Taking The Plunge In The Market

By Eric from a family of Spurs fans since 1907
For THBN

I am hoping that what we are seeing in the transfer market is MJ and DL being careful, not scared. It’s a bit like watching someone standing by a river in their swimming trunks. What are they waiting for, get in their! Look loads of other people are swimming in different rivers all over the place, like other managers jumping into the transfer market!

But like many rivers out their they could be very cold, very deep or even have alligators crocodiles etc in, or they may not be able to swim. I guess you all think I'm a fruitcake now, but if Souness and Benitez are the ones jumping into the unknown they could find themselves drowning (in debt) or out in the cold (sacked for poor results) or as is most common devoured by the creatures lurking in the murky depths (the fans getting on their backs for very below average performances after great expectations and spending hard earned money on their season tickets).

MJ and DL pondered and haggled on bringing Scott Parker to WHL in a deal with Chelsea. Maybe they should of agreed a price first then when we reached an agreement over Frank Arnesen we could of deducted his fee from our agreement.

Time will tell if Scott Parker's huge wages will have put Souness too far in the deep end.

We have looked tentatively at Guti, but I think this would be a dip in cold water for us, as in the past we have looked at Mark Van Bommel, Vangoor of Hesselhink, Van der Meyde, Appiah, Mintal, Rosicky, D'allessandro, Diego, Sneidjer, Downing and Jenas to mention but a few.

So is it cold feet, can't swim, worried about the creatures? Or is it good knowledge?

Well if these players aren't good enough then don't look at them. Maybe it's just paper talk.

Now we come to Julio Baptista (the Beast).

Spurs bid £14 million so MJ and DL must be pretty keen to dive in head first with wet suits on to protect them and a harpoon gun to fend off the sharks.

Most of us believe The Beast is the man, and if MJ and DL agree then i'm pretty sure he is THE man.

Sevilla want to offload him, although he has three years left on his deal he can leave on the cheap because he would have been at Sevilla for three years. Baptista wants to stay in Spain for his passport and Spurs want their man.

The solution: Offer Sevilla a figure they couldn't afford to turn down (but less than the £14 Million we have offered) between 5 and 10 Million. But the deal is for next season this way Sevilla get another year out of him plus the money to replace him next year.

We offer the Beast a signing on bonus (this way we can keep his wages similar to Robbo’s and Defoe’s, so as not to cause unrest) maybe the rest of the £14 Million (but if possible quite a lot less) we were going to pay.

That way it costs us no more than we are prepared to pay but it's a hell of a sweetener for both Sevilla and Baptista. Imagine something like a £3 to £5 million signing on fee plus Baptista gets his passport he plays in a team he is settled in leading up to a World Cup, and if he is a massive hit in the World Cup (even a minor hit) his value soars through the roof...... But we've already got him.

MJ and DL will be happy in the knowledge that we have our man, and Spurs fans will be more than happy because Jermain Defoe, Robbie Keane and Freddie Kanoute will feel not just a kick up the backside but a forceful wallop making the latter possibly concentrate a little more and maybe RUN for 90 minutes instead of standing with hands on hips like a little tea pot when he loses the ball or someone passes it 3 yards away from him.

The other plus point is that Mido is only on loan till the end of the coming season, so we have his replacement sorted out OR it means we might keep him at a better lower price because we aren't desperate to keep him, but he is desperate to stay because he sees our ambition.

The other thing in Spurs favour is it sends out a Big signal that Spurs are ambitious and moving forward, plus a big name signs for Spurs (remember Blackburn trying to buy Lineker etc, once Kenny Dalglish went as manager the floodgates opened).

I think this signing could open the floodgates for big names thinking ‘yes Spurs are a club going places’. Oh and it would also be a really big one over the neighbours!

We at Spurs already know we are going places, Cerny is the 4th best keeper in the Premiership behind Robo, Chech and Given. We have 3 great young centre backs (all better than Judas was at the same age). Stephen Kelly will soon replace Stevie Carr in the Republic team. We have two fantastic young wide men in Routledge and Lennon. Carrick is probably going to the World Cup. Defoe is a definite. Reto Zeigler, Phil Ifil, Dean Marney, Emil Halfredsson, Mounir el Hamdaoui and Lee Barnard along with Dawson and Huddlestone could have a similar impact as Man U had with Becks, Scholes, Butt, etc. But they had Eric Cantona.

I think Baptista could be our Cantona, big strong fears no-one his style of play will suit the Premiership.

We could loan out a few of Dean Marney, Phil Ifil, Lee Barnard, Marton Fullop, Rodrigo Defendi, Mark Yeates and Arron Lennon. This will give them valuable first team experience for the following season or improve the sale value of them if we find we don't need them.

We could offload Davenport (£2 million), Gardner (£1.5 million), Bunjevcevic (£500,000 or free), Paramot (£2 million), plus two out of Mendes, Brown or Davis. I am sure we could get something like £6 million for the pair. That's £12 million.

We sold Simon Davies for £3.5 million and Atouba for approx £1.5 million and we are supposed to have received something like £8 million for losing Frank Arnesen and it was reported we had about £12 million in the transfer kitty. My calculations make that something in the region of £37 Million.

We need a player in the mould of Lampard, Gerrard, Platt, Bryan Robson or Zidanne. All the successful clubs have had one (all the usual clichés); a box-to-box midfielder with a good engine, that contributes with a good goal tally, chases back, is a talisman, and a leader.

At the moment we have 25 players aged 26 or under, in a few years with a bit of experience and maturity add this type of player along with Baptista and I think we could, NO, would most definitely turn us into a regular Champions League team. We will be a force to be reckoned with!


The Futures bright the Futures BLUE & WHITE (could Spurs print some shirts with this on and can I get some commission?)

Eric from a family of Spurs fans since 1907