If you had to sell one CM...

[youcef]

for me it's the price that matters. I know Dembele is limited but he won't go for anything more than 12 mil (max) with his injuries.and a 9 mil transfer feeisn't worth the loss of his services.and I really think Dembele skillset is unique and unappreciated here, he's an abysmal chance creator but a great dribbler and defender.
paulinho seems to be highly regarded and his estimated price is more than 25 mil.a 30 million offer from chelsea is not something we should refuse , I mean he's better than dembele but selling him at that price is excellent business.
I think we should wait for the world cup and see how paulinho, dembele (and bentaleb) fare. and judge upon that.

 

[Geyzer Soze]

Yip a Zidane type CM in Italy, controlling the play and late charges into the box, and very little defensive duties

I was thinking more Pirlo than Zidane, I haven't seen much to suggest that he is enough of a direct goal threat, nor fast enough to play a classic attacking midfielder. But he could play deep and control the tempo well in Serie A where players are given more time on the ball

 

[Mouse!]

If we plan to keep all 4, Dembele will have to adapt to playing one of the positions behind the striker, or *cough* LB.

 

[SlunkSoma]

Not sure how Mousa is going to adapt to a high pressing regime.

 

[SpartanSpur]

I think people are right with Dembele being the favourite/most obvious choice but I do love watching the guy when he's on form, he has great skill and is excellent in one-on-one duels and as mentioned previously we tend to win very often when he plays.

Yes his slow ball movement and injury record are a concern but he isn't a player I'd want to sell lightly. We'd need a decent offer of £12m or more to shift him IMO, as I think there is an excellent player in there if coached properly.

The scary thing is that on top these four we also have Bentaleb (who could be fantastic under Poch IMO) and the Banega link (DM today, £5m). We could easily lose two of these players let alone one!

I'd want to see what offers are on the table for all of them before making a final decision.

 

[Nebby]

Sandro. Just don't get what all the fuss is about.

And Dembele should be played further forward.

 

[chinaman]

I choose to sell Dembele; and I'd also sell Siggy.

 

[CRUSADER]

I would keep the most fit players of the lot. I am not sure of the injuries Dembele, Sandro or Capoue had. We did not see much of them.

 

[Spursh]

- Dembele started 22 PL games last season and was subbed off 13 times (including three times at the break)
- Sandro has only started 60 of a possible 152 PL matches since signing for us. That's including 10 PL starts last term, of which he only completed 90 minutes four times (he was also booked on six occasions)

From Levy's point of view, if we do receive large bids for Dembele and Sandro, I can see him accepting them. Sandro is one of the my favourite players of recent times and was destined to become the best DM around before his injury, and I have seen few as technically talented as Mousa, but both are injury prone and neither are very accomplished passers of the ball which may not suit a Pochettino midfield.

I wouldn't have contemplated selling Sandro a year or so ago, but I think circumstances have changed. Lets say we get £30-35m for the pair, and then invest that in midfielders like Schneiderlin and Banega, with spare change. I think that's quite an acceptable deal all round.

 

[Col_M]

Keep: sandro, paulinho, bentaleb, capoue, holtby
Loan: velks
Sell: livermore, dembele, carroll, sig

Remember when we used to collect Right Backs like Imelda Marcos collected shoes? Seems like we are doing the same with CMs

 

[mill]

Sandro. Just don't get what all the fuss is about.

And Dembele should be played further forward.

Go back and watch our game at goodison this season and the job he did on lukaku

 

[Ribble]

There's no way in hell I'd sell either of our proper DMs, with the need for high intensity pressing throughout the 90 and heavily physical demands of the role we're going to need both (as well as Veljkovic) regularly over the course of the season.

It'd be Dembele for me, as a CM he just isn't compatible with a game that requires quick tempo changes as his decision making consists of "do I have the ball? If yes, DRIBBLE! If no, Hold on, don't waste your energy not dribbling!". That said I'd consider him as a realistic option for the wide positions instead, he could be a no-cost solution to the question of who should we get to strengthen the left side of attack. Forcing him to play in the final third by starting in an advanced position would mean he'd only have to beat one line of defenders, which he'd do most of the time, it would mean that almost any pass he'd pick would be a dangerous one, and would provide a more solid player ahead of whomever is at LB when on the back foot.

I bet he'd moan about it affecting his chances for Belgium though.

 

[LukeBB]

I just can't decide... what an awful question

 

[karennina]

It's been implied, but if the USPs of Dembele are that he can carry the ball, without being dispossessed or knocked off, better than anyone else we have, and that he possibly has our best technique in congested areas, then the stretch I'd really like to see him carry the ball across is from the wing into the box. Where the congestion might force him to actually use his control to improvise.

Sod this bursting from defensive midfield into attacking midfield with a cute drop of the shoulder. Why can't he try to beat full backs instead of AMs ?

It's possible he could become a dangerous player with time in the role. A brute force approach - Dembele has the ball in your box again, lol - try and dispossess him. It's not something the opposition's going to be happy about, and he's one of the most difficult players in the league to stop doing it. His vision and creativity may suck, but they're still much better than Lennon's.

edit: Just saw Ribble posted the same argument already. I'd try him on the right so he could take a shot, but either way, i totally agree, deprive him of the time to prance about in midfield and order him to beat full backs.

 

[beats1]

I cant see Dembele going?
We would lose money on him
He requires surgery to fix his hip
If he doesnt have surgery he requires 3 days off for rehab/rest after a match if its swells up
If he does have surgery who wants to sign a player who has just had a big operation and currently injured

 

[mpickard2087]

I think we do need another centre mid to be honest. We lack someone to sit and have the balance of breaking up play but also being to able to play passes and conduct things from the deeper midfield position. Schneiderlin for me would be ideal, with Bentaleb as understudy learning his trade still.

 

[HobbitSpur]

I am a massive fan of Sandro, however my thoughts on him being "Spurs Though and Through" are a little tarnished after the end of last season. At the end of the day you should never be assured of a place in the team, you are only as good as your last game and I get the feeling that he spat his dummy out towards of the end of last season rather than just working to get back into the team.

At the end of the day we are lucky to have 4 above average 'defensive' midfielders who can all bring something different to the game. For me I would stick with Paulinho as I feel that he will give us more goals. Capoue is still getting used to the premiership and would be unfair on shipping him out on the back of last season. For me it would be between Sandro or Dembele, as it comes down who would rather be a No.2 in that position fighting to get into the team, and unfortunately based on Last season I would say that it would be fairer to let Sandro go, especially if the reports that Pochettino and how he can alienate peripheral players.

 

[AmericanSpur]

Dembele with his dodgy hip has to be the one to go for me.

I agree completely. The decision should be based as much on fitness availability as it is system fit. I would suggest one of Sandro or Dembele be sold based on which player the physios believe is most likely to pose a long tern fitness risk. If there is an equal risk, let Poch decide which is a lesser fit for his system, likely Dembele.

 

[Davo99]

It would have to be Dembele. I've wanted him out for ages now - he's simply not good enough.

 

[jimbo]

I appreciate this wasn't the question, but most of the noise seems to be around Sandro so I'd be expecting him to leave at the minute. We can only sell the players other teams will buy and given his injury record I'd rather it be Sandro than Paulinho, if just barely. I don't think anyone will come in for Dembele now and I'd rather hang on to Capoue if only out of curiosity to see what he can do given a proper go.