Our transfer policy

[hellava_tough]

Obviously there's been lots of talk about our transfer policy all over the forum, so I thought I'd create a thread that pulls it all together

Basically, what do you think of our transfer policy?

Is it good, is it bad?

Do you agree with DL's approach to things, are there things that he could do better?

If you were in charge would you take a different course of action?

Are we buying the right players, paying over the odds, getting some good bargains?


I just thought it would good for everyone to have it out here and now

 

[Spurs_Bear]

I don't think our transfer policy is that of a side trying to break into the top 2/3.

But then again I'm not sure how you do that without bankruptcy.

I do think we should be speculating a bit more though, otherwise I think AVB has his work cut out from the start.

 

[hellava_tough]

I don't think our transfer policy is that of a side trying to break into the top 2/3.

But then again I'm not sure how you do that without bankruptcy.

I do think we should be speculating a bit more though, otherwise I think AVB has his work cut out from the start.

It's obviously going to be difficult with the resources available to us, although the tragic thing is without City and Chelsea hitting the jack-pot, I think we'd probably be comfortably challenging for the league every year

However, City and Chelsea DID happen, so what should we do next?

 

[tototoner]

Do we have one ?

I thought we just had Levy trying to get one up on everyone

 

[Spurs_Bear]

It's obviously going to be difficult with the resources available to us, although the tragic thing is without City and Chelsea hitting the jack-pot, I think we'd probably be comfortably challenging for the league every year

However, City and Chelsea DID happen, so what should we do next?

On that point though, if that is the case why are we even wasting our time with some of the players we are linked with if we have such limited resources?

We're trying to sign (allegedly) the French captain and one of the most highly regarded young keepers in the world, are we that arrogant that we think we can chuck 9m at Lyon as reported and expect them to buckle? Same with Leandro?

It just appears that Levy thinks everyone owes him a favour.

Not directed at you at all mate.....but one thing that really winds me up is this whole thing everytime we get to the last day of the window and we get the "now it's Levy time" crap. He lucked out with VdV, and nearly ruined us with Berbatov, he only seems to use the last day of the window as a dick measuring exercise.

 

[dontcallme]

Levy took over a club struggling. On the pitch finishing 8th was good but the fans demanded so much more. Our stadium is only a 36,000 seater, our training facilities were nothing special, we only had 3 successful youngsters in 15 years (Campbell, King and Carr) and we were going nowhere.

We were spending money on over-the-hill players who had no sell on value and were of a lower quality than the top teams had anyway so unsurprisingly we were going nowhere. We were throwing money away and not getting much in return.

We don't have artificial money like City or Chelsea and the bigger stadiums and consistent CL football grew a huge gap in income Man Utd, Liverpool and Arsenal compared to ourselves.

If people think we're going to compete with these clubs by adopting the same strategy then I'm at a loss.

Our transfer strategy is simple. We buy younger players and slowly incorporate them into our team. BAE, Walker, Kaboul, Dawson, Lennon, Bale, Sandro and Defoe were a mixture of young players making a step up and taking a while to settle in and those from a lower division who fit in straigth away but had to work on their all round game more.

We have bought a few more obvious players. VDV, Pav, Bentley, Bent, Parker, Palacios, Modric and Dos Santos. These were players with better reputations but when they don't work out they are costly mistakes. Our finances don't allow much room for error.

So Levy has to be very meticulous with our money. A huge wage bill can cripple a club. Newcastle and West Ham got relegated after poor financial mismanagement and Liverpool are in decline after poor but expensive signings.

Levy doesn't do expensive quick fixes. Sure he could offer Inter a few extra million for Leandro then pay him £20k a week more than he'd like to get it done quickly. Great if it works out. We get a Brazilian international who fires us to title glory.

But what if he doesn't settle in? What if the party lifestyle and newfound money becomes more exciting to him than his football career? We have some money for high wages but I'd rather it go to those who have been at the club for several years and we know are good professionals than take a shot on someone we know little about.

Our transfer policy is a meticulous one that doesn't allow us to get pushed around and pay what we don't want. If we bring in a quick fix it is on a short term deal like we had for Nelsen and Saha.

Looking at the long term and not being pushed around has moved us from lower midtable to top 5 and within budget. As frustrating as it is I'm glad Levy hasn't buckled under the pressure started paying over the odds just to please some fans.

We can't compete with the clubs above by using the same transfer strategy with a quarter of the money.

 

[dontcallme]

On that point though, if that is the case why are we even wasting our time with some of the players we are linked with if we have such limited resources?

