Tottenham fear Arsenal have hijacked Eze deal

[Stavrogin]

This seems like it's been purposely written to annoy us.

 

[TonyK]

Meh. We simply won't pay wages on a par with those clubs we compete with. Whether that is right or wrong is personal opinion somewhat but either way it's not going to change.

Especially now everyone, even most prem clubs, are claiming poverty or tightening the belts a little. They won't want to repeat the TN or GLC experience.

Our wages to earnings ratio is just 47% which is well below UEFA's recommended 70% limit. That alone suggests there is plenty of room for manoeuvre on player wages.

Our opponents on Sunday identify the players they want such as Raya and Rice and then buy them. We however, identify the right players but then decide to spend the transfer fee on kids from championship clubs because we simply won't pay the wages that the top players expect. Until this changes, we will always remain a second tier club.

I'm a big fan of Ange and see no reason for him to be replaced. But there is a car crash coming very soon whenever the club's recruitment policy suggests a longer term approach to building a successful team whilst Ange is talking openly about his expectation to win trophies this season.

It doesn't add up and will not end well as per usual.

 

[Spurs_1981]

Our wages to earnings ratio is just 47% which is well below UEFA's recommended 70% limit. That alone suggests there is plenty of room for manoeuvre on player wages.

Our opponents on Sunday identify the players they want such as Raya and Rice and then buy them. We however, identify the right players but then decide to spend the transfer fee on kids from championship clubs because we simply won't pay the wages that the top players expect. Until this changes, we will always remain a second tier club.

I'm a big fan of Ange and see no reason for him to be replaced. But there is a car crash coming very soon whenever the club's recruitment policy suggests a longer term approach to building a successful team whilst Ange is talking openly about his expectation to win trophies this season.

It doesn't add up and will not end well as per usual.

Where is the suggestion anywhere that wages have been or are in anyway related to us being unable to secure Eze?!?!

The article suggests 'a gentlemans agreement' which, if you take the article at face value (I don't), then one would reasonably conclude that potential earnings may have been discussed/agreed. The subtext of the piece suggests it is more Lol Spurs, Arsenal are better.

I'm happy to be corrected but as it stands it looks as if someone has reached deep into their gaping ass, pulled out a turd, smeared it on themselves and are now screaming 'see everything stinks of shit'.

I appreciate you are speaking on a broader issue around wages that might be significant but so far I have seen nothing that relates it to Eze.

 

[TonyK]

Where is the suggestion anywhere that wages have been or are in anyway related to us being unable to secure Eze?!?!

The article suggests 'a gentlemans agreement' which, if you take the article at face value (I don't), then one would reasonably conclude that potential earnings may have been discussed/agreed. The subtext of the piece suggests it is more Lol Spurs, Arsenal are better.

I'm happy to be corrected but as it stands it looks as if someone has reached deep into their gaping ass, pulled out a turd, smeared it on themselves and are now screaming 'see everything stinks of shit'.

I appreciate you are speaking on a broader issue around wages that might be significant but so far I have seen nothing that relates it to Eze.

You could well be right about wages having been agreed and a gentleman's agreement in place for Eze. There was however a widely reported release clause of 68m for him which we obviously did not activate. Instead, we decided to spend that money on kids from the lower leagues. This has now left the door open for other clubs to steal him away. It's gonna hurt badly and make us look like amateurs once again if the goons sign him from under our noses.
Fair enough, we are starting to see the benefits of the revenue streams from the stadium in terms of the transfer fees being paid for players but that has not translated to an improvement in the quality of players we are signing which still smacks of us continuing to take punts on teenage prospects from lower leagues.
And in my humble opinion, that is probably due to our wage structure and the fact that we don't pay the wages needed to sign the top players.

 

[TPdYID]

There is a 5’2” egregiously bald roadblock to this transfer

Levy hasn't grown over-night, has he?

 

[Trix]

I was under the impression this was all about the buy-out clause being too high for a single payment. Where did all the talk of wages in relation to Eze stem?

I think it's become increasingly obvious that we have been looking to reduce the wage budget % even further with our Summer signings. There was a lot of talk of how with the structure we had in place there was room to really push the boat out as far as bringing in quality was concerned because of this, but instead we went for youth and unproven instead. TBH I am pretty happy with what we have brought in and I think there is huge potential with most of them and the kids we have bought are a significant step up to the kids we have bought in the past as far as ceiling goes. That said there was little done with immediate impact in mind, and so the questions now are what was the actual game plan and end goal of what we did this Summer?

Was it we really want to build something special but it might take 2-3 years to do so these kids have the potential to form a formidable team for years to come. Or was it These kids have a very very high potential resale value and we can get them on very low wages due to their age, saving us copious amounts money in the short term. The likes of Eze and Neto were never going to show the same levels of potential return, and they'll want triple/quadruple the salary in the mean time. We can all sit here saying well Neto chose Chelsea, and Eze had a high release clause but when you don't make an offer you don't test the water.

