 million. We got Maddison for what many people think is a good to bargain price. Added to that, Harry Winks brought in £10 million - a figure probably in excess of what most of us thought possible. Next, we bought Solomon for free.
Turning to the current squad, Big Ange has got Giovanni Lo Celso - a player virtually everybody had given up on - playing the best football of his Spurs career. He has potentially saved us something like another £25 million (the difference between what we’d likely get for the player versus the cost of a replacement) and he’s trying to do the same with Ndombele.
All he’s asking for are two centre backs who fit his system. One, by all accounts, will cost £30 million, the other somewhere between 40 and £45 million. Neither of these prices is above market value - the selling clubs don’t appear to be asking an outrageous amount.
We need these players bedded in as soon as possible, and yet, here we are…
The mood music around the squad, and within the fan base, seems to be the best it has been for five or six years. It would be so easy to acknowledge this and seek to build on it ahead of a pivotal season; one where the Premier League is going to be more competitive than ever. And yet, we appear, once more, to be fiddling, while Rome burns.
People, understandably, are suggesting that perhaps we are waiting to see what happens with Harry Kane. Don’t you think, though, that both Wolfsburg and Frankfurt will be all too aware aware that, should Kane go, we will have a small fortune, burning a hole in our pocket, and will increase the asking prices to reflect our newly found wealth?
Tottenham, like any football club, and like any business, need to make sure that expenditure doesn’t exceed income. However, Daniel Levy‘s obsession with the bank balance seems to steer this club at every moment, and if we start the season shorn of fully-bedded in defenders, the damage may well be done by late autumn, with too much ground to make up.

E17yid said:

Despite the constant advice to take ITK with salt. Despite the constant warnings to people to not confuse ITK with opinion you see it every day and it results in toys being thrown out of prams and dummies being spat out.

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You just don't get it........ Forget ITK! Forget the media! Forget it all, It's all irrelevant!

Purely look at where we are as a squad and our needs and then look at our recent history in transfer windows the past 3-4 years. Just look at the absolute facts and what we 100% know about our transfer history and tell me you think things will be definitely be different this time around and why.


For me even if we do address the CB problem we have still hamstrung the coach with him not being able to work with these players during preseason. It really is important to get the key positions sorted as early as you can if you want to hit the ground running.

Considering the rise to prominence in Lo Celso negating the need for another CM even with Hojbjerg departing and the likely impending sale of Kane, I cannot fathom how we are dragging our heels over securing our CB targets.

Quality defensive reinforcements are non-negotiable and unfortunately the time to gel with the team and more pertinently a new GK behind them is closing before the season is upon us proper and we will be found wanting in this area under Ange's system mitigated of course by a better brand of attacking football.

I don't want to be hearing how Levy has a multitude of issues to deal with at the club - THIS IS WHY YOU APPOINTED A FUCKING CHIEF FOOTBALL OFFICER!!!! who last i checked is still laughably unable to fulfill his fiduciary duties.

Honestly, this club man.......

I see 10 new pages in this thread and assume there's been an update and the only report doesn't tell us anything new really, certainly nothing to suggest the deal is off. It's just 10 pages of @E17yid and @Stoof trying to hold back a baying mob.

I have nothing against people venting (albeit, a bit early IMHO) but was wondering how you all decided this is the thread to congregate in. Is there a secret Whatsapp group where you all decide where to strike? Or is it a case of one person exploding at Levy, then someone else likes the sound of that and decides he's gotta tell the forum Levy's shortcomings for the 256th time and it sort of snowballs from there?

Trix said:

You just don't get it........ Forget ITK! Forget the media! Forget it all, It's all irrelevant!

Purely look at where we are as a squad and our needs and then look at our recent history in transfer windows the past 3-4 years. Just look at the absolute facts and what we 100% know about our transfer history and tell me you think things will be definitely be different this time around and why.

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I think I do get it but we probably have different views on that very thing you ask. I’ve never been one of these people that said our squad is shit and needs a total overhaul. I’m expecting Ange to have a challenging season but my expectations are probably a lot lower than most but I’m optimistic he can get a tune out of players a lot have written off.

In my opinion I think 1 decent CB and we’ve had a good window. Now obviously the tricky bit is the “decent” bit but it’s the most important bit, more important than when even (which is also admittedly important)

I have no idea if VdV or Tosin or Tapsoba will be the best CB for us but I’m pretty sure we’ll sign one then it’s up to the football gods whether they add value or not. We could sign all 3 of them and potentially be worse off who knows? We could luck out and sign a 2nd/3rd choice and it works out (like a Kulu) I have no idea so what I’m going o do is see who we get, give them a season to see how they go and probably make my judgement on them this time next season.

But if you or others want to say no European football next year (which I don’t necessarily disagree with albeit for different reasons) then fill your boots.

Joshua said:

Then obviously everything is completely amazing and we should give Dier a new five year deal

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Well he is a lovely bloke and that is the most important thing.

Trix said:

You just don't get it........ Forget ITK! Forget the media! Forget it all, It's all irrelevant!

Purely look at where we are as a squad and our needs and then look at our recent history in transfer windows the past 3-4 years. Just look at the absolute facts and what we 100% know about our transfer history and tell me you think things will be definitely be different this time around and why.


For me even if we do address the CB problem we have still hamstrung the coach with him not being able to work with these players during preseason. It really is important to get the key positions sorted as early as you can if you want to hit the ground running.

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Yeah its absolutely baffling that every season he never learns. I know Guardiola doesn't have all the players he wants at present, but his squad is hardly weak!

It just hampers our managers from the start. It's looking like Davies is going to be playing against Brentford at this rate. It's just not good enough. Key players and areas that are needed to strengthen are constantly neglected.

Don’t worry there is a list of targets the club has identified for next summer when they will be more attainable, lessons have been learnt