Tottenham Talk on Friday 27th Aug
Tottenham Talk on Friday 27th Aug
Welcome once again Spurs folk to Tottenham Talk on Friday 27th Aug.
A superb uplifting win last night that I'll cover in another post, but Gil and Romero looked fantastic signing, far better players than a swathe of our fans realised.
Today Tottenham Hotspur Blog News (THBN) will run through a few players Spurs are watching but not trying to sign yet.
Isaac Lihadji
Tottenham, Arsenal, Red Bull Leipzig, Borussia Dortmund, Juventus and Bayern Munich watching 19-year-old (20 in April) Lille right-winger Isaac Lihadji.
Talented but yet to establish himself at Lille after a 2020 summer move from Marseilles.
Lihadji has played just 245 minutes of Ligue 1 football across 16 games and had 3 assists in that time, an assist every 81 minutes.
Gabriel Menino
Tottenham are watching Brazilian youngster and Palmeiras central midfielder Gabriel Menino.
The 20-year-old (21 in September) was called up to the senior Brazil squad last year, and started in Palmeiras’ recent Copa Libertadores triumph.
Menino has played 533 minutes across 10 Brazilian Série A games scoring 1 goal.
Aaron Boupendza
The 25-year-pld (26 in August) Hatayspor and Gabon international (16 caps, 4 goals) left-winger, Aaron Boupendza, wants to prove himself in another league.
Turkish club President, Luftu Savas, did suggest a £10.27m (€12m - US$14.08m - AUS$19.45m) could see him leave.
Tottenham Hotspur, Celtic and Rangers are all watching him and see him sometimes play as a centre-forward or right-winger.
He has scored 22 goals and had 1 assist in 36 Turkish Süper Lig games over 2,495 minutes.
As a left-winger he has scored 16 goals in 24 games Plus 2 assists, as a central striker, 3 goals in 7 games and as a right winger, 3 goals in 5 games.
In December 2020, he score 4 goals from the left wing against Antalyaspor away from home, he only scored 2 in the home tie!
Paul Mukairu
Spurs are 'closely' following the progress of 21-year-old (22 next January) Nigerian left winger Paul Mukairu. The Anderlecht winger was on loan from Antalyaspor but has now returned to his parent club.
Ezri Konsa
Tottenham are keeping tabs on 23-year-old (24 in October) Aston Villa centre-back Ezri Konsa.
Konsa has 7 caps (1 goal) for England U-21's. Aston Villa do have him tied down in a contract until 2026 with another year option though.
Evan N'Dicka
Next on the list is 22-year-old (23 next August) Eintracht Frankfurt centre-back Evan N'Dicka.
An Auxerre graduate. N'Dicka has 1 French U-21 cap, has played 74 Bundesliga games (5 goals, 3 assists) and 14 UEFA Europa League games (1 goal, 2 assists).
Florian Neuhaus
Tottenham are interested in 24-year-old (25 next March) Florian Neuhaus, a central midfielder for Borussia Monchengladbach and Germany (6 caps, 2 goals).
He has a €40m (£34.24m - US$46.96m - AUS$64.8m) release clause in his contract, which runs until 2024 and Transfermarkt value him just €2m less.
Bayern Munich and Liverpool have been following him too.
Carles Aleñá
After his last half-season away, at Real Betis Sevilla, 23-year-old (24 next January) former Spanish U21 international (3 caps) central midfielder Carles Aleñá.
The ex-Barcelona playmaker was sold to Madrid-based fellow LaLiga side Getafe after a successful loan spell and is being tracked by Tottenham and AC Milan.
Born in Angola, the central midfielder plays for Stade Rennais and represents France of course (3 caps, 1 goal).
The ex-Barcelona playmaker was sold to Madrid-based fellow LaLiga side Getafe after a successful loan spell and is being tracked by Tottenham and AC Milan.
Eduardo Camavinga
Tottenham are following 18-year-old (19 in November) Eduardo Camavinga who is now being represented by Gareth Bale’s agent Jonathan Barnett.Born in Angola, the central midfielder plays for Stade Rennais and represents France of course (3 caps, 1 goal).
Álvaro Odriozola
Spurs have been following 25-year-old (26 in December) Real Madrid right-back Álvaro Odriozola, who can also play right midfield.The Spanish international (4 caps, 1 goal, 1 assist), who is under contract until 2024, has played 81 LaLiga games, scoring twice and having 14 assists.
Probably on his way to Fiorentina.
Mental Health
I have kept insisting Spurs need to lead the way with mental health issues by appointing psychologists to deal with players on a regular basis and not just when a player feels they have a problem.
The first step to that is recognising there is a problem that needs addressing and Spurs have finally appreciated that players mental well-being, especially in the young, should be taken more seriously than has previously been the case.
Tottenham are taking steps to recruit a Mental Health and Emotional Wellbeing Manager to work closely with academy players.
Their role will be to ensure that mental wellbeing is prioritised at Spurs.
This is the first time it has been done a by club in the Premier League 'big six' and mirrors the action taken by Brighton last season.
Now if I keep banging on about using psychologists to assess potential transfer targets, we might not get players like Ndombele who has rarely tried for Spurs and simply drops his head if he isn't a guaranteed starter.
Following my advice could have saved the club his £60m transfer fee and £200,000-a-week wages for two years.
That's another £20m!
A few thousand on a psychologist vs £80m wasted.
Well that's it folks.
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1 comment
Abso-fecking-lutely. I was thrilled with some of their play. I didn't get to see the game live but caught some highlights later and they both impressed.
It illustrated to me that players, especially those younger and untried ones, are enormously affected by the confidence they have in those around them. The away game we had almost no-one to inspire and give confidence to them. At home we had Kane, Gio was at much higher fitness levels and others were able to come on and affect further changes.
I still believe that players must learn to keep their mentality & confidence high in spite of their surroundings, but this showed how hard that is for most young players. Specialist training never hurts of course.
COYS!!