We're trying to sign (allegedly) the French captain and one of the most highly regarded young keepers in the world, are we that arrogant that we think we can chuck 9m at Lyon as reported and expect them to buckle? Same with Leandro?

It just appears that Levy thinks everyone owes him a favour.

Not directed at you at all mate.....but one thing that really winds me up is this whole thing everytime we get to the last day of the window and we get the "now it's Levy time" crap. He lucked out with VdV, and nearly ruined us with Berbatov, he only seems to use the last day of the window as a dick measuring exercise.

Which players are you talking about?

We have Friedel and Gomes in goal. We don't need a keeper right now but if we can get Lloris for the rpice we want then why not try?

We bought Sandro from Inter why shouldn't we try for Leandro?

Levy doesn't think people owe him a favour. He is simply negotiating. He got us Berbatov, Modric, VDV, Bale and others for the price he wanted so it's hardly a failed system.

 

[n17 yids]

I like the idea of our policy, young players with a future value, but it is very poorly executed

 

[Spursidol]

Levy took over a club struggling. On the pitch finishing 8th was good but the fans demanded so much more. Our stadium is only a 36,000 seater, our training facilities were nothing special, we only had 3 successful youngsters in 15 years (Campbell, King and Carr) and we were going nowhere.

We were spending money on over-the-hill players who had no sell on value and were of a lower quality than the top teams had anyway so unsurprisingly we were going nowhere. We were throwing money away and not getting much in return.

We don't have artificial money like City or Chelsea and the bigger stadiums and consistent CL football grew a huge gap in income Man Utd, Liverpool and Arsenal compared to ourselves.

If people think we're going to compete with these clubs by adopting the same strategy then I'm at a loss.

Our transfer strategy is simple. We buy younger players and slowly incorporate them into our team. BAE, Walker, Kaboul, Dawson, Lennon, Bale, Sandro and Defoe were a mixture of young players making a step up and taking a while to settle in and those from a lower division who fit in straigth away but had to work on their all round game more.

We have bought a few more obvious players. VDV, Pav, Bentley, Bent, Parker, Palacios, Modric and Dos Santos. These were players with better reputations but when they don't work out they are costly mistakes. Our finances don't allow much room for error.

So Levy has to be very meticulous with our money. A huge wage bill can cripple a club. Newcastle and West Ham got relegated after poor financial mismanagement and Liverpool are in decline after poor but expensive signings.

Levy doesn't do expensive quick fixes. Sure he could offer Inter a few extra million for Leandro then pay him £20k a week more than he'd like to get it done quickly. Great if it works out. We get a Brazilian international who fires us to title glory.

But what if he doesn't settle in? What if the party lifestyle and newfound money becomes more exciting to him than his football career? We have some money for high wages but I'd rather it go to those who have been at the club for several years and we know are good professionals than take a shot on someone we know little about.

Our transfer policy is a meticulous one that doesn't allow us to get pushed around and pay what we don't want. If we bring in a quick fix it is on a short term deal like we had for Nelsen and Saha.

Looking at the long term and not being pushed around has moved us from lower midtable to top 5 and within budget. As frustrating as it is I'm glad Levy hasn't buckled under the pressure started paying over the odds just to please some fans.

We can't compete with the clubs above by using the same transfer strategy with a quarter of the money.

Great post.

Its worth looking at how clubs like Ajax (once a major powerhouse in Europe and still a significant namr), as I suspect that its template (and Barcleona) is one that Levy has as part of his plan for Spurs.

In that plan, Spurs will develop a large number of its players from the Spurs academy (eg Steven Caulker, Jake Livermore) and or buy in players at a young age to develop them (think Walker, Naughton etc), with a numbver making the first team squad after being in or around the first team for a few years from the ages of 18/19 to 21 (current group Harry Kane, Andros Townsend, Tom Carroll, Adam Smith) - and those that do not make it into the first team will be sold onto other clubs.

If you look at Barcelona's first team squad way more than half have been developed internally, and Ajax too have a high proportion. However developing youth is a long term policy - fortunately we have been at it for 5 years or so already which is why we have Kane, Townsend et al knocking on the first team squad door, but it may well be another 5 years before Spurs can expect to have half the squad having been developed inhouse - which means a dramatic saving in the number of players we need to pay high transfer fees for.

Speaking of transfer fees - we will probably always need to buy one or two players every year as the right sort of player is not coming through the development system at the rigtht time to get into the first team. However buying players is inherabtly risky - David Bentley being a good example. Apparantly nailed on as David Beckham's successor for England so his age and skill meant a hefty £15m or so trnsfer fee : we now know most of that was wasted as Bentley has not performed well for Spurs (love to think it might change still, but....). Or Alan Hutton at £6m...who we released at the end of his contract, or Gio who we tried to offload for £11m but he wouldn't go even though most of his performances have been mediocre at best for Spurs. Of course these flops have been offset by good acquisitions (better than some clubs), and we hope to find the right striker(s) and other players at the right price.