 

[TPdYID]

Hoping we can spot these youngsters with huge potential, i.e Eze's, Olise's, Bowens, Watkins, etc a move earlier, essentially before they become unaffordable and out of our price-range both in transfer fee and wage.

I think we've tried to remedy this in more recent times, with Archie Gray being the most obvious example.

Notable mention for Djed Spence who was well coveted and looked a world-beater prior to us signing him.

 

[Spurs_1981]

I think it's become increasingly obvious that we have been looking to reduce the wage budget % even further with our Summer signings. There was a lot of talk of how with the structure we had in place there was room to really push the boat out as far as bringing in quality was concerned because of this, but instead we went for youth and unproven instead. TBH I am pretty happy with what we have brought in and I think there is huge potential with most of them and the kids we have bought are a significant step up to the kids we have bought in the past as far as ceiling goes. That said there was little done with immediate impact in mind, and so the questions now are what was the actual game plan and end goal of what we did this Summer?

Was it we really want to build something special but it might take 2-3 years to do so these kids have the potential to form a formidable team for years to come. Or was it These kids have a very very high potential resale value and we can get them on very low wages due to their age, saving us copious amounts money in the short term. The likes of Eze and Neto were never going to show the same levels of potential return, and they'll want triple/quadruple the salary in the mean time. We can all sit here saying well Neto chose Chelsea, and Eze had a high release clause but when you don't make an offer you don't test the water.

I appreciate that but as far as I was aware we pivoted from Neto and Eze because Neto choose another option and Eze wasn't viable due to the buy-out. The Paul O'Keefe tweet after the window suddenly changed the narrative to a wage issue generally but I never saw before or since that either deal was impacted due to a failure to agree terms. My ignorance to it doesn't make it so but I maintain cautious to runaway narratives without a little more substance.

The wage bill will have reduced over the past two years because we have released and moved on Kane and other high earners. Can it not be the case just as reasonably that it is a circumstance and not an edict? I see nothing compelling that this is any more or less likely.

 

[Trix]

I appreciate that but as far as I was aware we pivoted from Neto and Eze because Neto choose another option and Eze wasn't viable due to the buy-out. The Paul O'Keefe tweet after the window suddenly changed the narrative to a wage issue generally but I never saw before or since that either deal was impacted due to a failure to agree terms. My ignorance to it doesn't make it so but I maintain cautious to runaway narratives without a little more substance.

The wage bill will have reduced over the past two years because we have released and moved on Kane and other high earners. Can it not be the case just as reasonably that it is a circumstance and not an edict? I see nothing compelling that this is any more or less likely.

I don't know why we changed direction, but I do know we had been courting both players and were in contact with their agents for well over 2 months. Like I say it might have been wages, it might have been other factors but for some reason it took a very long time to not make at least an offer to either. If Solankie and Odebert truly were the two we really wanted as Ange and the club are saying then why did it take so long to get them done? Both were clearly very keen to come in and neither broke the bank in doing so. You can't deny the wage saving of the two we brought in compared to the two we didn't would have been significant to say the least. I'd happily wager the combined wage of Solankie and Odebert would be quite a bit less than either Eze and Neto on their own.

 

[Spurs_1981]

I don't know why we changed direction, but I do know we had been courting both players and were in contact with their agents for well over 2 months. Like I say it might have been wages, it might have been other factors but for some reason it took a very long time to not make at least an offer to either. If Solankie and Odebert truly were the two we really wanted as Ange and the club are saying then why did it take so long to get them done? Both were clearly very keen to come in and neither broke the bank in doing so. You can't deny the wage saving of the two we brought in compared to the two we didn't would have been significant to say the least. I'd happily wager the combined wage of Solankie and Odebert would be quite a bit less than either Eze and Neto on their own.

Fair, I appreciate your insights.

 

[Ribble]

This seems like it's been purposely written to annoy us.

Gotta get that engagement whilst the window is shut somehow, hitting both the Spurs and Arse online fanbase in one go is pretty low-hanging fruit though.

 

[Chedozie]

I think it's become increasingly obvious that we have been looking to reduce the wage budget % even further with our Summer signings. There was a lot of talk of how with the structure we had in place there was room to really push the boat out as far as bringing in quality was concerned because of this, but instead we went for youth and unproven instead. TBH I am pretty happy with what we have brought in and I think there is huge potential with most of them and the kids we have bought are a significant step up to the kids we have bought in the past as far as ceiling goes. That said there was little done with immediate impact in mind, and so the questions now are what was the actual game plan and end goal of what we did this Summer?