However the only way to build the club is slowly - try to build too fast without gigantic funding and you find yourself in Liverpool's position - Andy Carroll £35m, Henderson £20m, Suarez £22m (good footballer but his general conduct is a real turnoff for fans and sponsors alike) which means that they have spent the money without getting the standasrd of players they want....and most of the rest of their squad is poorer than their equivalents at Spurs.

Suggest you re-name the thread as 'Where and how do we get our players from' - a transfer policy is only part of the story and as previous poster has said, its not a quick fot process, and if yoiu try that, chances are you go backwards !

 

[StartingPrice]

Levy has a way of working that is frustrating for the fans. Sometimes it means missing out on individual players that would have improved the team.
So some folk think his policies are all wrong.

If you look at the longer term, then you would have to say he has built us a good squad (and a damned site better than anything we had in decades) - unless, of course, you want to use CitehChelseaPSG as the yardstick. So, his way of working, frustrating as it is, has given us an exciting, young squad, that has massively improved our league position and status whil, at the same time, making us one of the best run clubs in the country.

I take the latter approach, which doesn't mean that I don't sometimes feel the emotions associated with the former.

But I also think that there needs to be more appreciation of what he is aiming to achieve with the innovations in the youth structure and accompanying training facilities. The aim is for us to be producing our own players. A lot of time, money and effort have been invested in it - if it pays dividends we will have saved a fortune in transfer fees while providing us with not one or two but a whole string of players - with the possible added bonus of generating a real esprit de corps.

In the moment, however, it amazes me that so many members of this forum complain about his brinkmanship and leaving everything to the last minute and then judge our squad as though it were complete half-way through August. It's a non-sequitor.

Likewise, with the claim that if we would just spend big once on one striker once, it wouldn't be doing a Leeds. I can kinda understand this argument, but it presupposes that it would only be for one player one time and time and player would be all agreed upon by everyone for once and all time always. But would it be? What if, for instance, some felt that we should go all out for a young World class keeper [sic.] and that we should break the bank for him? Or if one of our stars suffered a career threatening injury between now and Jan (Gawd forbid) - would there be a clamour to spend over the odds on a replacement then? It could go on and on. And one thing is for certain, if Levy let players go earlier, at the expence of a couple of million, and paid over a couple of milion over the odds for players, just to get thyem in earlier, as some folk would wish - well, it would take long for our running within our means became a £100 million debt. Leeds didn't do a Leeds because they overspent on one player, this is true, but I would love to know where the process started, where they could have stopped without being in the doo-doo, and whether they would have even got as far as they did without starting out on that path? At the end of the day, we haven't done a Leeds because, well, because we haven't done a Leeds, it is as simple as that. I see no point in starting now, and no evidence that ceasing to mind the pennies once isn't doing to lead to a change in mentality that would see us becoming more and more profligate.

No, Levy is a frustrating customer, there's no doubt, but considering ENIC had a plan when they took us over that has had to cope and adapt to a World with Cheslea and Citeh and their gazillions, I would have to say that Levy's policies have advanced us as a club and got us an exciting, young squad. I think it is crazy to want to jeopardise that for the fulfilling of an immediate want, which isn't even based on seeing what our squad will be for the season ahead.

I should also add, and think everyone should consider, that our transfer plans and ability to act in the transfer market were kyboshed pretty late on by Cheslea (somehow) winning the CL = s!

 

[Spurs_Bear]

Which players are you talking about?

We have Friedel and Gomes in goal. We don't need a keeper right now but if we can get Lloris for the rpice we want then why not try?

We bought Sandro from Inter why shouldn't we try for Leandro?

Levy doesn't think people owe him a favour. He is simply negotiating. He got us Berbatov, Modric, VDV, Bale and others for the price he wanted so it's hardly a failed system.

You haven't read my first post.

I said our transfer policy NOW is not that to help us break the top 2/3. When we signed the players you have mentioned above, we were aiming to break the top 4.

I'm not sure your point re Sandro/Leandro being from the same club. We signed Dos Santos from Barcelona, why shouldn't we offer 10m for Messi...?

 

[NEVILLEB]

Levy's been operating in the same manner since he took over. I'm always surprised the fans haven't worked it out by now.

AVB will start on the back foot and be under immense pressure from the first game.

 

[14/04/91]

My problem with our policy is that we don't tend to be too good at filling gaps in the squad. We had a problem with the left side for ages, a lack of forwards in 08 (albeit due to Keane & Berbatov doing the off) and we've been looking for a seemingly big name number 9 for two years (at least), supplemented by a young striker.
Maybe it's because the last player or 2 are always the hardest to find, especially with the quality we now expect.

The end of August dealing clearly isn't great either and I was hoping with a new coaching team this wouldn't be the case this year. I appreciate we probably need to offload 3 or 4 from the wagebill and that isn't easy.

I feel sometimes we don't have enough of a plan B. We spent summer 08 nailing our hopes on Arshavin only to be disappointed, now it seems the same's happening with Adebayor. But then again how many viable alternatives are out there of the calibre we want & need??

Overall we're so close to being, I believe, a nailed on top 4 squad. We're only really 2 players short of a settled squad (plus a like for like with Modric). I think that's what makes this window all the more frustrating for us as fans.

 

[tototoner]

Haggle haggle haggle haggle haggle haggle Fail = Typical Levy Transfer Timeline

 

[sim0n]

at this late stage, the only chance for a new striker by opening day is a loan deal... I guess DL and AVB are fine with Defoe up top for the 3 points away to the barcodes,.... norwich and the spammers should be 6 points ether way...

 

[Damian99]

at this late stage, the only chance for a new striker by opening day is a loan deal... I guess DL and AVB are fine with Defoe up top for the 3 points away to the barcodes,.... norwich and the spammers should be 6 points ether way...

I'm thinking you quite like that post of yours

 

[sim0n]

I'm thinking you quite like that post of yours

I just have a need for instant gratification - itch is now scratched

 

[Rumbaldo]

I wonder how our attitude to selling players affects our ability to acquire new ones?
Our last 2 high profile transfers have obviously been the sale of Berbatov and the ongoing Modric saga.

Do you lot think our hardheadedness is a turn off for agents and emerging talents
"yeah sure Tottenham might be a good club for you short term but there is no guarantee they will let you go if a big club comes knocking go newcastle instead ".

Just to be clear iam not in anyway criticizing our stance re: modric's fee as a supporter i expect my club to wring as much profit as they can from players we would rather not sell. But felt it could be an interesting topic for discussion!

 

[dontcallme]

I wonder how our attitude to selling players affects our ability to acquire new ones?
Our last 2 high profile transfers have obviously been the sale of Berbatov and the ongoing Modric saga.

Do you lot think our hardheadedness is a turn off for agents and emerging talents
"yeah sure Tottenham might be a good club for you short term but there is no guarantee they will let you go if a big club comes knocking go newcastle instead ".

Just to be clear iam not in anyway criticizing our stance re: modric's fee as a supporter i expect my club to wring as much profit as they can from players we would rather not sell. But felt it could be an interesting topic for discussion!

I doubt it's much of a problem.

Most players don't have a long-term plan in place. Spurs and the Premier League is a big enough step up for the likes of Berbatov, Modric and Sandro. I doubt they are looking far enough into the future to think about the likes of Real Madrid and Barcelona wanting to buy them.

 

[StartingPrice]

I wonder how our attitude to selling players affects our ability to acquire new ones?
Our last 2 high profile transfers have obviously been the sale of Berbatov and the ongoing Modric saga.

Do you lot think 1) our hardheadedness is 2) a turn off for agents and emerging talents
"yeah sure Tottenham might be a good club for you short term but there is no guarantee they will let you go if a big club comes knocking go newcastle instead ".

Just to be clear iam not in anyway criticizing our stance re: modric's fee as a supporter i expect my club to wring as much profit as they can from players we would rather not sell. But felt it could be an interesting topic for discussion!

1) Why is it always Levy's hard-headedness - isn't his opposite number being hard-headed in offering a clearly low-ball transfer fee and leaving the unsettled player to kick up a stink and weaken his parent club's bargaining position (no player should ever do that, or even be in a position to do that )?

2) The same claim was made in relation to us not accepting Chelsea's insultingly low offer for Modric last summer. This summer Bale, Walker and Caulker all signed new contracts, VDV committed to the club despite having interest from Germany that would regularise his domestic situation a tad, Adebayor, who has already been here and so knows a bit about Dan Levy and his outlandish ways, is apparently keen to repeat the experience, and Vertonghen (who most clubs at the top end of Europe were interested in, has joined, and so has Sigurdsson, who could have went to Liverpool. And that is not including the other players who I believe will join before the end of the window. I hope this answers your question.