Was it we really want to build something special but it might take 2-3 years to do so these kids have the potential to form a formidable team for years to come. Or was it These kids have a very very high potential resale value and we can get them on very low wages due to their age, saving us copious amounts money in the short term. The likes of Eze and Neto were never going to show the same levels of potential return, and they'll want triple/quadruple the salary in the mean time. We can all sit here saying well Neto chose Chelsea, and Eze had a high release clause but when you don't make an offer you don't test the water.

I agree with what you’ve written, my problem with our current transfer strategy is that when these young gems turn into top players, we sell them, I think the same is going to happen with Romero, which is again, sign a top young talent for 30/40 million, over 2/3 seasons he develops into a top player, then £100 million is waved around and they offer to double his wages and off he goes and we start again.

 

[Trix]

I agree with what you’ve written, my problem with our current transfer strategy is that when these young gems turn into top players, we sell them, I think the same is going to happen with Romero, which is again, sign a top young talent for 30/40 million, over 2/3 seasons he develops into a top player, then £100 million is waved around and they offer to double his wages and off he goes and we start again.

This premise is absolutely fine IMO as long as you have a production line in place. Right now we are only at the start of that process and only time will tell how accurate the scouting team have been in identifying the required talent. As far as your point of selling say Romero for £100mil, I'll point out one of our biggest failings over the last few years is that we haven't sold when players are at an over inflated value, as Romero is not a £100mil player for instance we'd be mad to turn down an offer like that. As long as that money is invested wisely of course, and the production line has replacements in place.

 

[Wig]

If the combined objective were to reduce the wage bill as well as to bring in young prospects who can increase value, this makes the signing of Werner on high wages even more puzzling.

 

[Chedozie]

This premise is absolutely fine IMO as long as you have a production line in place. Right now we are only at the start of that process and only time will tell how accurate the scouting team have been in identifying the required talent. As far as your point of selling say Romero for £100mil, I'll point out one of our biggest failings over the last few years is that we haven't sold when players are at an over inflated value, as Romero is not a £100mil player for instance we'd be mad to turn down an offer like that. As long as that money is invested wisely of course, and the production line has replacements in place.

Let’s hope so.

 

[MR_BEN]

Our wages to earnings ratio is just 47% which is well below UEFA's recommended 70% limit. That alone suggests there is plenty of room for manoeuvre on player wages.

Our opponents on Sunday identify the players they want such as Raya and Rice and then buy them. We however, identify the right players but then decide to spend the transfer fee on kids from championship clubs because we simply won't pay the wages that the top players expect. Until this changes, we will always remain a second tier club.

I'm a big fan of Ange and see no reason for him to be replaced. But there is a car crash coming very soon whenever the club's recruitment policy suggests a longer term approach to building a successful team whilst Ange is talking openly about his expectation to win trophies this season.

It doesn't add up and will not end well as per usual.

We have (or had) the 5th highest wage bill in the premiership.

The fact we have a low wages to revenue ratio shouldn’t be a factor,

It most like just means we have disproportionally high revenues for our position. I’d have thought that’s a good thing.

The 70% is the max recommended by UEFA, not a recommended target. Looking at wages to turnover ratio’s UEFA would probably hold us up as being what everybody should be aiming for. (Performances aside).

Most of us will never know why deals did or didn’t go ahead. I think most people agreee that the Eze release clause, and structure were pushing the boundaries of what he is worth, and the club may well have just thought he wasn’t worth that much, so didn’t progress.

Maybe Ange didn’t want him, and he was a club target that he didn’t want us to progress. (He has been linked since his QPR days)

 

[Cinemattis]

(…) There was however a widely reported release clause of 68m for him which we obviously did not activate. Instead, we decided to spend that money on kids from the lower leagues. This has now left the door open for other clubs to steal him away. It's gonna hurt badly and make us look like amateurs once again if the goons sign him from under our noses (…)

How can anyone steal from us something that was never ours?

The release clause was not a “Tottenham specific” clause ..? Every club in the world could have put the money on the table and bought Eze. No club did.

That, to me, says two tings:

1) No club thought he was/is worth that money (in one go).

2) Crystal Palace were not willing to negotiate on the clause.

 

[Cinemattis]

Levy would rather sign three average players for £200m if he likes the structure of the deals over one good player for £60m if he doesn’t like the structure of the deal.

One player £60M

Three players at £66.7M a piece to the sum of £200M

What three players have we bought that cost over 65?

 

[Khilari]

He can play in several forward positions and would walk into our team. Our forward options are so bad.

Yes.

Something different to unlock defences when other options (Maddison/Deki/Son/Odobert/Werner) isn’t working. He would start many games and push Deki, Son and Maddison and that’s what we need. High quality options.

Werner has underwhelmed both last season and his brief appearances this season but I understand why the option to extend made financial sense when perhaps it was obvious to Ange, the board weren’t going to sanction a big money deal for Eze.

But aren’t we assuming he would want to move to Spurs? With my Spurs supporting hat on, I assume he would but not with City or Arsenal potentially on the cards.